|
|
| Prabhupada Letters :: 1974 |
|
|
3 July 2008 Wednesday, 3 July, 1974 Melbourne Dakar, Senegal My dear Cyavana Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter of 24 June which has just been forwarded to me here in Australia. I am relieved to know your whereabouts again after not hearing from you for some time. You want to see me and I also have some important things to discuss with you, so the best thing is if we meet at the end of July in Vrindaban, India. Today I am leaving for the United States to attend Rathayatra in Chicago and San Francisco but at the end of July I will reach Vrindaban. We are having a very big festival there on Janmastami when we will open our Krsna Balarama temple by installing the deities. So you must also attend to help in conducting the ceremonies. I will therefore see you in Vrindaban by the end of July. If you wish to correspond with me before then you can write to the Los Angeles address. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: Africa, itinerary, Vrindavana letters | 04:55 |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 |16 May 2008 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 |26 January 2008 Saturday, 26 January, 1974 Honolulu My Dear Brahmananda Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, dated 15/1/74. I have noted the contents carefully. I have received my copy of special BTG. It is very nicely done. I thank you very much. With great pleasure I note that although the Government of Kenya did not allow me to enter the state, my work was not hampered on account of my absence. In your last letter I was informed that Cyavana Swami has left your protection and gone to South America. I don't know why he has done so. As a sannyasi he is free to travel all over the world but when he was working under your supervision he should have taken your permission. This kind of independence is not very good. I'm quite confident of his sincerity, and I shall be glad to be further enlightened on this matter. Anyway, you have dedicated yourself to the service of the Lord, therefore you are always glorious. I'm very much indebted to you that you have gone so far away from your own comfortable country for the service of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and this service will be appreciated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Please go on preaching like that and you will be blessed. I think Krsna did not let me go in Africa because he wants to see you all work independently of me. I'm getting old and can not move, so if you all my students work 10 times more than me that will be great pleasure for me. The decision to train African people to be nice preachers is a nice idea. If you train the African to preach that will be a nice reply to the African Government for not letting me come there. So try your best and Krsna will give you the necessary intelligence, and send me occasional posts. That will give me satisfaction. I'm starting for India via Japan and Hong Kong next Monday. I'm glad to note your statement "Our position is not as precarious as it was before." If you sincerely preach everything will become smooth, and our preaching work will become smoother and smoother. One thing is very gratifying that you are doing the preaching work in Africa without any financial help from here. But in India the case is different. We have to send always financial help from America. I have collected and dispatched to India about 40 lacs of rupees. Even today I have dispatched to Gargamuni Swami $5,000, or about Rs 50,000 by telegram. Krsna is arranging everything. Let us work cooperatively nicely all over the world. It is a great task. Let us be cognizant of our responsibility. I hope this will find you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: Africa, BTG, preaching, sannyasa letters | 12:19 | |
|
|
