a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1970 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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Jul 1, 2006 Wednesday, 1 July, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Damodara, please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 25th June, 1970, and noted the contents. What has happened to Dinesh's letter to the Embassy? Please see that this permission is granted. It is very important business. I do not know what Kirtanananda Maharaja has told you, but where there is want of pujaris only Panca Tattva picture should be worshipped by performance of Kirtana and as soon as Jagannatha or Radha Krsna Deities are installed you will require some qualified pujaris immediately. If there is scarcity of such qualifies pujaris, each center should be satisfied only by worshipping Panca Tattva of Lord Caitanya by performance of Sankirtana. I learn that your marriage is already arranged, so I have no objection. I am glad to learn that you are continuing your mahasankirtana., that is very nice. This is our main business. Temple worship is not so important as Sankirtana on the public roads and selling our literatures. Your class schedule is also very nice. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 14:37 | 1 July, 1970 Los Angeles Y. Jagannatham Bombay ALL GLORY TO SRI GURU AND GAURANGA!! My Dear Jagannatham Prabhu, Please accept my humble obeisances. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your kind letter dated 24th June, 1970, and I am very glad to learn that your last responsibilities in family affairs are now discharged, your two daughters are now married. Now in this ripe old age you can devote yourself for spreading Krsna Consciousness Movement all over the world. Your son is here, so I think with your daughter-in-law you can also come in this country. So far I understand there is some difficulty in getting visa for your daughter-in-law, but as far as I know the immigration laws, if your son is an immigrant he can bring in his wife immediately and without any difficulty. Anyway, whenever your son will meet me I will be so much pleased to take care of him. Hope this will meet you in good health. Yours affectionately, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 14:35 | Jun 30, 2006 Tuesday, 30 June, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Brahmananda, Please accept my blessings. With reference to your sales contract with Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., dated 6th June, 1970, Reference No. ODC-OMIS-Q/70-308, I have today opened a letter of credit for $17,000 and their expenditure of $33.75 under receipt No. 228760, of date, Pico-La Cienega Branch (308), Bank of America, Los Angeles, California. The arrangement is payment will be made in Tokyo by their branch. You can ask Messrs. Dai Nippon Printing Company to take note of this and do the needful. We have lost $105 by opening this letter of credit. We are loser of $72 for one month's interest on $17,000 plus their $33, altogether $105 and odds. So next time make the arrangement that I pay on delivery of the documents. Another point is that if they don't ship by the 20th of July there will be another loss of $35 to reopen the letter of credit. So they must ship the books on or before 20th July and take payment from Bank of America, Tokyo. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db P.S. Can you send some negatives of some very nice color and black and white photographs of our Tokyo center--Sankirtana on the plaza, etc. for propaganda purposes? letters | 19:47 | 30 June, 1970 Los Angeles Manager Security Pacific Bank Culver City Branch Los Angeles Dear Sir: Re: My account No 836-237 with you Please transfer $2517.00 (Two thousand five hundred and seventeen dollars and no cents) to the First National Bank of Boston, Brighton Avenue Branch, in favor of account No. 516-5642, ISKCON Press, and charge the same to my account as above mentioned. Yours sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 19:47 | Jun 29, 2006 Monday, 29 June, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Madhusudana, Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you very much for your letter dated 24th June, 1970, with your check for $200, for which I think you and your good wife, Kancanbala. This kind of letter is very encouraging to me because there is enclosure of a nice check. So we have to pay immediately some bills of ISKCON Press as well as Dai Nippon, so it will be very much helpful. I am very much glad to learn that you have appreciated the subject matter of Nectar of Devotion and Krsna while working on it in the press, and actually these two books will keep us constantly in Krsna consciousness. The secret of Krsna consciousness is open in these two books. Our method is very simple. All different methods of self-realization are little or more troublesome. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gita 12th chapter that persons who have no fixed idea what is God will have unnecessarily more trouble to reach to the goal. Krsna is the ultimate objective. Unless one therefore reaches to this point he remains imperfect never mind what he is either a karmi, or a jnani, or a yogi. For a devotee the objective is directly approached. So persons will be interested simply in reading our books wherein there is only Krsna consciousness described in transcendental varieties. Thus by reading of these books, especially Nectar of Devotion, by the devotees everyone will go back to home, back to Godhead, Krsna. So I wish that all of you, especially those that are married couples, may combinedly advance in Krsna consciousness being constantly engaged in His loving service and that will make me very happy. Please offer my blessings to all the boys and girls. There is some discrepancy in the layout of the Krsna Consciousness Handbook and this will be pointed out by Devananda. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 19:46 | 29 June, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Ksirodakasayi, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 17th May, 1970. I hope everything is going well with your family and the temple, and perhaps you are already in touch with the Rathayatra festival arrangement. Regarding disposing of your business in order to join our business fully, I am simply thinking of your wife and children. Do you think that without conducting your business there will be sufficient provision for upkeep of your family? We require personalities like you to join this movement wholeheartedly, but because you have got wife and children I am hesitating to ask you to close your business. As a responsible head of a family you should consider this point seriously. I have already asked Gurudasa and Mukunda to inquire if some land is available in the vicinity of Regent Park. I have heard that the Government allots free gift land for religious temples. If such land is available, then we can immediately take up the project of constructing a very gorgeous style Indian temple. Regarding our prospective Indian tour in February of 1971, we must now settle up the things during the Rathayatra festival because all important European devotees will collect together in London. The program is to go to India with forty heads, male and female. One local Indian chemist, Dr. Ravidra Pratap Rao, is here and most probably he is going to be our disciple. He is ready to receive our party at Gorakhpur and arrange for our visiting different important places. So the best thing will be to purchase our ticket up to Lucknow if it is possible and then from Lucknow they will receive us by train to Gorakhpur. This is the idea here. Now you should consider what is to be done. So on hearing from you definitely I shall ask Dr. Rao for our proper reception in India. The itinerary is not yet fixed up, but on hearing from you definitely I shall send you. Since Kalyana magazine has published one article about us which perhaps you have seen also we have received many sympathetic letters, and there is possibility of opening at least one dozen centers in India at different places. I am forwarding a copy of this letter to Gurudasa, so during Rathayatra festival you must meet together and make a decision of this World Sankirtana Party. So far we have received sympathetic letters from the following places: Calcutta Bombay, Madras, Lucknow, Gorakhpur Nainital, Almora, Ambala, Ajmere, Ahmedabad, Jodhpur, Vrndavana, etc. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db L.A. July 17, 1970 P.S. This letter was written to you but by mistake it was not posted. A copy of this letter was sent to Gurudasa and probably you had some discussion with him for our Indian tour next year. I shall be glad to hear from you. Hope you are well. I am enclosing herewith two pictures of Rathayatra at S.F. this year. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 19:42 | 29 June, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I hope everything is going on well in your center. I am very glad to know that your sales of our literature and books are very good and improving more. It is natural that such distribution of literatures should increase as the people hear more about Krsna Consciousness Movement, so distribution of our books and literatures is our major propaganda program. But Gargamuni informs me that the payments for BTGs and book sales are not being sent. So the best thing will be to keep daily count of your stock and how many magazines and books sold. Then, regularly, on Sunday of each week the sales proceeds may be totalled for issuing a check to the amount owed to my book fund and to the BTG accounts. Then on each Monday the check may be sent to Los Angeles. So you do this regularly and it will be very nice. Please see that the prescribed routine of temple activities is followed according to schedule and all the members are chanting rounds daily sixteen. Please offer my blessings to all the Prabhus there. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 19:40 | Jun 27, 2006 27 June, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Bhagavan das, Please accept my blessings. I hope you are doing well. I was expecting your arrival here every moment. Anyway, if you come during the Rathayatra festival in San Francisco it will be a great pleasure for me. Brahmananda is also coming. So we shall have to chalk out the future program of our activities. So your presence will be very much appreciated. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 19:39 | Jun 26, 2006 Friday, 26 June, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Dinesh, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 12th June, 1970, and noted the contents. I have also received the copy of the letter which you have submitted to the Embassy of India. Regarding this permission from the Indian Consulate, it must be taken somehow or other. It is very important. I am very glad to know that you are maintaining a nice program of Sankirtana in the Washington area. Yes, this Sankirtana is our prime means for attracting sincere souls back to Krsna consciousness, so continue to improve your Sankirtana as far as possible. It is very encouraging that you have received written permission from the police to chant and take collections. This permission is very important. Please send a copy of the letter to me for reference. So it is very good that your sales of literature are very good and improving more. But Gargamuni informs me that the payments for BTGs and book sales are not being sent. So the best thing will be to keep daily count of your stock and how many magazines and books sold, then regularly on Sunday the sales may be totalled for issuing a check to the amount owed to the book fund and to BTG account. Then on each Monday the check may be sent to Los Angeles. So you do this regularly. Regarding your schedule of temple activities, it is approved by me. So please continue this program of classes, Sankirtana, Deity worship, offering and distribution of Prasadam, and working in Krsna's service. This simple full twenty-four hour schedule will make your life perfect. So your plan to visit the heads of each of the embassies in Washington to give them some Prasadam and explain our philosophy of Krsna Consciousness Movement is very nice. So do it with great seriousness and Krsna will give you all further intelligence. Regarding the proposal of a new center in Trinidad, that is a nice idea. I know that there is a large Indian community there. For the time being just try to train up this nice older woman who is staying with you. Give her all facilities and instruction for understanding our Krsna consciousness way of life. [PAGE MISSING] letters | 09:44 | Jun 25, 2006 Thursday, 25 June, 1970 Los Angeles Radha Raman Vrndavana Dear Sriman Radharamana Sharanji, Please accept my greetings and blessings of Lord Krsna. I am so glad to receive your letter dated 17th June, 1970. The most important subject immediately is that I intend the World Sankirtana Party to visit Vrndavana sometimes in January or February of 1971. So we want accommodations for at least forty men and women which will constitute the Sankirtana Party. So we want a nice place for their stay in Vrndavana for some time. If a big house is available for rent that will be very nice, or if a suitable house is available for purchase that also we could consider. There are many dilapidated big temples of our late native princes and if one of them suitable for our purpose is available either on rent or for purchase we can accept it. As you know the standard of living of Americans and Europeans is different from our standard, it is better if we can accommodate them little comfortably. In that sense commode will be convenient for them. Otherwise, my students are so nicely trained that they can even lie down on the street. But it is my duty to see to their comforts as far as possible. So please let me know if such house is available. It does not matter where it is situated. The next point is whether the principal temples in Vrndavana, say for example Radharamanaji's Temple where you are staying, will have any objection to admit these Europeans and Americans for darsana and kirtana. From sastric point of view there cannot be any objection because they are now pure Vaisnavas following rigidly the rules and regulations. As you already have seen in the Kalyana magazine, April 1970, they are taking twice daily bath, having kuntis, chanting Hare Krsna on the beads, decorating the body with twelve tilaka marks and following the four regulative principles 1) no eating of meat, fish or eggs, 2) no illicit sex, 3) to taking of any kind of intoxicants, including coffee, tea, and cigarettes, and 4) no gambling, strictly. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam that anyone, even in the impious source of birth, if one takes to the Krsna conscious principles he is admitted in Vaikuntha Goloka Vrndavana. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sukdev Goswami says that such things are possible by the grace of Almighty Visnu. Similarly Narada Muni has explained to Maharaja Yudhisthira that one has to be judged by the symptoms of his life and not by his birth. And this is also accepted by the great Bhagavat commentator, Sridhara Svami. So all of my disciples are trained up Vaisnavas, there is no doubt about it. But still if the Vrndavana temple owners object to their admission, then what is the remedy? I am seeking you help in this connection because suppose they go to Vrndavana and if the temple owners object for their admission, then I shall be put into great difficulty. So I am expecting your reply on this point after due investigation. Regarding exporting Vrndavana articles, you may kindly let me know what will be the charges for sending 100 pieces of japa mala, ordinary, by surface mail parcel. So far I have calculated the price of 100 pieces of japa mala will not be more than Rs. 50, and for dispatching by surface post parcel maybe almost the same amount. So kindly let me know if this is correct. I have got my account with Punjab National Bank of Vrndavana, and as such, whenever you supply some goods you will be able to take payment from the bank without any difficulty. Similarly, if your friend supplies Benaras dhoti and sari that will be very nice arrangement. I wish that if our Vrndavana center is opened you may take charge of this center and thus help advancing this Krsna Consciousness Movement all over the world. There is a great necessity for this movement from all angles of vision. I am experiencing practically that through this movement the entire human society will be happy. And as you write to say that, "the Lord has very, very kindly given me human form in the sacred soil of India--simply to serve the humanity and through that Him alone," so this is the opportunity offered to you by the Lord - take advantage of it and set exemplary activities so that our countrymen may know what is the duty of a bona fide Indian. So I will be glad to hear from you at your earliest convenience. I can read your handwriting very nicely. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 09:43 | 25 June, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Brahmananada, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 18th June, 1970, and noted the contents. Regarding the printing of Srimad-Bhagavatam, I have already advised you in my last letter dated 19th June, 1970, not to make contract. We shall continue to print Srimad-Bhagavatam chapterwise on ISKCON Press and when all the chapters are there we shall bind them together. The next book we shall print in Japan will be KRSNA volume II and maybe Bhagavad-gita AS IT IS--Revised and Enlarged Edition if composition is finished. KRSNA volume II is almost ready now. I am so glad to know everything is going well in our Tokyo center, and Krsna will give you all intelligence how to surpass all difficulties of language, etc.; simply continue to work for Him sincerely. Regarding the letter which you wish to send to inquiring persons, yes, if you have the return address to Boston and if Svarupa das can write replies nicely that will be better. But if there is some intricate question he must consult with Satsvarupa. Svarupa can reply in consultation with Satsvarupa, and some of the copies may be sent here so I will see how he is replying. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 09:42 | 25 June, 1970 Los Angeles My Dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 19th June, 1970. Regarding the picture of King Paundraka, Yes, he may be colored blue. Because he was imitating Vasudeva, he had two artificial extra hands attached also. So he might have painted himself blue also. Your question from chapter 89 KRSNA is answered in the beginning of the 90th chapter. I am very glad to learn about Giriraja's tricks for the imitation God. Just like expert business men make profit both ways, namely when the merchandise goes down by price or goes up by price. An experienced merchant makes profit both ways - when the price goes down, he purchases, and when the price goes up, he sells. So our Krsna conscious men should be transcendental business men, and Krsna gives the right intelligence how to deal with all classes of men. The title for the Second Chapter of Second Canto, The Lord in the Heart, is alright. In the cover picture, the footmark on the chest of the Lord should not be painted. Regarding the Deities, although we were formerly advised that they were to be dispatched, we have just received news that they have been delayed in India pending some Government sanction. So you will be informed of Their arrival in due course. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:db letters | 09:42 | |
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