a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1973 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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12 May 2007 Saturday, 12 May, 1973 Los Angeles My Dear Jadurani, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 8, 1973. I have noted the contents carefully. I hope that by now you have received my letter of 2/5/73 in answer to your letter of April 25. I have not received any letters from you since then. In regards to your questions in the letter of May 8, Caitanya Mahaprabhu was going to see the temple of Visesvar and hundreds and thousands of people were following Him. He was chanting Hari! Hari! It was not on the bank of the Ganges. It was on a road. It was not a high road but very narrow. Lord Caitanya was a sannyasa should be depicted with shaven head and wearing a short dhoti with folded part in front. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/jda Labels: art, Brooklyn, questions letters | 20:37 |11 May 2007 Friday, 11 May, 1973 Los Angeles My dear Gurudasa, Please accept my blessings. Herewith please find the letter I have replied to Madan Mohan Goswami in response to his letter dated 4/5/73. He refers to your letter dated 26/3/73 which I do not possess. So you send me a copy of your letter as well as a copy of the letter which I issued to him in 1972 when I was in Vrindaban. This man is playing some trick so we shall also play some trick. We shall take all the Shebaits to court and pray to the court to settle the matter. He has mentioned that you are the licensee, but according to the present act the licensee shall be considered as tenant or owner if the licensee has occupied the building or land in February 1973. I think we shall keep this place at Radha Damodara temple as tenant. As Madan Mohan Goswami is trying to play trick we shall not vacate any of the rooms upstairs or downstairs; this should be our policy. The deposit money of Rs. 700/. with the other Shebait has not yet been settled up. We shall file a petition to the rent controller court and fix up a standard rent for all the four rooms up and down. And the rent which will be fixed up for the upper two rooms, we will adjust for one years rent from the Rs. 700/. with interest. When you file the petition we shall bring in all the Shebaits names. In this way we have to deal with these men. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: disagreements, Vrindavan letters | 20:38 |11 May, 1973 Los Angeles Madan Mohan Goswami Shebait, Sri Sri Radha Damodaraji Seva Kunja, Vrindaban (Mathura) Dear Sir, Replying your letter of 4/5/73, I beg to inform you that there is no question of vacating the house occupied by me. I am already paying Rs 10/ per month and there is deposit of Rs. 700/. with one of the Shebait. Now all of you together fix up the legal rent after adjusting the deposit money with interest for the last seven years. If we settle up the pending matter amongst ourselves, we save so much legal expenditure, otherwise I will advise Sriman Gurudasa to take the help of the rent court, at your expense. I don't know what is the content of the letter dated 26/3/73 therefore I am asking for a copy of this letter. Yours sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami cc: Sriman Guru das Adhikari Labels: management, Vrindavan letters | 20:36 |10 May 2007 Thursday, 10 May, 1973 Los Angeles My Dear Ho Hon Pei, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 3, 1973 and have noted the contents. Thank you very much for your kind appreciation of our Krsna Consciousness Movement. You are having some doubts whether or not the mass of people will be able to appreciate Krsna Consciousness. Yes, it is a fact that most people cannot approach Krsna Consciousness. Just like a rare gem. Only a few men can purchase a rare emerald or diamond so similarly only a few men may actually be capable of grasping the importance of Krsna Consciousness. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad Gita VII, 3. manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye yatatam api siddhanam kascin mam vetti tattvatah [Bg. 7.3] "Out of many thousands of men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth." If just .01% of the world's population becomes Krsna Conscious, the whole situation on the earth will change. Just see what has happened. I started alone in 1966 and in just seven years now we are three thousand, and it is growing more and more. So if the intelligent men of the world like yourself cooperate with this all-important mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, we can save the world from the state of misery and chaos that now prevails. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 20:35 | 10 May, 1973 Los Angeles My Dear Hrdayananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 4, 1973. I am very much pleased by the contents. The green sheets advertising our books to the college professors are very very good. You may send copies to all centers. Your plan to get a large vehicle for traveling with built in shower, kitchen etc. is approved by me. But you should try to get new, because the old ones are always needing repair. We have seen by practical experience. Regarding your going with Satsvarupa Maharaja to Europe for one month. I have received one letter from him saying that he could not go because his presence is too important at our Gurukula in Dallas. It is a fact that Gurukula must be always carefully supervised, it is one of our most important projects. So you can correspond with him in this connection. Thank you very much for your sincere efforts in pushing forward this Krsna Consciousness Movement. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 20:34 | 9 May 2007 Wednesday, 9 May, 1973 Los Angeles My Dear Caturbhuja, Please accept my blessings. I beg to aknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 27, 1973. Thank you very much. In answer to your several questions, first; what is meant by conditioned sould? Conditioned soul means one who has accepted something illusion as reality. Conditioned means that due to imperfect desires the spirit soul becomes dependent on material conditions for his satisfaction. Your second question; how does he become conditioned when the jivatma is eternal full of bliss and knowledge? The answer is that it is not the soul itself that becomes mixed with matter but it is his consciousness that becomes absorbed in trying to enjoy the matter. Out of desire to lord it over, the jiva soul forgets that he is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss and identifies with the material energy. So it is the consciousness of the conditioned soul that is affected. Your third question is: does the soul ever become weak or strong on account of its association and contact with material nature? It is not the spirit soul that becomes weak or strong but it is his determination to become Krsna Conscious that me become weak or strong. By the influence of the modes of passion and ignorance he becomes weak and by the influence of the mode of goodness he becomes strong. But by the association with the pure devotee he becomes strongest. Your fourth question: "Whether or not it is possible for the soul to exist without having this external gross and subtle body covering it? So if the bird is existing within the cage and someone takes away the cage does that mean that the bird can no longer exist? No. This body is illusion. It is only because of out attachment for this body that we have to remain within it. But as soon as one transfers his attachment to Krsna then no more is there any need for this body. Your fifth question is, "Bhagavad-gita says that the conditioned soul is subjected to four defects. Does that refer to the body or the soul?" The defects are there in the living being when he is acting on the material platform. As stated in Bhagavad-gita chapter 15 verse 17: "dvavimau purusau loke, ksaras caksara eva ca, ksarah sarvani bhutani, kutastho 'ksara ucyate:" "There are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material world every entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every entity is called infallible." So the defects are there only on the material platform. One who is acting in Krsna Consciousness is beyond those defects. Your nest question: "The Bhagavad-gita says that Lord Brahma is a conditioned soul. Then how was it possible for him to impart the Vedas to a non-conditioned soul--Narada Muni?" So, Lord Brahma is a conditioned soul means that due to his desire to become the creator of the material manifestation he had to take birth within the material world. But although he was conditioned by such desire, still he is a great devotee of Lord Krsna. He has written Brahma-samhita which is pure Vaisnava literature describing the Supreme Personality of godhead. Lord Brahma was the first created being within the universe and the first spiritual master, as he received knowledge from within his heart from Lord Krsna. Narada appeared as the son of Brahma and therefore he had to accept Lord Brahma as his spiritual master. Your last question, "How is the sould degraded (by lust, anger and greed) when it is transcendental to the body? Doesn't that imply that the sould has changed?" No. The soul never changes, but due to his tinyness he may become forgetful of his relationship with Krsna. The spiritual quality of the spiritual spark has not changed but he has forgotten his spiritual nature, bewildered by the imperfect desire to become equal or greater than Krsna. I hope you are able to understand all these points. As you know, I am translating so many books into English from the Sanskrit, therefore, I am very busy. Now, I have representatives, the GBC and the temple presidents who are qualifies to answer your questions. Of course if you ask me I am obligated to reply because I am your spiritual master. So please direct your question to my representatives. I may be coming to London in June, and I will be pleased to see you at that time. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: questions letters | 20:33 |9 May, 1973 Los Angeles My dear Jayapataka and Bhavananda, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated April 30 and am very pleased by the report. Many students from America will very soon go there to learn the art of doll making as desired by you. It is better to go there and learn the art instead of the teacher coming here. Mayapur is already wonderful being the transcendental birthplace of Lord Caitanya. By utilizing western talents to develop this place certainly it will be unique in the world. As in Vrndavana we have named the temple Krsna-Balarama Temple, similarly I suggest that our Mayapur temple be know as Mayapur Candra temple or Mayapur Candrodaya. Whichever sounds better we should advertise from now. I know there are many weavers who daily go from this side of the river to Navadvipa side for working in handweaving enterprise. So if we can employ some of them along with our own men for manufacturing first class saris we can purchase all these saris produced by you. Such small scale industries are also supported by the Bengal Government. Tarundada is in charge of such industry. I have consulted with Karandhara that we can purchase the saris and the government will be glad to cooperate with us for exporting Indian goods to outside of India. Similarly we can import nice dolls here. Gradually as our men become expert they can manufacture the same thing here. So Mayapur inhabitants can be engaged in such a small manufacturing enterprise as well as farming to become self sufficient. Side by side increase our spiritual consciousness by attending to the temple routine work, Deity worship sankirtana, attending class. The idea is we must have the necessities of our life as far as possible independently. But we should not be business minded. Our main business is to develop our dormant Krsna Consciousness. Side by side we may take to such enterprises as will maintain us very nicely. There is no need of sending the artisan to U.S.A. better send our disciples from here and learn the art there. In this connection manufacturing the mrdanga shells as well as the skin work on it is very essential. If possible our men may learn how to make karatalas also. At Navadvipa, there are many artisans for this purpose. The summary is that our men must learn these four things: doll making, mrdanga making, karatala making and if possible making saris. We want to display doll exhibitions in every center of our society depicting some narration from Bhagavatam, Mahabharata, Caitanya Caritamrta, Bhagavad-gita like that. Just like the picture that Arjuna's chariot is placed by Krsna between the groups of 2 soldiers. The Pictures are already there in our books and they are to be demonstrated by doll exhibition. The Krsna-Balarama Deities if it is very successful you can send one photograph to Yamuna in Vrndavana and if needed they may be sent to Jaipur as a model for carving our Krsna-Balarama Deities to be installed at Vrndavana. If possible you can send me some photographs of the dolls already manufactured and I shall give you further suggestions in this connection. To learn how to prepare mrdanga shell is very essential. Regarding land I had already given Jayapataka Maharaja direction to purchase as much land as possible if it is offered at cheap price. But the present law is if the land is not properly utilized any outsider may occupy the land even as trespasser and the land belongs to him as a tenant or owner. I do not know what is the legal implication otherwise I wanted to purchase lands as much as possible in that quarter. Sometimes you consulted the district magistrate who came to see me and he said we may keep maximum 60 bighas of land. So my idea is that I want to purchase all the lands there for developing into a spiritual city but it may be utopian at the present moment. Regarding keeping the Mohammedans in our temple I have no objection provided they follow or rules and regulations. Our philosophy is that we are not this body, outer tabernacle, but one must stick to our principles and live with us like other devotees. The difficulty will be the Mohammadans will not agree to shave their heads and beards. Our principle is anyone can live with us provided he becomes clean shaved, dresses like us, follows the regulative principles and chants the beads regularly. So you can let me know what is the reaction on the Mohammedan side to these conditions. Most of my students are coming from the Christian and Jewish groups but because they agreed to follow our principles there was no difficulty to organize the society. Similarly Mohammedan or anyone else who has no objection to our principles is welcome. I'm so glad that prasadam distribution is going well, the cows are healthy and agriculture products are coming out nicely. So go on with the regular temple worship method and attract more persons. That will engladden me. You have said that the building construction work is finished but you have not written how many stories beside the plinth floor. Mr. Daga wanted to pay 10,000 Rs for one story more. Has it be executed accordingly? Please keep in constant touch with me by sending report at least once in a fortnight. At last I may inform you that I am very much interested to purchase more land. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/jda Labels: dolls, handweaving, land, Mayapur, Mohammadans, mrdangas letters | 20:32 |8 May 2007 Tuesday, 8 May, 1973 Los Angeles My dear Govardhan, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 3, 1973. Upon your recommendation I am glad to accept these devotees as my initiated disciples. So now you may hold a fire yajna and send their beads to Kirtanananda Swami for chanting. Also I give approval for the one brahminical initiation. Please find one Gayatri mantra enclosed. After the fire yajna you may play the tape of me chanting Gayatri mantra into the right ear in private. Teach how to count on the finger divisions. I am enclosing a letter to all the new initiates. Please preach this Krsna Consciousness very strongly so that we may give people real light for seeing the way out of the darkness of Kali Yuga. The modern scientists are confusing everyone with their false propaganda and it is our duty to expose them and kill the demoniac tendency to forget Krsna. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/jda Labels: initiation, scientists letters | 20:32 |8 May, 1973 Los Angeles My dear Sons and daughters, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your very nice letters and daksina of $650.00. Upon the recommendation of Govardhan I am pleased to accept you as my disciples. Your new names are: James Ferris - Yamunatatacara das Charles Wilkoit - Carurupa das Tina Chojnacki - Taijasatmika dasi Donald Chojnacki - Dosavarajita das Lynne Davis - Daksayani dasi Christine Stein - Krodhasamani dasi Gregory Stein - Gopalbhatta dasa Now you must all carefully follow these four regulative principles (1) No meat eating, (2) No illicit sex life, (3) No intoxication, (4) No gambling. Always be sure to chant minimum sixteen rounds daily. Study my books carefully, go for sankirtana and engage in Deity worship in the temple. You are all very sincere boys and girls and now I request you to make your life successful for going back to home, back to Godhead. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/jda Labels: initiation letters | 20:31 |8 May, 1973 Los Angeles My Dear Giriraja, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your two letters dated May 3, 1973, and have noted the contents with great pleasure. I think by the grace of Krsna you are getting some glimpse of hope to keep in possession the Hare Krsna land for our missionary activities. The laurel of victory will be if we can get the whole land at a monthly rent of 1000 rs, as you have stated. To pay 1000rs rent per month means to keep a fixed deposit in the bank about 1 lac 70,000 and the bank pays 7 1/2% interest per anum and if we keep some fixed deposit in a private fund like Mafatlal or Birla at 12% then we have to deposit say a little more than 1 lac of rs. If we can construct a temple and building without permission of the landlord that will be our greatest triumph. If such a law is inaugurated then it is to be supposed that it is Krsna's plan. Then what about our temporary sheds? Can we get municipal permission to construct regular buildings in those vacant places? So if we can get municipal permission for constructing houses in those two places and if we can get municipal permission for constructing a temple then it will be a great boon or blessing of Lord Krsna. I think we have occupied the land sometime in January 1971 so does it mean that we have occupied the land for more than two years? You have to do your best to same the land with heart and soul and you are an innocent devotee completely dedicated. I wish that you may be blessed with all success in this connection. I am expecting your cable in the matter of purchasing the flat. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami N.B. If we become the owner or tenant of the land by dint of the new act then does this mean that the Chhaganlal case is finished? Where is his claim? Because actually we are in possession, he is not in possession. ACBS/jda Labels: Bombay, land, management letters | 20:25 |6 May 2007 Sunday, 6 May, 1973 Los Angeles My dear Gurudasa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 25 April, 1973 and I am very much pleased to have the report of activities in Vrndavana. Kindly send me such report at least twice in a month. Both you and your wife desired to go to Vrndavana some four to five years ago while you were in San Francisco and because you were so much sincerely eager, Krsna has given you very good opportunity to stay there and construct a very nice temple for Krsna and Balarama. Take this opportunity seriously, and as you have stated that you are feeling advancement in Krsna Consciousness, I wish both you, husband and wife, will go on increasing such consciousness more and more and thus be benefited. Offer My thanks to Yamuna for her note in your letter under reply. Hoping this meets you both in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami I am very glad to know that Ananda Prabhu is staying with you. Please offer my dandabats. He is my old god brother. Sincere Vaisnava. Please treat him like your father. Do remain in full cooperation. ACBS ACBS/jda Labels: Gaudiya Math, Vrindavan letters | 12:48 |6 May, 1973 Los Angeles My dear Sama, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated April 25, 1973. Thank you very much for sincerely pushing on Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana Movement in the city of Baltimore. Try to always increase the distribution of my books more and more. This is our most important program for reaching the lost souls of Kali Yuga. We have to educate men about the absolute truth. All of the scientists and other big men are simply cheating the mass of men by making false propaganda in order to take some money from them. We must expose these rascals by strong preaching and profuse distribution of these Krsna Conscious literatures. I am pleased to accept Bhaktin Pattie as my initiated disciple and am enclosing a separate letter for her. Now hold a fire yajna and send her beads to Rupanuga das Goswami for chanting on. Hoping this finds you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/jda Labels: Baltimore, book distribution, initiation letters | 12:47 |6 May, 1973 Los Angeles My dear Atreya Rsi, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your special delivery letter dated May 4, 1973. Regarding Navayauvana Prabhu in Chicago going with you to Iran; yes it is all right. He is anxious to go so he can accompany you and help to begin one center in that country. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami cc: His Holiness Satsvarupa das Goswami, Dallas ISKCON, Navayauvana Dasa, Chicago ISKCON ACBS/jda letters | 12:46 | 6 May, 1973 Los Angeles My dear Bali-mardana, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated April 29, 1973. Regarding the estimates for the two Bengali books, please get estimates from Dai Nippon. I am pleased to learn that the devotees who will be going to India are taking twenty paintings with them to our Mayapur center. I want that all rooms and verandas and especially the Deity hall should have first class paintings. They will appreciate how expertly the American artists are doing. We want to solve this big problem of supplying mrdangas and also learn how to make dolls for exhibiting pastimes of the Lord. Therefore I want devotees to learn these arts in Mayapur. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: art, dolls, Mayapur, mrdangas, New York, publishing letters | 12:45 |6 May, 1973 Los Angeles My Dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 2, 1973. I am very glad to hear how our festival program is going on so nicely in Germany. These festivals will be successful all over the world. As GBC member it is your duty to carefully make a broad program for implementing Krsna Consciousness in every sphere of life, in this way we will become respected as the most important members of human society. Regarding the special preface for German Bhagavad-Gita, yes I will do that. You have got the right idea when you say that, "I am always very anxious to know if I am pleasing you or not." Lord Caitanya set the example when he said that "I don't have any love for Krsna. If I had any love for Krsna, I would have died long ago from the separation." So one should always think of himself as unqualified. That you have opened one branch in Stockholm, Sweden is very good to hear. Please continue to send men out into the interior, village to village and town to town. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 12:44 | |
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