a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1969 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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15 December 2005 Monday, December 15, 1969 London, England My Dear Cidananda, Please accept my blessings. I was very much anxious to hear from you since I did not receive any letter for a long time. So your letter dated December 7, 1969 is very encouraging and welcome. Since you have gone to Vancouver things have improved very nicely. Now we are going to print 50,000 BTGs per month, so try to increase the sales as far as possible. Sankirtana and distributing BTG and our other literatures is the fieldwork of this movement. Temple worship is secondary. People are invited to come to the temple to see the behavior of the devotees specifically in the matter of purification. There are two kinds of purification methods, external and internal. In our Krishna Consciousness Movement, Deity worship helps to keep us externally purified and Sankirtana helps to keep us internally purified. So as far as possible we shall execute both of these processes simultaneously. And by your exemplary character, the general mass of people will be benefited. Our hearts in material condition are filled with all dirty things, and this Krishna Consciousness Movement is the cleansing process. I am very glad that your feasts are becoming very successful. Yesterday I received a letter from Hawaii that they are now receiving about 100 guests and they are charging $1.00 each. So now they have a good income. You may know that Gaurasundara was forcibly sent to Hawaii, by now he and his wife are both doing very nice propaganda. Please offer my blessings to Ravindra, who is working so nicely for Krishna Consciousness. Krishna will certainly be pleased upon him and his life will be sublime. Just make your center still more established, and when you are prepared to install Deities in a nice place, certainly I shall go. I have never seen Vancouver, and from Los Angeles it is not far away. So let us hope for that future date. I hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 05:56 | December 15, 1969 London, England My Dear Gargamuni, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter with enclosures of one check for $60 and one bank receipt for $500. From the Book Fund this month I have spent a very large amount: $5,400. I have given two checks to Brahmananda, and Brahmananda has also sent me one check for $6,000. So this kind of transaction, printing of books and BTG and collection by selling, is very encouraging to me. Although there may not be any balance left, when we see we have so many books published and so many copies of BTG, that is our pleasure. So I am so glad that you are endeavoring to collect from different centers. If we print all our manuscripts, even at the cost price of materials as estimated by Advaita, I shall require at least $100,000.00. So let us go on. Krishna will help us. Let us try our best combinedly. That is our business. I am so sorry to learn about your wisdom teeth affair. These wisdom teeth are a good example of Maya's tribulations to us. In my younger days, by Krishna's Grace I had no such trouble, but I saw in my eldest sister this suffering from the wisdom teeth problem, and her gum was also operated upon. That I saw, and I saw how much she was suffering also. This is the way of material existence. So Lord Krishna has advised in this connection that we have to learn tolerance. Your example of dedicated life is very noble. You are handling thousands of dollars for Krishna, but you ask your mother for helping your personal needs. I very much appreciate this example, but it is my order that whenever you are in such trouble, you should not minimize any expenditure. You must have the best kind of treatment available, and you can spend from the money you are collecting on behalf of Krishna. Your mother's assistance is welcome, and as a child you can very affectionately ask her for such assistance. But in case of denial or inability, you should not hesitate to spend from Krishna's money. You can take it from me. By this contribution of your mother out of her affection, your mother has benefited undoubtedly. She is already benefited to have two such nice sons, and she will be more and more benefited. Not only your mother, but also your father and all family members will be benefited by your dedication of life for Krishna's sake. Be rest assured. Krishna Consciousness is so nice. From past correspondence with Bina Musical Stores and from your description, I have already written to the bank and to Bina also that if they have not actually shipped the instruments prior to this time, according to our understanding, by the middle of October, then the order should be treated as cancelled.* In the meantime, if you actually receive any documents, please inform me before clearing the goods. I have got some instruction to give you. You have to see first whether the consignment is insured. If it is not insured, then you have to take delivery, opening in the presence of a customs officer. I am expecting some unscrupulous behavior from these parties. But if in the meantime they have cancelled the order, that is good. What about Acyutananda? I understand that you sent him an order for mrdangas. Have you received any documents for that? How have you arranged the payment for him? I shall be glad to be enlightened on these points. Regarding the house, if you can do well with Mr. Spellman and if he takes 10-12% profit, that is all right. But do something of a permanent nature. The best thing would have been to have our own house, but Krishna is not giving us the facility. So if Spellman arranges something, that is all right. I am so glad that Dayananda is doing everything so nicely. He is intelligent, responsible boy, and whatever you do conjointly, it has my approval. You may note it. But always remember that Nandarani is also a very nice devotee girl, and their whole family is coming out nice; so you should see always that they are not in inconvenience in any way. Because he is family man, he should have some special consideration. A brahmacari can tolerate any inconvenience, but women and children cannot. They will have difficulty. Regarding my writing to you directly rather than through Tamala, I have noted the point. So far as Muralidhara is concerned, I have spoken to Tamala and he has advised that you consult with the lawyer, Michael Green. Also, please inform me in your next letter what is happening with this draft case as it is being handled by Mr. Green. Please offer my blessings to the others. I hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. I have sent you a duplicate B/L. Please inquire in this dock yard if the ship is expected and if so when! letters | 05:49 | December 15, 1969 London, England Manager Punjab National Bank P.O. Vrindaban, Dist; Mathura INDIA Dear Sir: RE: SHIPMENT OF 8 CASES OF SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM TO NEW YORK PER S.S. JALAKALA, AND YOUR LETTER DATED DECEMBER 5TH (3732) With reference to the above I beg to inform you that I do not exactly know what you mean by some documentary evidence to connect the payment. The whole idea is that the amount of Rs. 33,705.86 was transferred from the USA and credited to my account for dispatching books. The first consignment was dispatched, Rs. 13,000 and odds, and this consignment was also dispatched in the same way. The books are mine, they were dispatched on my account to the USA. The USA has paid for it, and I am signing everything. Is that not sufficient documentary evidence? Otherwise, what do you want me to do? I am experiencing so much inconvenience in this matter of exporting from India, although the price is already transferred from the States. So if you kindly give me your direction what to do in this connection, then I shall do it. I am always in tour, and I took it simply that the goods were dispatched against the money transferred already. That is sufficient documentary evidence in my opinion. I hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:pdb letters | 05:47 | 14 December 2005 December 14, 1969 London, England Manager Bank of Baroda Chandni Chowk Delhi-6, INDIA Dear Sir: Kindly refer to my letter dated September 7, 1969 in which I had to instruct you to pay BINA MUSICAL STORES Rs. 2,200 on presentation of the shipping documents by the middle of October. They informed later on by their letter dated November 12, 1969 that they had already shipped the goods sometime on October 23rd, and the original documents were submitted for being dispatched to my Los Angeles center at 1975 So. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90034, USA. But we hear from Los Angeles that they have not received the documents or any information of the consignment being dispatched by any ship. This means they have not yet submitted the shipping documents; in other words, the goods have not been shipped. Under the circumstances, please cancel our order of payment, as they have not booked the goods according to the contract. Sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS:pdb letters | 08:25 | 13 December 2005 Saturday, December 13, 1969 London, England My Dear Nandakisora, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your nice letter and have noted the contents with pleasure. You are gradually developing to be a nice Vaisnava, and please continue in this way. Krishna will be very pleased upon you. Regarding the song by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, the transliteration is as follows: manasa deha geha yo kichu mora arpilun tua pade nandakisora maravi rakhavi yo iccha tohara nitya dasa prati tua adhikara The translation is "My mind, my body, my home, or whatever I have got in my possession I surrender unto Your Lotus Feet, O my dear Lord, Son of Nanda Maharaja (Krishna). Now if you like, you can kill me, or if you like, you can give me protection. Whatever you like you can do. I am your eternal servitor. You have got every right to deal with me in any way as you please." As I have informed Satsvarupa, I shall be arriving in Boston on December 21st at 3:40 pm. So I shall be very pleased to see you again at that time. Please offer my blessings to your good wife, Jahnava, and the others. I hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:24 | December 13, 1969 London, England My Dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 7, 1969 along with the article of Acyutananda. Your decision not to publish this article is correct. To the neophyte devotees we should issue instruction that there are four stages of understanding the Absolute Truth. The first stage is re-establishing our relationship with Krishna. This is the first stage. The second stage is after understanding our relationship, to perform devotional service under proper guidance. The third stage is acquisition of the desired Object. The fourth stage is relishing the nectar of perfectional love. So Radha-Krishna Lila belongs to the fourth stage of understanding, and we are publishing BTG for people in general to re-establish their forgotten relationship with Krishna. So we should always remember this and from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, and Isopanisad they should try to write how our relationship is revoked from this stage of forgetfulness. They should write articles like this: 1) Krishna, the Omnipotent, 2) How God can be realized as All-Pervasive, 3) The Original Source of Everything, 4) Transcendental Process of Hearing, 5) How one gets out of the Clutches of Maya, 6) Prayers by Arjuna, 7) Prayers by Kunti Devi, 8) Prayers by Bhismadeva. They should try to understand Krishna first in so many ways which are described in our Bhagavatam. They should read them carefully and pick up subject matters as above mentioned. What general people will understand about Radha-Krishna Lila? Immediately they will take it as ordinary boys and girls in spite of a thousand warnings, "This is not this, this is not this." So you shall issue instruction that they should write articles on the subject matters as above mentioned. They should read our Bhagavatam. The purports are there: They should assimilate them in their own words in a literary career. I was very much pleased to see one of your articles which you picked up from Daksa yajna. The articles should be very scrutinizingly published. We want to make our BTG an authorized, first class magazine, and the writers and students should be equally responsible. So when we meet we shall talk more about this. Yes, you can expect us on the 21st December, Pan American Flight #55, arriving in Boston at 3:40 pm. Purusottama has already written to Brahmananda about procedures for our tickets, so you may immediately consult with him in this connection. I am glad that you are corresponding with Hayagriva, and when I come there he may also come. Please offer my blessings to the others. I hope this will meet all of you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 04:10 | |
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