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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1974 |
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20 December 2008 Friday, 20 December, 1974 Bombay Dept. of Medicine McMaster University St. Joseph's Hospital Hamilton, Canada Dear Dr. Santosh Kumar, Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 18, November 1974. I thank you very much for your kind appreciations of our movement. Actually this Hare Krsna Movement is going all over the world, because the message of Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is spoken. I am just like a peon carrying the message of Lord Krsna and Lord Krsna's message, being perfect, it will be appreciated everywhere in any part of the universe. So far others are concerned, as you spoke of Satya Sai Baba, he wants to claim himself as Bhagavan, unfortunately. He can not give any faultless message. The definition of Bhagavan is given in the sastras as one who possesses six kinds of opulences. Nobody is greater than Bhagavan, Krsna. Therefore if we take Krsna's message we will actually be benefited, otherwise not. It will be partial and insufficient. In reply to the last part of your letter I request you to understand properly the message of Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic literatures. You are an educated Indian. According to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhus order every Indian should learn properly the Vedic conclusion and preach all over the world. That is the best welfare activities. You can be very much help to our present activities, so you can be better than others invited from India. I request you to read our books and whenever you find difficulties you can ask me for clearance and it will be my duty to serve you. I thank you once again for your very kind appreciation of our Hare Krsna Movement. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/psk Labels: Canada, faultless message letters | 11:16 |20 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Jayadvaita, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated December 1l, 1974 and have noted the contents carefully. Yes, in the future you should make sure that all the books, no matter what size or color, have the words Bhaktivedanta Book Trust under the logos. Whether it is clear or unclear it should be there. Yes you are correct, when one associates with one who is in illusion or mislead naturally he will also become influenced by that illusion. So you must pray to Krsna to protect you from such bad association. Do not forget our most important business which is to develop pure Krsna Consciousness by following our strict regulations and Vaisnava standards, and always be engaged in service. Yasya prasadad bhagavata-prasadao, yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto 'pi, anyway by Krsna's grace everything is going on there very nicely. So you are one of the officers there, please continue working very enthusiastically and setting a good example for others. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps letters | 11:14 | 19 December 2008 Thursday, 19 December, 1974 Bombay Bridesville, Canada My dear Bahudak, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated Dec. 3, 1974 and have noted the contents. The pictures of your newly installed Deities are very very nice. And you can name them Sri Sri Radha-Madan Mohan. The Deity worship should be done very carefully and nicely. Sri-vigraharadhana-nitya-nana srngara-tan-mandira-marjanadau yuktasya bhaktams ca niyunjato'pi vande guroh sri-caranaravindam ** You should make sure that there is nice arati program; six arati daily at least. You should make sure that there is nice fresh, clean dress every morning, nice bathing ceremony every morning, nice offerings of prasadam. You should see that the Deity is tended for and cooked for only by the duly second initiated brahmanas. The Deity should have nice flowers everyday etc., etc. You should try to bring Them up to the highest standard, such as we have in Los Angeles or New Vrndavana. Sri Sri Radha-Madan Mohan have kindly descended in Their arca vigraha form now you must receive Them with that consciousness. And by serving Them you will all develop pure love of Krsna. Thanking you for helping me in my mission. Occasionally send me report of how things are going on there. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps letters | 02:22 | 19 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Vipini das, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated December 7, 1974 and have noted the contents carefully. I have received your check for $200.00 and appreciate it very much. As far as your engagement is concerned I think it is most appropriate for you to consult with the GBC men. But one thing that everyone should understand is that I am not so interested in selling incense as I am in selling books. Distribution of my books is the most important thing. These other things such as selling incense, records etc., are not so much important as this. If Spiritual Sky is a separate concern then what is the need of our own men who are capable preachers to be engaged in that way. I want that my books be distributed in huge quantities, and thus we will be able to thoroughly convince the majority of the population especially there in America. But finances are also needed. Therefore for further direction you please contact the GBC men and they will give you consultation. The more one preaches the more he becomes expert and the more he is able to convince others. Concerning your marriage ceremony that is to be sanctioned by the temple president or GBC. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: business, GBC, Washington letters | 02:20 |18 December 2008 Wednesday, 18 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Rupanuga, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your two letters dated Dec. 4, 1974 and Dec. 16, 1974 and I have noted the contents very carefully. I was very much relieved to hear all of the good reports coming from you about New York and I thank you very much for seeing that everything is going on nicely there. As you mention in your letter that the United States is probably the most fertile preaching ground in the world and that the East coast is the best out of that, therefore our New York city temple is an extremely important center and the standard of purity in Krsna Consciousness must be maintained there by all means. If somehow or other we can convince the majority of the United States population to take to Krsna Consciousness then the whole world will become Krsna Conscious. This is a fact. The United States is the leader of all other nations. You simply educate the people in this Krsna Conscious philosophy and then there will be no difficulty in capturing the government. In your country there is very good system of democracy. As we have seen just recently the people, as the common people have so much power, that they were able to get down this Nixon, who is obviously a rascal. So if we can simply convince a good majority of persons then they will automatically want a Krsna Conscious leader. And if there are Krsna Conscious leaders in the government then they will act as Krsna's representative and will be able to save the world from the disastrous condition of life. At the present moment there is nothing but great calamity but by injecting Krsna Consciousness into the masses we can change this situation greatly. Because New York is such an important center we must have a very good building. Therefore I want that you somehow or other get this New York Theological Seminary building at once. From the photographs it appears very big and capable of satisfying all our needs. And according to your letter it is an excellent location. And we can arrange for the money. So there is no difficulty. Try to get it as soon as possible. This will be very pleasing to me. Your sankirtana reports are very encouraging, especially that one girl, Gauri dasi, who has set an all ISKCON women's record of 108 big books. This is very wonderful. Formerly this would have been considered impossible, but now by Krsna's grace everything is becoming possible. Encourage them all to increase more and more. Now Tripurari Prabhu is there and he can train the others. This book distribution is the essence of our mission. Our farm projects are an extremely important part of our movement. We must become self-sufficient by growing our own grains and producing our own milk, then there will be no question of poverty. So develop these farm communities as far as possible. They should be developed as an ideal society depending on natural products not industry. Industry has simply created godlessness, because they think they can manufacture everything that they need. Our Bhagavad-gita philosophy explains that men and animals must have food in order to maintain their bodies. And the production of food is dependent on the rain and the rain of course is dependent on chanting Hare Krsna. Therefore let everyone chant Hare Krsna, eat nicely and keep their bodies fit and healthy. This is ideal life style. We do not condemn modern civilization but we don't like to get it at the cost of God Consciousness, that is suicide. Your farm in Pennsylvania sounds very nice. As far as Bali Mardan beng involved with the management he will have nothing to do with that. The two men you have appointed, Paramananda and Devakinandana Prabhus, are both capable and experienced men from New Vrndavana and I am sure they will manage everything very nicely there. What do you think of exporting nice United States cows such as the ones you have there and in New Vrndavana to India so we can raise them in our Vrndavana and Mayapur projects and provide nice milk? Is it possible? This isolation that has been imposed on the New York temple that you speak of is not good and it should be dissolved. Your program of travelling to the nearest temples is a good program. You should continue that. Our GBC members should always visit the different temples to see that everything goes on well, and to see that the management is being done very nicely. In connection with the devotees coming to India for the Mayapur festival in 1975, if they come on the 20th of March that is alright. Our installation for the Krsna-Balarama Mandir in Vrndavana will be on April 20th so the devotees should get visas that will allow them to stay until this installation ceremony takes place in April. I think if you make a special request to get these visas explaining about our two very important festivals that there will be no difficulty and they will give them. But I want that the devotees will stay until the temple in Vrndavana opens. Your idea about Gopala Krsna going to L.A. to see how things are going, for a week, is a good idea. He can do that. But I do not want him to give up his job. If he could manage Spiritual Sky without giving up his job, that would be one thing, but I don't want him to lose that job. And your second suggestion about him coming to India for GBC business that is also a very welcome idea. He is fully capable and qualified for being GBC of India. But I want him to maintain his job for now anyway. Immediately although, you can make him one of the GBC men. His name can be added to the list. We can decide about the idea of him coming to India at our next GBC meeting in Mayapur. You asked in your letter whether Gurudasa Prabhu is authorized to collect money from US temples for Vrndavana project. No, he is not authorized to do this. In regards to the $180,000 that was received in discounts. That money should be reinvested in printing books. New York is now saved from the hands of this woman. Unfortunately it has victimized our Bali Mardan. He is a very nice boy but somehow or another he has become victimized by this woman. I do not know how he could be victimized by such a woman who is of mothers age. Somehow or another we must save Bali Mardan as he is very much attached to this woman. You mention that in our Buffalo project that Saptaratha Prabhu is there making nice doll display for the temple. You should tell him that others should also learn from him how to make these dolls. We have to make these doll displays for all of our temples all over the world, on all different subject matters, from the scriptures. It is a very nice way of attracting all people especially in the West. Please continue as GBC there in New York and make sure that everything is going on in a fully Krsna Conscious manner. Everyone should be engaged and everyone should be staunchly following all of our principles. We must pray to Krsna to save us from the attack of so many bad elements. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: book distribution, New York, political sankirtan letters | 02:20 |17 December 2008 Tuesday, 17 December, 1974 Bombay Dear Sri Mohan Mazumdar, Please accept my greetings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter in Bengali dated 10.12.74 and have noted the contents with care. Regarding your proposal for preparing a film on the life and precepts of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, I am ready to help with my men but it is not possible for me to make the financial help. If you can arrange with some film studio men for direction and photographic handling etc., my men are ready to help you in this connection, at any time. Also I shall be glad to give direction. This is all possible in Los Angeles but you have to arrange all these things. I have previously instructed you to contact some film producer company in Los Angeles, but I do not know if you have done so. So I still stick to my word as I earlier said to you. You can arrange but I think it will cost huge amounts of financial assistance, of course our service is free, but for other things you have to arrange for financial balance. Anyway I am always ready to help in the above mentioned ways. But one thing I shall advise you, if there is a difficulty for financial arrangement you can drop the idea. Now you are old, 60 years old, better retire from all enterprising activities and devote yourself fully for developing Krishna Consciousness. That will not cost you any financial assistance at all. You can live with us anywhere in the world and along with our devotees gradually you will learn all devotion activities. And if you desire you can translate our English books into Bengali language. You are already reading our Nectar of Devotion and if you like this idea you can translate this Nectar of Devotion immediately into Bengali and send me some copies of the translation so I can see how you have done. For the time being I have postponed my journey to Honolulu. Maybe I will be going to Australia by mid-January 1975. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: Calcutta, film, retire, translation letters | 02:19 |17 December, 1974 Bombay Cobourg, Canada Dear Mr. Quinn, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Nov. 1, 1974, and have noted the contents. Thank you for your kind sentiments. You are a very fortunate person that you have come into contact with our Krsna Consciousness movement. The perfection of human life is to somehow or another advance in spiritual life and achieve love of Godhead and go back to Godhead, back to home. The animals and lower forms they can not achieve this perfection of life. So in this human form of life we have to consider ourselves very fortunate and take advantage in this human form. Because in the next life we don't know what kind of body we may have; maybe dog, maybe pig, maybe tree, maybe fish. So we must take advantage of this human form of life. My recommendation to you is that you somehow or another put yourself in a situation so that you may have as much association with our devotees as possible. Either remain in the temple or visit the temple frequently with your family. If you continue to read our books very carefully and try to understand our philosophy very deeply, this is nice. Also it is a must that you chant Hare Krsna at least 16 times daily on your beads and follow all of the regulative principles that we have given. If there are any questions on these points you can discuss with Jagadisa Prabhu in Toronto or any of the devotees in Toronto. I hope this letter meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Toronto letters | 02:18 |17 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Parvati, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated nil and have noted the contents. Thank you for your kind sentiments. You should try to become expert at making these nice milk products. The cow is the most wonderful animal and she is so beneficial for human society, giving so many gifts in the form of milk products. And you can turn all those milk products into wonderful preparations to offer to Radha-Krsna and thus your life will become perfect. Please continue advancing in Krsna Consciousness by this wonderful method; reading our books daily, chanting 16 rounds daily, following the regulative principles, rising early, etc. Thank you. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Bhaktivedanta Manor, cow letters | 02:17 |17 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Jitaprana, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 10/10/74, and have noted the contents. Your desire for leading a sankirtana party, preaching and travelling is a very good one and I suggest that you talk to your temple president or GBC and try to arrange such a program if it is possible. If we sincerely try to serve Krsna then He will give you the ability and the facilities. So please continue your service with great enthusiasm and follow strictly all of our principles and regulations. This is the way to spread our Krsna Consciousness movement, the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. First of all one must become spiritually strong by following these basic principles staunchly and by learning our philosophy fully. Then his preaching will be very potent and many many people will become attracted. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Dallas Gurukula, sankirtan letters | 02:17 |17 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Badrinarayana, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 27/10/74 and have noted the contents carefully. I am always happy to hear of the wonderful activities of spreading Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's sankirtana movement. Your activities are very pleasing. Going door to door, person to preach the message of chanting Hare Krsna is actually the yuga dharma for this age. In other yugas there are different processes for self-realization but in kali-yuga the real method is simply chanting Hare Krsna and trying to encourage everyone else to do the same. So your program is perfect. It is very nice that you are also making so many new devotees. This is the fruit of our activities. So continue your program in the same way with added enthusiasm and your life will be perfect. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps letters | 02:16 | 16 December 2008 Monday, 16 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Bhakta Steve, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Oct. 28, 1974 and have noted the contents. It is very nice that you have joined the Radha-Damodara travelling Sankirtana party and that you are engaged in spreading the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu along with Visnujana Swami and Tamala Krsna Goswami. I think it would be very nice if you would make nice silver jewellery for the Radha-Damodara Deities and in this way your talent will be used in the most perfect way. Please continue reading our books with great care, studying again and again and staunchly following all of our regulative principles and always stay in the association of devotees, chanting Hare Krishna. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: San Francisco letters | 02:15 |16 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Bhakta Lance, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter date Nov. 1, 1974 and have noted the contents with care. My simple request is that you remain in association of devotees and continue to chant your 16 rounds daily and follow strictly the four regulative principles and read our books daily with great care. In this way your Krsna Conscious advancement will be assured success and at the end of this life you will go back to Godhead, back to home, and live with Krsna eternally. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Coconut Grove, regulative principles letters | 02:14 |16 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Christy Hendryx, Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter date Dec. 3, 1974. Thank you for the information about your land in Oregon. I think the best procedure is for you to contact either our temple president in Seattle, Washington whose name is Sukadeva dasa or you can write a letter to our headquarters in Los Angeles to Jayatirtha dasa and they will be able to make the proper decision and let you know about this land offer. Thank you again. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps letters | 02:14 | 16 December, 1974 Bombay Southall, England My dear Durgesh, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Dec. 12, 1974 and have noted the contents carefully. Thank you very much for your sentiments. It appears that you have understood our philosophy very nicely, and that is a great boon for someone who is as young as yourself. The perfection of human existence is to somehow or another develop Krsna Consciousness and the sooner that one can develop his Krsna Consciousness the better. Not that I will wait until I become old man, then I will become spiritually advanced. No, it is better if one starts immediately. So there is no question of your discontinuing your efforts in Krsna Consciousness. By all means you should continue practicing Krsna Consciousness everyday. But that does not necessarily mean that you have to move into the Temple immediately. It is also important to get some education. So for some years you should remain studying in school. But on the weekends with your parents permission you can go to the Temple and stay there but do not fall behind in your school work. And everyday you should follow the Krsna Conscious principles that our devotees in our temples follow which means rising early, chanting 16 rounds, eating only Krsna prasadam, no meat, fish or eggs, no illicit sex life, no gambling and no intoxication. This is the process. So follow it strictly and at the same time learn some practical knowledge from your school studies. And then later it may be more appropriate for you to join our temple as a full time brahmacari. But in all circumstances always chant Hare Krsna. That is a must. In the Bhagavad-gita it says; tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te [Bg. 10.10] "To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me." So do not be in distress. Simply try to engaged yourself constantly in devotional service and develop your love for Krsna. And in this way Krsna will give you all facilities for coming to Him. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps letters | 02:13 | 16 December, 1974 Bombay Govt of India Overseas Communication Service Poddar Court Ravindra Sarani Calcutta My S. K. Roy, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Dec. 7, 1974. Thank you for your kind sentiments and I am very glad that you have appreciated our International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Our actual credit is that we are simply repeating Bhagavad-gita As It Is without changing it, altering it or adding any mundane opinion. We simply repeat what previous acarya have said and that is our merit. Therefore it is being accepted all over the world. Thank you for appreciating our books. Please continue to read them. In regards to you becoming one of our life members I wish to refer you to Gargamuni Swami who is at our Calcutta Mandir at 3 Albert Rd. You can go and see him there and he will make some arrangement for you to become a member of our society. We have many different membership programs and he can discuss them all with you, and show you all the books we have been publishing, etc. I hope this letter meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: India, life member letters | 02:12 |16 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Rsabhadeva, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of you letter dated Dec. 7, 1974 and have noted the contents carefully. If we sincerely desire to spread Krsna Consciousness then Krsna provides all facility. So now Krsna has provided the $20,000.00 needed for the down payment for your building. That man who has given us the money, he is a very good man and he should be encouraged in every way to become more and more connected with our movement. Give him good association with Vaisnavas and nice Krsna prasadam and he will develop love for Krsna. I am very happy to hear of the large number of new devotees you are recruiting there in Laguna Beach. That is the real fruit of our preaching work, when people come and join and help us to spread this Krsna Consciousness movement. So I am very pleased with your efforts there. Upon your recommendation I have accepted the following for second initiation; Asurakulanasana dasa brahmachari, Satangati dasa brahmachari, Ratnanabha dasa Adhikari, Khandabhasi dasi, Dhatreyi dasi. Their threads are enclosed herein. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: initiation, Laguna Beach letters | 02:12 |16 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Jayatirtha, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Dec. 5, 1974. Regarding the GBC meeting to be held in Mayapur 1975, the meeting should be held five days before the actual festival is to begin and it will be held in my presence. As far as your proposals are concerned the real thing is that we must make broader constitution of the management by GBC. But the difficulty is that our GBC men are falling victim to maya. Today I trust this GBC and tomorrow he will fall down. That is the difficulty. If the GBC men are so flickering then what to speak of the others. Unless this problem is solved whatever we may resolve it will not be very useful. We shall discuss this at our meeting. If the GBC men can ever manage properly then I shall get some time for writing my books. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami N.B. I have just spoken to Bhagavan dasa who received your call today. If by Krsna's grace, things go well here, then I may be coming to Honolulu in two weeks. Thank you for keeping the temple in sound condition. Please make sure that sankirtana, classes, etc. all continue without fail. ACBS/ps Labels: fall down, GBC, Mayapur letters | 02:10 |15 December 2008 Sunday, 15 December, 1974 Bombay My Dear Bhakta Mark, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated nil, and have noted the contents. It is very nice that you have met with my disciple, Visnujana Swami and you should try to remain with him and learn as much as possible about this wonderful philosophy of Krsna Consciousness from him. In regards to your initiation it is necessary that you are recommended by one of my elder disciples, such as Visnujana Swami himself or any one of our temple presidents. If he feels you are ready for initiation he can write me a letter and recommend your initiation to me and then we will see. For now I simply request you to continue with this wonderful Sankirtana program and remain as you say in your letter,, cent per cent engaged in serving Krsna and spreading Krsna Consciousness in every way possible by mind, body and words. You can use all of your talents for spreading Krsna Consciousness. So please work closely with Visnujana Maharaja and whatever he says try to do it. And always chant Hare Krsna. As far as the seven transcendental meters for singing the names of the Lord, that is not so important for now. Better to try to increase the purity of the chanting first, that is our most important thing. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: initiation, New York letters | 02:09 |15 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Tribhuvanatha, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Nov. 15, 74 and have noted the contents carefully. I was very happy to hear of your Hare Krishna Festival program and that the response has been so wonderful. Simply by giving people a chance to hear this wonderful Hare Krsna mantra and Krsna's philosophy as stated in Bhagavad-gita, so many people will become interested and actually they will join us. The poster you have enclosed is very nice and attractive. So continue this program of Hare Krsna Festivals all over the United Kingdom and in this way attract people to Krsna Consciousness. Work nicely under you GBC's direction and always keep yourself strictly following all of our principles without deviation. As far as taking Deities to the programs that sounds like a very nice plan. But if you want to take the Deities permanently on your party there may be difficulties because you have to maintain Them nicely. So you can discuss this with Hamsaduta and see what he thinks. I am planning to come to England in April-May. So I will see you then. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: Bhaktivedanta Manor, festival letters | 02:08 |15 December, 1974 Bombay Bridesville My dear Bahudak, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated November 21, 1974 and have noted the contents. I am very glad to hear about your new farm-asrama existing there. We want to develop many such farms all over the world. Your are enthusiastic and intelligent and it appears that you are managing in nicely. Why not call it New Gokula instead of New Mayapur. I think that is better. It is alright that you have purchased machinery and are using on the farm but if you can do without as much as possible that is better. It sounds as if the living conditions there may be a little extreme. But if the devotees can learn to tolerate as you say they are determined, and can stay and work there that is very good. And I give all encouragement to them. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita; matra-sparsas tu kaunteya sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah agamapayino 'nityas tams titiksasva bharata [Bg. 2:14] "O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." So remember Krishna's instructions in the Bhagavad-gita and continue to work with all enthusiasm and encourage the others also to do the same. As far as you opening a local Gurukula program there, I have no objection if it can be done nicely. So consult with Satsvarupa Maharaja for further instructions. To develop a farm community such as the one you are doing, it requires much hard work and endurance. But if you work sincerely then Krishna will give you all facilities and men. Therefore continue working and follow the good example that the devotees in New Vrndavana have set and everything will go very nicely. If you have any specific questions you can refer to New Vrndavana and they may be able to help you. Upon your recommendation I have accepted the following as my disciples, and their names are as follows; Doug--Daksina das Robert--Ranjita das Margie--Madhumati devi dasi Danny--Dharmarupa das Sharon--Subhavrata devi dasi Their beads may be chanted on by Kirtanananda Swami or Tamala Krsna Goswami. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps N.B. Also I have accepted Partha, Uttama, __, Bhadra for 2nd initiation--threads enclosed. Labels: Canada, farm, initiation letters | 02:07 |15 December, 1974 Bombay My dear Revatinandana Swami, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 24, Oct. 1974 and I have noted the contents. I am very glad to hear of your program of traveling on the West Coast preaching in the colleges and having radio interviews. This is very encouraging to hear. Actually this preaching work is the duty of a sannyasi. The more he preaches the more he becomes expert and the more the people will accept what he says. So please continue your preaching work and work cooperatively with Jayatirtha Prabhu, and Krsna will give you all facilities. Yes, I also maintain a hope for Syamasundara. Everyone is hoping that Syamasundara will be able to reestablish himself in Krsna Consciousness again. I do not understand why he is engaged in this business of his if there is not any tangible profit. He says that there is big, big money but still he has not yet paid ISKCON the debt that he has. Therefore what is this business. I request you to continue following all of the regulative principles staunchly and encourage all other of my disciples in your preaching area to do the same. This is the most important thing. As soon as one discontinues his staunch following of the regulative principles - such as no meat eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, rising early before 4:00, coming to mangala arati, chanting at least 16 rounds, etc. - then his spiritual life is hampered and there is a chance that at any time he may become a victim of maya. Continue with great enthusiasm this preaching work and inform me from time to time of your current activities. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Los Angeles, preaching, sannyasa letters | 02:07 |14 December 2008 14 December, 1974 Bombay To the People of Bangkok, Thailand Please accept my best wishes. I am sorry I am not able to come but I must remain here in Bombay for some pressing matters. So I am sending my secretary His Holiness Brahmananda Maharaja who will represent me. The Krishna Consciousness mission is not sectarian. We want to do what the United Nations has failed to do. The human form of body is an opportunity for solving all the problems of life. Through evolution we come to the human life for solving this problem. The real problem is the repetition of birth, death, disease, and old age. But there is another status of life where there is no birth, death, disease, and old age. The Krishna Consciousness movement is the means for promoting the human being to that status. This is a great science, and it is elaborately explained in the Bhagavad-gita. So our mission is to give this benediction to all humanity. Let us cooperate together on this basis so that it will be a more effective United Nations, We shall be united on the basis of the prime need of human society, spiritual life. I hope this meets you all well. Faithfully yours, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: Bangkok letters | 02:06 | |
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