a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1970 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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Apr 29, 2006 Wednesday, April 29, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Pradyumna, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter. Regarding your questions about the calendar-almanac: 1. Herapancami is correct (9 July 1970). 2. When there is an important Dvadasi, the Ekadasi fasting is transferred on the Dvadasi, and this is called Mahadvadasi. The 26th October, 1970, is actually Dvadasi, so the fasting is observed together, or Ekadasi fasting is disregarded, and the Dvadasi (Mahadvadasi) fasting is taken as important. You were give this old Panjika just to consult the names and spelling only. The dates are different, so whatever date I have given, that is correct. Why you are searching Byanjali Dvadasi in this last year's Panjika? What I have given is from this year's Panjika, so everything will not collaborate. 3. The word is __. That is called Odana-Sasthi and the date is 14th December, 1970. That is correct even if you do not find it in the dictionary. The dictionary may not have every word. 5. 7th February, 1971--Varaha-Dvadasi, I have explained the position in regard to #2. 6. So far determining Ekadasi it is counted 11 days after the full moon and 11 days after the new moon, but sometimes it so happens as you have noted one day later. However, what I have given is correct. The Panjika which I gave you is old Panjika, our calendar is for this new year. Regarding the Prayer book, I did not ask you to transliterate this--somebody else has underlined, I have not underlined it. I have received both the prayer book and the panjika also with your letter. Regarding your work on the Staal Correspondence, locating references to chapter and verses and adding appropriate translations after the Sanskrit, that is alright as you have done it. On page 13 of Three Essays, manasinah is the correct word. You must always ask the Lord's grace to make you in the right position. It is not for your sense gratification, it is for the Lord's service. For the Lord's service we can ask for His grace and mercy a hundred times, but for our sense gratification we cannot pray or ask anything--that is pure devotion. I have also received a note from you, and regarding KRSNA chapter 31, page 4, top, the word Hrdaya is correct. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 21:51 | April 29, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Cidananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 27th April, 1970, and have noted the contents carefully. I have referred the matters concerning Ananda, temple management, etc. to Gargamuni, and He will advise you further in this matter. In the meantime, I invite you to come visit me here in L.A. for a week or so, then you can speak with me directly. So please try to come here at your earliest convenience, and that will be very nice. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 21:50 | April 29, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Brahmananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of the text proof for BTG #32. I am looking through it now, and will return it to you soon. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 21:49 | April 29, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Madhudvisa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated nil and have noted the contents. Regarding our proposals for an Indian program of Krsna Consciousness, I think it will be best if you come here sometime soon at your convenience and we can discuss it in more detail. You also wanted to come here to take further inspiration from the L.A. temple activities. So you may ask Muljibhai to come with you also, and we can discuss together our future plans for India. I will be very glad to see you both at that time. Regarding Citralekha, her husband is anxious to have her there, and she is also anxious to go to him, so why the matter is being delayed? Even she has applied for immigration visa, that does not mean that she can be detained from going on a visitors visa while the immigration visa is being approved. She has got some urgent business there in Australia, so does it mean that because her immigration visa will take some long time she cannot carry out her important business immediately by means of visitor's visa. So while she is waiting for the immigration visa, send her there with a visitor's visa, and get it done as soon as possible. The matter is being too much delayed. I do not think the immigration department will make such a law that she cannot go immediately to her husband just because her immigration visa has not yet been cleared. Anyway that is my experience. So please do the needful. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 21:49 | Apr 28, 2006 Tuesday, April 28, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Pradyumna, Please accept my blessings. I have just received the blueprint copy of KRSNA, the Reservoir of Pleasure and I have begun to read it through. But I notice that there are some points you should correct before the final printing. I have already noted you the injunction that you should change the pretipadika artha to first case ending instead. Sannyasin should be printed Sannyasi, etc. So please correct these. Another point is that there are some errors in the English also. On page 2 it should read ``. . . decided to kill his sister, Devaki.'' but it has become sisters, plural. Then, what does it mean?: ``The Lord's compromise was that He had Vasudeva propose . . .'' This does not seem to be very clear or at least it is very awkward expression. So please see that the editors make a very careful final proofreading before printing the final copies. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 22:26 | April 28, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Citsukhananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 23rd April, 1970, and I am so much encouraged to learn of your activities in the San Jose area. I have noted the newspaper clippings, and they are very favorable comments. I am especially happy with the article placed by you in the Red Eye, it is very nice presentation of Krsna Consciousness in nutshell. I have also received the check for $50, and I beg to thank you very much for this. Regarding your first question, who is the speaker of Isopanisad? The speaker is the Vedas personified. In the Vedic age a disciple heard from the Spiritual Master messages which were coming down in disciplic succession, so a disciple, whatever he heard from his bona fide Spiritual Master, would recite. The Vedic mantras are known as Sruti, to hear from authoritative source and then repeat it, chanting. So there is no question of who wrote it, it is said that no human being has compiled them. Later on, before the beginning of Kali Yuga, all Vedic mantras were written in books, most of them were done by Srila Vyasadeva Mahamuni and his different disciples. Regarding your second question, in reference to Isopanisad mantra 15, should a devotee ask the Lord to reveal Himself the answer is yes. Unless the Lord reveals Himself, the devotee cannot see Him, He reserves the right of being exposed or not being exposed. The yoga maya curtain is always covering the Lord, and in the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, ``I am not visible to everyone.'' Even in the material world, a man in the position of Presidentship is not visible to everyone. So one has to qualify himself by devotional service, then God will reveal Himself. So this Isopanisad mantra is an appeal by the devotee to move the veil of yoga maya or the glaring effulgence of Brahma so that the devotee can see Him face to face. The idea is one has to transcend the material conditions as well as the Brahma effulgence, then one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here the word ``face'' means the Absolute Truth is a Person. That is the most important point, that God is ultimately a Person. Regarding the disturbing groups of ``Christians'' so-called, that is alright. Let them follow Lord Jesus Christ. Regarding their dogmatic insistence, everyone thinks like that, so if one is not prepared to advance more, it is better to avoid them. If one is limited by some formulas only, he is described as an animal which is bound up by the chain of the master and cannot move beyond the length of the chain. So we are concerned with persons who are not chained by anything. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 21:48 | April 28, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 24th April, 1970. Yes, publish the Bengali poem which I am sending herewith. Get it transliterated by Pradyumna. The meaning is as follows: My Dear Lord Krsna, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me. 1 But I can guess that You have got some business here, otherwise why should You call me here which is demoniac. 2 Most of the population here is covered by ignorance and passion modes of nature, and I do not know how they will be able to understand the transcendental message of Vasudeva. 3 But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything possible because You are the most expert mystic. 4 Therefore, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I can be able to convince them about Your message. 5 All living entities have become under control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can also be released from the clutches of illusion. 6 If You so desire, I wish that You may deliver them, and only by Your such desire all of them will be able to understand Your message. 7 The words of Srimad-Bhagavatam are Your incarnation, and if they receive it in submissive aural reception, repeatedly, then they will be able to understand your message. 8 In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Second Chapter, verses 17 through 21, it is said: "Anyone who gives aural reception to the transcendental message about You, which are always auspicious, by hearing and chanting, for him You become special well-wisher, and thus remaining within his heart You clear up all inauspicious understanding. When such inauspicious understandings are almost clear, at that time one realizes the importance of devotional service. In that stage of understanding, the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion becomes almost nil, and the resultant action of passion and ignorance cannot anymore attack the heart, and thus he becomes joyful being situated on the platform of goodness. When he thus becomes jubilant on account of awakening the modes of goodness by dint of devotional service, at that time he becomes liberated from material contamination and is able to understand the science of God. In this stage of liberation all misgivings in the heart, or bondage of material network, becomes cut into pieces, and he is elevated from all sorts of doubts in the science of God. At this stage the result of past activities becomes vanquished because of his realization of the Supreme Lord." 9-13 This is the process of becoming liberated from the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion, and thus they can become freed from all inauspicious things accumulated in the heart. 14 But because I am very unfortunate, unqualified, and the most fallen, therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I may be able to convince them about this (Krsna Consciousness). 15 Somehow or other, You have brought me here to speak about You. Now it is up to You to make me a success or failure as You like. 16 You are the Lord of the whole creation, so if You like You can make my power of speaking as suitable as they can understand. 17 By Your causeless mercy only my words may become transcendentally pure, and I am sure when such transcendental message is penetrated in their hearts certainly they will feel engladdened, and thus become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life. 18 I am just like a puppet in Your hands, and You have brought me here, now You can make me dance as You like. 19 I have no devotion, nor I have any knowledge, but still I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, now if You like You can just fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta. 20 The most unfortunate, insignificant beggar, Bhaktivedanta Swami, on board the ship Jaladuta, Commonwealth Pier, Boston, Massachusetts (U.S.A.), dated 18th September, 1965. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 21:47 | Apr 27, 2006 Monday, April 27, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Mahananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 20th April, 1970, along with a check contribution for my book fund of $150, and thank you very much for this. I have also received the picture of an ``Angel'' printed in the detroit newspaper, and it is a great credit how our men are appreciated by the people. Your appreciation of our Krishna Consciousness Movement is very nice, and if you will carry this practical philosophy to the people of your great nation you will know the result for sure that this movement is the solution to all the problems of life. So I am glad that you are now going to our Washington center with your good wife. Please work there combinedly with great enthusiasm in advancing in Krishna Consciousness. I am very glad also that you and Hladini Dasi are now married in tilak by Sriman Bhagavan das. Please take my blessings for your spiritual marriage, and be happy in Krishna Conscious life. Regarding your questions are the Spiritual Master and the Grand Spiritual Master consciously aware of the prayers of a sincere devotee who prays in love to Them?--the answer is that no conscious prayers go in vain. They are transmitted positively. But one thing you must know that any prayer you offer to your Spiritual Master and Superior Spiritual Master, all of them are conveyed to Krishna, so no sincere prayers go in vain. We shall always offer such prayers to Spiritual Master, Superior Spiritual Master, Vaisnava Acaryas, Lord Caitanya, and at the end Radha Krishna, that is the system. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 21:58 | April 27, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Rupanuga, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 22nd April, 1970, along with enclosure of one check for $200, and thank you very much for this. The moving Sankirtana Party was programmed long, long ago, even when I was in India. When there was talk about preaching amongst our God-brothers, I used to say to my God-brothers that when I would begin preaching I shall take two trucks, one for Sankirtana Party and one for carrying requisites, and I would go from village to village throughout the whole world preaching Lord Caitanya's message. So the time has come as per my dream, by the grace of Krsna you are carrying on this program. Please therefore organize this moving Sankirtana Party as you are already doing from one school or college to another. If we can rightly impress the Krsna Consciousness idea in some intelligent student's heart, it will be of great service. Perhaps sometime after, I will request you and Kirtanananda to go to India and execute this program in the student community there. I am negotiating with a gentleman in India to get the management of a very old Radha Krsna Temple, and if this negotiation is successful, we will organize a very nice preaching center in the center of India. From this part, any side extreme boundary is not more than 1000 miles. I think that will be a very nice preaching center. So try to recruit more members for our Society because we have to open many centers, and from each center we shall organize this moving Sankirtana Party. That will be nice program for executing the will of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I am very glad to learn that you are visiting the near about centers--keep them alive by such visits. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 21:44 | Apr 26, 2006 Sunday, April 26, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Woompati, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters dated 14th and 21st April, 1970, respectively, and I am very glad to receive good news that your Krishna work is going on nicely. You have selected your bride, Ilavati, who I think is a French girl, so I think this marriage will be nice. But our all selection should be with a view to serve Krishna, that we must not forget in any circumstance! The other point is that all my best students are now in Europe. Yourself, Tamala, Mukunda, Hamsaduta, Syamasundara.--all of you are in now double strength, so please do things very enthusiastically and organize the world Sankirtana Party because in India the people are already expecting us next year. Also open as many branches as possible. So it is very good that now all the devotees can take Prasadam together. All the devotees must keep together, that will be an extra strength. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 21:42 | April 26, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Himavati, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated sometime April, and I am so glad to learn that you are making advance in Krishna Consciousness as it is scheduled. It appears that you are on the attachment platform, this is very good. The next platform is ecstasy, and then pure love of God. So stick to your duties at the present moment, and when it is convenient you can go with the Sankirtana Party, but never neglect the Arcana regulation at any cost. If you have no time, you are not required to go with the Sankirtana Party. Your first business is to take care of the Deities. Practically you see that everyone is appreciating your Deity worship and Srimati Radharani is smiling, so it is a great credit for you, so continue this engagement. Regarding going together with Hamsaduta on Sankirtana Party, no, there is no need of specifically helping Hamsaduta because you are now engaged in direct service to the Lord, and it must be understood that this service is your specific duty. I do not think you require a child for the purpose of example. You had one child, and by the desire of Krsna the child did not stay. Now you can forget of any child. Just do the present service with great care and affection, that will be your best service to Krsna. Better to accept Krsna as your child, and He will never leave you like material child, He will stay with you forever. For raising children in Krsna Consciousness, you will get many opportunities to do so. When I was householder, I was just taking care of one or two children, but after retiring from my household life Krsna has given me chance to raise so many nice children for raising them to Krsna Consciousness. So instead of desiring to raise a bodily child to Krsna Consciousness, if you stick to this service, Krsna will give you many children for that purpose. I am so glad to hear of Hamsaduta's determination to become Krsna Conscious. The determination is difficult, Krsna Consciousness is not difficult--Krsna Consciousness is natural. One knows how to love another, so instead of loving so many others, one can very easily take to the business of loving Krsna--this is determination. That much is required, otherwise Krsna Consciousness is not difficult. Regarding your question, a sinful person, never mind what kind of sinful man is he, is taken in subtle body to the place of Yamaraja, and there he is trained up in a particular type of suffering. As soon as he is trained up, he is given a particular body by which he can endure such sufferings. You write to say that you look forward to that day when sense gratification will become simply insignificant, and yes that is the stage of pure Krsna Consciousness when our only desire is to be serving Krsna with no personal considerations whatsoever. You want to do whatever is necessary for spreading this Krsna Consciousness Movement, so that desire will help you, and you will be able to serve my cause surely. You ask how is it possible to actually become Krsna's servant; yes, it will be possible. Go on with your engagement, and it will be possible. Patiently go on. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 21:41 | April 26, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 22nd April, 1970. Til now I have received none of the amounts mentioned by you. So far Berkeley amount is concerned, I understand that they are going to purchase a house, so it will be utilized for that purpose. So far the other amount, I have not yet received any intimation from the bank. I thank you very much for your kind appreciation of my humble activities, and you always pray to Krsna that the remaining days of my life may be thus engaged in executing the orders of my Spiritual Master. So far you are concerned, I request all my spiritual sons and daughters to help me in this great adventure, and if you all help me, I am sure I shall be successful. Now our next program will be to lead a Sankirtana Party round over the world. It is already advertised in India from mouth to mouth that I am coming there next year with forty disciples. So I think we must keep this program in the beginning of our next year. There is already invitation in Africa. One party may go from London via other countries to Bombay, and another party may go from here via Japan to Calcutta, and then they will meet together. We have been offered a very nice place in central India. I am negotiating with the proprietor of this place, and if by Krsna's grace we get this central place in India, then from this center you can go to any extremity of Indian boundary and it is the same distance of about 1000 miles. All my best students are now in Europe, in pairs. Yourself, Mukunda, Jaya Govinda, Syamasundara., Gurudasa, Tamala, etc., you are all advanced and selected, now your program will be to recruit many sincere souls from European countries, and open branches. Your desire for opening a center in Copenhagen may be suspended for the time being unless we recruit some members from Europe because all the best students have already gone there, so it will be difficult to send men from America at the present moment. In America also we have to open so many branches, so I think you should not expect any more members from America for organizing European centers. Now you should recruit men for our purpose from Europe as many as possible, in France, Germany, England, etc. All of you do everything conjointly, and at the same time try to organize the World Sankirtana Party. Always be in touch with Tamala, Mukunda, Umapati, Syamasundara., etc., and perform Rathayatra ceremony in London very gorgeously this year because all of you are there. Umapati has already selected the French girl, Ilavati, as his wife, so I am sanctioning this marriage because it will be help for the French language work. So for Haripriya Dasi Krsna will give very soon a nice husband. Best thing will be for her a German husband who can help us in our German language work. It is very encouraging that you are selling an average of 180 BTGs per day, and just try to increase as much as possible. Regarding what to do about local authorities checking your Sankirtana activities in the streets, just show to the police officer how peaceful we are. They should give us help to encourage such peaceful activities. We should not take any action in angry mood. Lord Caitanya has advised to become more humble than the grass and more tolerant than the tree, and be ready to offer all respects to others while not caring to accept any respects for oneself. As far as possible we will try to follow this principle, and Krsna will help us in all respects. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 21:40 | April 26, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Ksirodakasayi, Please accept my blessings. Since a long time I have not heard from you. I hope you are well in Krishna Consciousness. Please let me know what you are doing. I am anxiously awaiting your reply. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 21:31 | Apr 25, 2006 Saturday, April 25, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Sudama, Please accept my blessings. Regarding Tosho Printing Company, what has happened?--it is very urgent. I have not as yet received any reply whether these people are agreeable. I want to settle up this thing, so let me know definitely about their decision taken from them in writing. If our regular printing is done there, whether you will be able to supervise it? Either yourself or Bhurijana Prabhu, if you take this responsibility, it will be a great help. If you so desire, Brahmananda can also go there for some time to train you how to do this press management. So kindly reply this letter. I am very much anxious to hear from you. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db P.S. Try to introduce Japanese BTG as soon as possible. letters | 07:37 | April 25, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Jagadisa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 20th April, 1970, along with a Canadian money order for $278, and thank you very much for this. I am very glad to know that your Maha-sankirtana. with coordination of Buffalo are so successful. Please continue this program as you have suggested and surely Krishna will see that your more vigorous efforts to spread His movement are successful more and more. Regarding Brijbasi posters, just take out pictures portraying Krishna with cows, with Gopis--just Krishna pictures, no pictures of demigods. Those pictures are alright. Regarding your questions about how and from where did the conditioned souls fall, your first question if someone has a relationship with Lord Krsna on Krsnaloka, does he ever fall down? The souls are endowed with minute independence as part of their nature and this minute independence may be utilized rightly or wrongly at any time, so there is always the chance of falling down by misuse of one's independence. But those who are firmly fixed up in devotional service to Krsna are making proper use of their independence and so they do not fall down. Regarding your second question, have the conditioned souls ever seen Krsna? Were they with the Lord before being conditioned by the desire to lord it over material nature? Yes, the conditioned souls are parts and parcels of the Lord and thus they were with Krsna before being conditioned. Just as the child must have seen his father because the father places the child in the womb of the mother, similarly each soul has seen Krsna or the Supreme Father. But at that time the conditioned souls are resting in the condition called susupti which is exactly deep sleep without dream, or anesthetized state, therefore they do not remember being with Krsna when they wake up in the material world and become engaged in material affairs. I hope this will satisfy your questions. Please offer my blessings to your good wife, Laksmimoni, and to all the other girls and boys there. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 07:36 | April 25, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Daughter Kasturikadevi Dasi, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 13th April, 1970, and now I have just received your new set of beads. Thank you very much for your nice letter. I am very happy to accept you as my disciple, and your initiated name is Kasturika Dasi. I am very glad to know that you have been recommended for initiation by Sriman Rishi Kumar, and now please continue to follow strictly the four regulative principles of no eating of meat, fish or eggs, no taking of intoxicants including coffee, tea and tobacco, no illicit sex-life, and no gambling. Be sure to always chant daily your sixteen rounds on your beads, and be happy in Krishna Consciousness. I am very pleased also to note your nice attitude of humbleness in the service of the Lord, this is a very important qualification of a devotee. Now try to learn our philosophy very nicely with the help of your elder God brothers and sisters, go on Samkirtan, and always be engaged in some kind of Krishna work, then Krishna will bless you to advance more and more in Krishna Consciousness. Hope this will meet you in good health. Kasturika is the name of one of the Gopis, associates of Krishna. And you are Kasturika Dasi or the maid servant of Kasturika by name. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 07:34 | Apr 24, 2006 Friday, April 24, 1970 Los Angeles Friar Park, England My Dear Syamasundara, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 20th April, 1970. Regarding George's foreword, you write to say that certainly there will be no more changes. Do you mean that the changes which you have already suggested in you letter dated 11th April with quotation from Swami Vivekananda are to be added? We cannot add any quotation from Swami Vivekananda. In your letter of April 11th you have asked me to insert ``What right has a man to say he has a soul if he does not feel it, or that there is a God if he does not see Him?'' Do you mean I have to put in my KRSNA book all this nonsense quotation? This man (Vivekananda) has no understanding either of soul or of God and still he has posed himself as a Swami to mislead so many innocent persons. Understanding of the existence of soul is the beginning of teachings of Bhagavad-gita. If one has no understanding of the soul and God, he is no better than an animal because animals cannot have any idea of the soul or God. So how can I add these nonsense quotations? George's foreword as it was originally sent can be published with little editorial changes, but in no case can the quotation from Swami Vivekananda be placed in my book. You have already admitted in your letter dated 11th April that it hurts you to see this change, quoting a rascal like Vivekananda, so please let me know clearly what you want me to do. If you think that George's foreword will help the selling of the books, then it may be published as it was originally sent. I am glad to learn that George is chanting now Hare Krishna with you, and that will make him advanced. You write to say that George is still not convinced that there is not something beyond the form or body of Krishna. He is thinking that beyond Krishna there is an unmanifest God. These are all vague questions. I think by unmanifest God he means impersonal Brahman. This is quite natural for persons who try to understand God by their own endeavor. God cannot be understand by such ascending process of speculation. You can give a common example how God cannot be understood by ascending process. Take for example that there was one Mr. John who was the great-grandfather of the great-grandfather of George. So if George wants to know about this Mr. John, his forefather, is it possible for him to know about Mr. John by speculation? He has to know about Mr. John by family history spoken by his father or grandfather. Similarly, God is the Supreme Father, so if anyone wants to know about God, he must try to understand Him through the history of creation. This is called Parampara system. This Bhagavad-gita is spoken by God Himself, and that is the best source of knowing about God. He cannot be known by our limited exercise of the senses. The difficulty of understanding God as person is that as soon as there is conception of person we think of God as a person like us. Therefore, in the Vedas, the personality of God is described in different ways which are distinct from our personalities. The Veda says that God has no legs or hands, but still He accepts all the sacrificial offerings. He has no eyes, but He can see everywhere--past, present, and future. He has no ears, and still He hears everything that you are talking. He knows every nook and corner, but nobody knows Him, what He is. He has nothing to do, and nobody is equal to or greater than Him. He has got immense potencies and therefore everything in His creation is performed as perfectly as anything. In the Bhagavad-gita also there are many statements confirming the above Vedic descriptions. So when Vedas say that He has no hands and legs, He has no eyes, He has no ears, but still He can accept our sacrificial offerings and He can see everything, these statements clearly indicate that God has hands and legs, but they are not exactly like ours. In the Bhagavad-gita you will find that Krishna says ``I am sitting in everyone's heart, and from Me one remembers, forgets, speculates, and so on.'' His name is Hrsikesa which means the Master of All Senses. We are exercising our senses, therefore, according to His direction. In that sense, if every living entity is working under His direction, then all the legs and hands which are existing all over his creation are His legs and hands. We are simply instrumental. When the Veda says that He has nothing to do, it means that He has so many hands and legs that personally He has nothing to do. It is not very difficult to understand that a big business man is sitting in his room and thousands of workers are engaged in different activities under his direction. So practically the business man's brain is working, but when we see the business man alone in the room we see that he is not working. So we have to understand God from authoritative sources by spiritual education by being trained under the experienced guidance of a self-realized personality, otherwise how we can understand such vast subject matter delineating about God? So George's question that there is something beyond Krishna is answered by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita that there is nothing superior beyond Himself. Krishna is the original Cause of all causes. This is the fact. If He wants to know the subject matter clearly, then he should be prepared to receive the knowledge from the right source, and if he wants to consult such persons who have no knowledge of the soul or God, then how can he learn about the transcendental subject matter? If he is serious to know about these things, then he must know it from the proper channel. You cannot learn music from a carpenter. If you want to learn music, then you have to approach an expert musician. So how he can learn about God from persons like Vivekananda who had no preliminary knowledge of the soul, even? So best thing is if he is serious to know about God, tell him to begin reading Vedic literatures, and we have published our Isopanisad. Let him seriously read this book and whenever he has to question, he can ask from us, but he should always remember that he should try to know about God from a person who is in touch with God, not from a speculator. You have asked me to disclose my dream about John, so I beg to state the incident as follows. I dreamt that John took me in a place at Calcutta and he was showing me a house, a big palatial building, which formerly belonged to a very rich man, and he was a famous musician also. I think therefore that John was previously that man to whom that house belonged, and now he has taken birth in England. It is quite possible that he has inherited his past musical talent, and because that man was very liberal and charitable, so he has acquired some wealth also, and now in this life if he properly utilizes his talent and wealth for Krishna, then surely he will achieve the highest perfection of his life. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 07:34 | Apr 23, 2006 April 23, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Sri Birlaji, Please accept my greetings and blessings of Lord Krishna. I thank you very much for your kind letter dated 17th April, 1970. You have rightly pointed out that people are becoming more materialistic in this age on account of their forgetfulness of Krishna Consciousness. Actually there is nothing like materialism. Materialism means forgetfulness of Krishna or God. We are preaching therefore Krishna Consciousness. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said that the first-class religion is that which teaches love of Godhead. At the present moment, one professes a type of religion, but does not develop real purpose of religion, namely love of Godhead--that is materialism. Materialism does not mean that one has to possess so many things, the actual fact is one may be a perfect transcendentalist of spiritual man by possessing the whole world, and one may be a gross materialist without possessing a farthing. So this distinction can be made on the basis of consciousness. When one is Krishna Conscious possessing everything in the world, he is perfect spiritualist, and one may have renounced everything in the world, but lacking in Krishna Consciousness he is a gross materialist. In my recent publication of Isopanisad I have tried to explain this fact on Vedic authorities, and I am sending by separate Air Parcel one copy of Isopanisad and I hope you will read this book conveniently with interest. Regarding London temple, I can appreciate very much that your goodness is anxious to have an imposing temple in London, so in my next opportunity I shall take up this matter more seriously and I shall let you know in due course. Regarding the two pairs of marble murtis, I do not know where you have ordered them. I hope you must have ordered them from Jaipur because in that city there are many good artisans for manufacturing such murtis. But kindly see that the facial expressions be as nice as the bust I have sent you of our London Deities. In this connection, I may inform you that I have some correspondence with a Jaipur marble dealer, and they have agreed to supply the murtis less 20% off their catalog price. Their catalog price for 40 inches high marble murtis is Rs. 2300 per pair, and they have agreed to give us 20% discount, so I am sending a copy of the letter. If you think it is favorable, you can do the needful. I am very glad to know that you have sent some copies of Bhagavad-gita in Hindi and English, and I shall see to it as soon as they are received here. With my best wishes, I beg to remain Yours in the service of the Lord, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 07:33 | |
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