a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1967 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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29 Oct 2004 Sunday, October 29, 1967 Navadvipa, India My Dear Nandarani, Please accept my blessings. I was very pleased to receive your letter. I have come to Navadvipa since I've received your letter, the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. We came here last Tuesday & probably I shall return to Calcutta early next week. Regarding the teachings in the temple; everyone of my disciples may become a teacher strictly following my instructions. I am a bonafide teacher as long as I follow the instructions of my spiritual master. That is the only one qualification for becoming a teacher. As soon as one deviates from this principle one is no longer a teacher. I do not know how Subala das speaks but if there is any deviation you can point it out & adjust things between yourselves. Personally I know both yourself & your husband, Dayananda, are very sincere souls & I am much obliged to you because you have opened a nice center in L.A. Similarly, Subala das also opened a center at Santa Fe. All this activity is very encouraging to my mission & I believe sincerely that you are doing the best to serve the cause of ISKCON. I have already arranged for going back to your country & I have secured a visitors visa & the passage money is also deposited with the travel agent, so the only thing is that Mukunda is trying to get my permanent visa & I am waiting for his final word in this connection. I thank you very much for your proposal that I shall stay at L.A. & you will arrange for all my comforts. I am looking forward for the opportunity. From India I shall first go to San Francisco & then to your place. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 29.10.04 | October 29, 1967 Navadvipa, India My Dear Krishna devi, Please accept my blessings. I was very glad to receive your letter dated Oct. 20. I can understand your anxiety about your husband & rest assured that I shall never advise your husband to leave you. Both of you are very good souls & constantly engaged in the service of the Lord. One who has got a helpful wife at home does not require to accept Sannyas. If required, both you and your husband can preach Krishna Consciousness combinedly. We are concerned more for Krishna Consciousness & if that work is executed more nicely by cooperation of husband & wife, there is no necessity of thinking wife as impediment to Krishna Consciousness. While I am living you should act according to my instructions & there is no question of impediment. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 29.10.04 | 28 Oct 2004 Saturday, October 28, 1967 Navadvipa, India My Dear Aatie, Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letter dated Oct. 19 & I am so happy that a boy of 17 years can feel so nicely about Krishna Consciousness. I am so happy that the Krishna Consciousness movement is attracting young innocent hearts of America. From this I can think that the future of this movement is very hopeful. I was very glad to learn that you are following our four principle rules, therefore your picking up of the process of acquiring spiritual knowledge from Bhagavad-gita is very nice. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that one should "prostrate oneself at the feet of the wise, rendering him all forms of service & question him with a guileless heart again & again", is the only means to attain spiritual knowledge. The process of speculation without approaching the bonafide spiritual master is simply a waste of time. In the Caitanya Caritamrta, Lord Caitanya affirms this principle, when he says that a fortunate living being while wandering in different species of life gets the chance of meeting a bonafide spiritual master by the causeless mercy of Krishna. In the Vedic literature there is a nice story about Dhruva. This Dhruva understood from his mother when he was only five, that God can be found in person in the forest. Dhruva went to the forest in search of God. The Lord Narayana in heaven or in the heart of Dhruva understood the sincerity of Dhruva's purpose & sent Narada, His great disciple to initiate Dhruva in the matter of Krishna Consciousness. This incident confirms that by the grace of Krishna, Dhruva was able to get the help of Narada as his spiritual master. Therefore, Krishna Consciousness is a parallel process in worshipping the Supreme Personality of Godhead & the Spiritual master simultaneously. Your desire to become the servant of the servant of Krishna is very pious. Lord Caitanya desired the same thing in order to set an example, though he was Krishna Himself. The Bhagavad-gita confirms this. I am so pleased to learn that you are all living in the Brahmacari house with Jayananda & Upendra & I am more pleased that you are all working. Everyone can achieve the highest perfection of life by working in his specific capacity. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 28.10.04 | October 28, 1967 Navadvipa, India My Dear Mukunda, Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for sending me a record player by air freight, but since you have not mentioned that it is an unsolicited gift, customs has raised objections & they want to levy duty to the extent of 100 Rs. Please immediately send a letter addressed to Calcutta Customs stating that the record player was sent to me as an unsolicited gift. Send the letter to: S.K. Dutta, 76 Durga Charan Doctor Rd., Calcutta, 14. Also please let me know if I should start on the visitors visa or whether I should wait for your permanent visa arrangement. Your ever well-wisher A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 28.10.04 | 27 Oct 2004 Friday, October 27, 1967 Navadvipa, India My Dear Rayarama, Please accept my blessings. My blessings are for you for the latest nice edition of BTG's. I am so pleased for your sincere endeavour for improving the quality & quantity of BTG. Krishna is helping you in this endeavour & he will help you more & more for your sincerity. Our circulation manager, Sriman Gargamuni, is surely taking great interest in seeling the copies. Regarding Kirtanananda's article, I do not know what he has written but I can guess that it must be polluted with impersonal poison, so for the time being you can keep this article aside. I was so glad to learn that you are acting exactly like a lion cub & I know that in the future you shall conquer ever many jackals. We have got experience in India that the jackals roar four times at night without any influence but the one roar of a lion drives away many elephants. The pressure Maya is elephant-like, big, but the roaring of Nrsimhadeva can drive away many elephants. Please convey my thanks to Satyavrata (Moskowitz) & inform him that I've received his letter. His humble attitude is just befitting a genuine devotee. I very much appreciate his devotional attitude. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 27.10.04 | 26 Oct 2004 Thursday, October 26, 1967 Navadvipa, India My Dear Jadurani, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Oct. 20 & I am very glad to note the contents. The brahmacarini asrama is not yet started. You should not bother about it at the present moment. When the brahmacarini asrama is established then you should consider going. Most probably I also will go to San Francisco directly from India. When I am there I shall see if your presence is actually required there. In the meantime you can continue with your painting as usual & enjoy the spiritual life. In the Scriptures it is said that a woman is just like fire & a man is just like a butter pot. The butter melts in the pot while in contact with fire. In your country association of man and woman is very common without restriction; thus the result is known to you better than I am able to explain. In spiritual life attraction of man & woman in the understanding of material body hampers very much, therefore, some sort of restrictions are necessary to check this hampering problem. In spiritual life there is no allowance of association of man and woman without being married. I have already secured my visitors visa & have advised my travel agent to purchase my ticket via the pacific route, & I have already secured my passage money. So on any day I can start for your country, but recently I've received from Mukunda stating that he is arranging for my permanent visa which will enable me to move freely. I've already asked him to let me know whether I should wait or start on the visitors visa. I have seen the latest issue of BTG & have very much appreciated the presentation with your combined efforts--you artists & poets should try to increase the beauty of BTG as well as to promote the sales in larger & larger numbers. Your appreciation of Rayarama's effort is also shared by me in improving the condition of BTG. You can keep & stack your paintings & when I return I shall see where they will be most required. Regarding Kirtanananda, there is nothing to be said about but one should be very careful not to fall sick like him. In the material world there is constant fight between maya & the living entity. Maya is very strong & we can fall a victim at her hand at any moment. The only means of protecting us from the attack of maya is to be fully Krishna Conscious. The proportion in which we fall back in Krishna Consciousness is filled up by the influence of maya. It is exactly like the proportion of negligence of our health is subsequently resulted in our falling ill. The person who is very careful about his health does not generally fall ill. Similarly a person who is always fixed up in Krishna Consciousness cannot be defeated by maya. Sometimes in spite of our full Krishna Consciousness we fall a victim to maya but that is temporary just as seasonal changes such calamities do come & pass away & we have to endure them. If Kirtanananda has ever sincerely served Krishna, & his spiritual master, he will not fall down. The temporary systems will fall down without delay. We should all pray to Krishna for his steady recovery. My grief for Kirtanananda isn't anything personal but I am sorry that he has become like a mayavadi in spite of my best efforts to help him. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 26.10.04 | October 26, 1967 Navadvipa, India My Dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I have already duly received the invitation from Harvard University. It is understood that they are scheduling me for 20 Nov. between 6 and 10 PM. I can start immediately on the strength of my visitors visa, but I am waiting for Mukunda's reply who is trying for my permanent visa. Yesterday we have all come to Navadvipa. This place is another establishment of one of my Godbrothers. It is very nice and extensive place and my God-brother, B.R. Sridhara Maharaja has spared one entire nice house for my stay. He has also agreed to cooperate with our society. We shall observe his birthday ceremony tomorrow and the brahmacaris shall learn how to celebrate spiritual master's birthday. I hope to reach your state by the 20 of November. Hope you are well. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 26.10.04 | |
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