a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1975 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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11 December 2008 Thursday, 11 December, 1975 Vrindaban Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa My Dear Yashma Sarna, Please accept my blessings. Thank you for your letter. Thank you also for your kind donation of 800 Shillings. The process of Krishna consciousness is very simple. Everything belongs to Krishna, so our only duty is to give everything for Krishna's service, and chant Hare Krishna. So you chant regularly and make advancement. In February I am going to Calcutta and then Mayapur, so you can see me there. I hope this letter finds you well. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/hda Labels: Nairobi letters | 02:40 |23 November 2008 23 November, 1975 Bombay Addis Ababa, Ethiopia My dear Cyavana Swami, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 16/11/75 and am glad to read the contents. I am glad that you are traveling and preaching. This is the business of a sannyasi. Please follow my order in this regard. Africa is huge field, so you have plenty of opportunities for traveling and preaching. This will keep you enthusiastic. So do not neglect it. Of course if the young people there are interested, then you should stay there to instruct them. Then if you can collect and send money to Nairobi, that is very good. In this way their debts can be paid. I am also glad to see that you are taking seriously the Life Member program. So many Life Members they are complaining they are not receiving books or they are not being treated nicely. So if you can rectify this situation, that would be very good. So far your becoming GBC is concerned, yes, I had wanted that, but there are so many complaints. This is not good. GBC must mean that by his managing, there is not any complaints so that I can be relieved in order to do my translation work. Anyway, you go on with your preaching program and we shall discuss this matter in Mayapur meeting time. In the meantime I am sending Brahmananda Swami to rectify the situation in Nairobi and later on we shall see. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/BS/mdd Labels: GBC, Nairobi, sannyasa letters | 09:39 |14 November 2008 14 November, 1975 Bombay My Dear Pusta Krishna Swami: Please accept my blessings. I have today sent you one telegram reading as follows: IMMEDIATELY GO NAIROBI TO TAKE CHARGE INSTRUCTIONS MAILED NAIROBI--A. C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI. One telephone call has come from Dinnath that Sharma the president has left Africa because of fighting with Cyavana Swami. When I was in Nairobi I took away from Cyavana all managerial duties. There were so many complaints against him from our men and from outsiders. He could not manage nor could he collect. I had wanted that Sharma and Shakti Mati manage themselves without any interference. Now I want you to manage things there. The management was not being done properly when I was there. The accounts were not being kept properly, and they were spending everything. Please rectify the situation. Cyavana Swami should go to Europe for preaching and travelling. Caitya-guru das may be sent here to India for starting our Kuruksetra Project. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs cc: Nairobi Labels: Johannesburg, management, Nairobi letters | 11:22 |4 November 2008 Tuesday, 4 November, 1975 Bombay My Dear Suci devi dasi: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter as I was leaving the temple to come here to Bombay. You have rightly said that the best way to associate with the spiritual master is to follow his instructions. There are two ways of associating, by vani and by vapu. Vani means words and vapu means physical presence. Physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not. Therefore we should take advantage of the vani, not the physical presence, because the vani continues to exist eternally. Bhagavad-gita for example is the vani of Lord Krishna. Although Krishna was personally present 5,000 years ago and is no longer present physically from the materialistic viewpoint, still Bhagavad-gita continues. So you have correctly concluded. Nairobi temple is very nice, and there is great potency there. Now just cooperate with Shakti Mati and organize things nicely. This is wanted. Also you may thank Parvati for making the sandesh I took on the plane. She has made it very nicely. She learned the art. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: bona fide spiritual master, Nairobi letters | 02:33 |29 October 2008 Wednesday, 29 October, 1975 Nairobi Longo A. Ali Kilifi, Kenya Dear Mr. Ali: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated October 13, 1975 hand delivered to me by my disciple Jnana das Adhikari and I am pleased to note the contents. I am glad to note your determination to be freed from the material entanglement by chanting Hare Krishna mantra. This is the recommended process for this age of disagreement for achieving Krishna consciousness. It is authorized, very easy, and it does not cost anything. I understand that you have got japa beads, so this is very good that you are seriously taking to the process. So if you continue Krishna will bless you, and you will go back home back to Godhead. I also understand that you have Bhagavad gita As It Is, so try to read something regularly, but do not neglect the chanting, that is the important thing. I hope this meets you and your family members in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami N.B. Regarding becoming my disciple is concerned, first you have to follow our rules. Besides chanting on the beads 16 rounds daily minimum, you should take only prasadam of vegetarian foodstuffs offered to Guru Gauranga. Jnana das can instruct you in this. ACBS/bs Labels: Nairobi letters | 03:14 |17 October 2008 17 October, 1975 Johannesburg My dear Cyavana Maharaja, Please accept my blessings. I have received one letter from Jnana das Adhikari dated Oct. 8, 1975, and also Pusta Krsna Maharaja has pointed out one letter addressed to you here in Johannesburg dated Oct. 10 from Jnana das. This letter was opened by Pusta Krsna because it may have contained information relevant to our travel to Nairobi. In any case, it appears that Jnana das is restless. It is not a good idea for him to bring Lilavati's daughter to Kilifi as he has described the living conditions as very poor and now she is at least nicely situated in Gurukula. Also, he speaks of going to America, and who will supply him the money for this? So, all these unnecessary expenditures should be stopped. We can discuss the matter further when I am in Nairobi. I will be arriving on BA 018 from Johannesburg on Saturday, October 25. I hope that this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/pks Labels: Nairobi letters | 02:03 |4 September 2008 4 September, 1975 Vrindaban My Dear Cyavana Swami: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated August 14, 1975 with enclosed copy of letter to Shakti Mati and the proposed BBT and Spiritual Sky argeements. So it is good that Shakti Mati is again living in the temple. Keep her nicely. She is woman, so you call her Mother. As soon as you call her Mother, that I am so fallen please save, you are so great, then she will be very pleased. She is very talented and can organize the Pujari Dept. You say that the devotees are not enthusiastic, but this is important for spiritual life. Without Deity, then we are just sleeping and eating, and again they will return to hippie life. They must take care of the Deity very carefully. I saw once the film of the Deity installation there, and it was done very nicely, so why are they now slackening? Shakti Mati can teach others how to do things. They should assist her. It is very good that the Government is cooperating by giving land. It is a good opportunity. Do it nicely. Do not worry about the political situation. Try to convince the African leaders that we have nothing to do with politics. We are trying to unite the whole human society under the flag of Krishna consciousness, love of God. That is our mission. If we get African devotees, then we are successful. So already some are coming. Now keep them fixed, and they will bring others. That is nice that the Africans from South Africa are coming from there and joining you. The philosophy of South Africa is simply on the bodily platform. It is all nonsense. Can they be sure that in their next life they will be South Africans? The BBT arrangement you have made is all right, but Brahmananda Swami says that it may be difficult for the temples to maintain by giving to both the Book Fund and the Building Fund. So if it is not possible that the temples maintain themselves by giving 45% to the BBT and 45% to the Building Fund, then use the Building Fund for maintenance. But the BBT must get its money. That is the prime responsibility of every temple. So let the temples pay the BBT 50% and when you require money for construction, then we shall see. I understand you want to print Swahili literature with Dai Nippon and it will cost U.S. 8,000. So Dai Nippon gives BBT-L.A. credit, so let them order, and you pay L.A., even if you can transfer funds yearly. It doesn't matter. This publishing work is very important. I approve for you to get books from BBT-L.A. at reduced prices, at the cost price, the same as India is getting. You can inform Ramesvara that I give my sanction. Regarding my coming there, I want to come, especially your Mauritius program is attractive, but my present state of heath will not allow me to travel outside of India. I am not having any appetite so I am eating less. By eating less where is the energy for travelling? Upon your recommendation I accept the children of Rasa-lila as my disciples. There spiritual names are Radhika devi dasi and Sanatana das Brahmacari. You can chant on their beads. I know the devotees there are working hard, especially as you have mentioned Prabhanu, Sharma, Dinanath, Jnana das, Caitya-guru, Jalakara das, and Pusta Krishna Swami. Because you are all cooperating with me, so much has been done. When I was alone I was taking so much trouble, but now there are so many assistants. But now you have to manage things very carefully and relieve me from the management so I can translate my books. But I do not want to see that everything deteriorates by your management. If you cannot increase then you should at least maintain what I have established. Yes, you are correct in feeling sorry for mistreating Shakti Mati and Nava Yoginder. Hitting the devotees is not good. We have to teach by our example. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami N.B. Now I have decided that I must come to Africa. So my visa for South Africa is valid up to October 18. Therefore I shall leave from Bombay approximately October 1 for Mauritius and stay there for one week. Pusta Krishna Swami may come there and take me to South Africa since none of my servants have S.A. visas. I shall stay in South Africa for one week. Then Pusta Krishna Swami may take me to Nairobi and I will stay there for one week and go to Mombassa if you think. Then I shall return to Bombay by the end of October. So you arrange this program. ACBS I shall decide later on. ACBS/bs Labels: Africa, BBT, initiation, itinerary, Nairobi, publishing letters | 02:12 |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 | 29 July 2008 29 July, 1975 Dallas My Dear Cyavana Swami: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of several letters from Shakti Mati, also your telegram reading as follows: REGARDING OPENING OF SEPARATE TEMPLE MOMBASSA ASIANS ATTITUDE AND MOTIVES OF NAVAYOGENDRA HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE AND MAKE SUCH A PROPOSITION QUITE IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION HERE DIFFICULT AS IS AND WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF A SPLIT IN OUR EFFORTS TO SPREAD KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS AFRICA FULL REPORT WILL FOLLOW AND CAREFUL CONSIDERATION IS HUMBLY REQUESTED--YOUR SERVANTS CYAVANA SWAMI AND MANAGING COMMITTEE ISKCON AFRICA. I have also received a letter from Shakti Mati's son. I have been very much disturbed to learn of the difficulties in Africa. As the leader there you should not have allowed this dissension to take place. Shakti mati is an elderly woman and can do important work with the cultured Indian society, and she also speaks Swahili. She must be given an important position as a manager. She can work under Brahmananda Swami. They may have had some disagreement with you, but expert management means to engage all of the devotees and not allow them to split into different parties. Your action of sending a letter to the leader has disturbed me. Why have you taken this rash action without consulting me or Brahmananda Maharaja? You should immediately withdraw that letter. I want that you approach Navayogendra with all humility and ask his forgiveness for the beating. In this way you can rectify things. You must bring them back. Otherwise if you cannot do it, then you should come here to me and we shall discuss it personally. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: disagreements, management, Nairobi letters | 16:17 |23 July 2008 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 | 27 June 2008 27 June, 1975 Denver My Dear Jnana das and Lilavati dasi: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 16, 1975 hand delivered by Brahmananda Swami. So now that you are married you work together to spread Krsna consciousness. Marriage means that one's service becomes doubled, but at the same time we have to be very careful not to fall into sense gratification. That tendency is there, and we have to be always vigilant. Best thing is to chant carefully our 16 rounds on the beads and always think of Krsna. Brahmananda Swami has given me a good report of the African program, so you two as man and wife make our movement solid there. This I want. I hope this meets you both in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs letters | 08:37 | 24 June 2008 Tuesday, 24 June, 1975 Los Angeles My Dear Sanat Kumar, Daniel, and Yudhisthira: Please accept my blessings. You have been recommended for initiation by Brahmananda Swami and Cyavana Swami, and I am pleased to accept you as my initiated disciples. They have given me a very nice report of your activities and I am glad to know that the government authorities are taking interest in our movement. It is a good sign. So you go on with your preaching and be very careful to follow the rules and regulations, chanting 16 rounds daily and abstaining from eating animal flesh, intoxicants, gambling, and illicit sex. Your names are Sanat Kumar--Sarva vit dasa; Daniel--Danda dasa; Yudhisthira--Yogisa dasa. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/bs Labels: initiation, Nairobi letters | 04:32 |10 June 2008 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 |7 May 2008 7 May, 1975 Perth, Australia My dear Caityaguru dasa, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Jan. 14th, 1975 and have noted the contents. For some reason or other, I have received your letter very very late, otherwise reply would have been much sooner. Anyway, I am very glad that you are feeling very much encouraged working in Africa. If you follow all of the rules and regulations very carefully and continue in this way then you will always be successful. Regarding the program in Punjab, that may be possible to hold in the fall when I will be in Vrndavana. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/ps Labels: Nairobi letters | 06:28 | |
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