a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1975 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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14 June 2008 Saturday, 14 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Dinanatha, Please accept my greetings. I thank you very much for your letter dated 30-5-75. I am very sorry to say that I did not receive your letter addressed to me at Mayapur. I am still in Hawaii and I shall leave this place by the 20th of June for Los Angeles. Our temple there is situated at the following address: 3764 Watseka Ave., Los Angeles, California, USA 90034. I am not returning to India by Rathayatra festival because there are programs here in America and Europe - Rathayatra festival in five different places like, London, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, and Melbourne. So, I am introducing this Rathayatra festival in the Western countries and the idea is received everywhere very very enthusiastically. I am enclosing herewith one Back to Godhead magazine specifically dedicated to describing the Rathayatra activities. After leaving India, I went to Australia and there we have constructed a very nice temple of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Radha-Krishna, and Lord Jagannatha at Melbourne. This movement is being highly appreciated by the higher educated circle. One professor in Berkeley, California University has written one big book in favor of this movement - Hare Krishna and the Counterculture. I am glad that you are now writing books about Lord Ramacandra. It is a very good idea. I think you are a devotee of Lord Ramacandra, and because you are my very old and dear friend, I will suggest now in your old age (when your sons are grown-up and well-situated), why not join this movement and retire from family life? According to our Vedic principle, a person, especially a Brahmana, should leave home after the 50th year and accept the order of Vanaprastha. Then after a few years of Vanaprastha, one should accept the Sannyasa order for the rest of his life and devote himself fully in the service of the Lord. There is a great need of the Krishna Consciousness movement all over the world. If educated persons like you take active interest in this movement, and preach the cult for the benefit of the mass of people, that is the success of life. You will find on the 2nd page of the enclosed magazine, a list of our important centers all over the world. In big cities like London, Chicago, New York, Paris, Rome, Geneva, Tokyo, Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and in India, Vrndavana, Navadvipa, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad, etc. I wish that you may retire from family life and live in one of our so many centers wherever you like, and preach the cult of Krishna Consciousness. That will make your life successful. Because you are my very intimate friend, from college life, I take this opportunity to give you a suggestion, and I shall be glad to hear from you. I hope this meets you in good health. Yours very sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ASCBS/ps Labels: Calcutta, sannyasa, vanaprastha letters | 16:55 |14 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Damodara Pandita dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your note dated June 12, 1975 and have received the check for 500 dollars. You can thank Kirtanananda Swami for me since he has given the donation. I will be seeing you all there in New Vrndavana after I visit the Rathayatra festivals and some other temples here in America. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: donation, New Vrindavan letters | 16:55 |13 June 2008 Firday, 13 June, 1975 Honolulu Dai Nippon Tokyo, Japan My dear Mr. Ogata, Please accept my greetings. By experience, we gather that Japanese ladies and gentlemen are very much interested with our Krishna Consciousness movement, especially with our literature, and more specifically with Srimad-bhagavatam. Here in Hawaii, many Japanese gentlemen, they purchase Srimad-bhagavatam simply by hearing the name, but they have got the language difficulty - they don't know English. So, if our books were translated into Japanese language, it will be a great help to us and to you also because it will be another opportunity for printing books. So, why not give us a good translator who can regularly translate all our books into Japanese? This will be another enterprise for printing in your press. So, if you can arrange for this with a Japanese scholar, or if you take this responsibility, then it will give me great pleasure. I hope this meets you in good health. Yours very sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Srimad Bhagavatam, translating letters | 03:54 |12 June 2008 Thursday, 12 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Batu Gopala dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 9, 1975 and have noted the contents. Thank you very much for selling so many books there. This is very much wanted. Try to sell again more and more each day. Regarding naming your Cleveland center, New Govardhana Hill is a very nice name. But as far as worshiping a Govardhana Sila from Govardhana hill, that we shall see later on. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Cleveland letters | 03:53 |12 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Jagannatha-suta dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 10, 1975 and have noted the contents. I have received the new BTG magazine. It is very nice issue. Having the Indian Rathayatra on the cover and the American one on the inside makes a good contrast. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: BTG, Los Angeles letters | 03:53 |11 June 2008 Wednesday, 11 June, 1975 Honolulu Professor Stillson Judah Graduate Theological Union Library 2451 Ridge Rd., Berkeley, California My dear Professor Judah, Please accept my greetings. Your kind letter dated June 6, 1975 in hand, I thank you very much for this. The chapter five of Caitanya-caritamrta is already dispatched yesterday by post. It is my great delight that you have realized how Krishna Consciousness has transformed lives from drug addicted hippies to loving servants of Krishna and humanity. Loving service of Krishna is so exalted, that it automatically turns loving service to humanity. Krishna is just like the root of the tree and if you pour water on the root, it automatically reaches other parts of the tree. It is said in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna manorathenasati dhavato bahih [SB 5.18.12] If a person has unflinching devotion at the lotus feet of Hari (God), then all the good qualities of great personalities like the demigods, automatically becomes manifest in the person of a devotee. Whereas a non-devotee, even he is decorated with material qualities, he is forced to act on the material plane and he stays in temporary field of activities. The idea is that spirit-soul is eternal and the material body is temporary, or for the sake of sense gratification. The mental plane is also material. People being forced to stay on the material platform, they are planning for temporary happiness, and being frustrated, they are jumping from one platform to another which are all temporary. But, fortunately, if one becomes situated on the platform of Krishna Consciousness, then his jumping over material platforms becomes ceased. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita as follows: yam labdhva caparam labham, manyate nadhikam tatah - upon gaining this, he thinks that there is no greater gain. So, at the present moment, there is great necessity to give to the human society Krishna, or God. Everyone speaks of God, but nobody has clear idea what is God, or where is God. We Hare Krishna people are trying to do our best to say, "here is God, Krishna." So, please try to co-operate with this movement and I am sure the world will be happy. I am coming to Los Angeles on the 20th of June, and more when we meet. Yours very sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Srimad Bhagavatam, Stillson Judah letters | 03:50 |10 June 2008 Tuesday, 10 June, 1975 Honolulu Sudhindra Kisora Roy Govt. of India Overseas Communications Service International Telegraph Office Poddar Court, Calcutta INDIA My dear Sudhindra Kisora Roy, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 21-4-75 and have noted the contents. Please continue to visit our temple in Calcutta as often as possible. I cannot very well understand what your letter says due to typing errors and spelling and grammar. But even if there may be some problems, always try to remain in Krishna Consciousness. Do not give up chanting the Hare Krishna mantra simply due to some external difficulties. Under all circumstance you should always chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. This will protect you from all danger of being influenced by Maya or the material energy. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: chanting letters | 19:49 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu Concord Housing Society Juhu Scheme, Bombay My dear Radha Krishna Dhawan, Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated April 29, 1975 and have noted the contents. Yes, we are trying to set a perfect example according to the Bhagavad-gita as it is, how to execute simple living and high thinking. We are not interested in any material comforts of life which are limited and temporary. We are interested in solving the real problems of life, birth, death, old-age, and disease. These problems must be solved, and Krishna gives the formula in the Bhagavad-gita. So, we are preaching that simple formula given by Krishna, and people are trying it and finding real happiness in life, therefore the Hare Krishna movement is an undeniable success. Everyone is accepting. I am very glad that you are also accepting. Please visit our temple there in Juhu as much as possible, and try to read our books. We have many books, about 50 400 pages long each, as well as many smaller ones. Study this movement carefully and you will find it very rewarding. I hope this meets you and your good wife in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Bhagavad-gita, Bombay letters | 19:47 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu Sri Caitanya Gaudiya Math, Puri My dear Ananga Mahan dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 31-5-75 and have noted the contents. I am returning to Vrndavana by October. At that time, you please see me, and we shall talk about your program. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Gaudiya Matha letters | 19:46 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Mr. Van den Tak, Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 1-6-75 and have noted the contents. Your endeavor to prove scientifically the existence of re-incarnation is not very practical. It is like bringing a cannon to kill a mosquito. It is not required to bring a cannon to kill a mosquito, similarly any sane man can understand the principle of re-incarnation. There is no need of giving some long so-called scientific explanation. Explanation is already given in the Bhagavad-gita, as it is. Krishna, the Supreme Authority has already explained, and you should accept and understand His explanation and then try to make others understand. You should visit our temple in Sydney. The address is: Corner Wrights Rd. and Drummoyne Ave., Drummoyne N.S.W. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Bhagavad-gita, scientists, Sydney letters | 03:47 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Jennifer, Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 6, 1975 and have noted the contents. First of all, you decide whether you are female or male, then be one or the other. Then, you may enter our temple any time you like. But sometimes man and sometimes woman, that is not proper. Such awkward thing cannot be allowed. It will be disturbing to others. Anyway, continue to chant Hare Krishna as much as possible. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: homosex, San Francisco letters | 03:47 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Brsni dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 6, 1975 and have noted the contents. I shall be very glad if you come and visit me in Honolulu at our temple at 51 Coelho Way. When you come to see me, we can talk over all these things. I shall be leaving Honolulu for L.A. on June 20th, 1975. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Hawaii letters | 03:47 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Brhat-samu dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 6-7-75 and have noted the contents. Thank you for the pecans. I shall be coming to L.A. on the 20th of June for one week and then I shall go to Denver for one week. You can see me in L.A., if you like. Please continue to follow all of the rules and regulations carefully, and chant or read always. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: itinerary, San Francisco letters | 03:44 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Tejyas dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 29, 1975 and have noted the contents. Yes, I have seen the spot for the factory-mandir. Go ahead with the plans and send me a copy. It is very nice that Mr. Patnai will help us. Persist in that direction. He will be a great help if he can get some land for us. Also Mr. Agarwal can try. We want to have a park in front of Buddha-Jayanti park. We shall call it Krishna-Jayanti Park. We can have our temple there, along with gosala, etc. Try to arrange these things. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: New Delhi letters | 03:43 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Bhagavata dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 28, 1975 and have noted the contents. I am very glad to hear that things are going on very nicely there. Keep on working with this nice enthusiasm and carefully observing all the rules and regulations, chanting, reading - in this way, you will always be a success. Regarding Nandulala, Gurukrpa Maharaja wanted her to go to Japan and collect for some time there and then afterwards, if she likes, she may come again to Calcutta. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Calcutta letters | 02:06 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Caityaguru dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 6, 1975 and have noted the contents. The idea of the Bhetnama system is that the man pays the cost of the room and we make a plate with his name on it saying, "the cost was payed by such and such person." Whenever he may come, he can use the room. And when he is gone we will use the room for other guests, but if he may come the room will immediately be made available. After his death, his heirs cannot make any claim on the room. While staying with us, they must follow the principles and there should be a certain limit to how long they can stay. For the details, I think Giriraja can find out how it is done at Tirupati and other temples in India and let you know. I will ask him to do so and inform you. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Will you kindly let me know what Guru Nanakji has said about Lord Krishna and Lord Rama in his Granth Sahib? How we can cooperate with the sikh community? ACBS/ps Labels: bhetnama, guest house, Nairobi, sikh letters | 02:04 |10 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Jagadisa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 5, 1975 and have noted the contents. Yes, when you go to the court in Mexico, show them a copy of Professor Stillson Judah's book, Hare Krishna and the Counterculture, and a copy of the letter from him to me which I have enclosed. Our movement is a genuine movement and we are being accepted as such by the higher educational circles all over the world. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Dallas, Stillson Judah letters | 02:02 |9 June 2008 Monday, 9 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Kurusrestha dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 5, 1975 and have noted the contents. I am very very pleased with your report about how things are going there. This is very encouraging news. Yes, I will come there. I am leaving Honolulu for L.A. on the 20th of June, and on the 27th of June, I shall come to Denver for 6 or 7 days stay on my way to Chicago temple. Make sure all of the devotees there are working very sincerely, following all of the rules and regulations, chanting 16 rounds, and reading every day, and everything will be successful. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Denver, follow strictly letters | 05:47 |9 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Satsvarupa Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letters dated May 9, June 5, June 6, 1975 and have noted the contents. So, work very nicely to encourage Abhirama and the others to very enthusiastically carry on our program there in Miami, even though there may be so many difficulties. I will be coming to Denver temple on the 27th, of June approximately, from L.A. on my way to Chicago. I can stay in Denver 6 or 7 days. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Denver, Los Angeles, Miami letters | 05:46 |9 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Kirtanananda Swami, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 6, 1975 and have noted the contents. Your report is very nice. It is wonderful to hear that you are distributing 1000 magazines and collecting $1,000 daily. Now, you have plenty of money, milk, fruits, flowers, grains, everything, and you are living in the jungle. What more could you want? I may be coming there immediately after the Philadelphia Rathayatra, and I shall stay until after Janmastami. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: New Vrindavan letters | 05:46 |8 June 2008 Sunday, 8 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Dr. Wolf-Rottkay, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 1, 1975 along with your elaboration of the word LIFE. It is very interesting. Regarding your question at the end, yes, the soul is eternal and it is transmigrating from one body to another. Therefore the body is undergoing evolution, not the soul. Just like if I come to the USA from India, I have to change my residence. I personally do not have to change, but my residence changes. So, the soul travels from one body to another and always remains the same. I shall be looking forward to your elaboration of the word MATTER. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: scientists letters | 03:45 |8 June, 1975 Honolulu Boulder Creek My dear Doc and Shari, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 29th, 1975 and have noted the contents. I am very pleased to know that you have accepted the Krishna Consciousness way of life. Please continue with determination to keep chanting 16 rounds daily and follow all of the regulative principles very strictly. Upon the recommendation of Revatinandana Swami, I have accepted you both as my initiated disciples and I have sent your names to Revatinandana Swami who can give them to you at the proper time at the initiation ceremony. Please continue your Krishna Conscious program with great faith and steadiness. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: initiation letters | 03:44 |8 June, 1975 Honolulu Grant Hotel Oakland, Calif. My dear Mooljibhai Patel, Please accept my greetings. Since a long time, I did not hear from you. Hope you are all doing well with your business and family affairs. Recently, we have purchased one building at Berkeley and the Deities, I have understood are being removed by the 1st of July. I understood also that the Gujarati Vaisnavas there are not happy on account of the temple being moved to Berkeley. The San Francisco temple, not being situated in a nice quarter, they are trying to remove to somewhere else. Now they have got a Berkeley temple. It is not my policy to close any temple, but if there is inconvenience, we change the place. If we can get another nice house in San Francisco in good quarters, we can immediately re-open another temple in San Francisco. Sriman Citsukhananda dasa adhikari is also enthusiastic in this connection. Therefore, if your good self along with other Hindu Vaisnavas help us in this connection, it will be my pleasure to get another temple in San Francisco as soon as possible. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Labels: Deities, San Francisco letters | 03:44 |8 June, 1975 Honolulu N.V. Bhakta Zambia, Africa My dear Mr. Bhakta, Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 21-5-75 and have noted the contents. I can go to Zambia at any time by my secretary's arrangement. So, Brahmananda Swami, my chief secretary, is coming to meet me in Los Angeles on the 20th of June, and then he can give you reply as to when I shall be coming to Zambia. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps letters | 03:43 | 8 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Sri Govinda dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your invitation dated June 5, 1975 and have studied it carefully. One year ago, I already accepted the invitation of Philadelphia temple for their Rathayatra and they are holding it on the same date as you. So, I may not be able to come there for the festival, but I can come there for a few days stay on my way from Los Angeles to Philadelphia, probably about the 8th or 9th of July. I shall have to leave Chicago on the 11th of July in order to attend the Philadelphia Rathayatra. If this is alright with you, then we can do it like that. If you like, you can set up those appointments and meetings during that time. That will be nice. I will be seeing you all at that time. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Chicago, itinerary, Ratha Yatra letters | 03:42 |8 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Revatinandana Swami, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 29, 1975 and have noted the contents. Yes preach as much as possible. Preaching is our life. Travel, here and there, holding kirtana, distributing prasadam and books and speak our philosophy very nicely. I have accepted Doc and Shari for 1st initiation and their names are as follows: Dharmadhyaksa dasa and Sri Radha devi dasi. Make sure that they continue to follow the principles, chant 16 rounds and read studiously and their spiritual advancement will be guaranteed. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: initiation, Laguna Beach, preaching letters | 03:41 |8 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Sudama, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 2, 1975 and have noted the contents. Last time, when I saw you in Hawaii, and I saw that you had become mad, I was very surprised how you had become like that. So, I prayed to Krishna to bring you back. Now, be very careful. Don't make any mistakes. Keep company with Bhavananda. He is very sincere. Also keep Gargamuni with you. Now, the scholarly section of society is accepting our philosophy. Perhaps you have seen Professor Judah's book. So, we have got so many things to do, strictly on Lord Caitanya's principle. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: become mad, Chicago, Stillson Judah letters | 03:41 |8 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Gargamuni, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 30, 1975 and have noted the contents. Go on preaching for now, so far money matters, that we shall see later. Preaching is our life. Follow strictly the principles, read, chant - then there is success. And if you don't do this, spiritual strength is reduced. It is just like a snake is very powerful, so long he has got poison. If it has no poison, nobody cares for it. Similarly, this chanting, reading, and following the principles is our spiritual strength. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Chicago, follow strictly, spiritual strength letters | 03:29 |8 June, 1975 Honolulu My dear Hamsaduta, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 30, 1975 and have noted the contents. I don't think that Hayagriva is at fault. He has not changed the meaning or the philosophy in any way. But if you like to use the original manuscript, then if it is possible, you can use it. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Bhaktivedanta Manor, editing letters | 03:28 | |
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