a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1969 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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31 December 2005 Prabhupada Letters :: 1969 contains 660 individual letter reproductions in chronological order from January - December 1969. View them in their entirety in the archive section - 1969 letters - below right. Use Google Custom Search (immediate right) to search for specific letters from 1969. View - Today's Letters - at >> Letters :: Anthology >> letters | 23:08 | 29 December 2005 December 29, 1969 Boston, Mass. My Dear Syamasundara, Please accept my blessings. I reached Boston as scheduled on December 21st, and there was a good reception by the devotees for Krishna's servant. The newspaper article published remarked on this occasion that "in the Logan Airport there has never been anything like this." It was exactly like the reception you arranged in London on September 11, 1969. I hope everything is going nicely in London temple. As advised by George I expected his remittance last Monday or Tuesday, but failing to receive it, I advised Brahmananda to contact you on the phone. He tried four times, but could not do so. I wanted to send the order of Krsna to Dai Nippon, but as I have not received any information of the money, I have not sent the order as yet. Please therefore advise me immediately at the Los Angeles address: 1975 So. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90034. Upon hearing from you I shall do the needful. In case the remittance has not as yet been dispatched, please do it immediately directly for credit in my checking account #3081-61625, Bank of America (Branch No. 308) 8501 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90035, and advise me also. I hope this meets you in good health. My blessings for Malati and Sarasvati. The new child born of Harsarani may be named Govinda Das. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. I am going to L.A. this morning letters | 01:01 | 26 December 2005 December 26, 1969 Boston, Mass. My Dear Suridas, Please accept my blessings and offer the same to your good wife, Jotilla, and the others. I request you to simply translate into the French language our Back To Godhead and send the matters to Jaya Govinda for composing. In due course of time you will get the magazines, by selling which you try to pay part of the composing machine that Jaya Govinda is going to purchase. So you begin this business immediately and open correspondence with Jaya Govinda. I hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 01:00 | 25 December 2005 Thursday, December 25, 1969 Boston, Mass. My Dear Krishna das, Please accept my blessings. I am so glad to receive your letter dated December 17, 1969 with enclosure of $15, for which I thank you very much. You have signed your name as Krishna das naradhama, but actually, one who is Krishna das is Narottama. But a Krishna das can deliver all naradhamas. I am always very much pleased with your humble attitude, and a Vaisnava devotee of Lord Caitanya always thinks himself as naradhama, the lowest of mankind; although he is narottama, the best of the mankind. Tamala is there in London, and I have advised him to go occasionally to the German center and see things are very nicely managed. Now the Krishna Consciousness Movement is given to you, some selected European and American boys and girls. Please try to maintain it heart and soul with faith in Krishna, and your life will be successful. I am an old man and I may shift away from the scene at any moment; but I am very much hopeful of my disciples who are so sincerely helping me. This movement is greatly needed for the human society, so we are not working like any political party, but we are trying to execute the Will of the Supreme Lord. Still I shall insist upon you that Sankirtana is our life and soul, and Lord Caitanya has given us order to glorify this Sankirtana Movement. So do it happily, and other things automatically will come to our help. I am confident that yourself, Jaya Govinda, Mandali Bhadra and Sivananda, assisted by Tamala Krishna, can do tremendous work in this movement, specifically in Germany. I learned that the draft board wants you in the USA, so you can now forget about this country and concentrate your whole energy in Germany. I think Krishna wants this. Simply propagate this chanting, dancing, feasting and following the regulative principles. These are the four pillars of our success. Regarding the jewels for my Deities, I shall in due course send you the size and whatever other information you require. Regarding purchasing things in the market, these items are considered as purified when we pay the price for them. That is the general instruction, but when we know something is adulterated, we should avoid it. But unknowingly if something is purchased, that is not our fault. Things which are suspicious, however, should be avoided. It is for this reason that in our Vedic culture the people used to keep a number of cows without any expenditure, and the milk drawn out of them was utilized for so many purposes, very, very useful in life. Lord Krishna in His early Childhood life is the vivid example of this way of social life. Please offer my blessings to the others. I hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 07:18 | December 25, 1969 Boston, Mass. My Dear Jaya Govinda, Please accept my blessings. I am so glad to receive your letter dated December 17, 1969, and I can understand from the spirit of your letter that Krishna is fixing you in a particular type of duty which you may welcome for your benefit, for the movement's benefit, and for the benefit of the people in general. Yes, you secure an IBM composer and utilize it fully. Let Mandali Bhadra translate our magazines and books, and in the IBM machine you compose it, ready for being photographed and printed. You send the ready matters to Boston, and they will print the magazine without any price from you. The cost of the printing will be balanced by keeping some magazines here for sale; so in that way your center will not have any botheration for paying the price. The balance magazines will be sent to you by ship, and you clear it, sell it, and pay for the monthly installments of the machine. This is the general arrangement I have thought about, without any monetary botheration for any of us. Simply we have to render service. Similarly, you invite such reading matters form Suridas in the French language. You compose it and send the matters for printing here, and in the same way things will be balanced, and the magazines in French language will be sent to Paris and they should partly pay for the IBM machine. I am sending a copy of this letter to Suridas, as well as to Brahmananda for future guidance, and you immediately begin the work. In the same way, if Mandali Bhadra can translate my books also, you can help the German composition and get the books in the same way. This is my theoretical proposition, and I am sure that if you follow, it will come to be fruitful. I hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 07:14 | December 25, 1969 Boston, Mass. My Dear Jananivasa, Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you very much for your letter dated December 9, 1969 and your kind contribution of $25 to our Book Fund. I was very happy to learn that you are very serious about writing an essay entitled "Krsna Consciousness is the Absolute Necessity for Mankind in this Age". If you can write this essay successfully, then it will be very great service to our Movement. One of the qualifications of a Vaisnava is that he is poetic. This means that the Vaisnavas are very much enthusiastic to describe on paper the glories of Lord Krsna and Krsna Consciousness. In our Back To Godhead I am very pleased to see that many of our disciples are becoming eager to record their thoughtful ideas about Krsna Consciousness. This eagerness is one of the symptoms that a devotee is making progress in the matter of spiritual purification. So when your article is completed, please send a copy to me, and I shall read it carefully and then submit it to Back To Godhead for consideration of publishing. I have arrived here in Boston this past Sunday, and there are nearly one hundred devotees who have come to visit me. The reception at the airport was very nicely arranged, and the local newspapers have commented that this airport has never before witnessed such a nice event. When I arrived at the Boston temple I was asking if you were there too, but Jaya Gopala informed me that you were remaining in Columbus. So as you are serving Krsna nicely in Columbus, that is also very good. Please offer my blessings to the others. I hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 07:11 | December 25, 1969 Boston, Mass. My Dear Govardhana das, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 9, 1969 along with your prayer beads. I have duly chanted upon these beads and thereby have accepted you as an initiated disciple. Your spiritual name is Govardhana das Brahmacari. Govardhana is the name of the hill which Krishna lifted up to protect the inhabitants of Vrindaban from the heavy rainfalls which were being sent down by Indra. This Govardhana Hill is still there in Vrindaban, and it is worshipped by the devotees of Krishna just as Krishna Himself is worshipped. You have a very nice opportunity to quickly advance in spiritual perfection because you have the good association of the devotees in Hawaii. This association with devotees of Krishna is recommended by Lord Caitanya Himself as the most important factor for developing Krishna Consciousness. This is because our dormant love for Krishna is covered up by the material contamination, but it is quickly aroused when the association of a pure devotee is there. The example is given that when an iron rod is put into a blazing fire, the rod soon takes on the qualities of the fire; namely light and heat. But if the same rod is put amidst some ice, then it will remain simply dark and cold. In the same way, a devotee should associate with fellow devotees, and in relationship to others the devotee should try to elevate them also onto the spiritual platform. So please follow this principle and surely you will mark great strides in the matter of your spiritual advancement. The four basic regulative restrictions we observe are 1) no illicit sex connections, 2) no intoxication, 3) no meat-eating, and 4) no gambling. You must try to chant at least 16 rounds on you beads daily, and avoid the ten offenses to chanting which Gaurasundara Prabhu will instruct you about. When you are having questions to ask, you inquire from Gaurasundara and I also will be happy to help you in any way possible. I hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 07:09 | 20 December 2005 Saturday, December 20, 1969 London, England My Dear Himavati, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 9, 1969, along with Deity clothes and my cap. I thank you very much for this. I have learned the story of the delivering of the Berkeley Jagai-Madhais. Although it is surprising, yet it is possible to happen in this Krishna Consciousness Movement. Sri Narottama das Thakura says all sinful persons and suffering persons were delivered by the Sankirtana Movement inaugurated by Lord Caitanya, Who was formerly the Son of Nanda Maharaja, accompanied by Nityananda Prabhu, Who was formerly Sri Balarama. If we keep ourselves purely on the standard of Lord Caitanya's order, then chanting by us of the Holy Names of Krishna will descend as powerfully as He acted previously, during the time of Jagai and Madhai. So I am very glad that you both, husband and wife, are executing the mission of Lord Caitanya so nicely and faithfully. Please continue to act like that and certainly Lord Caitanya will bestow all His blessings and power upon you. Personally I am so much engladdened that the pairs of young boys and girls whom I have placed in householder life are doing so nicely in the Western world. When Lord Caitanya delivered Jagai and Madhai He was also a householder, but when Jagai and Madhai were actually reclaimed, His wife, Visnupriya, was not there. But in this case and in many other cases also, I find that my disciples combined together, husband and wife, are doing this preaching work so nicely. So I am especially proud how my householder disciples are preaching Lord Caitanya's Mission. This is a new thing in the history of the Sankirtana Movement. In India all the acaryas and their descendants later on acted only from the man's side. Their wives were at home because that is the system from old times that women are not required to go out. But in Bhagavad-gita we find that women are also equally competent like the men in the matter of Krishna Consciousness Movement. Please therefore carry on these missionary activities, and prove it by practical example that there is no bar for anyone in the matter of preaching work for Krishna Consciousness. I am very glad to learn that Haribasara has got a child. Here also the boys and girls with children are dancing. So there is not distinction between the child and the child's parents in the matter of Krishna Consciousness. All of them are equally participating and deriving transcendental benefit. I am leaving for Boston USA tomorrow at 2:30 pm, so you may address future correspondence there. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 06:48 | December 20, 1969 London, England Manager LLOYDS BANK LTD (Long Acre Branch) 83084 Long Acre London, WC 2 Dear Sir, With further reference to your letter JC/RB, dated November 24, 1969, and my reply dated November 27, 1969, I beg to inform you that I am leaving London tomorrow. Therefore I authorize Mr. Michael Grant to take delivery of the parcels due to arrive here, and the passbook is left here with him. You can debit the charges to my account. Sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/pdb letters | 06:46 | 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 | |
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