The Torch

By Richard Mende

The Torch is an attempt to spread the holy name by means of the brihat mrdrunga. It has, as one priority, to be dramatically engaging throughout and thus reach the widest possible audience.

The Torch is a spiritual Cinderella story. Terry, the heroine, is, in the beginning, on the lowest end of the scale both materially and spiritually. She is an alcoholic, a petty thief, an occasional prostitute, and lives with an abusive boyfriend. But her greatest difficulty is that she is a pyromaniac, taking joy in lighting fires.

She has her first, fleeting exposure to Krishna consciousness when a harinam party passes by on the street.

Between her petty thievery to get money for drinks and her bold practice of arson, Terry is eventually jailed.

A devotee with a prison ministry comes to visit her and introduces her to the practice of constant chanting of the holy name. In her low and humble state of mind, she decides to try and begins to feel good results from within.

When she is released she first visits her mother, who is impoverished and also an alcoholic.

After some months, we see that Terry has been transformed. She has a beautiful spiritual glow. She is now having a heart-to-heart talk with a senior devotee in the temple.

Terrys transformation is ready for the big test. She is now ready for her debutante launching, going to a high society party where she is an instant hit. She even has a chance to sing, and her voice has been transformed so there is no longer a rasp but, instead, a beautiful sound.

But Terry is also concerned with the low end of the social scale and goes back into the prison she herself had been in. She impresses the prisoners, but one of them expresses doubts that she could have been a part-time prostitute because now Terry looks so high-class. Terry begins giving the names of some of her customers on the Lower East Side and also giving their special eccentricities. It makes a believer of all the prisoners.

But when she comes down, she falls on the ground and prays, Lord, please take away these mystic powers. My only wish is to serve you with love.

In the end, she goes into the woods very old and very infirm. She slowly dies, chanting the holy name. After her fall, animals appear from the forest to wish her good-bye.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524544324

Richard Mende

Richard Mende was born on November 5, 1934, in Albany, the capital of New York State. He finished high school locally. Then he went off to college and, after four years, earned a BA from Stanford University in California. He majored in political science. Like many wannabees, after college he left home and moved to Manhattan, New York, to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Richard was guided by the culture of his early days, which really hasn’t changed dramatically through the years. Richard finally became attracted to one of the traditions originating in India, which he incorporated in his own company, Rampart Productions. During his visit to India, he had the good fortune to personally meet HH the Dalai Lama, head of the Tibetan religion. The Chinese communists wanted to take over Tibet. They believed if they capture the Dalai Lama, the head of the Tibetan religion, the rest of Tibet would cease resistance. Finally, a major juncture came into Richard’s life. After studying a variety of religious traditions, Richard concluded that at the far end of almost all of them was the practice of the constant chanting of a divine name of the lord and writing.

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Copyright © 2016 by Richard Mende.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 09/22/2016

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SUMMARY

The Torch is an attempt to spread the holy name by means of the brihat mridanga. It is a feature-length motion picture intended for major distribution. It has, as one priority, to be dramatically engaging throughout and thus reach the widest possible audience.

The Torch is a spiritual Cinderella story. Terry—the heroine—is, in the beginning, on the lowest end of the scale both materially and spiritually. She is alcoholic, a petty thief, and an occasional prostitute and lives with an abusive boyfriend. But her greatest difficulty is being a pyromaniac, taking joy in setting fires.

The opening scenes of the picture show her setting fires, often after a fit of anger. But they also show a better part of her nature, trying to help those in distress. She has her first fleeting exposure to Krishna consciousness when a hari nam party passes by in the street.

Between her petty thievery to get money for drinks and her bold practice of arson, Terry is eventually in jail. She is terrified by the experience, feeling isolated and lonely, and she even hides under a cot in her cell.

A devotee with a prison ministry comes to visit her and introduces her to the practice of constant chanting of the holy name. In her low and humble state of mind, she decides to try and eventually begins to feel good results from within. This encourages her, although she is aware some of her fellow prisoners can’t make up their minds whether she is a saint or a mental case. After some time, almost miraculously, she is informed that the charges against her have been dropped because of a legal technicality.

When she is released, she first visits her mother, who is impoverished and also alcoholic. Terry decides to go to the local Hare Krishna temple, where she is welcomed to visit but is not yet admitted as a resident.

Although she is naive in spiritual matters, she has sincerity of heart in her repentant mood. She goes to her apartment and unloads all the stuff she has stolen, including television, radio, telephone, and piles of clothes. She also picks up a container of kerosene. She goes to a local dump, throws off everything, and pours kerosene on it. This I got by stealing. This I got by whoring, she says, hurling in each object appropriately. Then she walks away empty-handed.

Terry decides to take the plunge and is admitted into the temple. Not everything goes smoothly, and there is some conflict and humorous scenes. For example, she feels so humble that she decides to clean the bathroom. However, another devotee comes along and tells her that Terry is taking away her service, that Terry is not really humble enough to do that kind of work. They argue and arm themselves, one with a mop and the other with a toilet plunger, to decide who is humbler. They are stopped just in time by another devotee.

This leads to a crucial test because before, in her karmi days, Terry would follow a fit of anger by starting a fire. We see Terry going to the local hardware store and buying kerosene, bottles, and wick. Next, we fade to a scene at about 2:00 a.m. where Terry takes all those things she have bought into the temple room and begins filling the jars with kerosene and adding a wick into each one. She distributes them around the temple.

But instead of resorting to her old pyromania, she lights the wicks, but they stay contained in the jars as lamps, which fill the temple room with beautiful illumination. Then Terry begins singing and dancing. One devotee, out of curiosity, peeks in and decides to join her. Then more devotees join in, and Terry understands that anything material, even bad habits like lighting fires, can be used in divine service.

After some months, we see that Terry has been transformed. She has a beautiful spiritual glow. She is now having a heart-to-heart talk with a senior devotee in the temple.

It is explained that to really have the holy name fully, it is essential to try to spread it. Sometimes it is important to first become a friend to a person, and then the philosophy can be shared. Terry will be trained so she can preach to members on the high end of society. We see her undergoing training in