a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1972 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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8 July 2007 8 July, 1972 London My Dear Madhudvisa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated June 30, 1972, and I have noted the contents. I am very much pleased to see the photos of the Jagannatha cart being made by you in Melbourne, and I can understand that your energy and experience are being put to good use there in Australia. That is the secret to success, utilizing our God-given energy to please Krishna. Regarding your question of dancing-show; whatever it may be, it may not deviate from the real Krishna Consciousness program. We are Hari Kirtana men, that's all. We can attract people by some gorgeous show, but inside there must be strict purity and seriousness, otherwise, we shall be attracted by the gorgeous show only. There are two energies always working simultaneously, and Maya means when we diminish the spiritual energy, then automatically we become attracted to the external dress of Maya. So I do not care very much for these plays and dramas unless they are coming directly from the Vedas. If we can recite from Bhagavad gita the first chapter without any need for elaborate scenery or stage-props and gorgeous dresses, that is best. Just like your Shakespeare. Macbeth may be recited by two men, without anything else, and simply by their acting ability and the meaningful words alone, they can very easily capture the entire audience and give them real substance. We have so many stories, like Jagai-Madhai, Krishna departing for Mathura, like that. Satire will not help us. Our message is very grave, and because it is the Absolute Truth, it will work without any artificial presentation. Because they heard of our program in Bombay along with the Zavery sisters Manipuri Dancers, here in London they had arranged one program of lecturing by me along with a recital by one man playing on the vina just to attract attention to my speaking. I am not in approval of such arrangements, and it will be dangerous thing in future if we begin this type of program just to attract the masses. Already I see this happening practically all over the Society, so better we stop it now and get ourselves firmly on the track chalked out for us by Lord Caitanya. We are simply Sankirtana men, our program is chanting, dancing, distributing prasadam, and speaking high philosophy, that's all. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: Melbourne, purity, Ratha Yatra, sankirtan letters | 11:32 |22 May 2007 22 May, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Amogha, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 11, 1972 and I have noted the contents. You are very intelligent boy, that I can understand, and you are very eager to serve Krishna with full capacity. So I am very much encouraged to see that you have taken over the leadership position in Melbourne. Now if you work very nicely in co-operation with Mohanananda to develop our Australia program, that will be very much pleasing to me. I especially have great hopes for our Australia yatra. I notice when I was there so many young people without any spiritual direction. So your mission is to attract them somehow or other to our philosophy of Krishna Consciousness. Make the covers of the book very much attractive so that automatically they will read the knowledge inside. The covers are like the mind and the senses, and the contents of the book are the soul. So sometimes in order to attract people to find out what is the soul we have to decorate the mind and the senses and make the presentation of Krishna consciousness very palatable to them. So in this way cooperate very nicely with your all good god-brothers there in Australia to deliver all of these fallen souls, especially the young people, back to Home, back to Godhead. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACB/sda Labels: art, Melbourne, publishing letters | 15:35 |9 May 2007 9 May, 1972 Honolulu My dear Amogha, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 3, 1972, and I have noted the contents. I am very much pleased to hear from you that all the programs in Melbourne are increasing enthusiastically under your supervision. I like Melbourne very much. One thing is, too much competition between centers is not good, the emphasis should be on cooperation, not competition. I do not think it is necessary to have two presses. We should not misuse time and money, better to convince Mohanananda to increase his press work and supply you with all materials, and in return you supply him with something, that is mutual cooperation. And if you divert your attention to a lot of business, then spiritual advancement will be hampered. So I do not think it is wise to get that big store and start a big business with many departments. That will distract. Our main business is to become Krishna Conscious and to convince others through preaching work. Therefore, we do not want to strive for making big business and lots of money. Of course, money is required, but better to sell many, many books and collect in that way. I am very glad to hear that you have got one Life Member there in Melbourne. He is helping you to get that press, but I do not think your getting another press will help. You claim that Sydney press is not working; similarly, if you start a press and there is not sufficient work, you will suffer. If you want literature, it will be sent. If there are different small presses, the work will not be of good quality. So this opening of small presses here and there, I am not in favor. Of course, if you utilize that store for a kirtana hall and book store, that is another matter--then many people will be attracted to actually learn about our movement and join us. That is a good proposal. Mohanananda has not yet come, so do not do anything new until we have discussed, and when I hear what he wants to do, I shall contact you then. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami cc: Mohanananda/Sydney ACBS/sda letters | 20:42 | |
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