a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1973 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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11 November 2007 Sunday, November 11, 1973 New Delhi My Dear Bhakta dasa: Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 17, 1973 and have noted the contents. I thank you very much for your invitation for your Govardhana celebration. I would have come, but I received your letter late, but I hope anyway that you have enjoyed Govardhana-Puja. The photos are very nice, and Radharani looks very satisfied, as I see in the features of Her face in the photo. If She is pleased, then Krsna is pleased, and all living entities are pleased. I thank you very much for installing Radha-Giridhari. From my childhood I was very much fond of Radha-Krsna, and now my good disciples are helping me to open so many Radha-Krsna temples all over the world. It gives me so much pleasure. Now introduce Ratha Yatra. That was my childhood activity. I want to see my disciples all over the world introduce two items, opening Radha-Krsna temples and Ratha-yatra festivals. Do this under the protection of Guru-Gauranga. Please do everything cooperatively for you will be happy, your countrymen will be happy, and all living entities will be happy. If one waters the root, then all the branches, twigs, and leaves are automatically nourished. That is the philosophy of Krsna consciousness. Yes, I may meet with the Pope when returning to USA from Africa. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: deities, festivals, San Diego letters | 05:23 |12 October 2007 12 October, 1973 Bombay My Dear Hamsaduta: Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your GBC report dated October 4, 1973 and I thank you very much for it. So your Sankirtana Parties are collecting very nicely, especially Amsterdam. As long as we go on preaching in this way, we will not starve. It is good that the Berlin party is travelling. To be stagnant is not good. Just like I am an old man, but I am always travelling. I am glad that the Hamburg Deity worship is going on nicely. Wherever there is Deities there must be first class care, arati, bhoga, cleanliness, dressing, regular classes. If this is not possible, then better to travel. Your translation process is very good, so do it nicely. So you are doing excellent preaching, while I am here fighting with Mrs. Nair. I want that when this business is finished to return for Europe or America, perhaps via Africa. You will be pleased to know that the London devotees that you have trained in Sankirtana and book distribution are doing very nicely. This past month they have sent dollars 10,000 to Los Angeles against their debts. Mukunda is there in charge, and Syamasundara is here in India. The German devotees I have seen both in Paris and Stockholm have impressed me by their enthusiasm. It is very encouraging, so train them nicely. The Germans are very intelligent, and they will be the future preachers. So give them nice translations of my books and you will have tremendous success in Germany. Our success is our enthusiasm. So everything we do should be done with enthusiasm, the chanting, reading, and following the rules and regulations. Regarding the Festival programs, you should not stop because it is not economic. You can earn from book-selling and then spend for the festivals. The festivals are very good for attracting the people, then you can easily inject the Krsna conscious poison into them. You are experienced, senior member of the society, and Krsna has given you excellent opportunity for organizing Central Europe. I am sure you will be able to do something in Moscow. The young men there, are eager, only the government is a barrier. It is a good field there, you simply have to find the means, but rest assured that you will find many customers there. Regarding your service as secretary, you are as good as the others, and sometimes better than the others, so don't say like that. I am very satisfied on you and your good wife, so go on serving Krsna with greater enthusiasm. That will make me happy. Actually everyone one of you my disciples are good, and my task is to find out the fault in you. Yes, just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu, His spiritual master simply found Him to be a great fool number one. He said that the Lord was unfit to read Vedanta and should just chant Hare Krsna. Your emphasis on book distribution is very good. You have enough centers. Let more devotees come, then consider opening more. The bus program is successful everywhere, so continue it. I hope this meets you and your good wife in best of health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: festivals, Heidelberg, sankirtan, spiritual master, travelling letters | 10:21 |28 August 2007 28 August, 1973 Bhaktivedanta Manor My Dear Kirtanananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to __ receipt of your telegram recommending new initiates. Their names are as follows: Robert--Vahna Das Joanne--Visvadhika Dasi Richkin--Mahabuddhi Das Robert--Padmanyayana Das George Crocker--Cirantana Das Frank Chiesa--Candramauli Das Ken Karpovich--Krsnasravana Das Rachel Sullivan--Vedajanani Dasi I am happy to hear that your program was successful, here also we had some nice programs, and in Amsterdam we also staged a nice festival. So this festival program is very very important and it is especially effective for the mass of people. So go on making festivals and make everyone in America Krishna conscious. I hope this letter meets you well. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: festivals, initiation, New Vrindavana letters | 15:51 |8 August 2007 Wednesday, 8 August, 1973 Bhaktivedanta Manor My Dear Kirtanananda, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your telegram from New York, "Festival extended per letter expect Your Grace 23rd, send details." Here Syamasundara has arranged a gorgeous festival beginning 21st till 27th August. Here is the program: August 21st: Chief guest, Indian High Commissioner August 22nd: Chief guest, George Harrison August 23rd: Ecumenical day, chief guest, Malcolm Muggeridge and representatives from all faiths. August 24th: Young people's day, advertised 4 days before the event on all young peoples programmes on BBC radio. At least 5000 young people expected to come. August 25th: Businessman's Day, chief guests Mr. Toyoto, and Baron Rothschild August 26th: Neighbor's Day, chief guest Graham Hill August 27th: Intellectual's Day, chief guest, D. Wayne, William Burroughs, Professor Alister Hardy. So please excuse me because I shall not be able to come there. When I return to America I will come there. I hope this letter meets you well. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 17:22 | 7 August 2007 7 August, 1973 U.K. My Dear Madhudvisa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter and enclosed check for daksina. In the meantime, I have also received a package of photographs. Your festival appears to be just like Jagannatha Puri, it is so encouraging to me to see how very enthusiastic you are working there. Yes, I shall certainly come to your Ratha Yatra Festival next year. Regarding selling books in Karmi clothes; yes, it may be done, there is no harm. This book distribution and Ratha Yatra Festivals should go on all over the world. I want to introduce this Ratha Yatra Festival programme all over the world. If you can actually supply the society with Gaura Nitai deities it will be a great achievement. But one thing is that you should try to find out some strong wood. In India they use Neem wood because this wood is not attacked by termites, if you can find out a similar wood there that will be best, or you may see if you can import this wood from India if it is not too expensive. When you have finished something, then send me a photograph. Regarding the taking of sannyasa of Purusottama I have as yet not received any recommendation from you, so if you recommend him then I shall send the cloth, kaupin and mantra. You can make the rod there. Yes, the accredited teacher may lead a Gurukula but first of all let him understand our philosophy perfectly and become himself strong. So I thank you for your support. I have sent one letter and sample of Satsvarupa Goswami's report which I consider to be standard for the other GBC member to follow, so please see it and try to follow his example. I hope this letter meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: book distribution, deities, festivals, gurukula, sannyasa letters | 17:17 |3 August 2007 Friday, 3 August, 1973 Bhaktivedanta Manor My Dear Bhakta Dasa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 29 July, 1973 and I have noted the contents very carefully. From your report I can understand that you are very enthusiastic. I like also your idea of celebrating Govardhana puja. This should be our programme to attract the general mass of people. If we go on preaching vigorously as we have been for another 25 year then all these other so called religions will disappear. After all what do they have to offer. In the Christian religion all we see is Christ's picture as he was crucified, so how people can be attracted to such thing? There is no science, philosophy, music, art, Prasadam, it is no wonder that the people are rejecting this nonsense. Not that Christ himself was nonsense, but those who are preaching in his name they are nonsense because they do not follow even the simplest of his orders, "Thou shalt not Kill." I have met with so many Christians and when I ask them why Christians are killing they cannot answer. The first principle of spiritual life is non violence. They will say Killing in this matter means actually Murder, but accepting even this argument, it means that the society in which Christ was preaching were composed of Murderers, so what kind of men they were, and practically we see it is a fact that because they murdered Lord Jesus Christ. At any rate there is nothing in the world that can compare our Movement of chanting and dancing. So Chant dance and when you get tired take Prasadm, this is our actual solid preaching work all over the world. I have noted that you are collecting great amounts of money, therefore I humbly request you send 50% to India for the Vrindaban Building Fund. Don't spoil the money in any way, simply utilize it for Krishna's purpose. I hope this letter meets you well. Your ever well wisher A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami N.B. Money may be sent to the following Account: Central Bank of India, Head office Bombay, ISKCON--Building Fund Account No. 9-381 ACBS/hda Labels: Christians, festivals letters | 16:33 |29 June 2007 29 June, 1973 Calcutta My dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 21 June and I have carefully studied the contents, including photos of posters from the festival in Heidelberg. Your report is very encouraging to me. The communists by dry philosophy have spread practically all over the world. We are holding festivals, feasting, philosophy and salvation--why shall we not spread our influence and overthrow them? Regarding your plan to travel around the world staging such Hare Krsna Festivals-- es, do it, you have my blessings. Your progress in translating work is very nice. It is actually most important of all that this translating of books is going on at the same time as the festivals. I have seen the photographs of your festival blocking the traffic and I am very much encouraged. The pictures should appear in all languages and you should write an article for BTG. The devotees recommended by you for initiation I gladly accept and their new spiritual names are as follows: Richard--Sutapa das; Rolf--Sudesna das; Erich--Citravesa das; Otto Karl--Niskrodha das; Hans--Gananath; Jesshardt--Nispapa das; George--Gopesh das; Ruth--Ramya dasi; Margot--Mrdani dasi; Karsten--Kuruksetre das; Renata--Ratipriya dasi; Rolf (Hamburg)--Nirahamkara das; Andreas--Asvasena das; Ditmar--Aya das; Wolfgang--Visnuyasa. As far as the GBC meeting is concerned I must be there wherever they meet; therefore we must meet at least once a year in Mayapur. Not only GBC shall meet but many devotees from all parts of the world. In Mayapur we now have facilities to accommodate more than a thousand people. We have a four story building and enough space so that even on the balcony we can accommodate thousands apart from the rooms. There are all marble floors and there is always natural ventilation. At least next March we must meet together. We have in Mayapur a doll-making department and we are manufacturing mrdangas also. If possible, some of your men may be sent there to learn these two works. For yourself you should make your next attempt in Moscow, if it is possible. I am going to London. So if convenient you should come and we can meet there. I see that Himavati is busy in distributing prasadam--send some for me. Now you have a proper field husband and wife, please do it nicely. Your transcendental competition is there in Shayamasundar. I want to see who will come out triumphant. Hope this finds you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sdg Labels: festivals, Heidelberg, initiation, Mayapur letters | 16:56 |12 June 2007 Tuesday, 12 June, 1973 Mayapur My Dear Madhudvisa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 29, 1973 and have noted the contents carefully. So, everything is going on so nicely there. So many books are being distributed. There are good prospects for a new temple. You are going to introduce three rathas this year for Rathayatra. This is all very pleasing and inspiring to me. I would very much like to come there for Rathayatra, but now I am not in very good health. It is the opinion of Tamala Krsna Maharaja, Bhavananda Maharaja, Jayapataka Maharaja and Jagadisa that it is best for me if I stay here for now so that I may get my health back. However, you may again invite me next year and, if Krsna wants, I will surely come there. Thank you very much. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Enclosure: The bank slip Labels: book distribution, festivals, health letters | 12:02 |8 April 2007 8 April, 1973 New York My dear Sudama, Please accept my blessings. Am in due receipt of your letter dated 4/6/73. I am still in New York, but if the climate is not suitable, I may be going to Los Angeles very soon. Your program for traveling on the West coast holding festivals at schools and communes is approved by me. Especially you must try to convince these students to join us. There is nothing else that will save the world from destruction and it is our responsibility to recruit these young educated boys and girls before they become spoiled by the degraded conditions of this so-called human society. Hoping this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/jda P.S. I have started printing of English version of Caitanya-caritamrta Labels: festivals, Los Angeles, sankirtan letters | 17:59 |4 March 2007 4 March, 1973 Calcutta My Dear Ksirodakasayi: Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated the 20th February and have examined the contents with care. I am glad to hear of your successful engagements and the photographs are very nice. It is good that you have invited the other devotees for such a program. Let them come, and combine together in cooperation, not to be aloof. There are always some factions, everywhere in this world we find so many factions. But we must, in Krsna consciousness, do the needful and cooperate. So, I am very glad to see your activities and you please continue to keep up the good work. Just yesterday I have arrived here in Calcutta and by the end of the week I expect to visit our new construction at Mayapur. Arrangements are being made for a very grand celebration on the Appearance Day of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I hope this meets you in good health and spirits. Hare Krsna. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACB/rdg letters | 06:27 | 18 February 2007 18 February, 1973 Sydney My dear Nityananda, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated February 5th. with the enclosed daksine and I thank you for the same. Again I am feeling overjoyed at hearing of your increased distribution program and I request that you increase more and more. There can be no limit to our distribution because Krishna is unlimited therefore devotional service to Krishna is also unlimited, so you may instruct the devotees there about this. Regarding your proposal for having Ratha Yatra in New Orleans I request that you consult with the GBC in your zone, Satsvarupa das Goswami and ask him to discuss this matter with the other GBC men there in America. But one thing is very important. If you decide to do it, then you must do it very opulently, as they are doing in San Francisco. This is very important. I am approving of the first initiation of Debra Hillard. However it is not our policy to give first and second initiations at once. It is better she wait some time. Her new name will be DEBRAJA DASI and also I am agreeing to the second initiation of Shanti dasi. Now you please arrange it so that the Deities are worshipped very very properly and always remain humble in their presence. I am here in Australia and everything is going nicely. I will be returning to India by March 2nd. and then to America by mid-April and I look forward to seeing you again. I hope this finds you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. You may hold one fire ceremony and Shanti dasi may listen to the Gayatri tape in her right ear. Enclosed please find one Gayatri slip for her. Labels: book distribution, festivals, initiation letters | 08:59 |18 February, 1973 Sydney My Dear Kirtanananda, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated January 20th. and February first along with your enclosed plans of the Radha Govindaji Temple in New Vrindaban. From these plans everything seems to be in order except the domes are making the temple look like a mosque. Therefore you please eliminate these domes and consult the Mayapur plan which can be obtained by writing Calcutta for design of the domes. The Deities should be facing East. If you are laying the foundation stone to this temple there is a ceremony which you can observe. First you may have one fire ceremony with four Brahmins surrounding the fire, reading from Bhagavad-gita, Nectar of Devotion, Srimad-Bhagavatam and Teachings of Lord Caitanya. This reading should go on during the entire ceremony. You may also dig one pit about 15 feet deep and have one golden Ananta form prepared, about two inches, put at the bottom of the pit. All during this, Kirtana should be going on. And then five types of various items should be placed in the pit, 5 types of jewels, 5 types of metals, 5 types of fruit, 5 types of grains, 5 types of amrta, like this different panca. These all should be carried down the ladder by the various Brahmins, and as they put each one at the bottom of the pit, the various fruits, flowers, etc. all of the Brahmins should one by one climb to the bottom of the pit and make their offering and chant the first verse of Gayatri Mantra. After this, you may lay some bricks down on top of everything and then begin to fill up the pit with dirt again. When the pit is filled up with dirt again you may put one foundation stone on top of the pit and this pit should be located at the exact corner of the Temple building. The idea of this is that the entire building will be resting on the hoods of the Ananta snake, and this is very auspicious. After this program you may have several days of Kirtana and feasting. The arrangement for chanting on the beads is that when I send a letter to the respective individuals with their new names, they may send a copy of that letter on to you, and on receipt of this letter you may chant on their beads. I am here in Australia now and things are going very well. I will be returning to India by the beginning of March and then to America by mid-April and I look forward to seeing you again then. I hope this finds you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 08:56 | 29 January 2007 29 January, 1973 Calcutta Chandigarh Dear Ram Prashad, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated January 10, 1973, and I have noted the contents. I am sorry to note that you have not yet received your life membership cards or receipt as yet. I have sent your letter to Bombay and directed the President, Sriman Tulasi dasa, to immediately send you the same. Our Bombay Hare Krsna Festival has been a grand success. More than 15,000 people attended each night and joined in the kirtana and arati, and listened very attentively to my discourses. At the end of the last day seven young men, two from Europe and 5 from India, shaved their heads as brahmacaris and have joined us full time. People are eager for Krsna consciousness, when it is given in its pure form. I am leaving for Australia by 2nd February to visit our ISKCON center there and I shall be returning in March to officially open the first residential block of our World Headquarters at Sridhama Mayapur, District Nadia, West Bengal. Hoping this meets you well, Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: festivals, India, itinerary letters | 04:15 |26 January 2007 26 January, 1973 Calcutta My dear Karandhara, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge your letter dated January 2, 1973, regarding the book shipments to India. As I have already informed you by telegram, until further notice you should not dispatch any further shipment of books for India. The position is that I have asked Kesava Prabhu to see to all the book affairs here since in the past two years our books have not been properly managed here. After he takes stock of all books in the different centres, and makes out appropriate bills, and generally adjusts things, then we shall think to order more books. The principle to be followed is that whatever the MV Trust is debited in America a similar amount must be paid into the MV Trust account here. In this way things will be adjusted. You may correspond with Kesava regarding further developments. In Bombay we have just celebrated our Second Hare Krishna Festival and it has come out very successfully. More than 20,000 people attended the last evening's program. A special feature was the Question and Answers booth where 24 hours a day and night one of our sannyasis answered all philosophy questions. So the people were impressed that we are not seemingly sentimentalists, but have substantial philosophical footing. I hope you and all others in Los Angeles Temple are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/tkg Labels: festivals, India, publishing letters | 03:55 |3 January 2007 Wednesday, 3 January, 1973 Bombay My dear Prabha Visnu, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated January 1, 1973. I am very glad to hear from you the wonderful news of travelling party in England. I think the people of that place are becoming more and more inclined for this Krishna Consciousness movement, they are inviting you to stay at their houses, they are taking books, becoming sometimes devotees--all of these are very encouraging signs to me. If you simply go on in this way, stopping in every village and city of England-Scotland, or if there are other places like Ireland, simply stop for some time, distribute books and hold Sankirtana procession, answer their questions, give some leaflets or small informations freely, distribute prasadam wherever possible, at least some small thing, and if there is genuine interest being shown, then request the townspeople to arrange some engagements for speaking in their schools, or in someone's home, or a hall, like that. In this way remain always without anxiety for destination and comfortable situations, always relying only on the mercy of Krishna for your plan, just go on preaching His message and selling His books, wherever there is interest. We shall not waste time if there is no interest or if the people are unfriendly, there are so many places to go. But I understand from your letter that practically everyone is taking some interest. That means you are presenting the thing in a very nice manner, they can detect that here are some persons who are actually sincere and nice, let me hear them, let me purchase one book. So I can understand that it is not an easy matter to travel extensively over long periods of time without proper food, rest, and sometimes it must be very cold there also, and still, because you are getting so much enjoyment, spiritual enjoyment, from it, it seems like play to you. That is advanced stage of spiritual life, never attained by even the greatest yogis and so-called jyanis. But let any man see our devotees working so hard for Krishna, then let anyone say that they are not better than any millions of so-called yogis and transcendentalists, that is my challenge! Because you are rightly understanding through your personal realization this philosophy of Krishna Consciousness, therefore in such a short time you have surpassed all the stages of yoga processes to come to the highest point of surrendering to Krishna. That I can very much appreciate, thank you very much for helping me in this way. Hoping this meets you and the other men of your party in the best of health and spirits. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/sda Labels: book distribution, festivals, preachers, travelling letters | 09:20 | |
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