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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1974 |
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17 May 2008 Friday, 17 May, 1974 Bombay My dear Paramesvari, Please accept my blessings. I understand that for over two months since Brahmananda Swami has been away from Africa, you have been in charge of the Nairobi center. This is a great responsibility. Brahmananda Swami has noted that you have not only maintained the center but in his absence on your own taken collection and done the necessary work so that now the temple building is owned by us. I have always wanted this for our Nairobi center. So it is a great credit for you. Therefore this work you are doing for maintaining the African devotees, teaching them the rules and regulations of Krishna Consciousness, is the most important work and I thank you very much. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: Africa, management, Nairobi letters | 08:30 |17 May, 1974 Bombay My dear Jayatirtha, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your telegram in which you inquire about making available $130,000 for use by the Spiritual Sky Touring program bringing life members on a tour around the world. This touring program has been postponed. So for now do not bother about this capital. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: life member, Los Angeles letters | 08:28 |17 May, 1974 Bombay My dear Madhudvisa Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your telegram dated May 16. I have also received a previous telegram in which you said you sent us tickets Air India, London-Melbourne round trip. However I will not be going to London. My schedule is to leave tomorrow morning to Delhi-Vrndavana and on the 23rd of May go to Rome. Bhagavan Das has made a tour including Rome, Geneva and ending June 15 Paris. Thereafter Hamsaduta has invited me to Amsterdam June 15. There is a meeting in Koln, Germany June 22. Immediately thereafter I can leave to Melbourne from Koln and stay as you requested through June 29. As regards to the tickets you have already sent I have not received them yet and we are leaving tomorrow. Moreover they are for London departure. I think the best thing to do is to cancel the tickets and arrange new tickets for us from Koln to Melbourne and return. You can mail these tickets to me care of Paris, France center so long as they reach there by June 14. My party consists of three; myself, Neil Delmonico (Nitai) and Stephen Guarino (Satsvarupa Maharaja), (Pradyumna has left us for sometime). I will expect your tickets when we arrive in Paris and I will be very pleased to attend the gorgeous Melbourne Ratha-yatra festival. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg letters | 08:27 | 16 May 2008 Thursday, 16 May, 1974 Bombay Dear Sri Pannalalji, Kindly accept my greetings. I beg to thank you for your letter of 11th May, 1974 and I have noted the contents. Your suggestion that "a few learned persons well versed in sanskrit and English be enrolled as members of the Society and then sent to foreign countries to preach" - is a very good suggestion. We are of course increasing the number of centers all over the world, but the difficulty is that as soon as foreigners accept the cult our men in India especially the rigid Brahmin society does not accept them as regular Vaisnavas. In some temples they are not even allowed to see the deity. The learned sanskrit scholars with English education must be well versed in the Vaisnava sastras, especially Bhagavad-gita and Srimad bhagavatam. In the Bhagavad-gita it is clearly said that anyone even from the lowest papayoni can be elevated to Krsna Consciousness and thus go back to home, back to Godhead. Similarly in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said by Krsna's mercy and the unlimited potency of Lord Visnu, anyone can be purified as a Vaisnava and elevated to the Supreme position. Unless one learns this philosophy thoroughly he cannot become a preacher however learned and educated he may be. Regarding the article published in Back to Godhead No. 53 there was nothing wrong in that article rather it was the same statement as you said, "in a holy place sins are magnified four fold etc." But some interested persons who come within this category are making malicious propaganda taking advantage of the article. Anyway, we have published a Corrigendum for being published in Back to Godhead, the copy of which is enclosed herewith please find. Regarding religious sentiment, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam there is no question of religious sentiment but religion. Religion is described as codes given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.* dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam. Anything not given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not accepted by the Bhagavat school as religion. In the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said, dharma projita kaitavo. This kaitavo religion means cheating religion. Sriman Sridhara Swami, the original commentator of Srimad-Bhagavatam, says religious systems up to the idea of liberation are cheating. So to preach Bhagavat religion sometimes we have to quote from the sastras what is not palatable to unscrupulous so-called religious persons. But in preaching we cannot do without quoting the proper verses. Sometime they take it adversely and we become subject to unwanted criticism. Actually there is no religion in the world accept Bhagavat religion, namely surrendering to the lotus feet of the Lord. This means the bhakti marga is the only religion. Sa vai pumsam paro dharmo [SB 1.2.6] Sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66] Our Krsna Consciousness movement is to accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna as the Supreme Being and act everything for His satisfaction only. We do not accept the principle of as many gods as one can imagine. God is one and He cannot be imagined; He is fact. Of course, sometimes we feel a little difficulty preaching this cult in India but we do not feel such difficulty outside of India. Although Indian people are by culture God conscious yet on account of vigorous preaching of the Mayavadi philosophy that god is impersonal and can be imagined in anyway by the fertile brain of a person as he likes, the whole Mayavadi philosophy is based on this imagination. We don't imagine God. Krsna is not imagination. He presented Himself 5,000 years ago as He is, and we are presenting Krsna as He is. We are presenting Krsna's philosophy and teaching as it is and what can we do more? But this process of presentation has become fortunate and we have become successful. I do not wish to change the process. I hope you will appreciate this process of preaching to please the facts as they are confirmed by all Vaisnava acaryas. We are publishing our books thoroughly on the basis of this philosophy and recently the report is that in highly educated circles of scholarly people in the universities they are taking interest very rapidly in our Krsna Consciousness movement. Here is an excerpt from a recent letter from our propaganda office: "Yale University and Temple U. have now ordered 60 volumes of your Divine Grace's Bhagavatam set, and Yale also ordered 12 volumes of your Divine Grace's Caitanya Caritamrta set . . . Professor McKinnon of St. Joseph College in Philadelphia is planning to have the college order the entire set of Bhagavatam." I am going the day after tomorrow to Vrndaban, and from there I shall go to foreign countries, Rome, Geneva, etc. I am coming back before Vrindaban will celebrate Janmastami and I invite you cordially to our opening ceremony. When I go to the USA I shall try to send you Articles of our Society, but we have different memorandum in different countries, they are not one and the same. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg *Dharmam tu saksat bhagavata pranitam Na vai vidur rsaya napi devah Na siddhya mukhyah asura manusyah kutanu vidyadhana caranadayah Labels: dharma, Hyderabad, religion letters | 09:25 |16 May, 1974 Bombay My Dear Bhima dasa, Krsna Das, Sanat Kumara, Nityananda, Samba and Joseph, Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letters which were sent to me by Paramesvari Das Brahmacari on the 15th of April. All of the sentiments expressed in all of your letters are just according to the Vaisnava parampara. This means that you are understanding the Krishna Consciousness philosophy rightly and I am very pleased. It is a fact that by serving the spiritual master one becomes free from material life and makes spiritual advancement. I have not done anything personally, very wonderful. I am simply serving my spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja and all the acaryas in the disciplic succession. If I have done anything of credit it is that I have not changed their teachings. I have not added anything of my own interpretation. So I am very happy that you are finding Krishna Consciousness very blissful in the Nairobi temple and this will be the key to your success. That you also follow exactly as I have instructed in my books to my disciples such as Brahmananda Swami. That means to rise early, clean the body and clean the clothes. I have seen films of the Deity worship in Nairobi and it is very gorgeous. Proper Deity worship means to be clean, punctually and nice offerings of foodstuffs. Brahmananda Swami can teach you these things. You are fulfilling my great hope. Because you are native Africans, you are the best ones to convince other Africans to become Krishna Conscious. Unless they become Krishna Conscious they can never end their suffering. We can not expect every single African to take to it. But if only a small population can take it seriously it can do real good. Therefore you are the real leaders of the Kenya nation. Please take seriously what you have learned and help spread this happy life to everyone you meet in Africa. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: Africa, Nairobi, preaching, spiritual master letters | 09:23 |15 May 2008 Wednesday, 15 May, 1974 Bombay My dear Jadurani dasi, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your undated letter, and I have examined the contents. You mention that in the picture where Lord Caitanya is discussing with the Kazi about cow killing, Lord Nityananda is there with a drum. No, there is no mention of Him being with a mrdanga. He should not have a shaved head as a brahmacari but in the same feature as we always see the two, Gaura Nitai. Nityananda was brahmacari and became grhastha but you should always paint them in the Gaura Nitai style and feature you are already accustomed to doing. Do not feel frustrated about the slowness in producing paintings. Simply paint as many as possible. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: art, New York, Nityananda letters | 03:23 |15 May, 1974 Bombay My dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of May 9th from Bhaktivedanta Manor as well as your letter May 6th from Holland. I am going on May 17th to Vrindaban, to take a last look at the construction before going to Europe, and I may also buy a piece of land in Vrindaban. Then according to the itinerary given us by Bhagavan das we are leaving the 23rd May to arrive on the same day in Rome, Italy. On the 24th and 25th there is a Hare Krishna Festival in Rome, and we will stay there until the 30th when we are to go to Geneva for another festival and for meetings with the World Health Council. Then on June 6th we are scheduled to arrive in Paris, France and there are meetings there all week. Thereafter, on your invitation I will go to Amsterdam on the 15th of June and on the 22nd go to Koln, and then Heidelberg and Sweden. My plan is to attend the Rathayatra ceremony in Chicago in the U.S. on the 6th of July and then the Ratha Yatra in San Francisco on July 8th. So I will have to leave Europe by the 5th July or 6th July. That means I will not visit London on this tour. After San Francisco, I will travel to visit Australia, stopping at Hawaii. And after Australia I will return to India in time for the Janmastami celebration which is on August 9th. After the celebrations in Vrindaban, I will be free to visit England and the U.S. So these are my elaborate travel plans, and we shall see what Krsna desires. Having received your reports and Puranjana's report of May 7th I feel that the situation in London and Bhaktivedanta Manor is well under control. So there does not seem an immediate need for me to go there. What do you think? Another thing, is that we have received a serious criticism that one of our very important Indian life members, Mr. Brij Mohon, M.P. visited Bhaktivedanta Manor, and was refused entry. He even had a letter from Tejyas das introducing him. This has caused much concern and Gargamuni Swami is postponing his scheme to take life members on a tour of many of our centers, thinking the centers are not ready to receive guests. Please investigate this report of the turning away of a life member at the Manor and let me know. There should always be one or two rooms available for a life member. In your report you say 450 Indians visited on Sunday, so how could one Indian be turned away? Who turned him away? For yourself, you should continue GBC management of England and we can discuss further when we meet in Europe. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Copy of the telegram sent to Syamasundara. c/o ISKCON N.Y.: "Tamala has gone to N.Y. to speak to you. When I was in Hyderabad Bal Krishna showed me many checks which were not cleared. If you have money why did you refer to George when asked by London temple? Hamsaduta is liquidating Londons debts so how can I ask him to leave? Discuss the matter with Tamala and do the needful." A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: Bhaktivedanta Manor, itinerary, life member letters | 03:22 |13 May 2008 Monday, 13 May, 1974 Bombay My Dear Lilavati, Please accept my blessings. As for your questions you have asked for clarification in the KRSNA Book when Maha Visnu says to Krsna and Arjuna that you are my incarnations in my appearance as Nara-Narayana. So you are asking how this can be so. The answer is when Krsna comes all the incarnations are within him. Actually this is a very intricate question. So not be so concerned about it now. When you become more advanced you will be able to realize these things. You have asked if the Yadu dynasty has continued beyond Satasena. Yes, there are ksatriyas who claim to belong to the Yadu dynasty today especially in Mathura and nearby places. How to acquire the quality of patience. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has already given us that answer: One can chant the Holy Name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking himself lower than the straw in the street, more tolerant than the tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the Holy Name of the Lord constantly. So there will be, that in our preaching we will meet with many tribulations, that is patience. So I understand you are recuperating from an operation. So spend this extra time reading all our books, chanting as many rounds as possible, and if you can go on doing my tapes. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg letters | 04:49 | 12 May 2008 Sunday, 12 May, 1974 Bombay My dear Devaprastha, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 4, 1974 and have noted the contents. I understand that you are now taking over affairs in Hong Kong. I received the letters from Bhurijana and have referred the matters to GBC, to Madhudvisa Maharaja. I regard Hong Kong as an important center and I agree with your statement very much that if the Chinese are approached intelligently they will become strong devotees, because their moral character and steadfast nature is very strong. As you know I was there recently although I did not see you then. I also observed this in the Chinese people and appreciated it very much. But we need experienced devotees, otherwise how are we going to maintain a center there. Now I know you are a experienced manager but sometimes you have left. So you are now enthusiastic to stay and manage. So do not leave anymore and stay, then it is alright. Please give me further reports on your communications with Madhudvisa Maharaja. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:sdg Labels: Hong Kong, management letters | 06:36 |12 May, 1974 Bombay My dear Madhudvisa Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I understand that you are preparing for my arrival for your Rathayatra. I am not sure of your Rathayatra date but I think it is at the end of June. However at this time I will be in Europe. I am to arrive in Rome on the 23rd, then on the 30th to Geneva, then June 6 to Paris. On June 15 I go to Koln where Hamsaduta has arranged a lecture tour continuing in Heidelberg and Amsterdam through July 6. So it will not be possible for me to attend Rathayatra if you have scheduled it for June. I am immediately going to the US after Europe to attend Rathayatra in Chicago on July 6 and then Rathayatra in San Francisco on July 8. From there I will come to Australia toward the middle or end of July. If it is possible for you to reschedule your Rathayatra for the end of July then I will attend. But I will come to Australia at that time anyway. I do not know if you will be able to reschedule your Rathayatra. So if you wish to communicate with me I will be in the European cities as dated above. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: itinerary, Melbourne, Rathayatra letters | 05:49 |11 May 2008 Saturday, 11 May, 1974 Bombay Dear Ksirodakasayi, Please accept my blessings. Since the Mayapur and Vrindaban festivals in March I have been mostly staying here in our Hare Krishna Land. It is a large estate and requires much management. Today I was talking with Caitya Guru das Brahmacari who is the ground manager here and he suggested that your good self come here to take charge of general management here as the younger devotees are having so much difficulty. Actually the idea of a more mature Indian for management here is very suitable to me. The karmis who the boys deal with here are always cheating them, and only because I am here I catch so many things. As I am leaving on the 23rd May for a tour starting in Rome, I am fearful what will happen here in my absence? I take this suggestion of yourself a manager of Hare Krishna Land as a very sound idea. If you are agreeable to help by service in this way then come immediately to Bombay and help the situation. Giriraja das Brahmacari is the president here, Manasvi and Yasomatinandana and Caitya guru and the important managers, but they are all very young men with not much experience of the world. I understand you are now prepared to take on full time service of this nature, so I think this is the best place for you. I have invested about 20 lacs in this property and already the routine devotional service, deity worship and sankirtana is going on, but at present the police commissioner has denied us sanction to build our big temple according to our plans, and also the status quo is threatened as I do not think the boys can manage the buildings and land which we own here. Potentially things can be very wonderful here but it requires strong management which I think you can do. So consider my proposal seriously and I hope you will be able to come and lead management of Hare Krsna Land. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg PS. I am coming to Paris by the 9th of June 1974. Labels: Bombay, Hare Krishna Land, London, management letters | 05:35 | |
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