a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1968 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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29 Apr 2004 Monday, April 29, 1968 New York, New York My Dear Aniruddha, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated April 24, 1968, and I thank you very much for all the nice news. I am so much pleased to learn that the Los Angeles temple is improving in opulence. Please tell Janaki that I am so glad to learn that she has framed the pictures very nicely and that both she and Mukunda are working to improve the condition of the temple. This is all very nice. Yes, the idea to make S.F. our headquarters, that is in my mind, but that church is not yet settled. The man is prolonging it. Actually, if you get the church I shall make that my headquarters, and I shall come there to your temple occasionally. How is Sankarsana and Baladeva. I have not heard anything from them. I have ordered one half dozen mrdangas to be dispatched to San Francisco port, so you will have good opportunity to take procession of Sankirtana with 2 or 3 mrdangas, karatalas, etc. Regarding the Radha Krishna statues, for the time being, suspend it. Keep Them dressed nicely, as Janaki is doing. I have received the second transcribing set. On Wednesday, May 1, I am going to Boston, where there are so many nice college engagements arranged. Just recently we went to Philadelphia, to Temple University, where we held kirtana and lecture very nicely. And for our transportation and lecture they paid us $150.00; similarly, tomorrow we have got engagement at New York University at Stoney Brook, Long Island, and they are paying us $200.00 for our coming there. So we are spreading this Sankirtana very nicely here also. Please keep me informed of all your activities there, and hoping you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:53 | Monday, April 29, 1968 New York, New York My Dear Nandarani and Dayananda, Please accept my blessings. I am very pleased to receive your letters of April 23, 1968, and I am very thankful to you for your nice sentiments. You are very intelligent and nice boy and girl, and trying to understand Krishna Consciousness, and I can simply pray that you shall try to understand more and more about this transcendental science, and whenever possible, try to talk about Krishna Consciousness to your friends or whomever you may meet. Simply by this attempt you will get superior strength and knowledge about Krishna Consciousness. It doesn't matter whether a man is convinced or not, but your sincere attempts to convince others will help you progress. Nandarani is very intelligent girl, both of you execute nicely and try to bring up your daughter in the same spirit, and live nicely in Krishna Consciousness. So far your question about Karna, the first son of Kunti; that Radha was not the same Radha, as Krishna's Radha. That was Karna's adopted mother. Karna was born before Kunti was married, so in order to keep it silent, he was kept in a package and floated in the ocean. And this carpenter father and his wife, Aniradha, took care of him, and he was brought up there with them. So Karna was known as the son of a carpenter; nobody knew that he was the eldest son of Kunti, and a Ksatriya. This was not known until he died, and Kunti began to cry. Yudhisthira asked her why you are crying, he is the enemy, and she said, he was my first son. He was born out of her ear, so he was called Karna. When she was very young, she got some mantra which could be used to call any demigod, so just to try it, as experiment, to see if it worked, she called the sun god. He immediately appeared there before her, and said, I will give you the benediction of one son; she replied that she simply was experimenting with this mantra, that she did not want a son, and she became afraid as she was unmarried girl. He said I shall give you a son anyway, and it will be born out of your ear. So as she was virgin girl, she became very frightened that people may say things, so she put him into the ocean. Yes, Karna had many extraordinary attributes. He was a great soldier, and a most charitable man. He was so strong that it was not possible for Arjuna to kill him; he had to take unfair tactics and kill him. Karna could have killed Arjuna, but by Krishna's Grace, Arjuna killed Karna. In other words, Krishna killed Karna, otherwise, nobody could have killed him. I am very glad to learn that your nice child Candramukhi is growing daily. By your care and attention, she will come out a Krishna Consciousness girl like Haridasi, the daughter of Baladeva. We are selling our books, Srimad-Bhagavatam, 3 in a set for $12.00, but a single book is $5.00. I am leaving for Boston on Wednesday, the first of May, and you can send your care of the Boston address, (ISKCON Radha Krishna Temple, Glenville Avenue, Allston, Mass. 02134). Hoping you are three well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami N.B. No, I think there is not any good English version of Mahabharata but very soon, we shall have the Bhagavad-gita, and the Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and you can enjoy reading them; they should be ready by September. There is one small pocket edition published by Bharatiya Bhavan Bombay-7. letters | 04:47 | 26 Apr 2004 Friday, April 26, 1968 New York, New York My Dear Janardana, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 12, and postdated on April 24, 1968, with enclosure of letter from Kirtanananda Swami dated April 7, 1968. I am so glad to learn that your examination in M.A. is successful, and I hope very soon you will have your Ph.D. degrees, both titles engaged in the service of the Lord. There are four things desirable in this material world, namely, good parentage, sumptuous wealth, sufficient education, and good beauty. These things are sometimes impediments in the service of the Lord because such persons with great parentage, wealth, etc., becomes materially puffed up, and thus deviates from Krishna Consciousness. But when they are employed in the service of the Lord, their value becomes many more times greater. Just like zero has no value, but when zero is placed on right side of one, the value of zero enhances to 10 times; similarly, our life, wealth, intelligence, and words become 100 times 100 greater and greater if they are employed in the service of the Lord. I shall always pray to Krishna that you may come out a successful and eminent scholar so that your writings and thoughts may be seriously taken by the mundane wranglers. Our only business is to present Krishna Consciousness to the ignorant mass of people, and if such people agree to hear in consideration of our important position in the material world, it is a great opportunity to place our submission, and thereby our mission is fulfilled. Acaryas in the disciplic succession of Lord Caitanya teach us that we shall try to place the message of Lord Caitanya very humbly to the people in general and that will make us successful in our service to the Lord. I sincerely bless you that your future hopes to present Krishna Consciousness in terms of French custom may be crowned with success. Regarding the action of B: We shall discuss the matter when we meet. For the present, you may know that this gentleman is very much materially ambitious. He wants to utilize Krishna Consciousness for his material name and fame. Sometimes he greatly offended our Guru Maharaja, and it so happened that at the last stage, practically Guru Maharaja rejected him. And the result, we can find that instead of becoming a great preacher of Krishna Consciousness, this gentleman has become artificially a head of a mundane institution. To become a very important man in the mundane estimation is not success in Krishna Consciousness. He was first deputed by my Guru Maharaja, along with our late God Brother, to open a missionary center in London, and they stayed there for 3 years, but didn't make any appreciable advance. Except that spent enormous money of my Guru Maharaja, and later on they were called back to India. So that is a great history; it is not possible to say everything in this letter, but for the present, be satisfied with these words, and later we shall talk more and more. On the whole, you may know that he is not a liberated person, and therefore, he cannot initiate any person to Krishna Consciousness. It requires special spiritual benediction from higher authorities. The statements of Thakura Bhaktivinode are as good as scriptures because he is liberated person. Generally the spiritual master comes from the group of such eternal associates of the Lord; but anyone who follows the principles of such ever liberated persons is as good as one in the above mentioned group. The gurus from nature's study are accepted as such on the principle that an elevated person in Krishna Consciousness does not accept anyone as disciple, but he accepts everyone as expansion of his guru. That is very high position, called Maha-bhagavata. Just like Radharani, sometimes thinks a subordinate of hers as her teacher, to understand devotion of Krishna. A person who is liberated acharya and guru cannot commit any mistake, but there are persons who are less qualified or not liberated, but still can act as guru and acharya by strictly following the disciplic succession. It is the injunction of the sastras that anyone who sees the Deity in the Temple as made of wood or stone, or considers the acaryas and gurus as ordinary common men, and discriminates Vaisnavas or devotees as belonging to a certain group or caste, are called hellish. Your question about B in relation with his disciple is very intelligent and intricate, and we shall discuss at long when we meet. Regarding Kirtanananda's letter, I may inform you that I always think of him and pray to Krishna for his good sense. That is my duty. Anyone who comes to me for my help or wants advance in Krishna Consciousness, and whom I initiate and accept as my disciple, I must pray for him and his welfare always. So Kirtanananda personally served me, especially during my illness, which I always remember. But because somehow or other he has misunderstood our activities that does not mean that I am no longer his well wisher. I write at the end of my letters to my disciples, "Your ever well-wisher", and as such, I cannot become otherwise than being ever well-wisher of my disciples, even though he may leave me. So I was praying to Krishna that He may save Kirtanananda from his misunderstanding and if ever he chanted Hare Krishna at least once in sincere heart, I am sure Krishna would not allow him to go out of his influence. Therefore, I believe that he can never forget the Form of Krishna, neither he can deny His Personality. It is good news that he is trying to establish a new Vrindaban, which I suggested through Hayagriva Brahmacari, and if he is successful, in his attempt, certainly it will be considered a great benediction upon him by Lord Krishna. When I offered him Sannyas, I expected such great achievements through him and if Krishna desires, he will come out successful in his great attempt. Yes, I expressed my desire to go there through Hayagriva Brahmacari, and if I am invited, to go there, by Kirtanananda Swami, it will be my great pleasure to see the place and enjoy his company. On the first of May I am proceeding to Boston. Last night we had a very nice meeting at Temple University at Philadelphia, and there were nice kirtanas and speeches, and questions and answers from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. They paid us $150.00 for transportation charges and my lecture fees, and on the 30th of April we are going to hold similar meeting in Long Island, at the State University of New York, at Stoney Brook. They also have promised to pay us $200.00. Similar meetings were held in different parts of San Francisco and Los Angeles, when I was there. So there is great possibility of spreading our Krishna Conscious movement, and if we work conjointly, with serious sincerity, we are sure to come out successful in this great adventure. I expected to meet you here in New York by this time, but I do not see any indication in your letter under reply. Anyway on receipt of your letter I am very much satisfied and I shall be glad to hear from you I think at Boston. Hoping you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 09:26 | |
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