a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
|
|
| Prabhupada Letters :: 1970 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
|
|
Sep 29, 2006 Tuesday, 29 September, 1970 Calcutta My Dear Upendra, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your very encouraging letter dated Sept. 21st, 1970, along with some nice photos of your Sydney activities and some favorable reports from the local newspapers. All this publicity is very nice for our Movement and people are beginning to seriously appreciate our work. I have had good reports also from Jagadisa in Toronto and he says that in Canada the people are very receptive to our Krsna Consciousness philosophy. I am very glad to now that you are following a strict schedule of devotional service and that will keep you all strong in Krsna Consciousness. Please maintain this standard and improve further. It appears that Krsna is giving you nice facilities and nice devotees also for fulfilling His Mission in Australia. Please train the new devotees nicely and have them carefully read our literatures so they get a fine understanding of our Krsna Consciousness. Regarding your invitations to speak at different gatherings of yogis etc., wherever you go speak pure Krsna Consciousness. God is One. He is All-Attractive. Therefore His technical Name is Krsna. In other words, Krsna is God and God means Krsna. So you can preach this philosophy anywhere, never mind whether it is to yogis or bhogais. Please offer my blessings to all the boys and girls. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:ds letters | 18:35 | 29 September, 1970 Calcutta My Dear Jananivasa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you for your letter dated Sept. 18, 1970. I am very glad that you have taken to heart the instructions of your Spiritual Master. A bona fide disciple takes the instructions of his Spiritual Master as his life and soul and thus he is advanced on the path of devotional service. You are a very intelligent and sincere devotee of Lord Krsna and you have a natural inclination for preaching His message. This is the proper spirit for our Movement, so go on with increased enthusiasm preaching in the different schools and colleges in the vicinity and Krsna will give you more intelligence for serving Him properly. I am pleased to learn that you have got a course at the Ohio State University; the students received me very nicely when I spoke there last year, so please continue their instruction in this most important subject of Krsna Consciousness bhakti cult. Regarding your proposed marriage, if you think it is nice then you have all my blessings upon you both. If you do not think you can remain brahmacari, then it is better to remain in Krsna Consciousness as householder and not pretend to brahmacarya artificially. From your description the girl seems very qualified and sincere, so you continue to train her in our Krsna Conscious way of life and she will work together with you as your helpmate in Krsna's service. I am very glad to know that you are going on with your work undaunted in spite of police harassment. Now you are seven devotees there, so please see that everything is done regularly and strictly to the standard devotional practice. All our literatures are for guiding you in your successful prosecution of Krsna Consciousness, so follow these instructions of mine implicitly and your perfection of life in Krsna's service is guaranteed and you will have the spiritual strength for attracting and training others in this bhakti cult. Please offer my blessings to all the devotees and keep me informed about your progress regularly. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 18:34 | 29 September, 1970 India My Dear Daughter Aditi Devi Dasi, Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you for your letter dated from London. You are a very fortunate girl to have come in contact with our Krsna Consciousness Society and I am so happy that you are tasting a drop of the nectar of devotional service to Lord Krsna. If you simply continue seriously following this program of rendering loving service to the Lord your life is sure to become soon filled with happiness and joy in Krsna's service. I have duly chanted the beads sent by you and I am glad to accept you as my initiated disciple on the recommendation of Sriman Gurudasa. Your initiated name is Aditidevi Dasi. Aditi is the name of the mother of the demigods. Please try to learn this Krsna science perfectly well and that will give ultimate meaning and perfection in your life. Please follow very carefully the four restrictions of no eating of meat, fish or eggs; no gambling; no illicit sex; and no taking of any kinds of intoxicants. Chant at least sixteen rounds on your beads daily without fail and avoid the ten offenses in the matter of chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. They are: 1) Blaspheming the Lord's devotee; 2) Considering the Lord, Krsna, on the same level with the demi-gods or assuming that there are many Gods; 3) Neglecting the order of the Spiritual Master; 4) Minimizing the authority of the Scriptures; 5) Interpreting the Holy Name of God; 6) Committing sin on the strength of chanting; 7) Instructing the glories of the Lord's Name to the unfaithful; 8) Comparing the Holy Name with mundane piety; 9) Inattention while chanting the Holy Name; and 10) Attachment to material things while engaged in the practice of chanting. Study our literatures with the help of your senior God-brothers and sisters, go on Sankirtana when possible, take special care to remain always engaged in some Krsna conscious activity, chant Hare Krsna Mantra always and be happy. I am very pleased that you are so sincerely and humbly trying to surrender to the instructions of Krsna and your Spiritual Master. This is the prime qualification of a devotee, so maintain fine attitude and advance in Krsna's loving service. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. Your beads are returned by separate air post along with those of Srimati Lilasakti. letters | 18:34 | 29 September, 1970 Calcutta My Dear Jagadisa, Please accept my blessings. I am so very much encouraged to see your fine letter dated Sept. 21st, 1970, and your movement is being recognized by the sensible persons. Naturally there will be increase of new members everywhere. Since we have come to Calcutta many boys are coming to us even they were very much subversive to the social orders. People are very much appreciating our Movement. Wherever we go for preaching work hundreds of men gather and they contribute liberally according to their capacity. We have already two centers in Calcutta and trying to have our own center in the most important neighborhood of this city. So the idea is--you work sincerely on behalf of Krsna according to instructions of Lord Krsna in His great magnanimous form as Lord Caitanya. I know you are very intelligent and sincere servant of Krsna, so try to serve His Lordship to your best capacity and He shall give you proper intelligence. You know that Krsna is Spiritual Master from within and Spiritual Master is manifestation of Krsna without. That is the position; both ways a sincere student is instructed, which is called Guru-Krsna kripa. Simply you have to receive it properly and execute it orderly. Take care of the new devotees so that they may read our literatures carefully and come to the real standard of understanding. Our strength is not material strength, but spiritual strength. So if spiritual strength is not strong now, try to make Sripati and the others stronger by spiritual means by following the regulative principles and chanting sixteen rounds. Formerly Jayapataka was president of Montreal center; now he is working here in India very intelligently although it is a foreign city. Regarding your cooperative program with Karandhara for realizing the great potential for Krsna Consciousness in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, that is very good news--do it carefully. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 18:33 | 29 September, 1970 Calcutta The Central Bank of India Calcutta RESOLVED A meeting of the President, Secretary, Treasurer and Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Calcutta Branch, at 37/1 Hindusthan Road was held, and it is passed by resolution that a local account be opened with the Central Bank of India, Ballygunje Branch. In the meeting the following gentlemen were present: His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founder-Acarya Tamala Krishna Das Adhikari-President Acyutananda Swami-Secretary Jayapataka Swami-Treasurer Out of the four, checks will be signed by any two. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Founder-Acarya ACBS:tkda letters | 18:32 | Sep 28, 2006 28 September, 1970 Calcutta, India My Dear Damodara, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your encouraging letter dated Sept. 19th, 1970. I am so glad to know that things are progressing nicely with your center. That should be our constant care--to maintain what we have already established and continue to improve the standard as far as possible in the loving service of Lord Krsna. Your program seems very nice. Your are now six strong devotees, so work together very diligently for the spreading of Krsna Consciousness Movement. Your report of present improvements in the temple and Sankirtana Party and preaching trips to the university campuses is very nice. You are a very intelligent devotee of Lord Krsna and if you turn over your intelligence to Him, He will bestow upon you more and more intelligence how to serve the Spiritual Master and Krsna in full Krsna Consciousness. That is the perfection of your life. So please use your good intelligence for serving Krsna only and do not be misled to divert your attention elsewhere. Yes, here in Calcutta things have been very much favorable for spreading our Movement ever since arriving here. We have got now two centers in Calcutta and things are very promising. Please offer my blessings to your good wife, Mrganetra, and all the other devotees, boys and girls, in our Washington temple. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 18:31 | Sep 26, 2006 Saturday, 26 September, 1970 Calcutta My Dear Hayagriva, Please accept my blessings. I have received your letter of Sept. 11, 1970, and have noted the contents. It is nice that you are personally managing New Vrindaban now, and I am sure that everything is progressing nicely just to the standard. So for the present just continue in this way. Krishna will give you all intelligence how to do it. Regarding Mr. Ginsberg's article, yes, it may appear if it is followed by an adequate refutation. But kindly make the refutation very strong; then that will be nice. I am adding some points that you may elaborate on. 1) As you state, Krishna is identical with His name. That means that His name has the same qualities as Himself, i.e. sat, chit, ananda. No mundane vibration is eternal, otherwise why does it grow tiresome and have to be changed every other week. Nor do mundane songs produce real knowledge or bliss unending. Also, this transcendental vibration purifies one. Anyone can see practically how our students are becoming purified, but the chanters of material songs are not. 2) Ginsberg says these words are physical in a frankly physical universe. But this is not true, for actually everything is spiritual. It is only under certain conditions, viz. forgetfulness of Krishna that this internal or spiritual energy of Krishna becomes material. Therefore when we hear the name Krishna, which is identical with Krishna, we must remember, and in that way everything is purified. 3) Tennyson may have felt something when he chanted Tennyson, but does anyone else? Does Mr. Ginsberg want to chant Tennyson, Tennyson? But everyone enjoys chanting Krishna. That means there is something different about His name. He is the center of everyone and everything. 4) Krishna explains in the 7th Chapter of B.G. that there are four classes of men who approach Him. There are millions of men in distress, or searching for money, or curious, or searching for knowledge, but only a few come to Krishna, and all of them are mahatma--simply because they have come to the right place, Krishna. That is not by chance, but due to their past pious deeds. No one can approach Krishna without being purified, so this is the process. But no matter what the original motive, if one actually comes to Krishna he is mahatma. S.B. confirms it that if someone follows all the rules and regulations very nicely but doesn't come to Krishna it is useless, and similarly if someone comes to Krishna, even if he doesn't follow very nicely, he is perfect. Also, B.G. 7/19 says that the wise man after many births comes to know that Krishna is everything. So Krishna is central. So we may begin our chanting with some motive, but that is not the final stage. Love of Krishna is final, and how can we develop that unless we are chanting and thinking of Krishna? 5) Some analyst or priest or lover may widen the consciousness from this to that, but only Krishna is without limit and therefore can widen the consciousness infinitely. That is the difference. The material world has varieties of this and that, this thing more than that thing, but only Krishna is without limit, and if we desire ananda, bliss unending, we must go to Krishna. 6) Hare Krishna cannot be compared to any sexual cry because the sexual cry is a call for some partner to come satisfy the caller's desire. That means it is sense gratification. When we chant H.K. we are calling to Krishna to please let us serve You. So on the spiritual platform it is the service that is desired, but on the material it is sense gratification that is sought. The rest of the points I think you can cover nicely. Hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 18:31 | 26 September, 1970 Calcutta My Dear Nayana Bhirama, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Sept. 10th, 1970 and noted the contents. I have not yet received the bead bag sewn by your good wife, but I beg to thank you for the check of $100 forwarded to my book fund. I am so glad that you are now together, husband and wife, engaged in serving Krsna as an ideal Krsna Conscious householder couple. Do not be discouraged that you are only four devotees at present moment in Philadelphia. Simply you very strictly follow the routine schedule of devotional service and chanting Hare Krsna and do your best to spread this Movement amongst the local people. Krsna will send you many more sincere souls very soon to help you. So go on with your work with new efforts of increased enthusiasm and Krsna will bless you more and more in Krsna consciousness. Please increase your program of distribution to the public as well as trying to place our books and magazines in the libraries. This is very successful in libraries in other centers. I am very glad to know that Mr. Gajjar is continuing his interest in our Movement, so please encourage him in this way. It is very good that is brother, Mr. Navin Gajjar, from Taiwan, is also interested in a center there. Please contact Bali Mardan immediately in this connection. He has got great eagerness to open branches in that part of the world and he has got already invitation from Hong Kong and Fiji. So this will be added impetus to his work if you kindly give him further information regarding our friend in Taiwan. I am very happy to know that Mrs. Max, the proprietor of Paragon Bookstore has remembered me and I have written her one note which I have sent in care of you for forwarding to the proper address in New York. Please offer my blessings to all the devotees there and your good wife. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 18:30 | Sep 25, 2006 Friday, 25 September, 1970 Calcutta My Dear Rupanuga, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated September 16th, 1970. Yes, the mail is a little slow: your letter was posted on the 17th of September and was received by me on the 23rd September. Anyway, please continue to write regularly. I am very anxious to know that things are progressing nicely under the new management of the Governing Body Commissioners. So please write at least once in a fortnight. The mail is coming through and better late than never. I have just received one letter from Brahmananda Maharaja and one from Gargamuni Maharaja sent from Florida. I have replied them in care of you and you can forward their letters to their respective addresses. Books and magazines which they may require may not be restricted. I hope you understand the spirit of my letters addressed to them and try to bring them back to the service of Krsna. I am very pleased that you all GBC members are remaining vigilant so that the disturbance in our Society may not continue. In Isana and his wife's letters there is reference to Tirtha Maharaja's name, as if they were advised by Brahmananda Maharaja and company to come to India and join Tirtha Maharaja. It appears like that. I shall be glad if you kindly inquire on this point. It is now clear that my Godbrothers take objection of my being called as Prabhupada and on this point they wanted to poison the whole Society--that is now clear. But how it was manipulated--that is a mystery. Regarding Indian consulate permission for visas, etc., I have already received telegram that they are coming here on the 3rd October, so I do not think there is any need of further effort. I have instructed Dinesh to finish up the necessary details and I am sure he will do so as he as nicely done it so far. I have received Karandhara's letter and Satsvarupa's letter and I am so glad to receive their encouraging reports. So the Portland temple is now established and you try together to open as many other branches in suitable places as possible. Please try to improve our Vrndavana scheme at New Vrndavana with the cooperation of all parties. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your $2,500 check to the ``Bhaktivedanta Book Fund Deposit.'' If you can arrange the tour of New England in that way I am sure you will get very good response. So please do it carefully. And if you get some monetary return, that will be nice. Yes, please see that there is very strong program for placing our books and literatures in all the libraries and school-colleges of your country. That will be a great boon to the thoughtful men of your society. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:ds letters | 11:46 | 25 September, 1970 Calcutta My Dear Dinesh, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated September 17th, 1970. Regarding the letter from Mr. Gangulee, it is very nice that he has agreed to write it and the copies should be attached to each and every visa of the devotees as you have mentioned--that is very good proposal. But regarding taking the visas, they are already coming, Hamsaduta and Himavati are already here and I have received telegram that the others are leaving London and expect to be here on the 3rd of October. Anyway, you are managing the affair nicely so far, so please see whatever remains to be done is finished up properly. This is an important matter and up to now it is going on well. So whatever you do in this connection, I am sure of its being alright. I am very glad to learn that both you and your good wife, Krsna devi, and your daughter, Visnu Arati, are together in Boston. Your all engagements sound to be very suitable, so please execute your duties in Krsna Consciousness and be happy. I am especially pleased that you are taking charge in the Boston area of placing my books and literatures in the local school-college libraries and you have already had success with placing all our literatures in the two most important libraries of Harvard University and the Divinity School. When I spoke there sometimes back our Krsna Consciousness philosophy was very much appreciated, so I think this is an important place for our literatures to be available to the students and faculty. Please go on with this engagement enthusiastically and Krsna will give you all success in the venture. You are intelligent and hard working devotee of Krsna and Krsna will bless you for this very fine service which you are rendering unto Him. Devananda Maharaja has sent you a separate letter which will be self explanatory. We are having some troubles with the electrical machinery here. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 11:45 | 25 September, 1970 Calcutta My Dear Gargamuni Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated September 12, 1970 and noted the content very carefully. I think you will remember that I called you not Gargamuni but Gargamoney. So whenever I required some money I approached you and you were kind to pay me immediately. So please continue your capacity in this way to supply money to the Society. That will please Krsna. I am immediately in need of $250,000 somehow or other. Collect this money and both of you come here. We shall open a very gorgeous branch in Calcutta. Calcutta is my birth-place, so all of you as my disciples do something unique in Calcutta. That will be fitting service to your Spiritual Master. I hope this will meet you in good health, and come here with the money as soon as possible. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:ds letters | 11:44 | Sep 24, 2006 Thursday, September 24, 1970 Calcutta My Dear Bali-mardana, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated Sept. 17th, 1970. In the meantime I have also replied your last letter in which I have informed you that if you take more interest in preaching work absolutely, you may be relieved from the Governing Body Commission. Regarding a branch in the Fiji Islands, if you can open immediately a center in the very near future I will be able to send some Hindi knowing Indians to assist the preaching work there. I know in Fiji Islands there are many Hindus and one of them asked me to open a center there. His address is as follows: Babu Ram Sharma,P.O. Box 267,Ba,Fiji Islands. I have just received one letter from Nayanabhirama and he has met one Indian gentleman who lives in Taiwan and would like us to open a center there. His address is as follows:Navin Gajjar, Mgr. Du Pont Far East Inc.703, Chia Hsin Bldg, Taipei, Taiwan. You should immediately contact Nayanabhirama about this prospect. Anyone who goes to Fiji must contact Mr. Sharma and amongst others he will be a nice friend. Yes, in Calcutta we are getting good coverage practically every day and in every meeting the slide show makes the whole thing very impressive. So anyone coming from L.A. cannot only bring my UHER recorder from Karandhara but also slides and specially nice pictures as well as some large posters of your Spiritual Master and Lord Caitanya. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 11:43 | |
|
|
