a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1975 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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18 December 2008 Thursday, 18 December, 1975 Bombay My Dear Brsni dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt of your letter dated December 8, 1975. The Deities may be carved without hair or dhoties, and then later they can be dressed. I will be anxious to see the photographs of your work. I hope this letter meets you well. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/hda letters | 01:50 | 27 November 2008 Thursday, 27 November, 1975 New Delhi My Dear Brsni Das Prabhu, Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt of your letter dated September 9, 1975, I have noted the contents carefully. Regarding the Gaura Nitai deities, I think 100 dollars is too much to pay for one pair of deities. Better you carve them from wood. In India the carvers have always used a wood bitter in taste, this keeps the worms from eating it, best is nim wood if such wood (bitter in taste) is available there then why not make Gaura Nitai from wood. In New Vrindaban we have so much woodland, it is not that deities have to be made in Hawaii, why not in New Vrindaban and supply all our centers? let me know. I hope this finds you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/hda Labels: Deities, Gaura Nitai letters | 02:27 |10 November 2008 10 November, 1975 Bombay My dear Jayatirtha das and Manjuali dasi, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your card dated October 25, 1975 along with the beautiful photographs of Sri Sri Rukmini-Dvarakadhisa of New Dvaraka. So do it nicely. I have invited Krsna and He may not be insulted by disrespectful behavior. I have introduced this system of Deity worship amongst the non-believers, the atheists, the mlecchas, the yavanas and I pray to Krsna that I am inviting You to come. So please, because You are seated in their hearts, please give them the intelligence how to serve you so that You may not be inconvenienced. I have introduced this system to the mlecchas, the yavanas and the lowest and the fallen, but still it is successful. I think that you are doing nicely. As soon as one thinks that he is greater than his spiritual master that is the greatest offense. Krsna will give one everything, but to these offenders everything is lost. I thank you very much. You know how to dress and how to worship and I am very much pleased. It is a question of heart how to please Krsna. One simply has to agree to be trained up how to do it. You have done very nicely. I am very much pleased. And now you should teach others how to do it. This is very important business, Deity worship. The more the Deity is decorated, the more your heart will be decorated with Krsna consciousness. This is the way for the neophyte devotee how to absorb his mind in Krsna consciousness. Never think of the Deity as made of stone or wood. Every worshipper must remember that Krsna is personally present. He is simply kindly presenting Himself before us in a way so that we can handle Him. That is His mercy, otherwise He is unapproachable. atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih sevon mukhe hi jivadau svayam eva sphuraty adah [BRS. 1.2.234] "No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Sri Krsna through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him." [Padma Purana] I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/BS/mdd Labels: Deities, Los Angeles, mlecchas letters | 00:00 |21 August 2008 21 August, 1975 New Delhi Deaplane, Virginia My Dear Rupanuga das: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated August 3, 1975 and have noted the contents. Regarding the Washington temple why are you selling the present building? Why are you changing it? We are not businessmen that we sell for profit and then move the Deity. Develop the farm in New York nicely. Show by example what it means plain living and high thinking. Regarding the letter to the lawyer, I have heard from Brahmananda Swami that the lawyers did not like the letter and threatened to Ramesvara that if it was not retracted then they would bring suit. So if necessary then retract it. Do not write in a way to accuse them. Just terminate their service. So after retracting, then write a new one. Regarding your questions, no, the large Deity can never be moved, not at all. Regarding remarriage, no, remarriage should be always discouraged. Remarriage means encouraging sense gratification. Our mission is to curtail sense gratification. Three times marrying in a year, this is not good, and they are doing this. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: Deities, simple living, Washington letters | 06:00 |18 August 2008 Monday, 18 August, 1975 Bombay My Dear Shakti Mati devi dasi: Please accept my blessings. I have received report from Brahmananda Swami that you are still living outside the temple. This is not good, and I would request you to immediately return to the temple. And they must receive you nicely. They are your spiritual sons and daughters, so Mother and children must live together in the temple. Please especially see that the Deity worship is going nicely. You are an experienced lady, and you can teach especially the girls there to cook nicely for the Deity, to prepare flower garlands nicely for the Deity, to clean and dress the Deity nicely. You organize this to the first class standard, as I have seen they are doing in Los Angeles and in London. Then people will be automatically attracted. You know how to do these things, and they must take instruction from you. And, you can let me know how things are going on there. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs letters | 11:52 | 7 August 2008 7 August, 1975 Toronto My Dear Candradevi dasi: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter undated and have noted the contents. It is a very good idea that you have to be more attached to the Deities above marriage. But, it is not good to live at home because there is where meat is eaten. That will be offensive, so how can you worship the Deity under such circumstances. If your whole family become devotees, then that is another thing. Actually I think that you can move from the Lord Jagannatha Deities to the Gaura Nitai Deities if that is your desire. That will be best. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: Deities, New Orleans letters | 03:48 |23 June 2008 Monday, 23 June, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Laksmimoni devi: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 21, 1975 with enclosed photo. Generally it is not good for the women with babies to worship the Deity, because a baby means uncleanliness. You have to touch the baby and there is so many dirtiness, so how can you remain sanctified? But if you are doing it nicely, then it is okay. But, if you have to take care of the baby, then it is not good. Why is Nandarani not taking care of the Deity? I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs letters | 04:10 | 8 June 2008 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 |28 May 2008 Wednesday, 28 May, 1975 Honolulu My dear Anangamanjari devi, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 23rd, 1975 and have noted the contents. I have given the information in my books, how to please the Spiritual Master. Simply by following the rules and regulations very carefully, by chanting at least 16 rounds daily, by reading our books, and by always engaging one's self in the service of Krishna, a person will please the Spiritual Master and Krishna both. In your country, the Deity should not go without shirt. Gaura-Nitai may wear turbans. Nothing should be offered to Krishna unless it is prepared by the devotees themselves. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Deities, follow strictly, Washington letters | 03:53 |16 January 2008 16 January, 1975 Bombay My dear Uttamasloka das, Please accept my bless. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Dec. 31st, 1974 and have noted the contents. Yes. The way that you should make the altars is that there should be three separate rooms, doors, and altars. That will be very nice. Thank you for your wonderful sankirtana results. It is very pleasing to me that you have sold so many books. Now, continue and increase. I have accepted for 1st initiation the 6 persons you you have recommended. Their names are as follows: Earl--Harideva dasa, Geoff Meek--Govinda bhakta dasa, Lucien--Laksminatha dasa, Tim--Trilokanatha dasa, Tuija--Tribhuvanesvari dasi, Cathy--Ksiracora dasi. Their beads may be chanted on by Kirtanananda Svami. I have also accepted Purnamasi devi dasi and Rudrani devi dasi as my duly initiated (secondly) disciples. Their gayatri mantra sheet, are enclosed herein. Let them hear the gayatri mantra through the right ear from the tape of myself saying it. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Svami ACBS/ps Enc: 1 mantra sheet. Labels: Deities, initiation, Toronto letters | 17:22 |6 January 2008 6 January, 1975 Bombay My dear Mahamsa Svami, Please accept my blessings. I have received one letter from Sucharu deva dasa whom you have transferred to Madras. He like to stay in Hyderabad to be engaged in the service of the deity, so what was the difficulty to keep him there? He is interested in worshiping Radha-Modanmohan deity and very very anxious to stay at Hyderabad. If there is not great difficulty, I think he may be called back. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Svami ACBS/ps letters | 09:31 | 1 January 2008 1 January, 1975 Bombay My dear Visalaini devi, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Dec. 12, 1974 and have noted the contents. You can work on the hair sets while the Deities are taking rest. Regarding your other questions, they can be answered by your temple president or GBC man. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps letters | 18:07 | |
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