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Journey of Martial Arts Performance

Dina Dayal Dasa, an Estonian disciple of Indradyumna Swami, has been attending the Polish tour for 10 years, and started performing martial arts since 2004. Although humble and quiet, he is winning the audience’s heart with his artistic martial arts performance.

Below is an interview with Dina Dayal by Maharani Vrinda Devi Dasi (Maharani Vrinda). Text is provided by Gopi Gita Devi Dasi.

Maharani Vrinda: How did you begin performing martial arts for the tour?

Dina Dayal: In 2004, I had just been attending the tour. Several weeks before the tour started, we were cleaning and washing the tents. I took a broomstick and was whirling it, just for my own pleasure for a few moments. Mother Sri Radha Sakhi Vrinda saw it and immediately decided that I was good for the stage, although personally I was very shy and couldn’t imagine doing that. That year, I was in the first part of Ramayana for 30 seconds only and gradually started to do more.

Maharani Vrinda: The performance looks quite professional. So how often do you practice? Do you follow some specific diet?

Dina Dayal: To do it perfectly one needs to practice at least six hours a day. But sometimes because of the traveling, or costume making, I do not have that much time. I try to practice an hour every day. Regarding diet, I avoid fried things, like pakoras and sweets – the rich food. As professional sportsmen, I also have to eat small quantities 5-6 times a day.

Maharani Vrinda: We noticed that this year you are having more partners and action in the performance; could you explain a bit about this development?

Dina Dayal: I had an injury during one performance in Australia last year, and Gurudeva was worried. So I wanted to reduce the intensity of performance and had to fill the gap in between. So I started to create a drama, and Gurudeva liked it and said I should go in this direction. I also added some new actors, to make it more colorful and professional.

Maharani Vrinda: Could you tell us about the colorful and creative costumes and tilak?

Dina Dayal: It’s like a modified Gaudiya Vaisnava Tilak, or Ramanuja Tilak. Since I am an artist by nature, I can’t help but make it more artistic.

Maharani Vrinda: You are humble and peaceful, which seems completely contradictory to the powerful performance. Can you share some thoughts about this?

Dina Dayal: There are different aspects to it. In fact, amongst my childhood schoolmates I was always the slowest and weakest when it came to any sport activity, and thus I completely lost interest in sports. Instead I developed the skills in the field of arts and even graduated from the Academy of Arts.

However, at the age of 25 I was asked by some of my senior God brothers and God sisters, and later on by my spiritual master himself, to develop the skills of martial arts in order to make some performances for the festival programs. So we can say I started the martial art performance more out of necessity than interest. For service one can do anything. Srila Prabhupada said that “impossible” is a word in a fool’s dictionary. I am not a ksatriya by nature, but to please Srila Gurudeva, I am ready to do anything. Martial art itself also requires high level of self-control which is completely not me.

With time, I got more confidence. And especially after doing it year after year, it became more natural. The heavy weight of responsibility makes it very stressful. The only way I could go beyond my past conditionings and fear of public appearance, is by depending more on Krishna. I see that by sincerely trying to serve Srila Gurudeva I am becoming more and more Krishna conscious.

Maharani Vrinda: What’s your vision for the future performances?

Dina Dayal: Only Krishna knows. Gurudeva desires that I go more into drama line, so I attended a drama workshop to become more professional. I brought martial arts to some story line. After doing lots of research about what other martial artists do, I found that I have no chance to compete with them in physical skills, with my growing age. So I have to find more creative ways to engage the audience like drama, adding more stories, making it more artistic etc. Along those lines we recently added arati for the swords and weapons.

Maharani Vrinda: How does the martial art performance complement the preaching mission?

Dina Dayal: It does. Some people are inspired more by martial arts than by dance or drama. I receive invitations to perform at different ratha-yatras and other festivals. It is necessary to practice this culture. Last year Sivarama Maharaja invited us, and told us that people are really inspired by our performance, and became more interested in hearing the philosophy after that. That really encourages me.

Maharani Vrinda: How would you encourage people to share their talent for the tour?

Dina Dayal: This is the best place to engage your talent. This tour is very organized and powerful. It’s a very nice preaching opportunity. There are plenty of opportunities for creative people. I encourage everyone to come and share their talent with others.


Views: 713 • July 18, 2010 Behind-the-scenes