a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1971 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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Feb 24, 2006 Wednesday, February 24, 1971 Bombay My Dear Tulsi Das, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated nil and I thank you very much for it. I am so glad to hear how your Sankirtana programs are expanding, so continue in this way. So far as book distribution is concerned, this program should also be given much energy. Also for distributing our books we have initiated the life membership program. This program has been very successful here in India. If you can develop it nicely there in San Diego, it will be a great asset to your preaching work. So cooperate with Karandhara Prabhu and develop it nicely. Presently we are in Gorakhpur, one of the important cities in Northern India, and we are guests of the Gita Press authorities. Here we are negotiating for a plot of land on the University of Gorakhpur campus for establishing a center. If we are successful in our attempt, it will be unique in all the world and soon more and more college campuses will follow. We want to influence these misguided college students so that they might take to this Krishna Consciousness Movement very seriously. And if we can establish a seat of Krishna Consciousness these students may take their doctorate degree in Krishna Consciousness and go out and preach all over the world. From here I shall be going to Mayapur and then to Bombay, and should be returning to U.S.A. by the first week of April. Please offer my blessings to Sandy, Pat, Bill and Jeff Prabhus, and all the others there. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/adb letters | 21:18 | February 24, 1971 Bombay My Dear Meenakatan, Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your kind letter dated 1st February, 1971 and have noted the contents. I am so glad to hear that you are now at our Hamilton center and how much our movement is being appreciated there. So work enthusiastically along with Dharmaraj and the others to push on this movement and to make Hamilton temple a grand success. Krishna is there in your heart and the more you surrender to Him, the more He takes charge, and seeing your sincerity, He will give you all facility for increasing your service more and more. You write to say that you are too much absorbed in temporal thoughts of sex life. If that is the case, then perhaps you should get yourself married. In Krishna Consciousness we do not artificially repress any desires, but that everything can be used in Krishna's service is our philosophy. My Guru Maharaja made sannyasis to go out and preach this movement and I am making householder couples and they are doing so nicely to spread Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's message. So if you are so inclined and you can find a suitable girl, then you have my permission to get yourself married. Your name is Meenakatan. Meenakatan was a great devotee of Lord Nityananda. Please offer my blessings to the others there. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/adb letters | 21:17 | Februay 24, 1971 Bombay My Dear Gargamuni Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. In continuation of my letter dated 16.2.71, I beg to inform you that there is a good chance for going to East Pakistan. Sudama has written from Tokyo that he has contacted a nice muslim friend from Dacca. His address is as follows: Mr. M.A. Mannar Chowdhury Divisional Engineer Divisional Engineer's Bungalow R.T.T.S. Compound, Tejgaon Dacca-8, East Pakistan Phone: 246-767 If you at all seriously intend to go to East Pakistan, please contact this gentleman and open correspondence with him and if you think it is favorable you may go there with the blessings of Krsna. Hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. When you go and decide your departure after correspondence with the above gentleman, I will give you further instructions on this. ACB ACBS:ds letters | 21:16 | Feb 23, 2006 February 23, 1971 Gorakhpur My Dear Jayapataka Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 17th February, 1971 and have noted the contents. You have asked for some men so immediately another batch of two men, Revatinandana and Durlabh Das Adhikari are going today carrying this letter. Durlabh Das has got camera films and machine and so he will be very good for your work there, and Revatinandana is very well known Sankirtana leader. Next on the 28th February, 1971 all of us are going to Calcutta, reaching on the 1st March by the 82 Down Express reaching Howrah at about 4:30 P.M. My desire is that all of you should visit Mayapur at least for one or two days during Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's birthday. If the Hamilton House is available, then I shall also go and finish the business of paying them in full as they want. When I shall go, I shall go with full, money for paying them, but in case the transaction does not mature, then I shall not go to Calcutta but go to Bombay and you all my disciples may visit Mayapur and chant Kirtana as many times as possible and return to Calcutta. Most probably Hamsaduta and his party will go to Calcutta by the 10th March. So far as cooperating with my Godbrothers is concerned, that is not very urgent business. So far until now my Godbrothers have regularly not cooperated with me and by the grace of my Spiritual Master, things are still going ahead. So cooperation or non-cooperation, it is the desire of Bhaktivinode Thakura to preach the Caitanya cult all over the world and in 1875 he predicted that someone would come very soon who would individually preach this cult all over the world. So if his benediction is there and my Guru Maharaja's blessings are there, we can go ahead without any impediment but all of us must be very sincere and serious. We have been a little inflicted by public criticism that we Godbrothers do not work together. My Guru Maharaja wanted also us to work together but some how or other it hasn't happened up until now. So your program of cooperating with Madhava Maharaja is not so important. Best thing is that all we Godbrothers work together. Then the criticism will stop, otherwise even we join together, criticism will go on. So this has been going on for the last 24 years, but everyone of us is doing his best keeping Lord Caitanya in the center. We should be satisfied so much. Regarding Hamilton House, they will take up the decision on the 26th February, 1971 as I understand from your letter. So immediately you will send me the decision by express telegram because on this decision it will depend my going to Calcutta or to Bombay. So kindly take this as very urgent and do the needful. I am very glad you have nice commodious quarters and you have got it free of charge. Thank Krishna. I've sent my bank passbook to Balaji. Please get it up to date, so if I go to Calcutta, I shall see to it and if I go to Bombay you will send it registered post. In the meantime make the passbook up to date. If there is sufficient space for accommodation of 40 to 50 men, then all the devotees from Bombay will also go to Calcutta for visiting Mayapur, and if you have space then you can inform the Bombay devotees directly. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/adb letters | 21:05 | Feb 22, 2006 Monday, February 22, 1971 Gorakhpur My Dear Visnujana Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your encouraging letter dated 1st February, 1971 and have noted the contents carefully. The pamphlet enclosed by you is very nice and I am translating it into Hindi. You have very diligently collected all the purports in Srimad-Bhagavatam and have presented very nicely our missionary activities, especially in reference to religion, politics, and sociology. Actually we want to establish a transcendental human society in which everything will be perfectly done so that man will be happy in this life as well as the next. All pamphlets and leaflets are well selected and if you simply preach the message contained in that literature, that will be sufficient stock to deliver to the people in general. I am so glad that you are developing the center in Houston Texas and now have gone to Austin Texas to open yet another center. If you think so, I can send Deities for installing in the Houston temple. Any boy recommended by you will be initiated. I am also contemplating to return to the U.S.A. by the month of April. Your program there sounds very nice and Krishna is helping you by sending more devotees. The more you render service, Krishna will help you more and more. My only desire is that all my sannyasi disciples may increase this institution in a wide area. So write me and let me know how things are developing. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/adb letters | 08:19 | February 22, 1971 Gorakhpur My Dear Niranjana, Please accept my blessings. I am glad to receive your letter dated 15th Feb. 71. I am so glad that you are performing devotional service seriously by chanting 16 rounds daily. Do not be agitated with the criticism of your friends because Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that one should be humbler that a blade of grass and should be more tolerant than a tree for chanting Hare Krishna Mantra. So stick to the principle of chanting 16 rounds daily and reading our books regularly, and one day you will be a great preacher of this cult. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. By 10th of March I will be visiting Sri Mayapur dham. The birth site of Lord Caitanya in Navadvipa. If possible join us. We are getting a piece of land in Gorakhpur. ACBS/adb letters | 07:59 | February 22, 1971 Gorakhpur Dear Dr. Baltwant Singh, Please accept my greetings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your kind letter No. 2/2/3 dated 22nd January, 1971. I thank you very much for your kind invitation to our organization for visiting your place. Since a very long time I was thinking of going to your place but there was no opportunity to do so. Now as our movement is spreading all over the world and I am working at present in India, two of my disciples, husband and wife, have already gone to Trinidad. They are somewhere in Frederick Street in Trinidad. The couple's names are Vaikunthanatha Das Adhikari and Saradia Devi Dasi and they are now at present in the Port-of-Spain. I'm enclosing herein one picture of the couple. If possible you can open correspondence with them. If you find difficulty then you can refer this matter to Hayagriva Das Adhikari; c/o New Vrindaban; R.D. 3; Moundsville, W. Virginia; U.S.A. He will help you with their address. You can arrange to call this couple, Vaikunthanatha and Saradia, and after their arrival it may be possible if so requested, to send more men by suitable arrangement. I am interested to open many centers all over the world and if you help us in this matter for opening a center in Guyana, it will be a great service to the society. I remember Mr. Petamber Dindayal. He met our men in our London temple, but the negotiation was not mature for financial difficulty. You can reply this letter to the above mentioned Bombay address. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Yours sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 07:58 | February 22, 1971 Gorakhpur Chief Controller of Foreign Exchange Reserve Bank of India New Delhi Dear Sir: I beg to inform you that on account of the Krishna Consciousness Movement started by me in the Western countries I have got many thousands of disciples. These disciples want to pay me something as a matter of etiquette and I want to utilize this money for printing different kinds of books on this Krishna Consciousness Movement. So instead of taking money from them, I want to convert the money into books on this Krishna Consciousness Movement and get them into India without any payment. Kindly give me necessary permission for this noble activity. Thanking you in anticipation for an early reply. Yours sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:ds letters | 07:58 | Feb 21, 2006 February 21, 1971 Gorakhpur My Dear Citsukhananda, Please accept my blessings and offer the same to your good wife, Srimati Candravali Dasi, and your son. I was glad to receive your encouraging letter dated 6th January, 1971. It is very good news that your Temple has attracted so many sincere, intelligent and enthusiastic devotees. Please see them all trained nicely in devotional service and let them continue to follow the regulative principles and work on patiently. Patience is required for the successful discharges of Krsna conscious duties. Krsna is pleased to award benediction upon the aspiring devotee engaged in His service with patience determination and regularity. I am also pleased to know that the program for distribution of our literature and ``Back to Godhead'' is expanding. Just keep yourselves to the standard by regular and attentive chanting, study, preaching, working, Sankirtana, and distribution of literatures and Prasadam. Then everything will be alright. It is very good that Candravali is in charge of informing the public of our activities. This is very important work. It is our main consideration in the development of our centers that the people should be attracted to this Krsna consciousness Movement one way or another. So we inform them of Lord Caitanya's sublime message which easily enables any man to overcome the difficulties of materialistic existences and graduate to the pure transcendental platform where he finds shelter from the ravages of birth, death, disease and old-age. By Krsna's grace you are getting ample facility for spreading the transcendental message and as you work sincerely Krsna will certainly give all things needed for the continuous dissemination of the Hare Krsna Mahamantra. Hope this will meet you in good health, Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. I have duly initiated Terry as you have requested. His beads and a reply to his letter are sent to him separately. His spiritual name you may inform is Sriman Traidas Brahmacari. Trai means the Vedas. letters | 07:16 | Feb 19, 2006 February 19, 1971 Gorakhpur My Dear Rupanuga, Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you for your kind letters dated from London and Buffalo respectively. I am so pleased to learn of favorable reports of your touring and you'll be also pleased to know that preaching work in India is going on nicely. At present we are staying at Gorakhpur, one of the important cities in Northern India and we are for the present guests of Gita Press authorities. Temporarily we have installed very nice Deity and people come here to attend lecture and arati to the fullest extent. I'm negotiating with local university authorities to donate a piece of land within the university campus so that we may construct a nice temple there and preach this cult amongst the students. If this program is successful here, then we shall be able to introduce this system in all universities of the world and probably in different factories, institutes, etc. gradually. Although our philosophy is revolutionary, even in India also, it is being received favorably. In our Kumba Mela camp it was very successful. Our camp stood out first in the whole campus. Many government high officials, retired high court judges, big police officers came to see me and invited me also for lecture and all of them were very much encouraging. Our program of recruiting life members is also going on nicely. Actually we are and meeting our expenditures very heavily on this book distribution scheme of life membership. 50% is utilized for reprinting books and 50% is being utilized for increasing the number of centers. I think the same program may be vigorously introduced in your country and that will be a great success. I've received one letter from Gargamuni and replied it and have just now received one from Visnujana Swami, but have not heard from Brahmananda Swami for some time. Reports from Subala Maharaja are very encouraging. He has sent me some photos also. But our long outstanding program for opening a center in Paris is still in oblivion. I understand that Jaya Govinda is now very much interested in family life. Similarly Umapati has also left Europe and gone back to the U.S.A. The wife is maya but at the same time a great friend. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu remarked that the wife is the goddess of fortune somewhere and somewhere she is a witch. Anyway, you are very strong and an ideal grhastha and therefore instead of being influenced by your wife, you have influenced her to take to Krishna Consciousness. I expect every one of my students to come to your standard and remain steadfast in pushing on this movement of Krishna Consciousness. Mandali Bhadra has changed his wife because he was also being deviated by his former wife and I hope he will stand on this point steadily. I am very glad to learn that the situation in London is improving and I'm sure that as soon as Mukunda joins wholeheartedly, it will be all right. As soon as the new record album is imprinted, please send a copy to the above given Bombay address. I'm so glad to learn that a scientific bookkeeping system is being introduced in our different centers. If possible, some instruction may be sent here in Bombay for this scientific bookkeeping system. Here in India, although they are trying their best, still it is not satisfactory. Perfect accounts means every information regarding financial and stock situation must be ready for immediate reference and not a single farthing should be wasted. There are many candidates for being initiated who are waiting and I think when I return to U.S.A. by month of April, all their initiations can be performed. Yes, Tejios can be initiated for the second time by that tape record with earphoning method. It is very encouraging to note that a new branch is being opened in Wilmington, Delaware by Lalita Kumar and his wife. Encourage them and offer my full blessings for their endeavor. Please offer my blessings to the others there. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/adb letters | 00:26 | |
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