a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1973 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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10 February 2007 Saturday, 10 February, 1973 Melbourne My Dear Kurusrestha, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated January 16th, and have noted the contents carefully. I can see that Lord Caitanya is giving you good intelligence to carry on in this way and infiltrate all facets of society with the sublime process of Krishna Consciousness, for this is the only way that you can save these rascals. Regarding your progams for specialized public relations department as far as my experiences go, I have seen that this is not very successful, but you may consult Karandhara in this regard and do the needful. Second initiations of Sudarsani dasi and Madhurya-lilananda dasi are duly approved by me. Enclosed you will find the Gayatri Mantra slips. You may have one fire ceremony and they may listen to the tape of me chanting the Gayatri Mantra in their right ear and repeat it. Regarding the first initiations, they are also approved by me and their names are as follows. Dan Swanson is now Dvijati Pujaka das, Christopher Beard is now Carucandra das, Phillip West is now Prabala das and Rebecca Strowger is now Rupa Ramesvari dasi. Will you please send one copy of this letter to Kirtanananda Swami along with their beads of the aspiring devotees for I have authorized him to chant on the beads on my behalf. In all your real estate dealings you may please take all guidance from Karandhara and proceed very cautiously. Always chanting sixteen rounds daily and following the principles, and in this way maya will never touch you. I hope that this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ms Labels: initiation, management letters | 06:49 |10 February, 1973 Melbourne Dear Karandhara, Please accept my blessings. I have received your letter of 1/24/73. Concerning polygamy and feel that this policy must be strictly prohibited within our society. If it is not it shall only cause chaos, as what was possible under the system of pure Vedic Culture is impossible at the present time. Regarding Syamasundara's opinions I never approved those ideas should be circulated. If anyone strictly follows the regulative principles of Krishna Consciousness then he will always remain enthusiastic and dynamic. So if there are any defects within our Society it is only symptom that the instructions of the Spiritual Master are being neglected. Follow my instructions strictly and always think for giving this gift of Krishna Consciousness wherever you go and to whomever you meet, this is the advice of Lord Caitanya. So you GBC men now decide how to manage things so nicely so that I may spend my time solely for translating my books. This I desire. Each GBC man can act as my secretary for one month at a time as I originally planned. In this way you will all be trained up nicely. Syamasundara Prabhu will be returning to London in order to get that building. Your suggestions about marriage are very nice. Marriage is a great responsibility and should not be taken lightly. I shall be in Sydney until the 18th, and shall be returning to India by the first week of March after visiting New Zealand and Indonesia. As Sudama Maharaja has indicated his desire to remain in U.S. Japan may be included in your GBC zone for the present. I hope this finds you well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bmdg I have had Bali Mardan Maharaja send you one telegram approving your scheme to purchase the apartment building for the M-V Trust. Labels: GBC, itinerary, marriage, spiritual master letters | 06:48 |10 February, 1973 Melbourne My Dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated January 22nd, and 23rd and have noted the contents carefully. I am very much encouraged that you are taking this program of preaching to the college students seriously and this is very important program. Regarding your various questions. First let us understand that polygamy cannot be permitted in our society. Legally it is impossible and neither are there many of our devotees who are prepared to assume the responsibility for many wives. Therefore as I have suggested previously as they do in Christian religion they have so many convent where the women stay and they receive protection. The point is that the women must be protected and it is the duties of the leaders of our society to see that this is carried out. Your program for those who are desiring to take sannyasa is approved by me and I request that you make something concrete and distribute it to all the other GBC members and amongst yourselves you may decide who will take sannyasa. Your question in regard to marriage, we must impress upon the parties involved that Krishna Conscious marriage is not some cheap thing that may be embraced whimsically and at any time thrown off. The boy and girl must be willing to accept each other for life and be prepared to get a job if need be and live in an outside apartment and raise children. These points should be emphasized. Regarding your preaching to individuals, you must use your discretion in this regard. But one thing. Those who come to learn must admit that they do not know who they are, or do they know who is God, and they must be prepared to take to this process. If I go to the physician and ask him will you please tell me all about medicine and I will write it down is that possible? No. You must take to the process. You must enter the medical school, take your internship and do so many things. Like this if you want spiritual knowledge you must take to the process and follow the principles. So therefore if you are spending so much time with individuals they must first admit that they do not know who they are and they do not know who is God. These two things are completely lacking in modern educational systems. And then after admitting these things they must be willing to take to the process. Then they can obtain spiritual knowledge. As far as staying in some boys apartment, this is permissable if everyone in the house agrees to follow the principles while you are there. That is no smoking, no drinking, etc. You may also install a small altar there with a picture of Guru and Gauranga and the Spiritual Masters there and perform mangala arati every morning and hold classes etc. Under these circumstances you can live in others apartments. The point is we must not lower our position but we must educate others to come up to our standards. Regarding your writing, you must know that it is the duty of sannyasa to write always to save the cripple minded man and women. In fact sannyasa must do everything. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ms Labels: marriage, preachers, sannyasa letters | 06:47 |10 February, 1973 Melbourne My Dear Tamala Krishna, Jayapataka, Bhavananda and Gargamuni, Please accept my blessings. While travelling here to Melbourne I was thinking how wonderful our Mayapur project is and how it can be developed in the future. I want that Mayapur be self-sufficient by having its own production of grains, vegetables, fruits and milk products etc., to the extent that you will be able to feed at least 500 men daily. This will be better than trying to arrange for maintenance funds to come from outside. So we can make some scheme for purchasing sufficient quantity of land. The land there is very fertile and if our men can manage the program then we can go ahead. The low land we can purchase at 600 rs./bigha and the high land at 800 rs./bigha. So now you all make inquiries for purchasing as much land as we shall require and immediately inform me how much money shall be required. One thing to consider before we take any action is that if we buy lots of land, the government may become envious to feed so many men without them working etc. and the communists there are notorious for confiscating property. So I am concerned that if we develop this scheme the government may take some action against us. If you can develop an educational institution, that may help to pacify them. I shall be in Sydney until the 18th, and shall then be going to New Zealand and Indonesia. I shall return to India during the first week of March. Hoping this finds you all well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bmdg Labels: Australasia, Mayapur letters | 06:24 |6 February 2007 6 February, 1973 Calcutta My dear Danavir das, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 14, 1972, and I have noted the contents with care. It is very nice that you are desiring to assist me in preaching the message of Lord Caitanya all over the world. We need so many preachers to push on this Krsna Consciousness movement and expand our activities. So you continue your engagements and when I come to Los Angeles it will be opportune time for discussion of this matter. For taking sannyasa you may consult your GBC member as we shall be starting a new policy where the sannyasa candidate must meet certain requirements to be determined by the GBC. Karandhara may write to Satsvarupa Maharaja for understanding this matter. This taking of sannyasa should not be a whimsical proposition, and should not be an excuse for becoming irresponsible, no responsibility of grhastha, brahmacari, etc. Sannyasis also have great responsibility to become fearless preachers of our Krsna Consciousness movement. So you consider all these things, and I shall see you and we can discuss further in Los Angeles. I hope this finds you well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bmdg Labels: sannyasa letters | 04:21 | |
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