a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1968 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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8 Feb 2004 Thursday, February 8, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Brahmananda, Please accept my blessings. Your letter dated Feb. 5, 1968, is just in hand. It is very pleasing to me to see how your heart is working in Krishna Consciousness. I am very much hopeful of your future glories in the matter of propagating this transcendental movement. Your remark that we cannot make Krishna our order supplier is very appropriate. We should always try to supply everything to Krishna and we shall try to avoid any return by Krishna. That is Vaisnava philosophy. The Gopis and Radharani served Krishna without any expectation of material or spiritual profit. They never expected any return from Krishna and Krishna remained ever indebted to the Gopis. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu exalted the worship method of the Gopis, and Krishna when He tries to understand the heart of the Gopis, that is the transformation of Krishna into Lord Caitanya. I am very much pleased to learn that things in New York are going nicely under your supervision, and I do not see any urgent reason that you shall go to India immediately. You are sincere pure soul, Krishna will give you His transcendental counsel as you shall require from time to time. I have seen the Life Magazine article; the pictures have come very sublime, and imperceptibly they have admitted our superexcellence of chanting Hare Krishna. You have marked it that they have said: "The chanting of Hare Krishna continues to vibrate the brain for several days." We want to inject this transcendental poison into the heart of the Maya-serpent bitten people in general. Krishna Consciousness by the sound of Hare Krishna, it continues for a moment in the brain of the rascals, then certainly it will act in future to help them to become Krishna Consciousness. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said: "Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat." Bhayat means fearfulness. Even a slight injection of this transcendental vibration can save one from the greatest danger. In future, of course, we shall not be very cheap plaything in the hands of the so-called publicity leaders in the kingdom of Maya. We simply give them a little chance to serve Krishna, but we cannot accept their leadership. In future, therefore, we shall agree to such publicity if they publish about ourselves exclusively. I think the Television proposal as written by you may be utilized in that way. Yes, I saw the late Ambassador Mr. B. K. Nehru at San Francisco Hotel and he and his wife received me well. He introduced me also with the Consul General, Mr. Bazpai. So the meeting was nice and I understand that he has recommended my case as a permanent immigrant to the Immigration Department. His assistants and secretaries in the Embassy and Consulate General have written me letters confirming this. They have promised that they will do their best in getting my permanent visa, but usually it takes 5 to 6 months to complete the process. We have, however, submitted the Immigration application by the first week of January, 1968. So I think I shall have to wait for securing the visa. I quite appreciate your proposal that you cannot go out until the two books are published. I think you are missing the four points of Krishna's superexcellent qualities to be added in the Teachings of Lord Caitanya. The four points are as follows: 1. He can create continuous waves of Transcendental Pastimes which attract the attention of everyone including His Visnu Expansions, 2. His super-excellent beauty in the midst of Radharani and Her Associates, 3. His super-excellent sound of His Transcendental Flute, 4. His super-excellent beauty cannot be surpassed by anyone in the three worlds, namely, the material world, the Vaikuntha Loka, and Krishna Loka. I hope you will add these points to complete the vacancy. Yes, the essay for the booklet is also the script for the new record. I am very glad that Jadurani is inspecting our fine arts department. It is very much gratifying. Please offer my blessings to the new boy John. I am very much anxious to get our position as non-government organization in the U.N., please try for it your best. I have received letter from S.S. Brijbasi Company that by the approach of Hitsaran Sharma, they have immediately executed the order. And a copy of the letter is already there in N.Y., and the documents are expected very soon. I have also received letter from United Shipping Corp. that the books, harmoniums, karatalas, mrdangas, etc., are already shipped on the 14th of January, and expected to arrive by the 20th of February. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:22 | Thursday, February 8, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Jaya Govinda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you very much for your letter dated Feb. 5. Your attitude of humbleness is praiseworthy. A devotee should always remain humble and meek especially to the authorities and devotees. Lord Caitanya's philosophy is not to become God, but to become servant, servant, servant of God. The more one becomes the lower grade servant of the Lord, the more he is devoted nearer to the Lord. This is our philosophy. I have all my hearty blessings upon you, please do your duties nicely, and Krishna will be pleased to shower His Blessings upon you. He is very kind to sincere souls, and He gives intelligence from within to sincere devotees. We require only to become sincere in the service of the Lord, then everything is there ready for our convenience. Regarding lecturing by woman devotees: I have informed you that in the service of the Lord there is no distinction of caste or creed, color, or sex. In the Bhagavad-gita, the Lord especially mentions that a woman who has taken seriously is also destined to reach Him. We require a person who is in the knowledge of Krishna, that is the only qualification of a person speaking. It doesn't matter what he is. Materially a woman may be less intelligent than a man, but spiritually there is no such distinction. Because spiritually everyone is pure soul. In the absolute plane there is no such gradation of higher and lower. If a woman can lecture nicely and to the point, we should hear her carefully. That is our philosophy. But if a man can speak better than a woman, the man should be given first preference. But even though a woman is less intelligent, a sincere soul should be given proper chance to speak, because we want so many preachers, both men and women. I have seen the Life Magazine publication about ourselves, and it is not bad. I am glad that Rupanuga has gone to Buffalo for opening a center there. The organizer, Mr. Goel, is a very nice boy, and I had some correspondence with him. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Sent along with Brahmacari letters | 04:15 | 7 Feb 2004 Wednesday, February 7, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Sivananda, Please accept my blessings. I hope you are continuing to study Bengali. I shall be glad to know how much progress you have made by this time. Hope you are well. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:20 | Wednesday, February 7, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Janardana, Please accept my blessings. I thank you for your letter dated Feb. 5, 1968. Rayarama has already left for N.Y. on Monday night, so you can contact him there. Regarding your proposal for opening a center in London: I am prepared to go there at any moment. Even I do not mind the severe cold there. I have asked Hamsaduta to organize a Kirtana party of 12 heads, so I wish to go there with a strong party for Kirtana and lecture. As you will be free by April 8, you may come to N.Y. just after discharging your reponsibilities, and by that time I shall also reach there. So we shall consult together with Brahmananda, Rayarama, yourself, and myself, how to move all over the world with a Kirtana party. I am very much hopeful of being successful if only selected persons of my followers will form a Kirtana party and have an extensive tour all over the world. In the meantime we are trying to get membership (non-government organization) in the U.N., and if we are fortunate enough to get this membership, then we shall be able to attract the heads of all nations in this important movement. Our program for Krishna Consciousness is solid, and backed by most authoritative literature--Bhagavad-gita, and Srimad-Bhagavatam; there is no question of our not being popular to the world. Simply we have to present ourselves in true perspective. We can challenge any rascals of the world but the difficulty is that it is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss. M has gained so much popularity over Europe or America, means the people of this part of the world are not very much advanced in spiritual science. What is there philosophy in the teachings of M? He is very clever man to collect fund. He is proposing individual mantra which is complete nonsense, and he is charging for mantra and allowing his disciples to enjoy life as they like. So these are all nonsense propaganda proposals, but people are blind in accepting his advice. One thing is, however, clear, that the Western people are searching after some spiritual enlightenment in the real sense of the term. Bhagavad-gita with the right presentation and the program of Krishna Consciousness is the right prescription, simply we have to administer them with cool head and solid program. I think by the Grace of Krishna my working has produced some sincere souls like yourself, Brahmananda, Hamsaduta, and others. Now we have to chalk out a solid program by consulting together. In the Western countries, there is no dearth of men and money, as well as intelligence, simply to get them together and our program will be successful. My present program is that I am waiting for a little warmer climate otherwise I would have gone to N.Y. without waiting further. Therefore my present program is that I shall remain in the Western Coast, Cal., during Feb. and March. Then I shall go to New York in April. When I will come there and we'll meet together. Then I will go to Boston in May, then by the month of June I will go to Montreal. I think that is the best time. I shall remain in Montreal for June and July, then we shall go to England and possibly from England, we may go to Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, etc. Now, man proposes, God disposes. I do not know what is Krishna's desire, but I have chalked out my program like this. Pray to Krishna that He may give me strength to render some service to you and to the humanity at large. I have not yet received Ron Blackwell's letter which you mentioned. Hope you are all well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:13 | 5 Feb 2004 Monday, February 5, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Upendra, Please accept my blessings. I thank you for your nice letter postdated Feb. 3, 1968, and have appreciated your very nice Krishna Conscious sentiments. My advice to you is to continue your good attitude that you are keeping now and this alone will help you in advancing your cause of Krishna Consciousness. Yes, it will be great advantage if you can chant so much as one lac of Names daily, and also read scriptures. This is good opportunity for you to learn to sing all the verses in the Srimad-Bhagavatam as you began to do so nicely in San Francisco. That will be very nice. Namacarya Haridasa Thakura was taken to the jail and he told the prisoners there, oh, you are so fortunate to have this opportunity to sit and chant the Holy Names without the Maya distractions of the outer world! So you should think like that, and use your time in the prison house to the greatest advantage for spiritual advancement. Please note that the other side of this page was appearing in the very popular magazine New Yorker, and even they are chanting Hare Krishna in mockery, still, it doesn't matter. Just so long they are chanting Hare Krishna, that is the success of our mission. The Kazi's men were breaking up the Kirtana parties of the Lord, and in mockery some of them chanted Hare Krishna, and thereafter, their tongues would not stop singing Hare Krishna. Our tongues should be like that, unable to ever stop singing the Glories of the Lord. We practice, and someday it will be like that. Hope you are feeling well. And I hope you are receiving proper food there also. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:09 | 4 Feb 2004 Sunday, February 4, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Labangalatika dasi, Please accept my blessings. I have received your nice letter of January 28, and I thank you very much for it. The proper spelling of your spiritual name is LABANGALATIKA. The meaning of Labangalatika is delicate, sometimes Radharani is addressed as Labangalatika. Please continue in your nice service attitude and Krishna will always be pleased with you. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. Send through Hamsaduta. letters | 05:07 | Sunday, February 4, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear William Odell, Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your nice letter, and for your inquisitiveness. You are Krishna's part and parcel. As you love your hands and legs, as you feel when your hand is in trouble, similarly Krishna feels for you when you are in trouble. The hand has value when it is attached to the body. Similarly, we have values when we are Krishna Conscious. The hand has no value detached from the whole body. Krishna is the Whole and we are His parts and parcel. Try to understand this philosophy of simultaneously one and different. The hand and body is created all at a time. It is not that the body is created first and then the hand is created. Our relation with Krishna is like the hand and the body. Therefore, Krishna and we both are eternal, and there is no history of eternity. It has no beginning and no end. Krishna is blue because He is all attractive. The sky is blue because it reflects Krishna's blue color in the spiritual sky as much as the sunlight is reflected through skylight glasses. I hope your questions are fully answered; if at any time you have got some questions, please write and send them to me. Thanking you once more for your nice letter. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 05:05 | Sunday, February 4, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letter dated January 1, 1968; and I am so proud to have such spiritual sons and daughters like you, who are so humble in their dealings but who are so high in their spiritual understanding. Lord Caitanya instructed us to be more humble than the grass on the street, and more tolerant than the trees, and to offer all respects to all, demanding no respect for ourselves. All these nice qualifications make one worthy to chant Hare Krishna. Just try to follow these principles and keep staunch faith in Krishna and in Spiritual Master, and your life will be successful without any doubt. Regarding Kirtana Party: My idea is that at least one dozen persons should form a Kirtana Party. Two persons play mrdangas, eight persons play karatalas, one person playing tamboura, and one person playing melodious harmonium. The person who will play on tamboura will be leader singer. You have just calculated what I want, when you suggest that the leader should sing as I do, and the others will respond. That will be very nice. But all the members of the party will be pure devotees. None of them should be outsiders. We do not want any outsiders as far as possible. Mrdanga playing as you are doing at present will make you more and more expert as you go on playing. Here also I see Gaurasundara simply by playing is improving. If all the members keep their faith in Krishna and tries to please Him, certainly everyone will be pleased by hearing our Kirtana. It is sure and certain. When such Kirtana will be demonstrated, only the harmonium player may sit, and all the others may stand up and join the Kirtana and dancing properly dressed. This is actual idea and I hope if such Kirtanas are performed even on public stage, we can sell tickets. That will be a source of earning to maintain our activities. I am glad that Purusottama is trying to get our Society recognized in the U.N. as a non-government organization. And if it is successful, then we shall be able to perform Kirtana in the U.N. stage. And if we are recognized by the representatives for different nations, then we may be invited from different parts of the world, then our Sankirtana movement will be successful. Our process will remain the same eternally, namely, to begin with Sankirtana and prolong it at least for 1.2 hour, then speak something from Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Brahma Samhita, etc. and invite questions and answer them. Then again concluded by chanting. This is my dream or idea, and I shall be glad if you, Brahmananda, Purusottama, Rayarama, and others can give this idea a practical shape and life, then I shall be very much thankful to you. Please convey my blessings to your good wife Himavati, and I hope to meet you very soon. Hope you are both well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 05:00 | 2 Feb 2004 Friday, February 2, 1968 Los Angeles, Calif. My Dear Purusottama, Please accept my blessings. I am so glad to receive your letter (undated), and I have noted the contents carefully. Krishna is so sublime and transcendental that He cannot be realized by mental speculation or by personal endeavor, education, or material acquisition. He can only be approached and understood clearly by our service attitude, engaging all our senses in His service. The beginning of service is to engage our hearing organs, and receive the transcendental message by aural reception. And whenever we are mature in receiving the transcendental message from books like Bhagavad-gita, and Srimad-Bhagavatam, via media the transparent bona fide Spiritual Master, then we are able to chant or engage our tongue in the service of the Lord, being engaged in the service of the Lord. The material covering of our senses becomes inactive and actual spiritual form of activity becomes manifest. I very much appreciate your development of this spiritual perception, and Krishna has given you a good chance in the matter of your proposed dealings with the U.N. Please immediately finish the job by incorporating our association in the U.N. It is a very good opportunity. Consult Brahmananda and do it immediately. In the future, we will have very great scope for introducing our Krishna Consciousness for leaders amongst all the nations. I think it is a very great opportunity for us, and we should utilize it. So far your going to Buffalo, Brahmananda will see to it, and if it is already changed I have no objection. We have to serve Krishna from any circumstance or position. That shall be our mode of life. It doesn't matter where we live or where we serve. If possible, secure one copy of "Illustrated Weekly of the Times of India", Bombay, and you will find a nice article about ourselves on page 38. I think you can get this paper from any magazine store. It was published on January 21, 1968. I have no overwork; I am not working materially. Thanking you once more for your kind letter. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:57 | |
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