a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1972 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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28 June 2007 Wednesday, 28 June, 1972 Los Angeles The President The White House Washington, D.C. 20025 My dear Mr. President: Several thousand years ago a great pious emperor ruled over this planet. He was a descendant of the great Kuru dynasty and the grandson of Arjuna, the hero of the Bhagavad-gita and the personal associate of the Lord, Sri Krishna. The people lived under his domain in peace. He provided protection for the people and the cows, as well as all other living entities. He engaged many brahmanas, spiritual leaders, to educate his people and advise him in all matters. The people were just and God-conscious. They had a good understanding of the meaning and purpose of life and lived in happiness and prosperity. They respected their emperor and received kindness and benedictions from him. You are a great president of a great nation. In this age of unrest and quarrel, your strength, as well as the strength of your nation, will be lasting if it is built upon the pillars of spiritual knowledge and Absolute Truth. I am seventy-six years of age and am in the renounced order of life. I came to this country from India six years ago to introduce Krishna Consciousness, the scientific process of spiritual life, to the English-speaking people of the Western world. Now by the grace of Krishna I have many thousands of disciples, young American and European boys and girls. Many of them have come to me bewildered, rebellious, and addicted to all sorts of sinful activities. Like so many of the young people today, they were lost and confused. Now they are all leading a disciplined and regulated life. They follow strict principles of spiritual life, with no desire for intoxication of any kind, or illicit sex life. They are always engaged in meaningful work, serving God and their fellow man. They have become the flower of your country and all over the world they are being treated with the highest respect. I would humbly like to request an interview with you to discuss the possibilities of my providing further service. My disciple, Atreya Rsi das (Mr. Marz Attar of Arthur Young and Company, 277 Park Avenue, New York, N. Y., phone 212-922-5957) will assist your aides to arrange a suitable time and place for a meeting. I hope this meets you in best of health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: politicians letters | 17:08 |28 June, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Acyutananda, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 20, 1972, and I have noted the contents carefully. But I do not find any mention of how the progress is going on at Mayapur. This is our very important project, and I have entrusted the work to Tamala Krsna, yourself, along with Bhavananda and Jayapataka, but none of you are writing in this respect so I do not know what is happening there. So I am very much concerned to be always informed how the progress is going on, and I have recently received telegrams regarding our money transaction and have replied duly, but still there is no word from your side in this matter also. I am pleased to hear that the song books and tapes of Lalita Prasad Thakura are in New York for being edited and distributed. To answer your questions, the Deities in London, New York, etc. are not mentioned in TLC, the Deities mentioned there were before these Deities were installed. In Caitanya Caritamrta there is mentioned that all over the world there are to be found many Deities. They may be covered by flood, devastation, and so on. Svayam Prakasa refers to Baladeva. So far the songs of Jayadeva are concerned, there is one, Srita Kamala. Yes, if you want to translate the Bhakti-Ratnakara. When I go to New York in a few days, namely on June 2nd, I shall be very glad to peruse the tapes and writings you have sent there. Hoping this will meet you in good health, Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:sda Labels: Calcutta, Mayapur, questions letters | 17:08 |28 June, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Cyavana, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 21st June, 1972, and I am very glad to hear that the proper permits have been obtained for the building work. But one thing, we are forming a cooperative society with our own members, but what is the advantage? I think that the cooperative society is formed in order to avoid paying some taxes, like stamp tax, but I just sent a check for Rs. 70,000/- to Giriraja for payment of stamp taxes, so what is the advantage if we still have to pay the stamp tax? Yes, Giriraja is to be regarded as the absolute authority in all matters. Why do you disobey? Of course, everything should be departmentally managed, but unless there is discipline how will anything get done? If you are in disagreement at every point, how it will be possible to finish this important work? Anyway, please cooperate with Giriraja and the others, and if this is impossible then I will have to take other steps. If you want to go to Jaipur and Vrndavana for a little while, I have no objection, do it immediately. Hoping this will meet you in good health, Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACB/sda Labels: Bombay, disagreement, management letters | 17:07 |28 June, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Tamala Krsna, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 22, 1972, and with great pleasure I have noted the contents and enclosures. But one thing, I do not find any mention of how the work is going on there at Mayapur. I have entrusted you as the leader of this project to see that it is always going on at full capacity, that the men are working, that the money shall be collected and spent wisely and timely, and in all respects take full responsibility for this great construction work. But I do not find even any mention how the work is going in your letters. Neither I find any photos or mention in the letters from Acyutananda, Bhavananda, and Jayapataka. Why you are not mentioning? I received sometime back two telegrams requesting money to be transferred in the usual manner, and I have duly replied the telegrams by informing you to first receive the money from Mr. Jayan, as before, and then send us requisition order with minimum joint signature of two numbers. But as yet you have not sent any requisition notice, neither have we made any transfer, so how these things will go on like this? So before going to Bangladesh you should receive the money from Mr. Jayan then send the requisition order with joint signatures. You must jointly take responsibility in this matter or I shall be always in anxiety how the things are going on. I consider this Mayapur Project to be our most important work practically, so when I do not get any information I can naturally assume the worst. Your touring party has done a very excellent job of spreading Krishna Consciousness in Bihar state as I have seen from the newsclippings and other enclosures which you have sent. One thing, our Subala Maharaja is preaching alone in Kanpur and I do not very much approve of alone preaching, so if you like you can request him to join with your party.* Also, Gargamuni Maharaja has left Bombay with his party for touring in Gujarat state and other places. Your touring and the publicity is a tremendous service. Krsna will be very much pleased. This touring and preaching, along with sankirtana party, this is our actual mission. And if you go to Bangladesh and do the same work there, it will be a great achievement for you and all of the world if you are successful. So I will pleased to learn if you have got the visas in Delhi, and if you go to Bangladesh make certain first to get the money from Mr. Jayan and sent the requisition order with signatures duly. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami *Subala's address is c/o Swami Om Prakash, Ramayan Vedanta Ashram, 112/177 ARYA NAGAR, KANPUR-2, U.P. Labels: building, management, Mayapur, sankirtan letters | 17:02 |25 June 2007 Sunday, 25 June, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Daughter, Please accept my blessings. I have received your letter from Pittsburgh dated June 16, 1972, delivered to me by Bibhu dasa along with his recommendation. I shall be glad to consent to accept you as my duly initiated disciple. I shall send your beads under separate post, duly chanted by me. Your initiated name is Haripuja dasi. Now please continue to strictly follow the regulative principles and rigidly observing the four principal restrictions, namely: no eating of meat, fish or eggs, no taking of any kinds of intoxicants including coffee, tea and tobacco, no illicit sex life, and no gambling, and always without fail chant 16 rounds of the Holy Names daily, and be happy. If you stick to these principles with determination, then you will become free from all attachment to maya, by Krishna's Grace. The example is that when the sun is in the sky, there is no question of darkness. Similarly, when Hare Krishna Mantra is vibrating on your tongue and you are hearing attentively, then your consciousness becomes clear or Krishna Consciousness and there is no question of maya or hazy consciousness. Just as when the light and the darkness come together, the darkness cannot stand before the light, so maya cannot stand before the presence of Krishna. Always remember therefore to chant Hare Krishna, and that will save you in all circumstances without any doubt. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACB/sda Labels: initiation, Pittsburgh letters | 17:06 |25 June, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Aksoja, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter from Amsterdam dated June 21, 1972. I look forward with pleasure to attending some of your meetings there in Holland near end of July. Yes, the two engagements for July 28 and July 29 sound all right, and as you have kindly invited me, if you make all nice arrangements, then I shall be very glad to attend them. One thing, you have mentioned a band for playing in the park.* If we hold public meetings, we can only hold kirtan, with our usual program of preaching being the main feature of attention. We shall stick only to the Vaisnava standard set for us by the great acaryas and saintly persons, namely, the Hare Krishna Mantra and other mantras which I have taught to you, but we shall not produce something artificial by writing and playing our own songs as we like. Also, as you have requested, I shall be very much pleased to install Lord Jagannatha in the temple on the Sunday, 30th July, before continuing onwards. Hoping this will meet you in good health, Your ever well wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda letters | 17:06 | 25 June, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Kirtanananda, Please accept my blessings. I have received your letter from New Vrndavana dated June 20, 1972, and noted the contents thereof. I am very glad to hear that you are giving your full attention to the worship of Sri Sri Radha Krsna there at New Vrndavana, and it shall be your task to make certain that they will never be so much neglected in the future. Your proposal is very nice to make the atmosphere of the Deities very, very opulent, and the temple must be kept always very nice. That will be the attractive feature and people will come to see for that reason. So far your road-show is concerned, we are not meant for giving performances, we are simple kirtana men. There must always be kirtana going on wherever we travel, and nothing else. In this connection refer to the GBC letter which will be sent to you shortly by Karandhara and Syamasundara. So far your naming of the new initiates, Syamasundara tells me that there are several duplications, and this is not very much desirable. So in future, better to telephone or somehow contact my secretaries and get the names from them, and in that way there will be no duplication in the future. I have duly received the check for $200 and I thank you very much for it. Enclosed also please find one copy of Gayatri Mantra for Varanasi devi dasi. I shall be arriving in New York sometime in the afternoon of July 2, and I look forward to seeing you all there at that time. Meanwhile, hoping this will meet you in good health, Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACB/sda Labels: deities, initiation, New Vrindaban letters | 17:05 |24 June 2007 Saturday, 24 June, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Gurudasa and Yamuna, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters dated June 13, 1972, and I am very glad always to hear from you about how the things are going on in Vrndavana. I am especially pleased to hear that Mr. Kenneth Keating is becoming more and more interested in our movement, and that you have received the first allotment of foodstuffs from the American Government. One thing, why the American Government does not give us more help for America's hippies who come to India? They have got tendency to live with us, and we have got every facility for giving them comfortable shelter, clean living, spiritual training and good moral standing. So if the American boys are coming to India to get this philosophy, is it not up to the American Government to give them assistance? Sometimes before, Ksirodakasayi has made promises many, but then he goes away. So Gargamuni is a little aspiring to be the president of Vrndavana, and he was sorry when he was refused the post because I wanted to give Ksirodakasayi chance. But Ksirodakasayi is not very responsible, so why not make Gargamuni president of the Vrndavana temple to be responsible for collecting the money and making certain that the job gets done on time? If he is given a big task to do, Gargamuni has got determination and he always comes out successful in this matter of raising money and doing some big work with it, just like when he purchased our Los Angeles temple. Main thing is, don't waste any time. Finish it on time. There is one saying that one should cut the coat according to the pocket. So even we cannot afford the proposed temple project as we have got the plans drawn by Saurabha and that architect, Mr. Suri, still, if we have not got sufficient funds and if there is long delay to get them, better to go ahead and build something little cheaper and very simple. The temple can be made with ordinary bricks if there is no money available, as I have drawn the plan before in the beginning. Unless someone comes forward with money, this structure as you have drawn it will be too much expensive. According to our means and strength we can construct a simple temple of bricks only. But one thing is, you must have somebody who can look after the work who has got some experience or you will be cheated. Jayapataka has got good experience in Mayapur, so he can sometimes go to Vrndavana, give instructions, and go back, like that. So you may write him in this connection and make the proposal. Singhania will not give anything, rest assured. Don't go after him, he is like that, very difficult to deal with. Regarding the revised plans that you have sent me, the side-supports or slabs vertical can be made of stone slabs which are easily available. Regarding the proposal that Yamuna devi has given of the Deities I shall consider. There is no haste. We have already got murtis in Delhi and I think you told me in one letter that somebody has promised Rs. 30,000 for murtis, whether it is a fact? Another thing, where are the important documents for Vrndavana, like the Deed of Gift, etc.? They should be kept carefully in a safety deposit box at the bank. And what is the present condition of Mr. Saraf, is he still holding the job as treasurer, as originally proposed? And whether the front portion of his land can be included in our garden? Hoping this will meet you both in good health and happy mood. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Labels: building, management, Vrindavan letters | 17:04 | |
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