a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1970 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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Mar 18, 2006 March 18, 1970 Los Angeles Manager Bank of Baroda (Calcutta Branch) P.O. Box No. 313 India Exchange Calcutta-1, India Dear Sir: Re: My S/B Account No. 29/12802 with you Through M. M. De Kindly refer to my letter dated 3 March, 1970. It is understood that the transfer of Rs. 5000 to the savings account No. 8/16578 with the United Bank of India Ltd., 157/B Dharmatalla Street, Calcutta-13, in favor of M. M. De, is under process of being sanctioned by the Reserve Bank. Please transfer at least Rs. 1000 to the above account without delay, pending the Reserve Bank's sanction. And after being sanctioned, you can transfer the balance of Rs. 4000. Thanking you in anticipation, and oblige. Yours sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Sriman M.M. De Calcutta, India My Dear Buro, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 14 March, 1970, and noted the contents. I have not received any of your letter dated 13 March, 1970. When I receive that letter also, then I shall reply in detail. In the meantime, you can take this letter to the banks, and do the needful. Yours affectionately, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 11:17 | Mar 17, 2006 Tuesday, March 17, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Suridas, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 15 March 1970, and noted the contents with great satisfaction. In the meantime, I have also received one copy of your first Parisian BTG. So while we are waiting for regular edition of French BTG, you may try to improve this small publication and sell it as far as possible. That is very nice. I have also received one similar letter from London, and I have sent the reply to Gurudasa, and the copy is enclosed herewith so that all of you may follow the same instructions and open hundreds of Temples in Europe combinedly. Mukunda, Tamala, yourself, Syamasundara., Gurudasa, and if possible, George, as well as Hamsaduta and all your better halves just make a very rigid plan for opening centers in every nook and corner of the European countries. I am arranging with Indian sympathizers to get some nice Deities like those in London. So try to install Deities and centers as many as possible. Actually the modern human society is in need of Krishna relationship, so as soon as they will come in touch with our movement, surely they will feel very happy. So kindly execute this responsibility to your best capacity, and Krishna will be very happy upon you. Your combination with your good wife, Jotilla, is very good, and now with greater enthusiasm execute Krishna activities as I have advised Gurudasa also. We must be fully equipped, and the preaching work by pairs of husband and wife will be an unique example to the world. Formerly the Acaryas were generally all Sannyasis, but Lord Caitanya, in His instruction to Roy Ramananda, who was a confidential devotee of Lord Caitanya, but a householder and responsible government official, Governor of Madras, has given open instruction that it does not matter what is the social or ecclesiastical order, if one is fully in Krishna Consciousness, he can act as Acarya. So all you boys and girls who are now married, follow this instruction of Lord Caitanya, and show vivid example to the world how man and woman can be united, not for sense gratification but for the service of the Lord. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 11:16 | March 17, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Tamala, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 13 March, 1970, and noted the contents with great satisfaction. I received one similar letter from London, and I have sent the reply to Gurudasa, and the copy is enclosed herewith so that all of you may follow the same instructions and open hundreds of Temples in Europe combinedly. Mukunda, yourself, Syamasundara., Gurudasa, and if possible, along with George, as well as Hamsaduta and all your better halves just make a very rigid plan for opening centers in every nook and corner of the European countries. I am arranging with Indian sympathizers to get nice Deities like those in London. So try to install Deities and centers as many as possible. Actually, the modern human society is in need of Krishna relationship, so as soon as they will come in touch with our movement, surely they will feel very happy. So kindly execute this responsibility to your best capacity, and Krishna will be very happy upon you. Your marriage with Madri Dasi is a good news, and now with greater enthusiasm execute Krishna activities as I have advised Gurudasa also. We must be fully equipped, and the preaching work by pairs of husband and wife will be an unique example to the world. Formerly the Acaryas were generally all Sannyasis, but Lord Caitanya, in His instruction to Roy Ramananda, who was a confidential devotee of Lord Caitanya, but a householder and responsible government official, Governor of Madras, has given open instruction that it does not matter what is the social or ecclesiastical order, if one is fully Krishna Conscious, he can act as Acarya. So all of you boys and girls who are now married, follow this instruction of Lord Caitanya and show vivid example to the world how man and woman can be united, not for sense gratification, but for the service of the Lord. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 11:14 | Mar 16, 2006 March 16, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of the edited copy of tape #19. I shall reply the points listed by Pradyumna in a separate letter. I have received information from the Scindia Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. that the pair of Deities, 24 inches high, weighing about 50 kilograms the pair, will be arriving in Boston sometimes by the end of May 1970. They will be delivered by the New York Agents of the company. The Deities will be carried by the vessel ``Jalapalaka.'' So you may note this, and you have to prepare a bigger throne for accommodating the larger Deities. When the large Deities are installed, the small Deities should be worshiped as Vijaya Vigraha which means this pair of Deities may go outside the Temple in a small car as they have made in L.A. This car was made by Nara Narayana, so he can give the idea. This Vijaya Vigraha may be taken out with Sankirtana Party, not always, but conveniently. In due course of time, I shall let you know the details. Your Temple will save about $400, including price and freight of the Deities from Vrindaban, India. This money may be contributed to my book fund. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. I am enclosing a note for Pradyumna herewith, please find, and also a poem to be published in BTG. Your tapes have daily been received. ACBS:db letters | 11:13 | March 16, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Gopala Krishna, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your check of $100 for my book fund account and thank you very much for it. I have received information from the Scindia Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. that the pair of Deities, 24 inches high, weighing about 50 kilograms the pair, will be arriving in Montreal sometimes by the end of May 1970. They will be delivered by the Montreal Agents of the company. The Deities will be carried by the vessel ``Jaladhan.'' So you may note this, and you have to prepare a bigger throne for accommodating the larger Deities. When the large Deities are installed, the small Deities should be worshiped as Vijaya Vigraha which means this pair of Deities may go outside the Temple in a small car as they have made in L.A. This car was made by Nara Narayana, so he can give you the idea. This Vijaya Vigraha may be taken out with Sankirtana Party, not always, but conveniently. In due course of time, I shall let you know the details. Your Temple will save about $400, including the price and freight of the Deities from Vrindaban, India. This money may be contributed to my book fund. I have just heard from Gargamuni that you would like to print future issues of French language BTG in a small size about the size of our ``Two Essays.'' So if you think that this will help increase the sales, then do it with my approval. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 11:13 | Mar 15, 2006 Sunday, March 15, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Gurudasa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 8 March, 1970. At first, I must thank you very much for your slides and the viewer, which I enjoy whenever I find some time. The pictures of London Temple immediately get me there, and I enjoy your company. So I can understand that everything is going on well in London Temple. The service of the Lord should be so nicely executed that Radharani will bestow upon you blessings, raising Her right hand palm. You have got a very nice wife, a devotee and intelligent. So both husband and wife combined together please see that the Temple service is being executed regularly and nicely, and thus make your lives happy and successful. Side by side, both of you should train your junior brothers and sisters in the service of the Lord, so that in case both of you go for preaching work, the scheduled program of the Temple may not be hampered. We should follow two important lines, namely the Pancaratriki Bidhi as well as Bhagavata Bidhi. The Bhagavata Bidhi is preaching work, and Sankirtana, and Pancaratriki Bidhi is Temple worship of the Deities. The Temple worship will keep us sanctified, and when we shall preach in sanctified, pure heart, the preaching will be immediately effective. So we have to follow the two parallel lines simultaneously for successful execution of Devotional service. Regarding George Harrison, I am sure he will improve now in Krishna Consciousness. Krishna Consciousness is developed only by service. So he has very willingly and gladly served Krishna in many ways. The recent ``Govinda'' record, which your good wife has sung along with you, is certainly super-excellent, and it has become so nice because of George's attention upon it. So whenever this nice boy comes to our Temple, please receive him very nicely. Give him Prasadam and if possible talk with him about Krishna, and thus he will advance more and more in Krishna Consciousness. When I remember all of you in London, as well as George Harrison, I become very happy because the combination is very much hopeful. I am so glad to learn that George has said, ``I don't want to make nonsense records any more.'' This version of George I consider very valuable. His popularity and his great talent can be very nicely utilized by producing such nice records as ``Govinda,'' instead of producing something nonsense. In our Vaisnava literature there are hundreds and thousands of nice purportful songs, and if those songs, under George's supervision, are recorded, I think it will bring a great revolution in the record making business. So when he says that he does not wish to produce nonsense this does not mean that he has to close his business. On the other hand, he will get greater opportunity for producing finest transcendental records which are still unknown to the world. When you meet him again, you can talk with him what I am speaking to you in this letter. My special thanks are due to your good wife, Srimati Yamuna devi. Her singing songs of Krishna Consciousness, and Krishna will certainly bless her and you all. Please offer my blessings to all the boys and girls, and be happy. You will be pleased to know that Acyutananda is also doing very nicely in Calcutta. He is moving in very enlightened circles of Calcutta, and somebody is giving us a plot of land worth Rs. 80,000 for constructing a Temple there. When the Temple is constructed, I shall ask you to go there with your wife and preach Krishna Consciousness amongst the Indian community. Sometimes you desired to go to India, and Krishna will fulfill your desire to a greater extent. Krishna's service is so nice. Keep this faith always in mind and serve regularly--your life will be sublime. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. Please send more beautiful slides in plain cardboard frames. ACBS:db letters | 11:11 | March 15, 1970 Los Angeles Dear Sri Balmukundji, Please accept my blessings, and offer the same to your good wife. As advised by you, I have already written letters to the Murti makers as well as to Birlaji and Jaipuraji. Actually my mission is to establish hundreds and thousands of Temples like the one which I have established in London and other places. And I wish that every Indian who has a little love for Krishna may cooperate with me in this attempt. Please try to understand this Krishna Consciousness movement as very, very great. The people are missing the point--love of Krishna, and if somehow or other they can revive their lost consciousness and be fixed up in Krishna Consciousness, all questions and problems of the world will be solved very easily. So I would again request you to take up the preaching work of this great movement. It does not matter whether you accept Sannyas order of life or not. You can preach this Krishna Consciousness movement even along with your good wife, and why not this procedure? My disciples are only children. If they can preach this Krishna Consciousness movement husband and wife together, without having any background of Vedic culture, why not an experienced gentleman like you with full knowledge of Vedic culture preach this movement? If you take up this work in right earnest, I am sure you will feel transcendental bliss. I thank you for your assurance that you are coming here very soon, and I shall await your arrival with great interest. If possible, come along with your wife also. Regarding Birlaji and Jaipuraji, I think if you also write to them, because you are personally known to them, it will be very nice, and induce them to supply these Murtis because that will be a great cooperation with our movement. Anyone who will cooperate with this movement will be transcendentally benefited. Please try to convince them of this point, and oblige. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 11:10 | March 15, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Harer Nama, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 3 March, 1970, and I am very glad to know that you six boys are pushing our Krishna Consciousness Sankirtana movement in the Boulder-Denver area. Please work cooperatively and do it nicely. Regarding your several questions; yes, it is best to get all such points cleared up so that our understanding may be firmly fixed up in our philosophy. The best process is to rigidly execute one's prescribed devotional duties regularly, and to study the books and literatures very carefully in the company and guidance of experienced devotees. The essence of our program is to chant daily Hare Krishna mantra at least sixteen rounds without fail, and thus one remains strong in spiritual life. So far chaunce is concerned, I think you have been wrongly advised to burn the cumin seeds and chilis until they are very black. The chili should be added to the hot ghee just after the cumin seed begins to darken in color, and both of them should become brown, but not black or burnt. I think this adjustment with a little trial will improve the dahl for offering to the Deities. But I see that you have many such questions about our philosophy. Under the circumstances it would be very good if you come to Los Angeles for some time to learn these questions and answers in the daily classes here. This is a good opportunity to clear up any doubts or misunderstandings, and the best program is if you come here for study. I am personally lecturing here weekly especially for our devotees. Regarding Neil's study of Sanskrit, I am very glad to learn of his seriousness to study, and we need many such Sanskrit scholar devotees. When it is convenient, he may study with Pradyumna in Boston, and there are Sanskrit courses at the university there also. In the meantime, for his studies, Manva Dharma Sastra is not bona fide. The Hitopadesa is alright for study. Yes, I will visit Boulder temple, so please inform me what is the best time. And when you come to Los Angles, you can advise me in particular how I should come there. Hope this will meet you in good health. Please offer my blessings to all the boys there with you in Boulder. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 11:09 | March 15, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Acyutananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 10 March, 1970. In the meantime I have received the package of badailaich very timely. Devananda told me that there was only one pod balance, so it arrived very timely. Thank you very much. Regarding the Bhowanipur plot, I have already advised you in this connection. It may be transferred as unconditional gift to the Founder Acarya, ISKCON: A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. I am also very glad to understand that Mr. Ashok Mitra, along with his children, are singing along with your Kirtana. And thus I think many others will also join. Sriman Ashoke Mitra has donated one khol and one portable typewriter to you, and this is a sign of his service to Krishna, and thus surely he will make progress. You will be glad to learn that here in the States also many influential people and organizations are becoming very interested in our Krishna Consciousness movement, and one invitation for speaking before such a group is enclosed herewith. I understand that there was some press interview, and in future also whenever there is press interview, you can remember the following points which will help you to make a clear understanding of our Krishna Consciousness movement. Try to convince in the meeting that the difference between animal society and human society is that the human society has in some form the ideals of Krishna Consciousness or God Consciousness. That is religion. Religion without God Consciousness has no meaning. And God Consciousness means that we are eternally related with Him. He is the Father, and everyone of us is the part and parcel or son. He is the Supreme Leader, and we are subordinates. He is the Supreme Maintainer, and we are completely dependent on Him. Whatever we possess, including our body and our self, everything, belongs to Him. When one is completely in sense of this fact--he is God Conscious. And unless a living entity becomes God Conscious, he cannot be happy. So this is our propaganda. There is no question of sectarianism. Every religion should have this aim in view. But that system of religion which teaches development of God Consciousness is first class. We have to estimate by the result, and not by the formalities. So this movement, Krishna Consciousness, very quickly develops this God Consciousness, and it is very easy to adopt it. But, at the same time, we must remember that a sinful man cannot develop God Consciousness. The four pillars of sinful life are: 1) illicit sex, 2) animal killing or animal eating, 3) indulgence in intoxication in any form, and 4) take to the life of gambling. We therefore request all religious institutions to check their followers from the reactions of these four principles of sinful life. That will pave the way of developing God Consciousness, and thus all the people will be happy. It is not a question of following this religion or that religion. It is a question of philosophy of life. Our Krishna Consciousness philosophy is practical, easier, and based on sound reasoning and philosophy. We place it before impartial, thoughtful men of the world, and we are certain that they will find it sublime. As you have desired that some Brahmacaris would go immediately to help you for developing the Calcutta and Mayapur centers, I have decided to send immediately at least two nice Brahmacaris to help you there. I have seen the rough diagram of the proposed Bhowanipur Temple, but I suggest that in some corner of the house there must be a garage, because in future I wish that you American boys should live elegantly to the tradition of your great country. But at the same time you shall preach the Sankirtana movement, becoming humbler than the grass and more tolerant than the tree as instructed by Lord Caitanya. The plan suggested by you that the ground floor be the hall, etc. is quite nice, and I think you may see the plan of the Caitanya Research Institute which may help you. Regarding Mayapur land, I understand that ____ Ali is in problem for keeping the money. I understand that he wants to invest the sale money to purchase another suitable land, but he has no such land in his view at present. Therefore he does not wish to sell the land. This plea is not very sound argument. But in this connection, he may be informed that why he should keep the sale money at home? He can make a fixed deposit of the money in a bank at Navadvipa, and he will get interest also. Then when he may find some land, he can withdraw the money. Anyway, if he is not willing to part with his land, you can arrange to purchase the land of Yayabar Maharaja or any other available land. We do not mind if it is not on the roadside. If the land is interior, but cheaper and of bigger area, we shall prefer that. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 11:09 | March 15, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Ekayani, Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you very much also for your nice letter dated 24 February, 1970, and thank you very much for your kind appreciation of Guru, that is very nice. I am very much pleased to know that you are chanting at least the prescribed number of rounds daily and studying our literatures so carefully. Especially for girls this is absolutely necessary, and that will uplift you position in Krishna Consciousness. So stick to rigidly following the regulative principles and Krishna will keep you more and more engaged in His service, then your life will be always happy. All this is good news that you are very studious and always busy. I am so much encouraged to hear how you are preaching in the school. That is very nice, and that is your first-class engagement. Prahlada Maharaja, in his childhood, was doing this. As soon as he got some opportunity, he would preach among his class fellows. His class fellows would be astonished to hear him, and they would ask Prahlada, ``My dear Prahlada, where have you learned these things. We have got the same teachers, so where have you been taught this?'' They were inquisitive, so Prahlada informed them that his Spiritual Master was Narada Muni and he was taught while he was in the womb of his mother. So just imagine how much powerful is spiritual instruction that it was effective even while the child was in the womb. Similarly, if you chant and read, you will also be powerful to preach, and whoever will hear will be converted. That is the way of spiritual life. You are not poor. Of course one should be humble, but a devotee is not poor. Your attitude, however, is that you are poor and humble is nice. But one who is in Krishna Consciousness is the richest person. What value have these material riches got? But when it is engaged in Krishna's service, it is spiritualized. Regarding your question where is the Gayatri mantra in the first verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam, I have explained in my purport to the first verse that the Gayatri mantra ``Dhimahi'' is purposely invoked by Srila Vyasadeva. This explanation is given on page 53, and in the verse, the mantra concludes the sloka param satyam dhimahi. Regarding the statement in Bhagavad-gita (17.6) that those who are demons parch the Supersoul within the body, Krishna cannot be parched, but one who observes fasting irregularly gives unnecessary trouble to the soul; and the soul and the Supersoul sitting together or the soul being part and parcel of the Supersoul, indirectly it is parching the Supersoul. The idea is that one should not unnecessarily give trouble to the soul or Supersoul. That is the business of the demon. Regarding Ballaba Sampradaya, that is a different Ballaba than the younger brother of Srila Rupa Goswami. I am very glad to know that you are so eager to start a center when you get married. That is very nice. We want to open hundreds and thousands of centers in every town, village, neighborhood, and everywhere. And we want to show ideal householder life also. If one pair of nice Krishna Conscious householders are there, so many people derive benefit out of their behavior. So when you decide to marry we shall find out a suitable devotee husband for you. Yes, you can make nice children's books, and in this connection, you can correspond with Satyabhama who is already working on a condensed version of KRSNA book. And you should continue your painting, then with love and devotional practice your pictures will become all attractive because of the bona fide transcendental subject matter. However, in the meantime, you write to say that you have painted Mother Yasoda light blue color. Please let me know where you have received this information. Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja should be colored as Indians are generally of a light brown, tan like wheat. Regarding Svetadvipa, the information is given in the Brahma Samhita, Svetadvipa, the Abode of Lord Caitanya, is a special portion of the same spiritual planet, Goloka Vrindaban. I am so pleased to know that you are carefully caring for your Deities and that you chant before Them always when at home. So the Lord is very kind upon His sincere devotees, and He will provide more and more opportunities for such a sincere devotee as you to advance in serving and remembering Him at all times. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 11:06 | March 15, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Subala, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 12 March, 1970, and I am so much pleased to learn about your gradual progress and success in preaching work. You are a sincere devotee, and Krishna will give you more and more chance for preaching His glory. I am very glad to know that you have arranged a nice meeting in the National Conference of Christians and Jews. I am sending herewith copies of my address to the Japanese people, as well as the preface to my book, KRSNA. They will help you to have some clear idea of our Krishna Consciousness Movement. You know them all, and still this will be a great help. Try to convince in the meeting that the difference between animal society and human society is that the human society has in some form the ideals of Krishna Consciousness or God Consciousness. That is religion. Religion without God Consciousness has no meaning, and God Consciousness means we are eternally related with Him. He is the Father, and everyone of us is the part and parcel or son. He is the Supreme Leader, and we are subordinates. He is the Supreme Maintainer, and we are completely dependent on Him. Whatever we possess, including our body and our self, everything, belongs to Him. When one is completely in sense of this fact--he is God Conscious. And unless a living entity becomes God Conscious, which is his constitutional position, he cannot be happy. So this is our propaganda. There is no question of sectarianism. Every religion should have this aim in view. But that system of religion which teaches development of God Consciousness is first class. We have to estimate by the result, and not by the formalities. So this Movement, Krishna Consciousness, very quickly develops this God Consciousness, and it is very easy to adopt it. But at the same time, we must remember that a sinful man cannot develop God Consciousness. The four pillars of sinful life are: 1) no illicit sex, 2) animal killing or animal eating, 3) indulgence in intoxication in any form, and 4) take to the life of gambling. We therefore request all religious institutions to check their followers from the reactions of these four principles of sinful life, and that will pave the way of developing God Consciousness, and thus all the people will be happy. It is not a question of following this religion of that religion. It is a question of philosophy of life. Our Krishna consciousness philosophy is practical, easier, and based on sound reasoning and philosophy. We place them before impartial, thoughtful men of the world, and we are certain that they will find it sublime. Hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 11:05 | Mar 14, 2006 March 14, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Labangalatika, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 5 March, 1970, and please let me know in which bank you have deposited the money and on what date. I advised in my previous letter that I have closed my account for the time being in Montreal, so all money should be sent to me here. Anyway, if you let me know the name of the bank and the date, I will recover it. Henceforth, all money sent to me should be sent directly to me. I have received word from Satyabhama that your son is doing nicely in New Vrindaban and is gaining strength in devotional service. So you are very fortunate. Krishna has blessed you with a very good devotee son. Take care of your son, and take care of Krishna and you will be happy. You are a nice devotee in the service of the Lord and that will make you always happy. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 11:04 | March 14, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Satyabhama, Please accept my blessings and offer the same to your good husband Paramananda. I am very glad to receive your letter dated 28 February, 1970, along with the first part of the condensed version of KRSNA book. Regarding the organization of our theistic school at New Vrindaban, I am happy to know that you are now proceeding with regular classes. So it is better late than never, and now it will develop nicely. You are an educated and understanding devotee of Lord Krishna. Now Krishna will see your sincere cooperative efforts and He will provide all necessary facilities for continued growth of our educational center. I know the atmosphere in New Vrindaban is very, very nice, and the children will surely benefit greatly in their advancement of spiritual life. So please do it carefully, and I am certain that when we are fixed up there, many parents will like to send their children for education in our New Vrindaban school. I am so glad to know that the boys are being taught 4 to 5 hours daily by the combined teaching of yourself and Devakinandana. Of course their spiritual progress is natural because of the good association of devotees and their good fortune to be in the service of the Deities. I am so much encouraged to learn how they are becoming purified and elevated in Krishna Consciousness, and are just like spiritual gopas. That is very nice. Mr. DDD and Ekendra also are very good boys, so see that they may be trained up well because they are our future Krishna Consciousness society. I am very happy to learn that your son is growing strong and blissful. That is good news. And that you desire to raise many such souls in Krishna Consciousness is very nice proposal. We need as many Krishna Conscious men as possible, trained from the very beginning of their lives, to carry on our mission and purify the society. Regarding the condensation of KRSNA book, I have read it and it is very nice. Try to work on it as time permits; and in the meantime, you can have some xerox copies made, then later on we shall find opportunity to print it. You write to say that Paramananda is always thinking of me and he is working hard to develop New Vrindaban transcendental community. That is very good. I know Paramananda is a very good soul, and you together are good combination. So do everything enthusiastically to develop our New Vrindaban scheme and advance forward in Krishna Consciousness life. I hope this will meet you all in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 11:04 | Mar 13, 2006 March 13, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Bali Mardan, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 7 March, 1970. I am so much obliged to you for the fine sentiment you have expressed in connection with my humble service. But this is not very extraordinary—every human being, for his own interest, should accept a Spiritual Master and abide by His order. This is the Vedic system, and whatever we are trying to do, it is in pursuance of the old order. Anyway, somehow or other, we are now combined to execute the great will of Lord Caitanya that we should propagate this Krsna consciousness movement through out the whole world. By Krsna’s grace you have gone to Australia with this mission, and I am pleased to learn about the arrangement which you have already made. Here also, in the States, Kirtananda Maharaj is getting good response from the student circle. In two important colleges our TLC has been taken as study course, and two other colleges have purchased lots of books for their students. Actually this is a fact, that the books and literatures which we are presenting, are unparalleled at least in the Western countries. So if you can convince the parties concerned, you can also introduce our books and literatures for study in the university circle. So I am awaiting your report of the University meeting. Your sincerity of purpose will itself help you more and more because the Lord is sitting within your heart and as soon as he sees that you require to do something for His service, He will immediately give you all facilities. For being legally organized, I think if you open a branch of the ISKCON Ltd., incorporated in England, it will be easier for you. Australia is a Commonwealth property, therefore an organization already registered in England can open its branch in its dominion without any difficulty. You can simply take the registered number and date from Mukunda and get it noted by the Registrar in Sydney, and it will be alright. I talked with Gargamuni about dispatching Upendra’s wife as early as possible. For the present, he is collecting all money for payment of the church property, $50,000 to be paid on or before 1st April 1970. He says that to send Upendra’s wife means another $1000 at least. It is understood that Upendra was to send back $1500. He has taken $2000; out of that $500 would go for his travelling expenses. It was so arranged that as soon as he reached Sydney, he would send back $1500 out of $2000. Now I understand that he has sent you a wire for returning back the money because it is required in connection of purchasing the church. I therefore ask you to send the money without delay, and after the transaction with the church property is closed, Upendra’s wife to go there. The thing is that he has already given $2000, and again he has to pay another $1000; then the business here will suffer. But it was so arranged that Upendra was to return back $1500. Why he is delaying the matter? I am glad to know that the boy, Noel, is helping us in so many ways. This is also Krsna’s grace. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS: db letters | 08:07 | Friday, March 13, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Sudama, Please accept my blessings. I am so glad to receive your letter dated 7 March, 1970. I have received your tape yesterday, but without waiting for this tape, I have already recorded a speech and several songs also. The tape is already dispatched to you by air mail. Please acknowledge receipt. The typed copy of the lecture also you will find along with the record. Yes, because the transcendental sound vibration directly appeals to the soul, therefore everyone will take it if the vibration is made by a pure devotee. We should therefore try to fix up our mind to remain in our spiritual position by chanting and following the regulative principles. Both in our American and European centers things are improving, and I hope you shall also do the needful. I am very glad to learn that you have engaged one older Japanese lady for translating our lectures. This is a great opportunity that you have got a good translator. Give her sufficient work for translating, and certainly she will turn to be Krishna Consciousness. Regarding your projected study of all aspects of Japanese language--writing, reading, and speaking--for spreading Krishna Consciousness to all the Japanese speaking people all over the world, that is just our program, and you should do this without fail. As you have written that Tokyo is the largest city in the world and there is no limit to the scope of our preaching work there, your work there is very important to spread our mission. I am so pleased to learn that you have held several successful kirtanas and also you were on the T.V. program. So now we are in the news and people will be inquiring more about our movement, so your progress in preaching Lord Caitanya's message in Tokyo is very much encouraging to me, and I am so happy to note your sincere determination in this matter. When you are able to find out a house for inviting interested persons to live in our Krishna Consciousness community, that will be very much helpful. Please offer my blessings to your good wife, Cintamani Dasi, and to Bhurijana who is your valuable aide, and to all the other boys and girls there. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 07:58 | March 13, 1970 Los Angeles Gita Press Gorakhpur, India My Dear Sriman Bankaji, Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you very much for your kind letter dated 23 February, 1970, addressed to my London center and now re-directed to me. I left London sometime by the end of December, and since then I am staying here which is my headquarters. Here we have got the biggest center for training preachers, and the climate here is quite suitable for us (Indian). I exactly remember you that you kindly took care of me when I was guest of Sri Hanuman Prasad Poddarji sometime in the years 1961 or 1962. I shall remember those days. I beg to convey my thanks again that you have remembered me even after so many years. I thank you very much also for your kind appreciation of my humble service in the cause of Krishna Consciousness movement. I think every Indian is responsible for spreading this movement all over the world. That is the order of Lord Caitanya in pursuance of the dictum of Lord Krishna. Lord Caitanya says that anyone who has taken birth as a human being in the land of Bharatavarsa should sanctify his life, taking advantage of the Vedic culture, and then distribute the knowledge for welfare activities of the rest of the world. As you are personally assisting Sri Poddarji, it will not be difficult for you to understand how much Vedic culture is important for the human society. Vedic culture is perfect knowledge, and without that knowledge, a human being is a polished animal in different degrees. This Vedic knowledge is summarized in the Bhagavad-gita, which is the cream of all Upanisads. The Lord personally says in the Bhagavad-gita that the purpose of Vedic knowledge is to understand Krishna. And Krishna can be understood by His devotee who has been fortunate to have a little fraction of the Lord's mercy. Bhagavatam says, ``My Dear Lord, one who has a little bit of mercy of the rays of Your lotus feet can understand You a little bit. So far others are concerned, they may continue to speculate on You, still they are unable to know what You are.'' In the Bhagavad-gita also, the Lord says to Arjuna, ``I shall teach you the philosophy of the old system of Bhagavad-gita because you are my dear friend and devotee.'' This is the secret of understanding Lord Krishna or to enter into the confidential part of Vedic knowledge. The preaching of Bhagavad-gita has been going on both in India and abroad, but almost all of them on the speculative background without any knowledge of devotional service to the Lord. Many Swamis before me came in the Western countries, and they say that nobody could act so wonderfully as I am doing. Perhaps it is right. But I do not know how such things are happening. The only reason that can be adduced is that I am presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is. In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The living entities are His eternal parts and parcels. The duty of the part and parcel is to render service to the whole; as much as different limbs of the body are engaged to render service to the whole body. These things are very simple to understand, but when they are presented in a round about way, simply by jugglery of words, it becomes cumbersome, and the desired result is not achieved. Lord Caitanya advised that everyone of the Indians should go outside and, carrying His order or following His footsteps, one should preach Krsnakatha. The Krsnakatha is Bhagavad-gita as well as Srimad-Bhagavatam. If you split the word Krsnakatha, then it becomes Krishna's words or words spoken about Krishna. So Krishna's words are directly Bhagavad-gita, and words spoken about Krishna is the Srimad-Bhagavatam. I think the Society to which you have referred in your letter under reply, namely Vishva Hindu Parishad, should take up this message of Lord Caitanya if they are actually serious about doing something for the Vedic culture which is known as Hindu culture. Actually there is no such word as ``Hindu'' in the Vedic literatures. The ``Hindu'' name was given by the Mohammedans with reference to the river Indus or Hindus, from Sindhu. So the Vedic culture is not for any sect of country, it is meant for the whole human society. In other words, Vedic culture is also known as Sanatana Dharma which means ``eternal function of the eternal living entities.'' Krishna is eternal, and we all living entities, being parts and parcels of Krishna, are also eternal. And the reciprocal exchange of love between the two eternals is called ``eternal occupational duty'' or Sanatana Dharma. I am very glad to know that you are very much anxious to cooperate with my movement in the Western world. And if you kindly do so, it is not only welcome, but also Krishna will be very much pleased upon you and bestow His blessings. If your friends who are ``educated and ambitious band of young workers'' will agree to follow my direction, I think they can render a great service to the human society. We should not any more think in terms of Hindu society. If we limit ourselves to Hindus, then there will be many competitors like the Christians, Mohammedans, Buddhists, and so on. But if we preach the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness in right earnest, it will be accepted throughout the whole world. And that is practically experienced during the last three or four years. There are thousands of my disciples, European and American; their background is not Hindu culture, and still they are accepting this Krishna Consciousness philosophy. Some of my students are from the Mohammedan sect also; but all of them conjointly are chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, dancing in ecstasy, honoring Krishna Prasadam, and happily living on Vedic principles; namely as Brahmacari, Grhastha, Vanaprastha, or Sannyasa, not to mention their personal dealings in the matter of four kinds of prohibitive regulations; namely no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat eating, and no gambling. So we have to train the whole younger generation at the present moment by the simple method recommended by Lord Caitanya, and then this movement, Krishna Consciousness will spread all over the world. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 07:57 | March 13, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for sending me the transcribed copies of two tapes #17 and #18, and I see it is well done. Although there are some minor mistakes in spelling of the proper names, that is not a problem. In my next letter I will point them out and give the correct spelling. So offer my thanks to all the boys and girls who are working so hard for my Guru Maharaja's sake. Certainly He will be very pleased and bless you all for making your Krsna Consciousness life very successful. I have already written to Candanacarya to come back and help in the matter of layout. Brahmananda is already there; and please see that everything is managed nicely and at least one book is published every two months. We do not need to publish a large number at a time, but what I want is that all the manuscripts which are ready for printing may be published without further delay. That will give me much satisfaction. Your article published in the college newspaper is very nice regarding the eclipse. If we stick to our principle, certainly very soon we shall be recognized as a bona fide institution; and who can give better information than us in the matter of Spiritual understanding? The first volume of KRSNA may be delivered with pictures to Dai Nippon. I do not know whether it shall go directly to Japan or through their N.Y. office, that is up to Brahmananda. So as soon as possible, please deliver to them--it is already delayed. Regarding missing tapes, Devananda has written to both Detroit and Buffalo and he has sent you a letter also in this connection. So very soon you should be receiving the delinquent tapes from Detroit and Buffalo and then see if any are actually missing. If they are missing, I shall have to record them over again. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 07:56 | Mar 12, 2006 Thursday, March 12, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Citsukhananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 10 March, 1970, along with the check for $50, and thank you very much for the same. I am pleased to see the newspaper clipping from San Jose State College newspaper, and learn that the students are already attending your Bhagavad-gita class at the Experimental College. I am also very much pleased to have your report of progressing the public interest in Krsna Consciousness. The secret of success will depend on yourself keeping on the spiritual strength by regularly chanting and following the regulative principles, and side by side you have to act on preaching the gospel, and it will go on without any impediment. I was so pleased to learn that the police officer was afraid of being converted and therefore he asked you to go, but with full support for your Sankirtana activities. It is very nice. I am sorry to learn that Candrabali is not there, and she is living with her uncle. Do not be worried, she will come back; and if you give me her address, I shall write to her. Krishna will give you timely a suitable place, don't worry about it. Our leader, Sanatana Goswami, was living underneath a tree, and He was keeping His Deity, Krishna, hanging on the branch of the tree, wrapped up in a cloth--and still He was always engaged in the service of the Lord. So place or no place, we must go on with our preaching work. Please keep me informed about your progress, and offer my blessings to all the boys. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 07:54 | March 12, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Candanacarya, Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your nice letter of appreciation. The kindly words that you have used in this connection are very much pleasing, but all the credit goes to my Guru Maharaja. He asked me to take up this job as soon as I met Him in 1922; unfortunately I was so worthless that I delayed the matter until 1965, but He is so kind that by force He engaged me in His service; and because I am very much worthless, therefore He has sent me so many of His nice representatives--the beautiful American boys and girls like you. I am so much obliged to you that you are all helping me in the discharge of my duties towards my Spiritual Master, although I was so much reluctant to execute it. After all, we are the eternal servants of Krsna, and by the Divine Will of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura we are now combined together, although originally we are born in different parts of the world, unknown to one another. This is the way of Krsna transaction; so let us, with great enthusiasm, preach this cult all over the world and make the people happy. They are missing the central point, Krsna, and our duty is to remind them--then everything will be alright. So follow the path chalked out by our predecessors, and success is sure. I am very much pleased to learn that the Columbus center has been nicely organized since you have gone there and things are going on nicely. In the meantime, I have received news from Boston that Aravinda alone cannot make the layout business very quickly. I think, therefore, if you sometimes go there, help him in this connection, and again come back, that will be very nice. If you so desire, you can remain in Boston and take up the charge of layout business. And sometimes you may go with Kirtanananda Maharaja. That will be nice. Now we are growing, and if we work cooperatively, our strength will also grow, and then the mission will not be checked in its progress. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 07:53 | March 12, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings and offer the same to Srimati Himavati. I am so glad to learn that both of you have safely reached your destination. Now work with great enthusiasm and ask Himavati to take care of the Deities very, very nicely. Both of you have seen in L.A. how much they are careful about Deity worship. We have to make our steady progress, keeping both sides in balance; namely the Pancaratriki Biddhi and Bhagavat Biddhi. The Pancaratriki Biddhi is Arcana or Temple worship, and the Bhagavat Biddhi is to preach by chanting and distributing literature. Although chanting is quite sufficient to cover all the Biddhis, still to keep ourselves pure and sanctified, we must observe the rules and regulations of Pancaratriki Biddhi. Our London Deities are certainly very, very nice; and everyone is captivated by seeing the smiling face of the Lord. It is very enchanting. Now everything is there and you are also experienced, therefore go on opening branches as many as possible and preach Sankirtana movement to your best capacity. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura entrusted the responsibility to my Guru Maharaja, and He also in His turn empowered us to do the work. Similarly, I am requesting you, all my European and American students, to spread this movement city to city and village to village and make all people of the world happy. Actually they are missing the central point--Krsna, therefore they are unhappy. Let us inform them about this missing point, and certainly they will be happy. Regarding the $1800, please immediately transfer the money to my checking account No. 3081-61625, Bank of America, Pico-La Cienega Branch (308), 8501 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, Cal. 90035. I will have to issue a check for $20,000 by the end of this month, so I want as much money as you can send. There is no question of straining yourself, but try to help us because purchasing that nice church property is a great responsibility--but the property is worth purchasing, as you have all seen it. Regarding World Sankirtana Party: now the best of my students interested in Sankirtana; namely Mukunda, Tamala, and yourself, are now in Europe, so I hope in the near future you shall organize a very grand World Sankirtana Party and make a tour all the world over. And if you like, I can also go with you. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 03:53 | |
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