a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1975 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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26 July 2008 Saturday, 26 July, 1975 Los Angeles Dear Vrnda devi dasi, Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt of your letter, undated. Regarding the booklet, "A Guide to the Care of Srimate Tulasi devi," yes, the book is very nice. It is approved. But one thing is that no sprays can be used, not at all. Tulasi is a worshipable plant so there is no question of using any sprays. The best thing is to simply daily water tulasi devi and keep her clean. Nothing else is required. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: tulasi devi, Winnipeg letters | 14:50 |26 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Sarvavit dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 15th, and I am very glad to read the contents. I am glad to learn that you are getting good training by Cyavana Maharaja and you should take your post of temple president as a very serious matter. It is your responsibility to always exhibit a Krsna conscious example. You should always be thinking how to spread Krsna consciousness to the African people. This is our mission - to save suffering humanity from the path of repeated birth and death. The way to become free is only by becoming pure devotee of Krsna. You should simply stick to our principles and everything will come out all right in our preaching work. You should publish profusely literature in Swahili and distribute. This is very important. This mission has been established simply on the publishing and distribution of my books. So get them translated and published as soon as possible. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: book distribution, Kenya, publishing letters | 14:48 |26 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Aksayananda Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letters dated June 22, and July 3. So I am glad to know that you have had successful program in Kampoor. Yes, I think I remember Radha Krsna in Sadaf Agharwal from Kampoor. What was the name of his shop, is it a bottle shop? Yes, this traveling preaching program is a good idea. It is very nice, and you are a good preacher, so I am sure that you will do it nicely. It is a good idea also to train up other good preachers there in India. This is our need there. Regarding the Madjar center, sending funds for the deity maintenance in Vrndaban, you are already collecting money, so it is not required that Madjar send money to Vrndaban. Rather the money in Madjar should be used for printing. Not that we should use all collected money for maintenance. Better to print books and distribute. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs letters | 14:48 | 26 July, 1975 Laguna Beach Sriman D.N. Mishra 179, Balarama Dey Street Calcutta My Dear Dinanatha: Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 27, 1975 and have noted the contents. Regarding seeing your book on Lord Ramacandra partly translated into English, I am very much eager to see it. I am returning to India by the month of October, therefore there is no hurry. When I return I shall be glad to see your book either in Bombay, Vrindaban, or Calcutta. I have to translate all the Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and many other theistic literatures left by the Gaudiya Vaisnavas headed by the six Goswamis like Rupa, Sanatana, Jiva, etc. I have already translated about 50 big books of 400 pages each, and my books are selling all over the world in universities, libraries, learned professors, and the public also is receiving my books with great respect. Of course they are not my books, since I have simply translated; but my purports for each and every verse from the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam do very much appeal to the people in general as well as learned circles. They are very much appreciating and we are selling to the extent of 30-40 hundred thousands of Rupees per month. Out of this we spend 50% for the maintenance of our different temples all over the world and 50% we spend for reprinting my books. I do not take any royalty or any profit out of it. Similarly if you agree not to take any profit or royalty then our Bhaktivedanta Book Trust will publish your book on Lord Ramacandra. I have a great desire to translate the Valmiki Ramayana because that is authorized. Tulsi das' Charit manas is already translated into English by some clergyman, but I do not exactly know his name. Therefore I wish to translate Valmiki Ramayana exactly in the way I have done Srimad-Bhagavatam. I am sending herewith a copy of our monthly paper, Back to Godhead, in which you will find the mode of translating of Srimad-Bhagavatam. It begins after page 14. It will give you an idea in which way we want to translate. Or you are welcome to come to our temple along with your son at 3, Albert Road, Calcutta. There you can see in my books the mode of translation by giving the purport of the verse in English. I therefore suggested in my last letter that now you are in ripe old age, so you can accept vanaprastha life which is your duty as you are born in a brahmana family. According to our Vedic principle a brahmana is supposed to accept the four asramas, namely brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. Others are not do not accept sannyasa, but a person who is a brahmana must accept sannyasa at the end of his life. So I would suggest that you now retire from family life and accept at least vanaprastha order of life keeping your wife with you as assistant and fully engaged in translating the Vedic literature as far as possible. It appears that in the Western countries there is a great demand for real knowledge of Vedic literature. So you are a learned scholar both in English and Hindi, and you can do this completely devoted to the service of Lord Ramacandra. I have opened many temples all over the world, numbering 100. Enclosed herewith are some of the photos of some of the Deities in some of the temples. Very recently we have established our temple in Vrindaban at a cost of 50 lakhs of Rupees or more. The Governor of U.P., Dr. Channa Reddy was present for two days for the opening ceremony. All the goswamis and sannyasis like Akhananda Swami all attended the ceremony. We have got a guest house there containing about 80 rooms, and the recent report is that not less than 500 men are coming daily to visit the temple. Prasad is being distributed to the poor, and others are purchasing prasada (pakki) to the extent of Rs. 100/- per day. We are selling our books also. Now I wish to establish some temple of Ramacandra, Sita Ram. Of course it depends on the mercy of Lord Ramacandra. Therefore I am still requesting you to join our movement completely retired from family life and engage yourself in translation work for the rest of your life. More when we meet. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami N.B. What is the criminal charge against a public man who decorates himself as D. Lit., D.D. etc? ACBS/bs Labels: Ramacandra, Ramayan, vanaprastha letters | 09:49 |26 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Niranjana dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 14, 1975. Regarding the temple that Ramananda is expecting to construct, who will pay for it? Has he mentioned this to you? Anyway, I will be speaking with him when I next go to India. I thank you for your report of the Rathayatra. Please ask Hamsaduta to send me a complete report of the Rathayatra festival in London. Yes, go ahead with your translation work. This is very important and work together with Yasomatinandana. We want very much to publish Hindi publications and distribute throughout India. This will be our next program, so please do it. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: Glasgow, translating letters | 06:47 |25 July 2008 Friday, 25 July, 1975 Los Angeles Dear Urvasi dasi, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 18, 1975 and have noted the contents. I am glad to learn that you are taking up Krsna Consciousness under the guidance of Shaktimati prabhu. You should follow her example. She is an experienced devotee. You assist her and help spread Krsna consciousness especially amongst the Asian community there. I have given permission for Shaktimati and Navayogendra to combine together for establishing a temple there in Mombassa especially for the Asian community so you also assist in this endeavor. Be sure to follow the regulative principles of chanting 16 rounds without fail each day. Also, we do not take any coffee, tea, or cigarettes, meat, fish, or eggs, illicit sex, or any gambling. Be sure and read my books very carefully, Bhagavad-gita, then Srimad-Bhagavatam, and then Caitanya Caritamrta. You should read every day without fail and become fixed in our philosophy. If you are going to England, we have our temples there so there should be no difficulty for you to remain in Krsna consciousness. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:bs Labels: Kenya letters | 09:46 |25 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Madhavananda dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 25, 1975 and I am glad to know that everything is going on well in the Paris temple. Upon your recommendation I am accepting the following as my initiated disciples: Olivier Anconne--Bhusana dasa Frank--Visodhana dasa Frances Marlier--Anisa devi dasi Also upon your recommendation, I am accepting the following as twice-born initiated brahmanas: Indriyadamana dasa Brahmacari Mahabala dasa Brahmacari Brajisma dasa Brahmacari Vrsaktri dasa Brahmacari Avyaya dasa Adhikari Jyestha devi dasi Navalanga devi dasi Their sanctified threads and mantra sheets are enclosed. Please hold the fire sacrifice and impress upon them that they are taking vows before Radha Krsna, the Spiritual Master, and the assembled Vaisnavas. Please see that they are chanting 16 rounds and following the four regulative principles. This is your responsibiity. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:od Labels: initiation, Paris letters | 09:44 |25 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Batu Gopala dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 16, 1975, and have noted the contents. Upon your recommendation, I am hereby accepting the following as my initiated disciple: Shombe Lumkin - Sri Lanka dasa. I also accept upon your recommendation the second brahminical initiation for Murari Caitanya dasa. His sanctified thread and mantra sheet are enclosed. Please have a fire sacrifice and impress upon them that they are accepting vows before Radha Krsna, the Spiritual Master, and the assembled Vaisnavas. The mantra should be heard through the right ear from my recorded tape. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:bs Labels: Cleveland, initiation letters | 09:42 |25 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Satchitananda das: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter from Vrindaban and am very engladdened to hear of your report how things are going on. You have given me great pleasure and I thank you for your attempt to please me. Regarding your going to Malaysia, at the present moment we are not going to open a temple there. We first want to see that the Vrindaban temple is going on very solidly. So go on with working there in Vrindaban for the time being, and when I return to Vrindaban in October I shall speak to you personally. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: Vrindavan letters | 03:45 |25 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Saurabha das: Please accept my blessings. I have received one letter from Swami Bon Maharaja regarding his meeting with you to show you the land he is willing to spare for our Gurukula project. Which land did he show you? What is the area of the land? Is it suitable for Gurukula? I want the land just in front of our temple. The entrance to the Gurukula will be on the road, and we shall partition this land from the rest of the land with a wall. I shall talk further in detail with Bon Maharaja personally when I return there to Vrindaban. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs cc: Bombay Labels: Bon Maharaja, Vrindavan letters | 03:45 |24 July 2008 Thursday, 24 July, 1975 Los Angeles His Holiness Swami B.H. Bon Maharaja, D.Lit., I.Ph.D., D.D., D.D., D.Theos., D. AEH. Institute of Oriental Philosophy Vrindaban, Dist. Mathura U.P., INDIA My Dear Sripada Bon Maharaja: Please accept my dandabats at your lotus feet. I thank you very much for your kind letter dated July 15, 1975 and have noted the contents carefully. Your letter was addressed to our San Francisco temple, and it is forwarded to me here in Los Angeles. The day after tomorrow I am going to San Diego via Laguna Beach. Then I shall go to Dallas, New Orleans, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, New York, and then New Vrindaban, West Virginia. From there I shall go to Europe to London and Paris, and then I shall return to Bombay perhaps via Africa by the month of October. Regarding your proposal for a guest house, we have already got it, a guest house of 75 rooms well equipped. The Governor Dr. Channa Reddy was very pleased with it, but we can extend the guest house program more if we get suitable land. So I can immediately accept your proposal for Gurukula and guest house provided you give us the vacant land in front of our temple. This land is lying vacant without any use. So if you spare this land just behind your college building, we can immediately begin the construction work. The best thing will be that if you charge some nominal price for the land or as you like it. Then we can use the land independently according to our plan. Immediately we do not require any guest house, but in expectation of a future influx of guests we can construct another house along with the Gurukula building. So either in the newly constructed guest house or the guest house already constructed our scheme is to receive paying guests. So for the Gurukula it will be very suitable if you spare the front land or back side of your college building. That will be very kind of you. Our Philadelphia Ratha Yatra was very attractive and successful; similarly the San Francisco Rathayatra was also. Some of the Indian saints Shushil Muni Maharaja and Yogi Bhajan and many others attended the ceremony. They also appreciated our activities. I have not received any report from Saurabha das about his meeting with you in Vrindaban. Nowadays the construction of a guest house is a very costly affair. We have spent about Rs. 50 lakhs for our temple and guest house in Vrindaban and with great difficulty. Regarding the library building, I am only interested in Caitanya philosophy. As it is stated in the Caitanya Caritamrta, sri krsna caitanya daya karaha vicara/ vicara karile citte pabe camatkare. "If you are indeed interested in logic and argument, kindly apply it to the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If you do so, you will find it to be strikingly wonderful." (Adi lila 8:15.) But, in the library other books may be kept for comparative study by the scholars. I have no objection, but our main purpose will be to accelerate the grandeur of Caitanya philosophy. On this basis I have full cooperation. Besides that I have got about a half a dozen students who are Ph.Ds in different subjects, but they are all expert in Caitanya philosophy. If you so desire, their service can be utilized in this connection. If we fully cooperate on this Institution plan, I can attract students from all over the world such as America, Europe, Canada, Australia and the Middle East. In all these places we have got our centers and there are many students. So when I arrive in Vrindaban we shall discuss these things in detail, and if possible we can take up the library program at that time. In the meantime if you decide to give us the land in front of our temple we can immediately begin the construction. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: Bon Maharaja, guest house, gurukula, Vrindavan letters | 03:42 |23 July 2008 Wednesday, 23 June, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Abhinanda and Gopesvara das: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 15, 1975 from Bhubaneswar and was very glad to read the contents how you are selling books there. You have done a great service, and I am very pleased with you. So far for selling books in India, we do not require a license. We are already selling our books there. From where have you gotten this idea? Perhaps they clear the books from the customs on this plea. Anyway, why not obtain an import license and do the needful. Regarding a book agent, we have got our agent, India Book House in Calcutta. Find out if they are importing. Also Gopala Krishna is arranging with our printer in Delhi who can also import books. Regarding reducing the sale price of the Srimad-Bhagavatams, Gopala Krishna is arranging for a new printing of Volume One Number 1 in Delhi. For what the book is costing to print, it should be sold for @ Rs. 50/-, but for a poor man we can reduce the price by 25% so it could be sold for Rs. 38/. You appear to be a very intelligent boy. We have got a land in Bhubaneswar. Can you develop it? Your proposal for travelling and distributing books all over India is very good. Krishna will bless you with His mercy. Take books and sell and spend for your expenses. I hope this meets you both in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: book distribution, Hyderabad letters | 03:40 |23 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Cyavana Swami: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 2, 1975 and have noted the contents. I am glad to see that you are working enthusiastically there in Africa to spread Lord Caitanya's movement. This I want. It is especially important that you train up the Africans there. Do this carefully. Now I have received one letter from Bhakti Mati and she has some complaint. She also says there was some physical attack against Navayogendra. This is not good. So I think they can open a separate temple in Mombassa for the Asian community. The Africans and the Asians will not like to mix. So there is no harm in opening separate temples. Both will preach Krishna consciousness and the kirtanas will go on. So do like that. Regarding your questions, you have to decide amongst yourselves if Jagad-guru is to come, but if you require his assistance since Brahmananda Swami is not there, that is different thing. Yes, there can be a separate bank account for Spiritual Sky. The idea of the travelling ship seems a bit utopian, but at the next GBC Mayapur meeting it can be thoroughly discussed. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs letters | 03:39 | 23 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Giriraja das: Please accept my blessings. Enclosed find a copy of my letter to Bank of America, Bombay. Please take this copy to the Manager and see whether they have made the Fixed Deposit in the name of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Also send me a report of the Bombay affairs. You should send reports regularly. Copies of your letters may be sent to Los Angeles and New York during the next thirty days as I will be touring. I also request you to send me an account statement of Bank of America A/c No. 16026 International Society for Krishna Consciousness. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs letters | 03:36 | 23 July, 1975 Los Angeles Bank of America Express Towers, Nariman Point Bombay, INDIA Att: The Manager Dear Sir: Enclosed please find a copy of the cable transfer advice No. 177654 from Bank of America Branch No. 553, San Francisco to your bank in favor of INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS A/c. No. 16026 for the amount of Dollars 24,846.39 (twenty four thousand eight hundred forty six and thirty nine cents). Please place the entire amount on a Fixed Deposit for six months in the name of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. The Fixed Deposit receipt may be kept with you, and when I return to Bombay I shall collect it from you. Faithfully yours, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: bank letters | 03:34 |23 July, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Dhananjaya das: Please accept my blessings. Enclosed please find a copy of my letter dated July 23, 1975 to Syndicate Bank, Vrindaban. Please take the copy and go there and take information whether they have received the amount and done it according to my instructions, and reply to me. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs letters | 03:30 | 20 July 2008 Sunday, 20 July, 1975 Berkeley My Dear Bunke Behari das: Please accept my blessings. I wish to thank you very much for ivory carving gift which you have kindly presented to me. You have made it very nicely. I can see that it required skill to make it so artistically. You have made Radha and Krishna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu very attractively. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: gift letters | 09:41 |20 July, 1975 Berkeley My Dear Radhavallabha das: Please accept my blessings. In the next issue of Back to Godhead you should put one note of thanks to Mr. Alexander Kulik of Laguna Beach California. This boy has kindly paid BBT $25,000.00 for publication of books. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: donation, Los Angeles letters | 09:40 | |
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