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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1974 |
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16 November 2008 Saturday, 16 November, 1974 Bombay My Dear Nilambara dasa: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter together with letters from your friends. I am glad to see they are taking serious interest along with yourself in this movement of Lord Caitanya. Try to understand this philosophy very nicely and get more numbers to join. I am especially interested to see the Americans spread this movement. America is already blessed by Krishna, and if they become Krishna conscious, they will become more glorious. There is an Indian saying, "fragrance in gold." Gold is already valuable, but if it has got some nice fragrance, then it becomes even more valuable. If some percentage of Americans become Vaisnavas, it will be wonderful for the future of the world. It will be a great example for the world. So you yourself take to the process with heart and soul and always follow my instructions, and Krishna will bless you to convince many souls to become Krishna conscious. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs letters | 11:44 | 26 May 2008 Monday, 26 May, 1974 Rome My dear Dinadayadri, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge your letter of May 8, 1974. You are a very good girl and a sincere devotee therefore, even though you have experienced difficulty you are remaining pure in Krsna Consciousness and keeping faith in Krsna and the spiritual master. This faithfulness has pleased me very much. So many great devotees have had to undergo difficulties, and the great example among women was Queen Kunti whose family life was perpetual danger, but because she always thought of Krsna she was saved. There is no question of your returning to Nara-Narayana. He has remarried, and I also informed him when I was in L.A. last time, that he should keep his one wife, living peacefully in L.A. You have got one child, so now make Krsna your husband and take shelter of our temple. The Detroit temple where you are now is very suitable I think, and you say you are much inspired by devotees like Govardhana and the others. So take spiritual instructions from your elder Godbrothers and sisters, forget the past, and make all progress in Krsna Consciousness without any material lamentation or hankering. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: Detroit, husband, Kunti, marriage letters | 04:35 |3 May 2008 Friday, 3 May, 1975 Bombay Dear Trista Hubbarth, Please accept my greetings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated March 25th, which I have only received recently due to touring. You have very thoughtfully asked me what do I think of the Self Realization yoga and meditation. We are not concerned with other religions or yogas in terms of competition or sectarian spirit. Actual spiritual knowledge is to take the authoritative statements from the scriptures and from the great acaryas, spiritual masters in disciplic succession. Other's opinions are not important. For example, in the Bhagavad gita, Lord Krsna gives His opinion, but He is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all the great sages of the Vedic philosophy including Vyasadeva the compiler of all the scriptures, as well as Narada, Brahma, Siva and in the modern time, Ramanuja, Sankaracarya, Lord Caitanya, etc. They all confirm that Krsna is the supreme truth, the Personality of Godhead. Although this is plainly described throughout the Vedas, you will not find it in the teachings of the so called swamis and yogis who are teaching nowadays. Therefore you have intelligently discovered that in my Bhagavad-gita the approach is very different from what you have found elsewhere. That is because I am not trying to avoid Krsna or give some misinterpretation, but I have accepted the actual Bhagavad-gita, wherein Krsna says, Mattah parataram nanyat [Bg. 7.7], there is no higher than Me. Nowadays so called gurus are promising us that we ourselves can become equal to God or that God is impersonal, or that everyone is God, but nowhere is this stated in the Bhagavad-gita or any other Vedic literature, nor is it taught by any of the great spiritual masters above mentioned. My point is that when we say "self realization" it does no means that one should realize that He is the Supreme. Real self realization means to understand that you are the eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and perfection is to develop love or bhakti, loving service in relationship with that Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who teaches other conclusion from that of the Bhagavad-gita and the succession of acaryas is certainly not a guru, and in fact according to Lord Krsna, he is a fool, (the word Krsna uses is mudha, ass, rascal). So we have to examine whether the person who is presenting himself as our guru is actually in knowledge of the science of Krsna. Or we have to examine whether he is leading us away from Krsna, or leading us to hell in the name of yoga mysticism. In this connection, the chanting of Hare Krsna is very efficacious because it develops personal relationship with the Personality of Godhead and cleans the heart of sinful reactions. Please go on reading our literatures and pray to Krsna to give you the right direction from within how to approach a bona fide spiritual master for advancing in spiritual life. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: Detroit, spiritual master letters | 09:44 |24 March 2008 24 March, 1974 Bombay Dear Bhagavan das, Please accept my blessings. I have received the names of the devotees recommended by you for first initiation, and upon your word I have accepted them as my disciples. There new spiritual names are as follows. Francine Steinberg--Rangini devi Jenny Gilbert--Jagatkirti devi Danielle Mary--Dandakesa devi Maureene Remila--Mandahasa devi You may chant on their beads and hold a fire yajna in the temple. As GBC you must see that they and all the devotees in the temples are first of all chanting at least 16 rounds on beads. Be sure they are aware of the ten offenses to chanting, and that they remain enthusiastic about improving their devotional service in that way. I have accepted for second initiation Sakirta das and Dayamrgya das and have enclosed sacred threads and gayatri mantra. Have them hear the tape of me saying the mantra through the right ear. I will be eager to hear regular reporting from you on activities in your zone, which you may send to me at my Bombay address. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: Detroit, initiation letters | 11:32 | |
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