a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1968 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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17 Jan 2004 Wednesday, January 17, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I have your letter of Jan. 9, 1968 duly in hand, and I thank you very much for it. Yes, I will make plans to appear there on May 1; and before I arrive there on May 1, you can please arrange some lectures in different Universities and Colleges, so that after reaching there I will find all the engagements there. I thank you very much for your kind words, and you can pray to Krishna that I may be for some time with you. That is my desire. I have no objection to death, I am old man; still I wish to live because I want to see that the mission and missionaries I have started may be still more stronger before I leave. So pray to Krishna for this. Krishna can be known by His Mercy only as you will find in the text of the Kumaras. One thing you will mark that the Kumaras considered themselves sinful after cursing the 2 doorkeepers of Vaikuntha, and this was realized when they are fully conscious of the Supreme Lord. I have sent you one tape today. You will find the explanation there, and enjoy it. Yes, if it is possible to send carbon copies of Srimad-Bhagavatam tapes to other centers; please do so. Also, please send a copy to Gaurasundara of Bhagavatam tapes, and also lectures if possible, c.o of this address. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Today I have also received one letter of 16th & a tape. I have also sent another tape. ACB letters | 04:52 | 16 Jan 2004 Tuesday, January 16, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Brahmananda, Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt of your letter of Jan. 11, 1968, along with the letter from Menno Hertzberger and Co. I think this man will not be suitable for printing of our books. I shall be glad to hear from you if you have received any reply from Dia Nippon Printers in Japan. In the letter of Mr. Krimpen it is understood that printing in India, Hong Kong, and such countries is cheaper. The suggestion of Mr. Kallman of Krishna Consciousness Kit is very nice. Please try to fructify this idea as soon as possible. As there is still time to get Bhagavad-gita ready published by MacMillan Co., Mr. Kallman may not come to S.F. so quickly. I am expecting to return to N.Y. by the end of March or beginning of April. At that time, he may take the recording of Krishna Consciousness speech in 3 gramophone records. Regarding Brijbasi affair: You can send the copies of letters and their acceptance receipt of money may be sent to Sriman Hitsaran Sharma, as follows: Pandit Hitsaran Sharma; Radha Press, Main Road; Kailash Nagar; Delhi-31, India. You can write to him all details about the dealings of Brijbasi Co., and in my name request him to take it very seriously. They are respectable firm; why they are lingering this matter? If there is sinister motive, which we cannot believe they have, then we have to take steps against them. Request Hitsaran Sharma to deal the matter seriously and on his report we shall take necessary steps. Hitsaranji may instruct his younger brother to take up this matter. I am also enclosing one letter herewith for Hitsaranji which you may enclose with letter to him. Regarding Bhattacarya Emporium letter: I have handed over the copy to Mukunda for necessary action. Bhattacarya's charges are high; as I have already informed you, there is a complete arrangement for supplying our goods from India. I have already made them; there is no difficulty. First of all you decide whatever you want to import, then I shall begin to give you directions. The arrangement is complete. There will be no difficulty to import cloth, incense, musical instruments, and so on. The shipping element is there, and the carrying arrangement is there, now you decide what you want to import then I shall give you directions. I am anxious to know whether MacMillan has signed contract and paid the $1000. I received copies of Queens College in N.Y. article and their letter. It is very encouraging. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Enclosure-1 P.S. Gargamuni is organizing a centre in Berkeley & we shall open it very soon. letters | 04:51 | Tuesday, January 16, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Gargamuni, Please accept my blessings. I am very much enlivened of your new Krishna Conscious enterprise and the whole proposal is very nice. I think immediately arrange for this because we want younger generation to participate in this Krishna Consciousness movement. I understand the new place is quite suitable and it will be very convenient for the students coming there. I have got all agreement with this proposal but still you consult with Jayananda and Mukunda and settle up things immediately. Jayananda is there and Mukunda has also gone there. I am keeping quite fit under the personal guidance of Gaurasundara and Govinda dasi. I think as soon as your new store is complete, I shall return to S.F. and begin our new classes there. It is most gratifying that you say there is no financial worry, you will manage. I am sure Uddhava and Upendra will join you in this enterprise. You are sincere servitor and therefore Krishna is giving you more and more opportunity for service. Please organize this center nicely, I think it is very nice for our purpose. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Enclosure-1. letters | 04:49 | Tuesday, January 16, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. Dear Guru das & Yamuna devi, Be good boy and girl and always chant the HARE KRISHNA mantra and you will be so pleased with the result. Yamuna you are little better than Janaki but don't get puffed up and be good to those a little less fortunate. Guru das your work is so nice and you are a very important member of our society. You and your wife work so well there shall never be any problems. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:46 | Tuesday, January 16, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. San Francisco My Dear Uddhava and Upendra, Please accept my blessings. I thank you for your letter of January 11, 1968, and am pleased with your sincere service attitude. We are all conditioned souls so we are affected by Maya, but if we sincerely chant and serve, our attachment for Krishna will be revived and we will no more have to come under this Maya. Eternally we will be serving the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Lord. I am obliged to you for your sincere service in Krishna Consciousness. Please both of you join with Gargamuni in the new center and with greater enthusiasm. Hoping you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:44 | 15 Jan 2004 Monday, January 15, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Hayagriva, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated January 10, 1968; it is very nice. I do not find any basical difference of philosophy. From the very beginning I have always preached that basically we have no difference between the Christians, the Mohammedans, the Hindus, or the Buddhists, the four principal religionists in the world. But there is a class, Impersonalists, whom we consider as atheists. The atheists directly say there is no God, and the Impersonalists say there may be God, but He has no form. It is indirectly saying that there is no God. I am very glad to read in your letter a nice line, "My main concern is seeing Him constantly in my daily life, that is, to constantly remember Him and not to forget Him." This is actually Krishna Consciousness. We can remember Krishna in every moment. We can remember Krishna while taking a glass of water because the taste of water is Krishna. We can remember Krishna as soon as we see the sunlight in the morning, because the sunlight is a reflection of Krishna's Bodily Effulgence. Similarly, as soon as we see moonlight in the evening we remember Krishna because moonlight is also reflection of sunlight. Similarly, when we hear any sound we can remember Krishna because sound is Krishna, and the most perfect sound, transcendental, is Hare Krishna, which we have to chant 24 hours. So there is no scope of forgetting Krishna at any moment of our life provided we practice in that way. The society for Krishna Consciousness is meant for preaching this philosophy throughout the world and I was very happy to receive your cooperation and I am still hopeful that the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita as Science of God can be preached by you and all your God-brothers. Regarding the manuscript: It is very difficult for me to see it again, but I inquired from Brahmananda whether the manuscript is already delivered to MacMillan Company or not. If it is not delivered then I shall try to see it again. Your fear that the entire society will be in danger by Raymond's editing of the Gita is not very suitable remark. Rayarama may not be as qualified as you are, but his one qualification that he is fully surrendered to Krishna and his Spiritual Master is the first class recommendation for his editing any one of our literatures, because editing of Vedic literatures does not depend on academic education. It is clearly stated in the Upanisads that one who has implicit faith in God as well as in the Spiritual Master, to him only the import of Vedic literature is revealed. I think Rayarama is doing work in that spirit and his recent publication of several booklets and Back to Godhead and a calendar are all first class proof of his sincerity of service. Anyway, when I started Back to Godhead, it was my intention that your academic career and Rayarama's sincere service would be a good combination; unfortunately, I do not know why, you do not agree with one another. To me, English language is undoubtedly a foreign language, and I thought your combination of editorship will help me a great deal. Anyway, whatever is done is done. I wish that the misunderstanding created at the present moment may be mitigated by mutual cooperation and we can start fresh with renewed energy for service of the Supreme Lord. I think you will agree with me. I am very much obliged to you when you write to say, to have some tasks to be done by you under my guidance. Perhaps you know that we have got to finish the Srimad-Bhagavatam in 60 parts, out of which we have published only 3 parts. Two parts are already in the press in India. So still we have to finish up 55 parts to complete the whole text of Srimad-Bhagavatam. I am now very much hopeful that it will be done with your good cooperation. To finish the whole Bhagavatam I require about $40,000, out of which I have got about $12,000 contributed by Brahmananda, Jayananda, and others. Your statement "I took this job out in Wilkes-Barre with intention to make enough money to be able to join you in India, because, when you and Kirtanananda left for India, I thought that you might never return to this country, and I was hoping to join the both of you there." Yes, actually that was the program, but Kirtanananda made everything topsy-turvy. After we reached Vrindaban, Kirtanananda became too much eager to return back. He was daily insisting me for his return back and once I told him that I have no money, how you can return? In reply to this, he said that he would go to the American Embassy as American citizen and take money from there and he would return. Then I was obliged to arrange for his return passage money and because he changed his program the society practically lost $1200 for his going to India and coming back again without any purpose. I thought that part of this money could be recovered if he would return to New York, stopping a few days in London to see the prospect of opening a branch there. He agreed, and I gave him letter of introduction, and required money for immediate expenses, but he had no desire to stop at London and he directly reached you. He was also very eager to take sannyasa and I awarded him the sannyasa order; and I do not know, he wanted a certificate of his sannyasa. We never took any certificate of our Spiritual Master or anyone, but he told me that it was required for facility of preaching, so I gave him the certificate, but unfortunately the whole thing was smashed by different doctrine. Now it is understood from the letter of Umapati that Kirtanananda does not believe in parampara or in the necessity of scriptural authority. He seems to feel that this is a sort of tyranny. That means, after taking sannyasa and understanding the philosophy for more than a year, he has changed the whole view, and I do not understand how you would like this recent doctrine. Anyway, I am very much hopeful that you are eager to go to India and accept voluntarily the task under my guidance. I am searching out a very good place in Vrindaban for the accommodation of my American students. Kirtanananda has seen the house known as Jayapur House. This house is in the hands of the Rajastan government and negotiation is still going on, and from the correspondence, it appears to be favorable. Now I am awaiting the final decision; as soon as I hear the decision I shall again return back to India with some other students. And I shall be so glad if you also come to India as originally envisaged. In Krishna Consciousness, if you stick to the principles of Bhagavad-gita, there is no question of disharmony; disharmony is created by some rascals of the Impersonalist class who try to comment upon the Gita differently. Doctor Radhakrishnan and company are of the same class. This class of men have no right to touch Bhagavad-gita because they do not come through the parampara system. I shall be glad to hear from you; if you are prepared, to go with me when I next return to India maybe within the next 4-6 months. I shall be glad to hear from you how Kirtanananda is recovering from injuries of recent fall. And I hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 03:52 | Monday, January 15, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Yamuna devi and Harsarani devi, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter, undated, and I can understand that in some points you disagree with Gargamuni but you have not clearly mentioned what is this point of disagreement. So far I know, Gargamuni's activities are approved by the president Jayananda, and so far I know Gargamuni, he has a business tactfulness, but his aim is to help the society financially. Whatever he does is not for his personal interest but for the interest of the society. If you have any specific grievance, please let me know, but don't be disturbed by any sort of disagreement with your God-brothers and sisters. Each and every living entity is an individual soul and as such disagreement is quite possible in our dealings with one another but we have to consider the central point of interest. You are both very intelligent sober girls and I have got good estimation of you; do not take at any time an attitude of non-cooperation because you may have not agreed with another's point of view. I have heard about the incidents created by a new devotee, Jivanuga. He appears to be a crazy fellow. He should not have been initiated, but I have given him a chance to improve. Next time I am not going to initiate anybody who has not attended our classes at least for 3 months, and is not recommended by the leading members of the society. Less intelligent persons cannot take to Krishna Consciousness. Please let me know what is your specific grievance, but I request you not to become disturbed. The plan of your husband and yourself, Yamuna, of going to India is approved by me, I am simply waiting for the place where you shall stay. I have already informed this matter to Guru das and he is preparing for this. We shall require at least one dozen students to go to India and stay there at least for 6 months, and be completely trained up on our line of activities. The place which I am arranging by negotiation with authorities will be sufficient of accommodating at least 50 students and if Krishna gives us that place it will be a great success. Physically and mentally we may be disturbed sometimes, but we have to stand erect on the spiritual platform. I may inform you in the connection that I am at the present moment physically unfit; I am having always a buzzing sound in my brain. I cannot sleep soundly at night, but still I am working because I try to be in my position of spiritual platform. I hope you shall try to understand me right, and do the needful. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 03:31 | Monday, January 15, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Guru das, Please accept my blessings. Acyutananda and Ramanuja Brahmacaris are now at the following address. c.o N. Banerjee, 114 Elliot Road, Kanpur 4, India. They are contemplating to open a preaching center at Kanpur, and you can open correspondence with them before starting for India. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 02:05 | Monday, January 15, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Upendra, Please accept blessings. I have received your two letters and they are very nice. By Krishna's Grace, you are doing well and continue the same faithfully. Krishna will give you intelligence for proper guidance. Offer my blessings to Uddhava & Krsna dasa. Yours ever well wisher, ACB letters | 02:03 | 14 Jan 2004 Sunday, January 14, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Kancanbala dasi, Please accept my blessings. I have duly received your letter (undated), and noted the contents very gladly. My sincere blessings are for you for your nice prosecution of Krishna Consciousness. Whatever you are doing at the present moment is approved by me and I think on account of your becoming a sincere soul, Krishna is dictating from within and you are doing things so nicely. There are two gurus--one internal and the other external. The internal Guru is Krishna Himself seated in everyone's heart, and the external Guru is the Spiritual Master. So a sincere devotee is helped both externally and internally. To the sincere devotee the internal Guru Krishna dictates, but the thing has to be conformed by the external Guru then it is all right. I am very glad that you don't go out, and keep indoors engaging yourself in Krishna Consciousness activities. Regarding love affairs in the material world: they are only shadows or reflections of the real love with Krishna. If you love Krishna in any capacity, you shall never be frustrated because everything in Krishna is perfect, eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge. So continue your present activities and chant your beads; whenever there is some difficulty consult Brahmananda or write to me; and Krishna will help you more and more on the path of perfection. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 03:23 | Sunday, January 14, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Umapati Please accept my blessings. Since you talked with me on the telephone, I received also your letter of Dec. 30, 1967, but I could not reply the same on account of my shifting to Los Angeles. I have come here last Saturday the 6th of January. I am feeling well here because the climate is warmer. I thank you very much for your acceptance of my guidance. My guidance means Krishna's guidance. I am very poor and therefore I can pray only to Krishna for your guidance. Krishna is Absolute and we are all under His guidance but the bona fide Spiritual Master is accepted as guidance because he is transparent via media between Krishna and the devotee. The devotee has no access to Krishna without the via media. From your letter I can guess a first hand knowledge of Kirtanananda and Hayagriva. In the meantime I have received two letters from Hayagriva; one is already replied and the other is pending. Our line of action is simultaneous service to the Spiritual Master and Krishna. Without being favored by Krishna, nobody can have the association of a bona fide Spiritual Master and nobody can have the mercy of Krishna without being favored by the Spiritual Master. It is so intimately connected. Kirtanananda's refusal to accept the Parampara system and authority of the scriptures is the cause of his misfortune. His version that the sun and the sunshine are one and the same is right, but when the sunshine is in the room it is not correct to say that the sun is in the room. His knowledge therefore is imperfect and therefore he cannot be a preacher. He is therefore contemplating for starting nightclub of the psychedelic type. His association is not desirable for the present neither I can think of his future correction. Hayagriva has fallen a victim and I am sorry for this. Anyway, my dear boy, please remember that Maya is very strong. Any one of us can be arrested by her at any moment if we are not strongly attached to Krishna Consciousness. So my request to you and all others is to follow the principles of Krishna Consciousness adherently and there is no danger however the Maya may be strong. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 03:20 | 13 Jan 2004 Saturday, January 13, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Andrea Temple, Please accept my blessings. I have received your letter of January 9, 1968, and I thank you very much for it. I have heard from Govinda dasi that you are such a nice girl, and I appreciate your sincere interest in this Krishna Conscious philosophy and this Sankirtana movement of Lord Caitanya. I have also heard how you typed Sri Sri Brahma Samhita and I am very pleased with your sincere service. Recently I have come to Los Angeles where the warmer climate is better for my health than in San Francisco. I am told the Bahama Islands are very warm year round, and I am very interested to come there. If you can find an appropriate storefront, and decorate it nicely for a Temple, with altar, pictures, candles, incense, etc., and begin holding Kirtana there, then I will come there in February to the Bahama Islands, and give lectures there in the Temple. You will be doing very good service to Krishna, and it is not very difficult to do. People will come, you will see. However, if it is not possible to do this, then I will be very happy to meet you when I go to New York in April, and to Montreal afterward. Please go on chanting (16 rounds daily if you can), reading Srimad-Bhagavatam and our other literatures, and you will always be happy, both in this life and the next. Hoping you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 03:11 | Saturday, January 13, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Pradyumna, Please accept my blessings. I thank you for your nice letter of Jan. 13, 1968. Your eagerness to render service to the Lord is very much appreciated by me. Please get the copy of Sri Sri Brahma Samhita, and begin the transliteration. I think you know the diacritical marks for transliteration; please use them. Please send me full photostat copy of the original Brahma Samhita. I shall begin writing my own commentation after my Guru Maharaja. Gaurasundara will be helping me prepare this Brahma Samhita. After you finish transliteration of Brahma Samhita then we shall see for Srimad-Bhagavatam. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 02:17 | Saturday, January 13, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Jadurani, Please accept my blessings. I thank you for your nice letters of Jan. 11, and 13. I thank you for your kind appreciation for the tapes received there. Also, thank you that you are trying to organize all the artists, and doing so nicely. No, there is no color picture of Lord Caitanya's birthplace and temple at Mayapur. You can color with your choice. Yes, try at your convenience to paint pictures from the Bhagavat statement, in terms of the purport and explanation. So long we have got materialistic view the serpent is fierce. When Prahlada Maharaja saw Lord Nrsimhadeva, he was not at all afraid of the fierceful feature of the Lord. The big jaws and nails of the Lord Nrsimhadeva and fiery tongue of the Lord, and gigantic Lion's Head did not create any fierceful havoc before Prahlada Maharaja. He said, "My Dear Lord, I am not afraid of this your fierceful feature, but I am afraid of the repeated cycle of birth and death in the material existence." That instruction is very valuable. In our material existence, we are always in dangerous and fierceful condition, but by the spell of Maya, we do not take it very seriously. The Serpent-like feature of the Lord is another expansion of the Lord, to provide His Place on the Ocean. He is not at all fierceful to the devotees. Yes, the ecstasy of separation of Spiritual Master is even greater ecstasy than meeting with Him. Please continue your excellent service and I will always be so pleased with your sincere service, as I am so much happy with you. Hope you are well, and I hope your injured thumb is now fully recovered. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 02:14 | 12 Jan 2004 Friday, January 12, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated January 9, 1968. Krishna is pleased upon you so that He is responding to your sincere service. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says that He responds proportionately along with the degree of surrender to Him by the devotee. So the spiritual progress that you are making now is duly being responded to by Krishna. Of course it is the duty of the teacher to instruct his pupil rightly, but to pass the examination with a degree and merit depends upon the student himself. But the teacher is always happy when he sees one of his students has surpassed the capacity of the teacher also. That is an occasion of great jubilation. Please therefore prosecute your Hare Krishna vibrations along with your good wife, and certainly Krishna will see that all of your attempts will be successful. I am very glad to note when you write to say that both you and Himavati miss your sleep and go to bed late. By Krishna's grace, Himavati is not only beautiful externally, but she is beautiful within also. Otherwise how she can say that you may have the license for sense gratification but what will you do with this license? A brahmacari is good for living a life of celibacy, but a person who can live a life of celibacy in the presence of a beautiful and obliging wife is more than a brahmacari. Of course anyone who is stuck up with only one wife is also called brahmacari. You will set a very good example if both of you agree not to have sense gratification anymore and still you remain as husband and wife together. This is possible, however, only if both of you are fixed up in Krishna Consciousness activities. I thank you very much for your sincere endeavor to do this activity. Concerning the house, if it is possible to rent it with an option to purchase that will be very nice. My Guru Maharaja instructed us, especially to me, that it is better to remain in a rented house than to purchase our own place, but actually He had constructed many temples during His lifetime. The idea is that if things can be done without any extra endeavor, that is all right. If purchasing a house becomes cause of our extra anxiety, we should avoid it. But if by the grace of Krishna it can be easily done, there is no harm of having our own house. Anyway, if this house is suitable for a temple and for prasada distribution, we must have it at any cost. You may do as it is best by consulting Krishna. Regarding the examination, you are already a passed student so don't be afraid of it. When the examination will be held, you will find the questions so easy that within a few minutes you shall be able to answer them all. I wish to introduce this examination system so that in the future our students may not remained unconcerned with these books we are publishing. These books are not material knowledge. To a sincere student, all of the contents of these books become revealed from within, even if he has not thoroughly studied them all. Regarding your question, the deity shall be put to rest in time, and if people are still eating prasadam, the arati cannot be performed. It is better if after offering prasadam to the deity you perform arati, close the curtains and then distribute prasadam to the devotees. Please do not accept from Gopala Krishna 6 inch murti. He has promised to donate one pair of 24 inch murtis. Besides that, when you are engaged in the worshipment of the temple deities, you may not install separately deities at your home. Tears come down from the eyes of a person who is already elevated in ecstatic love of Krishna. So these are very good signs. I am explaining all of these matters in my next book, Nectar of Devotion. I pray to Krishna for your further and further progress in this connection. I am pleased to note that you are now accepting outside engagements for kirtana activities. This is an important attempt. Please convey my blessings to Kulasekhara also. I am very glad to note that he is back at the temple and painting nicely. I hope this finds you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. I have duly replied separately Mrs. & Mr. Levine and hope they have received my letter by this time. I have agreed to initiate them & you can do the needful. ACB letters | 03:05 | 11 Jan 2004 letters | 16:54 | Thursday, January 11, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Rayarama, Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letter of January 3, 1968, on ISKCON PRESS stationery. It is so nice and attractive and all the credit goes to you and your assistants. Please convey my sincere thanks to your two assistants, Jaya Govinda and Purusottama, for their sincere service in the cause of Krishna Consciousness. Please take it for granted that I have sanctioned for all your schemes. Because you are sincere worker Krishna is dictating from within yourself as He has promised in the Bhagavad-gita, and things are coming so nicely. May Krishna grace you more and more and in your advance service of Krishna Consciousness. You have very nicely stated that I am your life. This means you are my body and so neither life nor body can be separated because on the spiritual platform there is no such distinction. On material platform sometimes life is separated from body, but in the Absolute platform there is no such distinction. Dr. Radhakrishnan foolishly makes such distinction on the Body of Krishna, and therefore when Krishna says that one should become His devotee, he commends that it is not to the Person Krishna, but to the Light within Krishna. He does not know that in the spiritual platform, there is no such distinction of life and body. I am very sorry that Satyavrata has left us on some petty sentimental thing. Please ask him to come back and excuse me if I have struck his sentiment. I think he should be permanently on the editorial board and you can give him any serious engagement as you please. He may be replaced in the place of Hayagriva if he is not going to join us. Recently I received one letter from Hayagriva and I replied it promptly. The thing is, everyone of us should think as servant of Krishna. In the service of Krishna there may be sometimes transcendental competition but there cannot be any disruption. Please call Satyavrata and give him serious engagement as he likes to take. He is a good soul and he must be satisfied. I wanted Teachings of Lord Caitanya to be immediately printed, therefore I said that it may not be delayed by further editorial work, but if you think that it needs further editorial work, please do it through Satyavrata, and forthwith prepare the manuscript ready for printing. You will be glad that two parts of Srimad-Bhagavatam is already in the press in India, and I have sent money for purchasing the paper. In my opinion the Bhagavatam work should be immediately resumed. I am preparing tape recordings and sending them to Satsvarupa for typing, and after his typing, the copies may be edited, either by you or by Satyavrata, or combinedly, as you think best. And immediately final copy should be submitted for printing in India, one after another. In future, if MacMillan or any other company, takes our publication work, it is well and good, but at least one edition should be printed without further delay. Kindly think over this matter and chalk out program for progressive work. I say once more that both you and Satyavrata may take up this editorial work. I shall be glad to hear also about your health and how you are feeling now about your appetite and general health. And I hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 03:51 | Thursday, January 11, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Brahmananda, Please accept my blessings. Perhaps you know that I have come to L.A. on Saturday last and before coming here, I received one letter from you regarding publishing of Gita. It is understood that the book is going to be published by the month of August and it will be available for us in the month of September 1968. But I have heard nothing from you about the contract which I have sent you back duly signed. I am anxious to know whether Messrs. MacMillan Company has also signed contract and have paid the promised money $1000. I shall be glad if you will enlighten me on this point. Just yesterday Subala came here and he was saying that your N.Y. center is going on very nicely and attractively. I am so glad to have this report and I thank you very much for conducting the center so nicely. I have also received one letter from Rayram, the reply of which is enclosed here. Please hand it over to him. Awaiting your reply. Hoping you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 03:48 | Thursday, January 11, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your very encouraging letter dated January 3, 1968. Because you are a sincere servant of Krishna, Krishna is giving you gradually facilities to advance in your engagement of Krishna Consciousness. I am so glad to learn that now you have nice apartment of 4 rooms, and also a nice job for meeting your all necessary expenses. Take them as benediction from Krishna and utilize them for Krishna Consciousness business. If you can provide yourself by independent handwork then you can give up your present job, otherwise you continue with your job, even it is nonsense. The thing is, we must have sufficient time for executing Krishna Consciousness business, so you have to select which one will be suitable for you. If you think that by carving Jagannathas or painting you will have sufficient income, it is very nice. Otherwise do not give up your present job for some future hope. Rayarama's suggestion to open an asrama is very nice. If it is possible to keep sufficient number of cows in the asrama, there can be very nice milk business and that may make sufficient income for maintaining one institution for educating children in Krishna Consciousness. Actually the modern educational institutions are different grades of slaughter houses. If you can open an ideal institution for the future children of our associates, it will be a great service. Actually as I have already discussed in my Srimad-Bhagavatam, for economic problem one requires a little land and a few cows. Then the whole economic problem is solved. We should utilize our time for elevating ourselves in Krishna Consciousness than for so-called economic development. If we are satisfied with plain living, with minimum time and the balance time is engaged for elevating our Krishna Conscious program, then every man can be transferred to Goloka Vrindaban, just in this very life. The modern civilization has encumbered the mode of living and people are engaged all the time in the matter of eating, sleeping, defending, and mating. Both yourself, and your wife Himavati are good combination. If you can develop such an institution for future children of the society, or outside the society, it will be great service for the humanity. I am sure Krishna will give you more and more intelligence in this matter, if you seriously think on the subject by gradual evolution. Offer my blessings to your good wife and I pray to Krishna for your all round prosperity. Hope you are both well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 03:45 | Thursday, January 11, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Gargamuni, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your statement regarding Jivanuga, and it is clear that he is crazy. I have already advised Jayananda in this connection that we cannot make the society an asylum for crazy people. It is not our business. Jayananda is a very sincere and intelligent boy and I think his decision should be accepted as final in the matter. Not only in this case, but in every other complicated case. The elected authorities in the management of the temple should be the final authority in these matters. Otherwise, the society cannot be managed. Our main principle should be to advance the cause of K.C. I am glad to learn that your co-operation for this society is appreciated by the authorities, We should learn to forget and forgive minor incidents because whenever there are two men in a place, there is always some misunderstanding. Such misunderstanding happens even between husband and wife--what to speak of others. But we have to adjust things on the basis of Krishna Consciousness. We should always remember that K.C. is a challenge to the modern misguided human society, and we have to meet many unfavorable incidents. But of we are sincere to Krishna and the Spiritual Master, combinedly, then everything will be favorable settled. We should always remember that K. C. can only remain on two parallel lines of Krishna and Spiritual Master. Chant Hare Krishna sincerely and all good intelligence consultation shall come from within. Krishna says that those who are engaged in My service, I give intelligence for his progressive march. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 03:43 | |
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