a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1972 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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25 July 2007 Tuesday, 25 July, 1972 Paris My Dear Sri Joshiji, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 15, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great interest. From London now I am staying in Paris, and from here I shall go to Amsterdam and then to Edinburgh, again to London, and from there I shall go to Nairobi for installing Radha-Krishna deities in our own temple there. Your letter under reply gives me great pleasure when I understand from your childhood you are a great devotee of Lord Krishna, and now in your old age you are still anxious to preach the doctrine of Lord Krishna, namely, to surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Actually, the whole world requires to understand the Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Although the Bhagavad-gita is a very popular book, widely read all over the world, unfortunately unscrupulous sannyasis and yogis presented the gospel in a perverted way so that people could not come to become a devotee of Krishna, instead they have become impersonalists. This infectious disease is spread in India, especially by the Mayavadis sannyasis and philosophers, therefore we have got greater task in India then in the western countries. In the western countries they have lost practically any religious system, and Christianity is declining. I was in London and practically I saw hundreds and thousands of churches are for sale because nobody is going there. The same position is in America also, but still a section of persons there are interested in church. But in Europe especially I see they have lost all respect for religious life. The same thing is there in India also. I therefore suggest that when you return to India next time, that you take sannyasa in your ripe old age without any family responsibility, and let us together do something tangible in India. In 1970 I went to Amritsar, invited by Swami Nirmalananda, and I saw the people of Amritsar are greatly devoted. We were invited by many temples and private persons, and we were made very much welcome, and somebody wanted to give me some land also. Anyway land is not very difficult to gain, but we require some men to work for this great mission. The educated younger sections are required to join this great movement. We have already got our land in Bombay, in Vrindaban, as well as in Navadvipa. Gradually, we can open a centre in each and every important city of India. I shall request you to think over this proposition very seriously and make some tangible program, then when you return to India in October, by that time I shall be there also, and jointly we can do something tangible in India also. I shall be very glad to hear from you your reaction on this proposition. Thank you very much. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: Christians, impersonalists, India, sannyasa letters | 06:31 |25 July, 1972 Paris My dear Prahladananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 7/13/72, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am so glad to hear that the things in Austin center are going on very nicely, never mind there are not many devotees there. Our program is to enlist the men with quality for serving Krishna, not for attracting the masses for simply watching and going away. As long as the classes are going on well, the rules and regulations are being observed sincerely, the sankirtana party is going out with enthusiastic mood--if these things are going on, then everything is first-class. You are engaged in Krishna's preaching work, therefore you are being specially favored by Krishna, just like the fighting soldier is receiving all special care by the government so that he will not be lacking anything, even the citizens at home may be deprived of all comforts. So you may know it for certain that Krishna will give you all facility to improve in every way, according to the sincerity of your attempt to spread Krishna Consciousness in the battlefield of preaching work. Upon your recommendation I am glad to accept Dorian as my duly initiated disciple. I am sending his beads, duly chanted by me, under separate post. His new spiritual name shall be Dharmabhavana das Brahmacari. His letter follows. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Labels: Austin, initiation, preachers letters | 06:30 |25 July, 1972 Paris My dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 17, 1972, and I have noted the contents carefully. I am very happy to hear that the things are going on very nicely, especially at Gurukula. I have heard from Bhagavan dasa that you want to move the deities from Detroit. That is not a very good proposal. In general, deities are never removed from one place to another simply for show. Once the deity is installed in India, it can never be removed under any circumstances, even they must build the highway around it. But in our case we may sometimes have to change houses, so we may once have to move the deity from one house to another. But we shall not move the Deity from one city to another just for our own convenience. We are always thinking these kind of changes, why is that? I simply want things to be developed which we have got, not to make so many big big plans and changing all the time, that is not very practical. Regarding your questions about children at Gurukula, above ten years old they can be initiated first time, and after one year of perfectly chanting 16 rounds and observing the other regulative principles, they may receive second initiation. The Bhagavata class should go on, just as I have shown you, with everyone attending, including the children. Read the Sanskrit sloka all together, word meanings, translation, purport and give elucidation on all points. The children should be doing the same thing we are doing, plus giving them the playing facility, a little ABC, history, mathematics, geography, like that. They should not help in cooking, nor should they take part in any hard work, they must study. After initiation, then they can learn cooking. They should not be utilized for giving service to the elderly members, they should be given chance for reading and writing. So far marriage is concerned, they must be legally married. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: deities, Detroit, gurukula letters | 06:29 |23 July 2007 Sunday, 23 July, 1972 Paris My Dear Jayadeva, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 1, 1972, and I have noted the contents. Krishna's plan becomes very easy for us when we follow Krishna's orders, otherwise, we are following Maya's plan and become frustrated at every step. Following Krishna's orders means chanting daily 16 rounds, following the four rules and regulations, rising early, associating with devotees, like that. Unless these principles are followed, we cannot expect Krishna's protection. Regarding householder life, I have no objection, this is not my responsibility. Henceforth my students must take the responsibility for their own householder life, get married outside the temple, take all risk for supporting wife and home, live outside the temple, like that. But they should live nearby and take part as much as possible in temple activities, such as mangala aratrik, sankirtana, etc. Living separately does not mean that we have nothing more to do with the devotees, no. You should associate with them as much as possible, and donate something regularly, 50% is the standard set by Sanatana Goswami. Keep your position, that's all right, but utilize it to make spiritual progress, that is the real thing, not for satisfying my hankerings and desires. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: grhasthas, regulative principles letters | 06:29 |23 July, 1972 Paris My dear Sankarasana, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter and I have noted the contents. It is very good that you want to become very learned in Krishna Consciousness, but what good is so much knowledge without practice? Obedience must be there, so by being submissive in this way and following the direction of the temple leaders is practicing the knowledge of Krishna Consciousness. Disciple means discipline. Without discipline there cannot be any spiritual progress. Therefore our system is to follow the authority or our superiors, no that we can independently question, not this is right and this is wrong. That is not the way. So my best advice to you is that without questioning you follow the instructions given to you by Visnujana and other leaders, and do exactly as they say, then everything will be all right. If you want to study, there is much time in the day for studying, but you must go also on Sankirtana party, that is the result or practice of your studying. Simply studying is dry and useless without chanting. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Labels: chanting, New York, sankirtan, study letters | 06:28 |22 July 2007 Saturday, 22 July, 1972 Paris My dear Suniti, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 13, 1972, describing the condition of your husband, Jaya Gopala das. Whatever happens we must take it as the special mercy shown by Krsna to his devotee. Yes, the reading of Krsna Book and chanting at his bedside must go on. I am offering prayers to Krsna that He may protect Jaya Gopala, who is such sincere devotee. Now you and your godbrothers and godsisters also continue to offer prayers and chant always the Hare Krsna Mantra for him, and this will save him under any conditions. Hoping this will meet him in improved condition of health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Labels: chanting, difficulties, Los Angeles letters | 20:48 |22 July, 1972 Paris Chittagong, Bangladesh My dear Sri Jogeswar Chowdhury, Please accept my blessings. I have seen your letter addressed to the Secretary of our London branch. I am very much pleased to note that you have somehow or other seen one copy of our Back to Godhead magazine and that you wish a copy of our Teachings of Lord Caitanya. I have instructed the secretary here in London to forward you one copy immediately by ordinary mail, gratis. I am glad to inform you that a party of my disciples will be coming to Bangladesh soon for spreading the message of Lord Caitanya there. They will be stationed at Jessore, but will travel wherever they are invited and hold Sankirtana. So if you are very much eager to receive them, about six or eight of my foreign American and European disciples, you can invite them to Chittagong and they shall be happy to stay with you there and hold programs of kirtana and preaching. Kindly do the needful and make all arrangements among the prominent Vaisnava citizens in Chittagong for programs and for the board and keep for the Hare Krishna party. Meanwhile I am forwarding a copy of your letter to the leader, Sriman Tamala Krishna das Goswami, and you may write to him also, c/o ISKCON World Headquarters, P.O. Sridhama Mayapur, Nadia district, West Bengal, India. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Labels: Bangladesh, preachers letters | 20:47 |22 July, 1972 Paris My Dear Acyutananda, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 16, 1972, along with two tapes and one book. The book contains some derogatory remarks about my Guru Maharaja, therefore we shall having nothing to do with printing it. In fact, since Lalita Prasad Thakura has not fulfilled his promise to give us that Birnagar land for our ISKCON center, so we shall not have any more to do with printing any books by Bhaktivinode Thakura or anyone. Try to induce him to fulfill his promise, otherwise we want nothing more to do with the whole business. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: disagreement, Lalita Prasad, land letters | 20:46 |22 July, 1972 Paris My Dear Giriraja, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 14, 1972, and I have noted the contents carefully. I am especially pleased to hear that everything is going on nicely in Bombay, and that you are sending a party of men to live in Bombay city for collecting there. That is a nice plan. Yes, the men may be rotated from time to time. And if all the others also go sometimes to nearby neighborhoods for preaching and distributing books, that is also good proposal. I am also glad to hear the deities will soon have a first-class house, and you will keep their nice jewels, etc., in a heavy iron safe. So far my writings, avoid publishing them in hodge-podge journals. These so-called Hindus are generally impersonalists, and we do not want to have anything to do with them. Better we stick to our own standard, and eventually they will all come to us for learning what is God. You can try the daily newspapers. If Times of India, Navbharat, if some of these daily papers agree, I can send regularly one sloka from Bhagavad-gita, whatever is in the book plus further elaboration. That is a good plan, if Saurabha can find someone who will finance our Juhu project. But you must be very careful in this regard, and do not make any final agreements without consulting me in the matter. Regarding the plan by the Life Member to build one temple in Kashmir, yes, we are interested to help by managing it, and immediately we can send 25 members there. So you can submit our plan and he can build it accordingly. Regarding Gujarati BTG, you can do as you see fit, either reprint the same issue, or print a new issue utilizing the Bengali blocks. One thing is, you have mentioned Bhavananda will require four more lakhs for Mayapur. But he told me four lakhs total, and of that I have sent 2 1/2 lakhs, so he shall require further only 1 3/4 lakhs. That must come from selling books. The books are coming at no cost to you, you simply sell them and utilize the entire money for building for Bombay, Vrindaban, and Mayapur. That will be the real task ahead, to sell many, many books all over India and use all the money for building. Why do you see any difficulty? Yes, try for getting free manure from some gosala. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: Bombay, management, preachers, publishing letters | 20:46 |22 July, 1972 Paris My Dear Jayapataka, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 10, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am very glad to hear that the building work is going on with full speed, including both day and night shifts of workers. Do not worry, I am sending you two first-class men from England, both of them have got good experience in engineering and building work. They are named Smarahari das and ___. They shall be arriving very soon in India, and you can train them to help you there full-time. Besides, you may ask Giriraja if Saurabha das can come from Bombay from time to time to assist you there and see how the things are going on. He is experienced man. Regarding Gitar Gan, do it conveniently. Regarding Lalita Prasad Thakura, as I have advised Acyutananda above, unless he keeps his promise than we are not interested to publish any of Bhaktivinode Thakura's books. That animosity against Guru Maharaja is going on, so we shall have nothing to do with it. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Labels: building, disagreement, Lalita Prasad, Mayapur letters | 20:44 |22 July, 1972 Paris My dear Jagadisa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 15, 1972, and I have noted the contents. I am very much pleased to hear that everything is going on nicely in Canada, especially that your travelling party is having good success. Yes, that is the right idea, to strengthen whatever devotees we have got in spiritual life, fix them beyond any doubts. Then our potency will increase and we may recruit dozens of new devotees easily. Main thing is to make sure everyone is chanting minimum sixteen rounds daily of Hare Krishna Mantra. Otherwise they will not be able to perform the other practices of brahminical life, such as early rising, cleanliness, etc. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda letters | 20:44 | July 22, 1972 Paris My dear Gurudasa, Please accept my blessings. I have recently received several letters from the others there in Vrndavana, wherein they have mentioned there may be some illicit relationship between Devananda Swami and your wife, Yamuna devi. I want to know if there is any substance to this claim, you may be frank and honest with me as much as possible because I am very much in anxiety on this account. Therefore I have asked Devananda to leave India for working as pujari in Nairobi. Also enclosed please find the copy of one letter from the accountant there in Vrndavana. The report is not very good, so you please give me your side of the situation and explain these things. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: management, sannyasa, Vrindavan, wife letters | 20:43 | |
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