a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1972 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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1 August 2007 Tuesday, 1 August, 1972 London My dear Tulasi, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 18, 1972 and I have noted the contents. I have received reports from all over the world; from Calcutta, San Francisco, Tokyo, Melbourne, Pittsburgh, and here in London also, that Rathayatra festival was a very great success, and this has very much engladdened me. So you have many festivals like this, and engage the public in Krishna consciousness as much as possible. Upon your recommendation, I have consented to accept Jan, Becky and Tina as my duly initiated disciples, and also to give gayatri mantra to Pranaballavah, Mahasakti and Nandita Gokula. Enclosed please find a letter for those who are taking first initiation, and two sacred threads for Pranabalavah and Mahasakti. The beads are being sent by separate post. Now you can hold a fire yajna for all of them, and gayatri mantra to Pranaballavah, Mahasakti, and Nandita Gokula. Show them how to count on the finger divisions, and have them listen one by one to the tape of me reciting gayatri mantra, repeating each vibration as I say it. You can get this tape from Karandhara in Los Angeles. Then hang the sacred thread over each boy's shoulder in the proper fashion. One thing is that the tape should be heard through earphones into the right ear, and the function should be held amongst the devotees only. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/nkd Labels: Denver, initiation, Ratha Yatra letters | 16:24 |1 August, 1972 London My dear Karandhara, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 27, 1972 and I have noted the contents carefully. You have paid the bank $6250.00 and the balance remains $57250.00. I can pay you $56000.00 by advising the Bank of America, and the balance of $1250.00 you can find, and the escrow will be fully paid. Regarding the corner property, for which you have offered $73500.00, that is a nice proposal, if the book trust can purchase the whole building outright as an investment and collect the rents as dividends. I have just received the newscuttings from Calcutta, and the Rathayatra festival there was simply spectacular. In one day, we have captured the full attention of the Calcutta people and they are very much favorable. So in this way, if we perform many festivals in all of our centers around the world, many times during the year, then the general populous will become very much favorably inclined toward us and that will push on this sankirtana movement in the best way. Under separate post please find the copies of some important documents for your perusal. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Enclosures: -under sep. post. Labels: bank, festivals, Los Angeles, Ratha Yatra letters | 16:20 |1 August, 1972 London My dear Bhavananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 24, 1972 and I have noted the contents carefully. I am so much pleased that your Rathayatra procession was so nicely received by the citizens of Calcutta. This news has engladdened me beyond words. Now take advantage for raising funds for Mayapur. Therefore I wanted this Rathayatra festival. I am enclosing some photos of our Rathayatra procession in other places and you can distribute these photos to the newspapers in Calcutta. In one day we have captured the citizens of Calcutta, and I am so much pleased. Yes, the Mullick family is one of the most important and aristocratic families in Calcutta. Practically once Calcutta was owned by the Mullicks, now the Marwaris are there. So you have done the perfect job of conducting the affairs in Calcutta and I am so much pleased upon you, may Krishna give you His all blessings. I had not written to you previously due to my extensive travelling program since the beginning of June. But I have written you one letter dated July 14, 1972, did you receive that letter? One thing is, I have just now heard from Gurudasa that the American Government agency which is providing us the foodstuffs for Mayapur is prepared to give us much, much more provided we fully utilize what they have already given. And I am informed by Gurudasa that the distribution program in Mayapur is not very widespread. Why you have neglected this very important program? I want that you shall distribute prasadam at least to hundreds of persons daily, and advertise very widely all over Nadia Province for people to come there and take prasadam daily without charge. Otherwise the whole thing is a farce. We have worked so hard for so long to get this foodstuff donated by your government and now we are neglecting? And if you expand this program to their satisfaction, they will give so much more of different varieties of foodstuffs and we can expand this program widely throughout India and become very much popular with the people as a whole. So try to expand this program as much as possible at Mayapur and let me know. Another thing is, I have received one letter from Tamala Krsna Goswami that his visa for Bangladesh is now postponed, therefore I would request him to take one qualified engineer friend from Calcutta, there are so many engineers we have interviewed who will work for us without charge, so he shall bring one engineer to Vrindaban to assist Gurudasa in construction of the house there. At least he can remain in Vrindaban for a few weeks to get the thing off on a solid basis. They have been there many months now and only one fence is there, one small hut, and one tube well. Otherwise, simply politics. But I am very much certain that Tamala Krsna has got the right idea for doing things, so he can go there immediately and begin the real construction work with the assistance of one qualified engineer who will live with us on the same basis as we are doing things at Mayapur. We have seen your note regarding Sarasvati Maharaja, and you may engage one Sanskrit teacher for Sarasvati so she shall become a very great scholar, just like Jiva Goswami was trained in Sanskrit language from early childhood and no one could surpass him in all of India. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda n.b. I am coming to India sometime in the month of October and I want to again hold Bhagavata Dharma Discourses and Hare Krishna Festival in Calcutta Maidan, I think by the last part of October. So you can begin preparing for that, and I shall be very glad to come there for speaking. Labels: Calcutta, prasadam distribution, Ratha Yatra, Vrindavan letters | 16:17 |19 July 2007 19 July, 1972 London My dear Karandhara, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 7/13/72, and I have noted the contents. I have already sent you one telegram "OK SEND KRSNA BOOKS," so by now I think you have duly forwarded the $10,000 as per Bhavananda's instructions. From now on, I am insisting there be at least two signatures. I do not understand all of the points about purchasing the apartment house, whether I shall be required to sign anything or what. So you may explain in detail what is to be done. As for the payment, we shall not need to cash the bonds, we can manage in other ways to pay the $63,500. I understand that we must pay the full amount cash by August 25, 1972. As for Dayananda, I am enclosing the letter to him, so you may kindly forward to him. We have celebrated a very, very nice Rathayatra festival here in London, and in the Trafalgar Square itself I initiated nearly 30 new devotees with fire yajna before 25,000 persons, mostly Englishmen. All in all, it was the best Rathayatra we have seen to date. I have not heard anything from you about Rathayatra in San Francisco. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda nb. We are leaving for Paris tomorrow, so you may reply me there until the 28th. Labels: BBT, Los Angeles, Ratha Yatra letters | 20:41 |14 July 2007 14 July, 1972 London My Dear Palika, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 4, 1972, and I am very much pleased to hear that all the preparation for Rathayatra Festival are very nice. Regarding the Jagannatha deities, They can be placed on the altar, that is sufficient. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: deities, Ratha Yatra letters | 19:20 |14 July, 1972 London My dear Bhavananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters dated July 5 and July 8, 1972, and I have noted the contents carefully. So far the speakers for Rathayatra are concerned, that is all right, but it is also a good idea to offset their nonsense by our own speakers. Yes, we should stand in our position and defy all nonsense propositions. Our math in Mayapur is not for Bengalis, the math is for you foreigners, to give you facility for offering respects to Lord Caitanya. I have notified Karandhara to send you the ten Krsna Books as you have requested, but in future I want at least two signatures to be there. One thing is, I have heard that Jayapataka is requesting Giriraja that Bombay should send maintenance allowance to Mayapur monthly. But I instructed in the beginning that Calcutta should maintain Mayapur. Also, you are not sending your collections regularly to Bombay, so how they can support you? If Bombay is maintaining, what are others doing, eating and sleeping? Why does Jayapataka want allowance? Anyone who cannot collect money, they should go to Mayapur and live there and simply eat and sleep, like women and widows. I shall arrange for their eating and sleeping. But in cities, those should live who can collect and earn. The widows are not earning in Hindu society, they eat and sleep at others' expense. So if you are not able to earn in Calcutta, better all go to Mayapur and eat and sleep and I shall accommodate all widows, women, and others at Mayapur and Vrindaban. Otherwise why should we maintain such large establishment in Calcutta simply for eating and sleeping and spending. These two places will be reserved for those who cannot collect. For them I am making provision. Only the active members who can collect, they shall live in the city. Eating, sleeping members, they shall live in Mayapur, that's all. As soon as the first residence is finished, no more cash will be sent, only books. Therefore, you must work very hard to sell the books. Not that money will come from somewhere and we shall eat and sleep and so-called chanting. We must work hard like karmis, but not for sense gratification but for Krishna. One thing, on the invitation card you have written All Glories to Our Guru Maharaja. This is impersonalism. As soon as we offer obeisances to guru, the name should be there. We are strictly personalists. The sahajiya's, they write Glories to Guru. Why you are learning this impersonalism, who has taught you? Daily I am offering obeisances to my Guru by vibrating his real name, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, otherwise it is impersonal. Formerly, I told that Calcutta should support Mayapur. So whoever can take charge of both, he should be President. You should discuss these things amongst yourselves. Simply taking title of President will not help. Why there are no letters from Tamala Krishna, why he is not taking active part in Mayapur? I originally entrusted him with responsibility for Mayapur, but he does not even write what is the situation there, nor does he co-sign for money to be sent. Whether you can deal with so many problems? I am receiving so many letters daily from Calcutta. The temple officers are appointed to minimize my time, not increase it with so many letters. Best to stop expanding, or if you cannot raise funds there, close up the Calcutta center. It is not that the officers should be expert in one field only, they should be expert in everything. I have written one letter to Syamasundara Mallik, and I am glad that the preparations are going on nicely for the Rathayatra Festival in Calcutta. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Labels: Calcutta, management, Mayapur, Ratha Yatra, spiritual master letters | 19:19 |13 July 2007 Thursday, 13 July, 1972 London Shyamsundar Mallik 155/A Mahatma Gandhi Road Calcutta-7, India My dear Brother Shyamsundar, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your kind letter dated 7/7/72 in Bengali and you will excuse I am writing in English because I am in London. I hope you are making the Ratha-yatra Festival very successful, along with my disciples headed by Bhavananda and Acyutananda Swami. In my childhood I used to take my ratha with my little friends, about 60 years ago. Again I am reviving the same attempt with my young disciples. I have become old, and you are also old, although not so old as I am. We may pass away, but my disciples will carry on this festival yearly, and so it will be remembered forever our eternal relationship with Sri Sri Jagannathaji and Sri Sri Radha-Govindaji. Ask your sons also to cooperate so that in future this festival will be continued for good. I am presently engaged here in London for celebrating the Ratha-yatra Festival also. A huge festival will begin at Marble Arch and proceed to Trafalgar Square, where I shall speak to at least 10,000 persons. Similarly, my disciples are holding Ratha-yatra festival at San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Tokyo, Melbourne (Australia), Calcutta, and other places. So what was my childhood play 65 years ago is now a worldwide event. The same Radha-Govindaji worship and Jagannatha worship is going on all over the world. Hoping this will meet you in the best of health. Yours affectionately, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: Calcutta, Ratha Yatra letters | 19:20 |13 July, 1972 London Tridandi Swami Sri B.V. Puri Maharaj, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Math, Sri Krishna Nagar, Visakhapatnam, A. P., India My dear Puri Maharaj, Please accept my humble dandabats. I understand that the Rs. 1000/ has already been sent to you on or about June 8, 1972. I hope you have received it safely, and that you are doing the needful. I shall be very glad to hear from you what is the progress. Now we are in London for holding our 4th annual Rathayatra Festival of Lord Jagannath. The procession will begin from Marble Arch and finish in Trafalgar Square, where I shall be speaking to more than 10,000 persons and holding fire yagna. Simultaneously, my disciples will be holding similar Jagannath Rathayatra Festivals in San Francisco, Tokyo, Philadelphia, Melbourne (Australia), and Calcutta. Thanking you, and I hope this meets you in the best of health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Enclosure: (1) Labels: Gaudiya Math, Ratha Yatra letters | 19:19 |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 |3 July 2007 Monday, 3 July, 1972 New York My Dear Gunagrahi: Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter from Buffalo dated June 21, 1972, and I have noted the contents carefully. Especially I am very much pleased to hear that the University of Buffalo has given to you more than $1200.00 in grant. I can understand by your enthusiastic preparations for Rathayatra in Buffalo that you are very sincere boy and capable devotee. This is very much wanted throughout the society of men, that some few of you will come to the understanding that by serving the Lord with my full energy that this will be my happy position of life and that no other occupation will give me any, not even an ounce of pleasure. Such persons like yourself who are thinking in this way are getting all intelligence and facility by how to do the things properly, and that Krishna is helping you with intelligence and ability, now you take the right course and utilize the opportunity given to you by Krishna to actually inject the human society with that same determination to serve the Lord. Only a handful of you are there who are convinced beyond any doubt about this Krsna consciousness movement, but is sufficient to change the entire course of history. I shall be in London this year for the Rathayatra festival and after that I am going to Paris for the twenty-first, twenty-second and twenty-third of July, and as I have already confirmed these engagements long ago, I regret I shall not be able to physically attend your Rathayatra at Buffalo, but my presence is always with the devotees who are serving so nicely. Worship of Radha-Krishna Deities is the ultimate pinnacle of Deity worship, and it must be done with the utmost caution and attention to every detail of giving opulent service. I am not recommending more temples to install Radha-Krishna Deities until I have become more convinced that they can properly manage. At least five to ten persons must be engaged full time to worship Radha-Krishna properly, and for any small temple especially that is a detrimental factor to maintaining the highest standard in other temple activities besides, because there are not enough men. You may worship Lord Jagannatha, or if you like to install Gaura-Gauranga, Gaura-Nitai, or simply Gaura Deity, He is also very liberal and will forgive and tolerate any service offered to Him even by Jagai and Madhai. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda/nd Labels: Buffalo, deities, Ratha Yatra letters | 11:30 |16 June 2007 16 June, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Madhudvisa, Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt of your letter dated June 9, 1972, from Melbourne, and I don't think you have yet got my last letter to you at Sydney. I am very pleased to hear that you are utilizing your good experience for introducing the Ratha Yatra Festival in Australia, I shall be very pleased to see the photos how it is going. I fully approve of your program for traveling, now you combine the sannyasi requirement for traveling extensively, and at the same time as GBC man you shall be my personal secretary for maintaining the highest level of Krishna Consciousness amongst the devotees in your zone. I am very much concerned that the devotees should be given all good instruction and knowledge of Krishna Consciousness, that is the duty of the GBC man. (?) better to utilize time and train the devotees, especially the responsible officers, and they can go out for preaching to non-devotees and making new devotees. But if they do not have any knowledge, how can they go out and preach? So you GBC men are my selected few for insuring that what I am doing will be carried on very nicely for the pleasure of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So now you must all my senior disciples and leaders become very, very much aware of your grave responsibility to the human society for delivering them from the clutches of catastrophe, and be always cool-headed and utilize every moment in the best manner possible. I am successful only because I am following strictly the orders of my Guru Maharaja, and I do not deviate. Therefore people respect what I am saying and they listen because I do not say one thing and do another. So now you are doing my work and you shall be like me and be yourselves the worthy representatives of our disciplic succession. I am very much stressing at this point that all of my students shall be very much conversant with the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness, and that they should read our books very diligently at least one or two hours daily and try to understand the subject matter from varieties of angles. We are holding our morning class here in Los Angeles in the temple and I am speaking from 7 to 8 am. The process is that we are going through some chapters of Srimad-Bhagavatam by taking one sloka each day, and reading the Sanskrit aloud, each word is pronounced by me and repeated by the students and then altogether we chant the sloka several times until we have learned it. And then we discuss the subject matter very minutely and inspect it from all angles of approach and savor the new understandings. So you introduce this system in all of the centers in your zone, and you will discover that everyone becomes very much enlivened by these daily classes. Read one sloka and discuss and then go on to the next sloka on the next day, and so on, and even you discuss one verse each day it will take you 50 years to finish Srimad-Bhagavatam in this way. So we have got ample stock for acquiring knowledge. And if the students get knowledge more and more, they will automatically become convinced and very easily perform their duties for tapasya or renunciation of the material bondage, and that will be their successful advancement in Krishna Consciousness. So I want that advancement amongst all of my students, so your are responsible that the standard will be maintained. If Tusta Krsna is so much anxious to acquire a press for New Zealand, there is no harm. I have written to him to use his better judgement in the matter. If you wish to take the small 12-inch Radha Krsna Deities in the parade, that is all right. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: Australasia, GBC, philosophy, Ratha Yatra, reading letters | 04:42 |13 June 2007 13 June, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Sriman Joshi, Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 2, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am very much encouraged that you are offering your considerable services for helping me to advance this bhakti-yoga system or Krishna Consciousness Movement all over the world. So I shall be very pleased to meet you personally here in Los Angeles at my apartment, as I shall not be gong to San Francisco in the near future because I am attending the Rathayatra Festival in London this year instead. So if you are free to meet me here in Los Angeles, I shall be very pleased to see you at that time. Hoping this meets you in the best of health, Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda n.b. by the next autumn I shall be in India (Sept 1972) at that time if you invite me in Punjab, I shall be glad to visit all places there. Labels: Ratha Yatra letters | 10:02 |31 May 2007 Wednesday, May 31, 1972 Los Angeles My Dear Vasudeva, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter undated and I have noted the contents carefully. I am very much engladdened to hear from you that all the programs there in Berlin center are going on very nicely under your expert guidance. Nevermind what has past, whatever is done, is done. Now push on with full enthusiasm to save the fallen humanity from the most degraded and wretched conditions of material life. This Krsna Consciousness Movement is the only thing that will save them. So you yourself become very convinced of this fact and be very bold in preaching Krsna Consciousness there in Berlin. I enjoyed very much your artistic work, so you can combine your presidential duties with sometimes painting, but the main thing is to always remain engaged fully in the enthusiastic service of the Supreme Lord, nevermind this activity or that activity, so long as the mind is fully absorbed at Krsna's Lotus Feet. So I am very glad to hear that you are a capable manager, you are a very very intelligent boy and gifted by Krsna in many ways, so now Krsna has given you the opportunity to make advancement by becoming also very responsible. So kindly take this responsibility to heart and be always jolly and determined. Now you must be the perfect example for others to follow. Yes, if you can get a new and larger place that will be very nice. Also, I am coming to London this summer for Ratha-yatra Festival and if all of the European devotees come there I shall be very glad to see you all again. Yes, you may name your new son Caitanya dasa. So now be happy and chant Hare Krsna and take Krsna Prasadam, and in this way you shall find your life becoming more and more perfect and you will meet Krsna face to face very soon, rest assured. Hoping this meets you and your good wife and son in best of health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami My sincere blessings for your nice son. Labels: art, Berlin, management, Ratha Yatra letters | 16:19 |22 May 2007 Monday, 22 May, 1972 Los Angeles My dear Himavati, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 17, 1972 and I have noted the contents. I have appreciated very much the photographs which you have enclosed of the Hamburg deities. They are very very nice. Yes, your husband is expert in everything and also you are expert in everything. So do not think in this way that you are not very important devotees, because I am always thinking of you both and how much service you are rendering to Lord Krishna. Since a long time I have known both of you and I consider that you are among my very dearest disciples. Now do not worry that your husband will take sannyasa. I think I have told you before that I will not give him sannyasa at this point. He may travel very widely throughout the Germany zone and still remain Grhastha. He is more than Sannyas. I shall be coming to London for Rathayatra Festival this year. So I hope that I will see both you and your good husband as well as all the nice boys and girls in the European temples there in London at that time. Hoping that this will find you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, ACB/sda Labels: Hamburg, Ratha Yatra, sannyasa letters | 15:36 |20 May 2007 Saturday, 20 May, 1972 Los Angeles My dear Dayananda, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter undated and your telegram from London dated May 16, 1972. I shall be very glad to see Lord Jagannatha dancing in His new dress when I come to London sometime in July. So you can immediately fix up a date for my coming there, along with my three assistants and you can send return airline tickets. It is certainly a great tragedy that there are no books in London Center so Kesava was not able to display his great talent for distributing them. But I have heard from him that you are all very enthusiastic to distribute books so when I come there I shall give you some hints how to do it. One thing is, when I come there I do not like to stay in any hotel. I shall stay in my room above the temple on the first floor. I have just heard from Malati that our Digvijaya and Pritha devi are presently staying with the devotees in Vrindaban in India. So we must take every precaution to prevent our devotees from slackening and falling away. This is done by observing that they are always chanting 16 rounds and observing the regulative principles. If these things are neglected, then they will fall down. It is not good if small numbers of devotees open a center and then fall away. Association of devotees is the most important thing. So I think in the future at least 10 or 12 men must open a center. But you have done the right thing to concentrate our forces on travelling sankirtana. I am very much encouraged that you are trying for that temple and that you have paid 1000 pounds into the temple fund. But if the temple costs between 200,000 and 500,000 pounds then 1000 pounds is not a very big sum, so how you will raise so much money? Another thing, I have heard that Revatinandana wants to return to USA but I do not see any need that he should return. It is simply sentimental feeling. You report that he is doing very nicely by speaking at colleges and schools so let him continue in that way. He may take as many assistants as he requires and very strongly preach this philosophy to the student class of men. That is the greatest service. But if we allow ourselves to wander here and there without any fixed-up program that is not good. So at least let him remain there until I come and then we shall discuss further. I have seen your wife Nandarani dasi here in Los Angeles and she is doing very well. I want that she shall help me improve the conditions at our Dallas school by going there and teaching the children. If children are allowed to play just like Krishna was playing with his cowherd boyfriends, then little ABC, then see the deity and have arati, then take little prasadam. In this way if they are always diversified, they will be always jolly and become fixed-up devotees at young age. And small children, they learn better these things from their mother and women in general. So I think that some mothers of our children should go to Dallas and take charge of teaching the children, especially how to play nicely the pastimes of young Krishna. If you ask one child to be a tree, he will immediately hold out his arms "Just see I am a tree." If you ask him to be a cow he will walk on his hands and knees immediately and you can hit him with a stick and say "hut, hut." And if they will not take prasadam you can say "Now you are a cow and you must eat the grass" and immediately they will stand on hands and legs and eat prasadam like cow eating grass. So in this way our children in Dallas school should be trained because I want that a new generation of devotees shall carry on this great mission successfully. I have received notice from Mandakini that her Russia trip was very much successful and that she will be returning to marry Anatole as soon as she can get proper visa. So you please give her all assistance to get proper visa so that she may continue her work. She is very very nice devotee. Regarding your request to take sannyasa order of life, we shall see to that when I come there. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: book distribution, gurukula, London, Ratha Yatra, regulative principles letters | 09:04 |19 May 2007 Friday, 19 May, 1972 Los Angeles My dear Aksoja, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 13 May 1972 and I have noted the contents. I have very much appreciated the enclosed photos of the Amsterdam activities. I am surely thinking to come to London for this year Rathayatra festival and if you like perhaps I can come to Amsterdam also if there is sufficient engagement there. At that time we can see about installing Lord Jagannatha in your temple. I was one time before in Amsterdam and I like that country very much. There are very many cows in that country and this especially is pleasing to me so if you can arrange some big engagement there then I shall gladly come. I have met also your elder sister in Auckland, New Zealand and your mother also was there and they are both very nice and improving in their Krsna consciousness thanks to you. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACB/sda Labels: Amsterdam, Ratha Yatra letters | 09:57 |9 May 2007 9 May, 1972 Honolulu My dear Bhavananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 26, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. Yes, the attraction should be so made that the Muslims will somehow come to our Mayapur temple, for learning English, for seeing arati, like that. In Bombay, many children are coming and they have all got bead bags and they are chanting, so gradually introduce chanting on beads as well. If they believe in the serving of God, we are also servants of God, why not they should join us. The servant must know what is God, what does He do, how He is satisfied: these things should be preached to them. How one is accepted as God, what are the symptoms: these things they should learn. So far accepting water, no, practically from one who is not initiated we should not accept any eatables or drinkables. This should not be discussed, but you should remember it. But if there is dire necessity, there is not question of prohibition. I want to know, what is the reaction of my godbrothers there in Mayapur. I wanted that at least one story should have been constructed by rainy season. I thought Tamala Krishna has already gone. I have not heard from him. In Bangladesh, we have got very good field. Simply by chanting, dancing and taking a little prasadam. Best thing is to speak among the educated class, like lawyers, professors--the mass of people, they cannot speak English. From Tamala Krishna's letter it is understood that Tamala Krishna has met Mujibar Rehman's son, who is educated. This advantage must be taken. When Mujibar Rehman is seen, he must hear our philosophy, how all peoples of the world can be united under one culture, which will solve all problems of the world. Our culture is faultless, this must be understood. There must be full discussion in the papers, etc. Regarding Radha-Govinda's temple, it is in shabby condition, that I saw in 1967. I stayed there, and it was a great painful experience for me at least. In my childhood, Radha-Govindaji were the source of my enjoyment. I asked my father to give me Radha-Govinda deities and he gave me and I worshiped. And I also asked him to give me ratha, and the ratha was going from my home by the side of Syamasundara.'s house. Our house was later termed to be Govinda Bhawan, 151 Mahatma Gandhi Road. So Syamasundara is just like my younger brother, we call him by nickname Gabu. His elder brother was Siddhesvar Mali and his nickname was Subida, an he was calling me Moti, so we were very intimate friends from the perambulator. We were riding on the same perambulator when we were very small children. We were so intimate that he would not go in perambulator without me. We would not separate even a moment. But he is now dead and gone. Now ask Gabu to help us to hold the Rathayatra Festival for eight days at Radha-Govinda Temple and have one continuous kirtana and distribution of prasadam at the Chadni Hall. It is a big hall, at least 1000 men can be accommodated there, and in front there is a nice veranda and the deities can be kept there for eight days with gorgeous decoration, and in this way establish nice performance. Syamasundara may invite his relatives to partake of prasadam. If you hold every year, each year you can take to different Radha Govinda temples. There are many such temples in Calcutta proper, I shall gradually give you introduction. So far your observation that the Bengalis have been degraded by bogus so-called sadhus, yes, the Bengali's are generally fish-eaters and some are flesh-eaters, so the Ramakrishna Mission gave this concession that there is nothing harmful in eating flesh. The Bengalis got this appetite for eating flesh and fish and at the same time becoming one with God. This foolish theory and fanaticism has killed the Bengali culture. Not all, but a few percentage. So far the deities being worshiped by Mr. Bajoria, if this deity worship is introduced in other respectable families, that will be a great success of our movement. The family members of Mr. Bajoria may also hold kirtana at home before the deities. Try to introduce this. Regarding the women teaching at Mayapur, if there is suspicion by the villagers, then stop it for the time being. But why there should be suspicion of women? Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Labels: Calcutta, Mayapur, Muslims, preachers, Ratha Yatra letters | 20:41 |5 May 2007 Friday, 5 May, 1972 Honolulu My dear Rsabhadeva, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 26, 1972 and I have noted the contents. I am glad to know that you are now managing the activities of our San Francisco temple. Kesava has done a very nice job there, so you try to continue with the same enthusiastic spirit and Krishna will give you unlimited opportunities for serving Him. Thank you very much for your invitation to the Rathayatra Festival. Perhaps I can come, but I may go to London this year as I have not yet seen it there, and I have promised since one year. In India, we had many pandal programs and they were very successful, so you try to have one there also. Hoping this will meet you in good health and happy mood. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/nkd Labels: Ratha Yatra, San Francisco letters | 13:03 |26 April 2007 Wednesday, 26 April, 1972 Tokyo My dear Dayananda, letter dated April 16, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. Yes, I am hoping that Lord Jagannatha may attract me to come to London this year. I shall be very glad to come there if He displays His opulence from that side so that I may be attracted by Him. Actually, I have just received invitation today from Harivilas prabhu inviting me to come to one Hare Krsna Festival in Paris around that time also, so I am considering very seriously. Especially if there is good prospect for getting that church at Oval Cricket Ground. I want that you should get that place immediately. You may get books, as many as possible, from Karandhar, at cost price and sell them profusely for as much price as you like and all profits above cost price you may use to buy the church. That is my plan. And when I come there I shall appeal to the Hindi community personally to help us buy this church. Now I am sending Kesava there to help you organize widespread distribution of books and traveling SKP, and he may stay for two months minimum, or at least until I leave there. You may begin advertising that I will be there, and I shall speak to the Hindus at the Hindu Community Center on that night and make appeal to them to help us buy this church. Mr. Sarna’s daughters may be initiated. That is a good plan of Mr. Arnold to make a member’s guild, just like I have made the life member program in India. This is the process of peaceful penetration. So far Pat Fitzgerald is concerned, try very hard to convince him of our philosophy and always be very nice to him and don’t let the relationship dwindle in any way, and he may write to me if he likes. I shall be glad to hear what are his thoughts on Buddhist philosophy. Hoping this will meet you and all the other nice devotees in good health and happy mood. Your ever well wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: book distribution, land, London, Ratha Yatra letters | 13:13 |24 April 2007 24 April, 1972 Tokyo My Dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated April 18, 1972 and I have noted the contents. This program to make each and every center spiritually strong should be the duty of the GBC. So far financing, let them do in their own way, and you can simply advise them. Don't bother too much about financial matters, but your first concern should be book and magazine distribution. We have to increase our preaching propensity. That is our main business. Your reports of book distribution are very, very encouraging. The more you distribute our books and magazines, that is solid work. Here in Japan, we have got very good prospects for the future. Last night many Japanese boys and girls came and I saw good prospects for the future. Everywhere we have got good devotees. Krishna consciousness is dormant in everyone and we can awaken it in them. All your news is very good and I thank you very much. This Krishna consciousness is so nice, the more one works and renders service, the more he becomes enthusiastic. This is the secret of spiritual life. The test of spiritual life is when one can work all day long and not be tired. In the material world, we do a little work and become exhausted. 24 hours we should be engaged in some service to our capacity. That is real spiritual life. Sivananda is a good soul, and you should try to encourage him. He is just like your younger brother. So far your apologies what is done is done, it doesn't matter. Just go on doing your work. You have got immense field for working in Germany, so with the help of Sivananda and Mandali Bhadra, organize Germany very successfully, and Krishna will be pleased. I have received one copy of the German BTG from ISKCON Press, and it is done very nicely. Sivananda can be given sannyasa, and when I go to Los Angeles, I shall let you know regarding this. I must know who the other boy is and then I can consider his case. Actually, all of you are more than sannyasis. Anyone who has dedicated his life to Krishna, he is sannyasi, yogi, and everything. That is the statement of Bhagavad-gita - one who does not work for his personal benefit is a sannyasi. It doesn't matter what is his dress. So all our devotees are more than sannyasis. We are members of Krishna's family. Our aim is not to become a Mayavadi sannyasi, but to become family members of Krishna's devotees. Krishna maintains 16,000 families, and if you get a chance to serve in one of the families, then your life is a success. Real sannyasa means no more interest in material activities, but simply dedicated to Krishna's service. That is real sannyasa. So you are greater than a sannyasi. You train all these boys to be practical sannyasis in the service of Krishna. If it is possible to make the London Rathayatra more gorgeous by your all going, than do it. Cooperate with Dayananda. Last year in San Francisco, there were three chariots, and it was very successful, so you can do the same there. I may come also, if Lord Jagannatha attracts me. Hoping this will meet you in good health and happy mood. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/nkd Labels: book distribution, GBC, management, Ratha Yatra, sannyasa letters | 13:05 | |
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