Illuminations From The Bhagavad-Gita
Yadubara brought a young couple, Kim and Christopher Murray, to meet with Srila Prabhupada after his afternoon rest. Young and fresh-faced, they are life members who have been visiting our Washington temple since it first opened in the late sixties.
They are working on a highly colorful and decorative presentation of selected verses from the Bhagavad-gita. In previous centuries it was popular among wealthy, aristocratic Westerners to have both the text and pages of their prayer books elaborately decorated as "illuminated manuscripts."
Kim and Chris were inspired by Srila Prabhupada's translation of the Gita and decided to give it a similar treatment.
They saw Srila Prabhupada in New Vrindaban several years ago and showed him some initial samples of their work. At that time he approved their efforts and told them positively, "You are introducing a new art form to this country. You will get great rewards for this. Do it." So they have been working steadily on the project and have titled it Illuminations From The Bhagavad-Gita. They hope to persuade one of the big publishing houses to take it. Random House is already showing some interest.
This afternoon they showed Prabhupada their portfolio of about twenty pieces of art work. They sat before him and held the two by three boards up between them for his inspection. Some had illustrated text and some depicted Lord Krishna, Lord Nrisimhadeva and other personalities. Done in pen and ink they were beautifully colored with pastels, water paints and a little acrylic.
Srila Prabhupada was grave; he passed no comments, giving only his silent consent. After carefully looking over all the pieces, he tipped his head. "All right." And the darsana came to a close.
Reference: Transcendental Diary Volume 3 by Hari Sauri Dasa
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