72-06-12
Los Angeles
13th June, 1972
New York
My Dear Bhargava,
Please accept
my blessings. I am in receipt of your letter
dated May 31, 1972, and I have noted the contents. Our
advancement in Krishna Consciousness is made possible in two
ways, by Knowledge and renunciation, jnana and tyaga or
tapasya.
The more we become renounced from this material world,
the more
we advance in Krishna Consciousness. But we are only able
to
make such sacrifices and perform tapasya if we have got
knowledge. So first thing is to become knowledgeable in
Krishna
Consciousness, then the tapasya or voluntary life of
austerity
will result automatically. So I am requesting all of my
students
to read my books very seriously every day without fail.
In this
way, if your mind becomes absorbed at least one or two
hours
daily in the transcendental subject matter of Srimad
Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita, and other books then very
easily
you will make your advancement in Krishna Consciousness.
It is
not a matter of changing our engagement, adjusting this
or that
material condition, in order to find our real happiness.
Krishna
Consciousness is not like that. It is able to be
performed under
any variety of material conditions or with any type of
engagement. Therefore if your duty as a photographer is
very
much helpful to our propanganda work and for improving
our BTG
then there is very much need for your remaining in that
occupation and doing it to your best capacity. It is a
fallacy
to say that my present engagement with the press is not
the best
for my spiritual advancement, and if we think in this way
we may
go on trying out one engagement after another and always
say the
same excuse. This restlessness or agitation of the mind
cannot
be rectified by altering the material circumstances. If
we are
Krishna Conscious, any type of occupation will suit me
and we
shall always be satisfied. Therefore, I recommend you to
read
books more and more and try to understand the subject matter
from different angles of vision and be always discussing
it with
your godbrothers even while you are working at the press,
and
when you are working and you cannot read, then listen to
the
tapes of my lectures and hear in that way. And never neglect
to
chant your 16 rounds of beads daily, rise early without
fail,
attend mangal aratik, take bath, and follow the other
regulative principles, and everything will come out very
successfully, you can rest assured of that.
I am feeling
the tendency more and more to retire behind
the scenes for translating work, and I want to turn over
the
management of everything to the GBC and other senior
leaders
amongst my disciples, so if you have in future any more
matters
for discussing you may assist me in training these
leaders and
managers by placing your questions before them. I think
Rupanuga
will be able to answer all of your questions
satisfactorily, so
you can be confident that he is giving you all good
advice.
Hoping this
will meet you in good health,
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS/sda
72-06-13
Los Angeles
13th June, 1972
El Cerrito
My Dear Sriman Joshi,
Please accept
my greetings. I am in due receipt of your
letter dated June 2, 1972, and I have noted the contents
with
great pleasure. I am very much encouraged that you are
offering
your considerable services for helping me to advance this
bhakti-yoga system or Krishna Consciousness Movement all
over
the world. So I shall be very pleased to meet you
personally
here in Los Angeles at my apartment, as I shall not be
gong to
San Francisco in the near future because I am attending
the
Rathayatra Festival in London this year instead. So if
you are
free to meet me here in Los Angeles, I shall be very
pleased to
see you at that time.
Hoping this
meets you in the best of health,
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS/sda
n.b. by the next autumn I shall be in India (Sept 1972)
at that
time if you invite me in Punjab, I shall be glad to visit
all
places there.
72-06-14
Los Angeles
13th June, 1972
Dallas
My Dear Sankarsana,
Please accept
my blessings. I am in due receipt of your
letter dated June 6, 1972, and I have noted the contents.
As for
your question regarding the children, what can I do? I am
not a
teacher. You should ask Satsvarupa on all of these
matters, he
is the GBC, so everything small and big should be
referred to
Satsvarupa. First, you should ask the president in charge
how to
answer these questions. I am feeling the inclination for
retiring into the background and simply translating my
Srimad
Bhagavatam, therefore I have delegated this GBC to manage
everything and give me relief. So they shall give you all
good
guidance, and if there is anything further to know, it is
stated
that if one is always fully engaged in the devotional
service of
the Lord with full sincerity of attitude, beginning with
the
tongue, that Krishna will Himself appear to the devotee
and all
questions will be answered personally by Him. Of course,
if
there is some very urgent matter, I am always happy to
hear from
my beloved disciples.
So far your
question about jealousy, spiritual jealousy
means to think always that the service rendered by such
and such
devotee is so nice and pleasing to Krishna, so let me try
harder
to please Krishna than him and then Krishna will notice
me also.
Hoping this
will meet you in good health.
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACB/sda
72-06-15
Los Angeles
13th June, 1972
My Dear Stoka Krsna,
Please accept
my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of
your letter dated June 5, 1972, and I have noted the
contents
carefully. Yes, the proof of your teaching method shall
be seen
in the spiritual improvement and fresh enthusiasm
exhibited by
the children. If they are allowed to worship the Deity by
practicing performing aratrika very seriously, plus
always be
engaged in different various activities centered around
Krsna,
then their education will be completely successful. The
children
should always be instructed by taking advantage of their
playful
mood and teaching them to play Krsna games like become
cowherd
boys, cows, peacocks, demons and in this way if they
always
think of Krsna by playing just like they are actually
present in
association with Krsna then they will become Krsna
Conscious
very quickly. In addition, there should be a little ABC,
then
prasadam, then worshiping the Deity, then more playing
Krsna
games, some kirtan, a little more ABC, like that. In this
way,
always keep their minds and bodies engaged in different
activities because children are restless by nature so
they will
want to change often.
I am feeling
more and more the urge to retire behind the
scenes and translate these Vedic literatures for the
greatest
benefit for mankind in general. So I have given you my
all
senior disciples and leaders everything so if you will
kindly
take this matter very seriously and do my work for me I
shall be
very much thankful to you always. Of course, if there are
some
questions which are of extreme importance and cannot be
answered
by the GBC men then I am always very glad to advise and
hear
from my beloved disciples. So for future questions about
the
Gurukula activities or any other matters you may refer
them all
to Satsvarupa and he is able to give you all the proper
answers.
Hoping this meets you in good health.
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACB/sda
72-06-16
Los Angeles
15th June, 1972
Hamburg
My Dear Himavati,
Please accept
my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of
your letter dated May 30, 1972, and I have noted the
contents. I
don't know who has given you this idea of shaving your
head and
wearing white garments. In India only the widows are
allowed to
shave head. I have never suggested your husband to take
to
Sannyas, but we can discuss this matter further when we
shall
meet again in London for Rathayatra.
You remain the
beautiful maid servant of Krishna. That is
your business, and you should dress yourself always very
nicely
so that Krishna by seeing you will be pleased. Don't try
to be
ugly before Krishna. Krishna does not like ugly gopis. We
are
transcendental artists, musicians, writers, so everything
should
be beautiful for Krishna. After all we are members of
Krishna's
family, just like Krishna had 16,000 wives and each wife
has
thousands of servants and maid-servants and all of them
are very
beautiful for serving Krishna and His Queens. So the
servants of
the gopis and queens cannot be ugly, they are as
beautiful as
the queens. In the Vaikuntha world there is no need of
serving
anything because everything is already clean and
beautiful. It
is so clean that just like a mirror when the
maid-servants would
sweep the floor they could see the reflections of their
bodies.
So remain always compact in Vaikuntha yajna, simply by
thinking
of the Glories of the Lord. Don't try to do anything
artificially. That is sahajya, which means a class of men
that
take everything very cheap. You want to perform sacrifice
so
continuously read our Vedic scriptures and perform the
Vaikuntha
yajna.
Hoping this
will meet you and your good husband in the best
of health,
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACB/sda
72-06-17
Los Angeles
15th June, 1972
Laguna Beach
My Dear Siddha Svarupananda,
Please accept
my blessings. Just now I am in receipt of
some pamphlets and one booklet entitled ``Sai Speaks'',
so I see
so many discrepancies from our line of action in
devotional
service. I do not know if you are again acting upon your
old
principles on the guise of becoming a Sannyasi from our
disciplic succession. This cannot be allowed. If you are
sincere
to our line of action, please come here to Los Angeles
and live
with me for some time. If not, then you can disclose your
mind
frankly what you want to do. I cannot allow you to do all
these
things which are completely detrimental to our line of
disciplic
succession.
I shall be
glad if you come here to stay with me, so I
shall expect your reply one way or the other. Meanwhile
hoping
this will meet you in good health.
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS/sda
72-06-18
Los Angeles
16th June, 1972
Detroit
My Dear Bhagavan,
Please accept
my blessings. I am in due receipt of your
letter dated June 9, 1972, and I have noted the contents
carefully. My money is already invested in a Mayapur
Trust Fund,
so there is no possibility of lending you any money.
Furthermore, in your absence I don't think there is need
of very
big house. If you make arrangements for purchasing two
big, big
houses and then go away, then that is not very good
proposal. To
purchase our own house in Los Angeles, London, these
headquarters are required as permanent but we should not
be very
much anxious after purchasing many houses and properties.
In
future through out the society, it is better so far as
possible
that we should rent. Big house means big responsibility.
So
unless there are many men, and very big propaganda,
buying house
is risky and unnecessary.
Hoping this
will meet you in good health.
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACB/sda
n.b. Regarding the cars I am very much anxious to hear
what is
your progress in this connection. We must have some cars
or vans
for sending to India, so if you cannot get free we shall
pay at
50% reduction or some big concession. And we shall
advertise on
the cars ``donated by such-and-such company.'' That will
be good
diplomacy for them in India.
ACBS
72-06-19
Los Angeles
16th June, 1972
Springfield, New Jersey
My Dear Bob,
Please accept
my blessings. I thank you very much for your
letter dated June 12, 1972, and I have noted the
sentiments
expressed therein with great pleasure. I am very much
glad to
hear that you are associating with us, and I know that
you are a
very good boy, very intelligent and your behavior is
gentle, so
I have all confidence that very quickly Krishna will
bestow
all His blessings upon you and you will feel yourself
becoming
perfectly happy in Krishna Consciousness. One makes his
advancement in Krishna Consciousness by giving up
voluntarily
his attachment to material nature or maya and such
renunciation
is called tapasya. But we are not very willing to perform
austerities without good reason, therefore any man with
scientific and philosophical good brain such as your good
self,
must appreciate first what is the transcendental
knowledge. If
you get knowledge, automatically tapasya will follow, and
then
you make your advancement in spiritual life. So to get
knowledge
is the first item for anyone who is hoping to find his
perfection of life. Therefore, I advise you to daily read
our
books as far as possible and try to understand the
subject
matter from different angles of vision by discussing
frequently
with the devotees at New York Temple. In this way you
will
become gradually convinced, and by your sincere attitude
and
devotional service you will make progress.
Yes, by having
some faith in me and in this Krishna
Consciousness process, that is the first and only
requirement
for getting actual wisdom. If there is faith,
understanding will
follow. And as your understanding increases, so will your
disgust with the spell of illusory energy and when you
voluntarily give up your entanglements in the material
world,
then the progress is assured.
I think we are
just now typing up the tapes of those
conversations we held in Mayapur, and we shall be
publishing
them into a book very soon. It will be called ``Perfect
Questions, Perfect Answers.'' I shall be sending you one
copy as
soon as they are ready for distributing. Meanwhile, I
shall be
stopping in New York for two or three days on my way to
London
for the Rathayatra Festival there. I am not certain yet
when I
shall be arriving in New York, but it shall be some time
in the
early part of July, and you may keep in regular contact
with
Bali Mardan regarding the arrival date, and I shall be
very much
engladdened to meet with you in New York once again.
Again we
shall discuss if you have got any questions.
Hoping this
will meet you in good health and happy mood,
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACB/sda
72-06-20
Los Angeles
16th June, 1972
Mayapur
My Dear Jayapataka,
Please accept
my blessings. I beg to acknowledge your
letter dated May 29, 1972, from Mayapur and I have noted
the
contents. You have described the building progress there,
but if
you can send me photo then I can understand the situation
as it
is.
I have
appointed Giriraj to be the GBC zonal secretary for
India zone, and I am sure that he meets your requirements
of
being equiposed and considerate of all the needs of all
the
branches under his control or jurisdiction. Simply all
you
leaders there in India must cooperate with him nicely and
give
him confidence and advice how to manage the things in the
best
manner. So I suggest you address your ideas for managing
to
Giriraj and cooperatively make arrangements. Bombay
should be
the headquarters for India. You send all money there and
when
you require you take and they sould keep all accounts
nicely.
Whatever you need, they will supply.
Karandhar has
sent telegram informing that upon receipt of
your jointly signed requisition order, after you have
received from Mr. Jain as per our former transaction,
then we
shall issue a letter of transfer for the ten Krsna Books
as
per your requisition order. But do not send the
requisition
before he has given you the money, first take the money
there.
If Tamal Krsna is not there he sould be informed. Among
you
three, including yourself, Tamal Krsna, Bhavananda, two
of three
must sign. It is better if all three sign.
If Tamal Krsna
can do some tangible work in Bangledesh it
will be advertised all over India and we shall be
respected by
all classes of men. So it is a crucial point in our
progress, so
make this Bangledesh program very nicely. My godbrother
in
Jessore will help him in every respect. His addresss is
known to
him.
Hoping this
meets you in good health.
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
[1]ACBS:[1]sda
n.b. Composed matter of Gitar Gan should be sent to me as
early
as possible.
ACBS
72-06-21
Los Angeles
16th June, 1972
My Dear Madhudvisa,
Please accept
my blessings. I am in receipt of your letter
dated June 9, 1972, from Melbourne, and I don't think you
have
yet got my last letter to you at Sydney. I am very
pleased to
hear that you are utilizing your good experience for
introducing
the Rathayatra Festival in Australia, I shall be very
pleased
to see the photos how it is going. I fully approve of
your
program for traveling, now you combine the sannyasi
requirement
for traveling extensively, and at the same time as GBC
man you
shall be my personal secretary for maintaining the
highest level
of Krishna Consciousness amongst the devotees in your
zone. I am
very much concerned that the devotees should be given all
good
instruction and knowledge of Krishna Consciousness, that
is the
duty of the GBC man. GBC should not be so much concerned
for
preaching to nondevotees, better to utilize time and
train the
devotees, especially the responsible officers, and they
can go
out for preaching to nondevotees and making new devotees.
But if
they do not have any knowledge, how can they go out and
preach?
So you GBC men are my selected few for insuring that what
I am
doing will be carried on very nicely for the pleasure of
Lord
Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So now you must all my senior
disciples
and leaders become very, very much aware of your grave
responsibility to the human society for delivering them
from the
clutches of catastrophe, and be always cool-headed and
utilize
every moment in the best manner possible. I am successful
only
because I am following strictly the orders of my Guru
Maharaj
and do not deviate. Therefore people respect what I am
saying
and they listen, because I do not say one thing and do
another.
So now you are dong my work and you shall be like me and
be
yourselves the worthy representatives of our disciplic
succession.
I am very much
stressing at this point that all of my
students shall be very much cnversant with the philosophy
of
Krishna Consciousness, and that they should read our
books very
diligently at least one or two hours daily and try to
understand
the subject matter from varietie of angles. We are
holding our
morning class here in Los Angeles in the temple and I am
speaking from 7 to 8 am, and the process is that we are
going
through some chapters of Srimad Bhagavatam by taking one
sloka each day, and reading the Sanskrit aloud, each word
is
pronounced by me and repeated by the students and then
altogether we chant the sloka several time until we have
learned
it. And then we discuss the subject matter very minutely
and
inspect it from all angles of approach and savor the new
understandings. So you introduce this system in all of
the
centers in your zone, and you will discover that everyone
becomes very much enlivened by these daily classes. Read
one
sloka and discuss and then go on to the next sloka on the
next
day, and so on, and even you discuss one verse each day
it will
take you 50 years to finish Srimad Bhagavatam in this
way.
So we have got ample stock for acquiring knowledge. And
if the
students get knowledge more and more, they will
automatically
become convinced and very easily perform their duties for
tapasya or renunciaton of the material bondage, and that
will be
their successful advancement in Krishna Consciousness. So
I want
that advancement amongst all of my students, so you are
responsible that the standard will be maintained.
[PAGE MISSING]
72-06-22
Los Angeles
16th June, 1972
My Dear Satsvarupa,
Please accept
my blessings. I received your letter dated
June 15, 1972, and have noted the contents carefully
regarding
your sannyasi travels. If you require more men and women
to teach
there at Gurukula, you can send from your jurisdiction as
GBC
man Central USA zone. You will not be too much involved
wtih
local temple management, but for management which wil
require
the larger interests, that will be your responsibility as
GBC.
So you find out some teachers from your zone and send
there. The
women are best for teaching small children, especially if
they
are themselves mothers, and when they become brahmacaris
at 5 or
6 years old then they may be instructed by the men. If
Stoka
Krsna is finding difficulty to manage things then you
find out
some men to help him from your zone. Let him do all of
the
organizing and be the authority in charge how everything
is
running, and let others follow his direction and free him
to
supervise.
You mention
you like to speak now very often, but the first
business should be to preach to the devotees. It is
better to
maintain a devotee than to try to convince others to
become
devotees. It is the duty of the GBC to maintain the
devotees, keep them in the highest standard of Krishna
Consciousness, and give them all good instruction, and
let them
go out and preach for making more devotees. Your first
job
should be to make sure that every one of the devotees in
your
zone of management is reading regularly our literatures
and
discussing the subject matter seriously from different
angles of
seeing, and that they are somehow or other absorbing the
knowledge of Krishna Consciousness philosophy. If they
are fully
educated in our philosophy and if they can get all of the
knowledge and study it from every viewpoint, then very
easily
they will peform tapasya or renunciation and that will be
their
advancement in Krishna Consciousness. So first thing is
to
instruct all of your temple presidents and the other
devotees to
read daily, just as we have done in our morning class in
Los
Angeles. You may remember that we were reading one sloka
each
morning in Sanskrit and reciting it altogether and then
discussing it thoroughly by seeing different new things.
So you
introduce this system and train the devotees first. Don't
be too
much concerned for the time being wth nondevotees, now we
must
fix-up what devotees we have got in the knowledge of
Krishna
Consciousness, then we will succeed. What good are many,
many
devotees if none of them are knowledgeable?
You mentioned
that you are not yet a very bold preacher,
but you will become bold, if you have got sincerity. In
the
beginning also I could not speak. But Krishna is within
you, and
when you are serving Him sincerely He will give you
courage,
boldness, everything. We are not going to bluff anyone or
cheat
others, and we are delivering the message on behalf of
the
Supreme Lord, so we haven't got anything to fear and we
should
be always mindful of our topmost position of occupation
of life.
To be the messenger of the king is practically as good as
to be
the king, so the king is the most exalted position. I act
like a
king because no one can defeat me, and similarly, you
should take
your responsibility very, very seriously as being the
representative of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Who is God
Himself,
and always remember that you are one of the few men I
have
appointed to carry on my work throughout the world and
your
mission before you is huge. Therefore, always pray to
Krishna to
give you strength for accomplishing this mission by doing
what I
am doing. My first business is to give the devotees the
proper
knowledge and engage them in devotional service, so that
is not
very difficult task for you, I have given you everything,
so
read and speak from the books and so many new lights will
come
out. We have got so many books, so if we go on preaching
from
them for the next 1,000 years, there is enough stock.
Just like
we have spent one day discussing one sloka, so you
introduce
this system in all of the temples, and very quickly the
devotees
will make spiritual progress by getting knowledge.
So far the
children are concerned they should know simply
four things: 1. Simply think of Krishna always, 2. become
Krishna's devotee, 3. offer Krishna worship, 4. offer
Krishna
obeisances. These four things should be taught and
everything
else will follow nicely and they will be learned persons.
Give
them nice food, let them play. Some can be cowherd boys,
some
can be cows, like that. Play and take food and be Krishna
Conscious. As soon as they begin playing they will be
inspired,
only one has to direct how to play, that's all. They
should
attend the regular aratiks and dance before the Deities,
just
like the children are doing in Los Angeles, and there
should not
be separate special aratiks for the children, although
they
may also learn how to do aratik in the class before one
picture. They must all go to bed by nine pm and arise at
four am
for mangala aratik, and in day-time a little rest.
As for the GBC
members, if we study one sloka daily in our
classes it will take you more than 50 years to finish
Srimad
Bhagavatam alone, so at least 50 years matter is already
there
minimum. So we can finish Bhagavatam once in our lifetime
and the next generation can begin again, like that. From
a
practical point of view, as I have not yet finished
Srimad
Bhagavatam and we have got now 100 branches, so by the
time I
am finished with Bhagavatam there must be at least 1000
branches. I have worked alone, now you are so many. Our
scope is
unlimited, resources unlimited, so we must be
exceptionally
enthusiastic and sober-minded and responsible for working
in
that spirit.
I hope this
will meet you in good health,
Your ever
well-wisher,
A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS/sda