Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


This or that (Letters)

Correspondence

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Dayala Nitai -- Hawaii 23 March, 1969:

That will make you very much happy and will make me always very much happy. And Krishna will bestow all blessings to you in this endeavor. In this connection, if you think that by printing the yogi literature you will get some monetary help, then I give you permission that you can print it. But my standing request is this: Amongst yourselves there should not be any disagreement. Whatever you do, you do it by joint consultation. Because our center of activities is Krishna, for Krishna's sake we can sacrifice our life, wealth, words, intelligence, everything. Of course, as individuals, we have sometimes disagreements, but that should be adjusted keeping our central attention to Krishna. So what is done is done; hence forward, you do everything jointly and we shall put out at least one issue of BTG French edition every month—even it may consist of one printed page only, still it must be published once monthly. That is my desire. It is better undoubtedly to have a full magazine as our English edition BTG, but if you have no time, or you are doing this or that, then do not neglect it completely—it is better to publish and distribute a one page BTG issue than no issue at all each month. Now this work is specially entrusted to you and Janardana; so please execute it.

Letter to Vrndavanesvari -- New Vrindaban 25 May, 1969:

This servitorship cannot be rendered from the material platform, because Krishna is not matter. He is Sat-Cit-Ananda Vigraha. Anyone trying to serve Krishna from the material platform of body, mind and intelligence cannot appreciate this fact. One has to become free from the contamination of matter, represented in gross and subtle forms as body, mind, intelligence and ego. Until then, one is not a pure devotee. In the Narada Pancaratra it is clearly stated that one has to become free from all material designations. So long as one is under the cover of material designations, he cannot serve Krishna. Therefore, we have to transcend this position by cleansing our hearts from such rubbish concept of life that I am American, I am European, I am Indian, I am this or that. Anyone keeping himself under such impression, but at the same time trying to get into Krishna Consciousness is called neophyte devotee, or prakrta. Lord Caitanya has given us a very nice method of chanting Hare Krishna, and if we execute this without any offense, we can transcend this prakrta platform and come to the spiritual platform of serving Krishna. And unless we serve Krishna there is no possibility of getting His Grace, and without His Grace it is not possible to preach Krishna Consciousness. Therefore, we should more depend to receive His Grace then to depend on mental or intellectual activities.

So don't be discouraged. If you follow the principles of Krishna Consciousness, your activities may be accepted anywhere. It doesn't matter whether it is in Europe or America because it is all transcendental. You may just continue your attitude to serve Radharani and you can be on the spiritual platform, without any being deterred by material impediments. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, you'll find that the first class occupational duty is to develop love of God without any motive or impediment. When we shall be able to execute our business of Love of Godhead, unimpaired, at that time we shall be freed from all sophistication.

Letter to Vasudeva -- London 20 November, 1969:

I thank you very much for your nice letter and the beautiful picture of Radha-Krishna which you have sent to me. Immediately upon receipt of this picture, I have hung it on the wall directly above my Deities, and it is appearing very nice there. Thank you very much. I always remember you that you are such a sincere and good boy, and I am sure that Lord Krishna will help you more and more to advance in Krishna Consciousness. Krishna is very merciful to His sincere devotees, but also we have to remember that Maya is very strong. Therefore, we have to always be engaged in serving Krishna. At every moment we should be doing this or that service for Krishna's transcendental pleasure. If we do not remember this, then Maya is right there to grab us. It all depends upon our leaning towards Krishna or towards Maya. If you lean towards Krishna, you will be in Krishna Consciousness; and if you lean towards Maya, then you will be captivated by material nature. Krishna and Maya are just like light and shadow which are directly next to one another. If you move a little this way, you are in light and there is no question of shadow. But if you move a little the other way, you are in darkness. So if we remember to always be engaged in Krishna's service, then there will be no Maya and everything will be all right. Please always remember this great secret of advancement in Krishna Consciousness. So as you are showing promise to be a nice artist, I think you may next paint some pictures of the Spiritual Masters in the line of disciplic succession. Also, continue to fix up the new temple nicely and promote the Sankirtana Movement as far as possible. These, along with promoting our literatures will give you sufficient engagement to fill your time. Also, continue to chant all of your rounds daily, and read our magazines and books as much as possible. In this way your future will be very bright, and surely you will be able to do great service to this movement within your lifetime.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Dayananda -- Delhi 5 December, 1971:

I am very pleased that everything is progressing nicely in London under your supervision. I want that my London center remain very strong for preaching this Indian cult to the Britishers. Let them appreciate that after so many thousands of years this Vedic culture is still strong and effective, and that it can practically solve all the problems of material existence. Empires come and go, so many huge empires and lands and properties—all vanished, just like the British Empire. Now we are offering the real solution, so present them our philosophy nicely and they are very intelligent people, they will understand and appreciate. By becoming Krishna Conscious, no more need for wasting time by acquiring this or that to expand our economy. Every Krishna Conscious man should know it for certain that this material world simply has no use for us. Now there is war here between India and Pakistan; tomorrow there may be war somewhere else. With every step there is danger and so many anxieties. No gentleman should want to live here in this material world. So preach to the Britishers very strongly in this way. You have got good opportunity for preaching there, and I am encouraged by so many people I meet here in India who have visited our London Temple and we are very impressed that we are teaching pure Krishna Consciousness and that we are having good success.

Letter to Balavanta -- Bombay 22 December, 1971:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your two letters dated September 24, 1971, and November 22, 1971, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am especially pleased that you are infiltrating the schools and colleges with improved programs, how to encourage the student class to participate in Krishna Consciousness. I completely approve of this program. I am also glad to hear from you how the distribution of literatures is also improving. That is the real meaning of improvement. The material scientists are fond of always improving this or that, but factually we see there is no real improvement. As soon as one trouble is eliminated, another is there. If we have cars to go faster and faster, then where are the roads for it, and so many people are killed. But real improvement means how to please Krishna more and more. That is real advancement, real progress. Actually, because you have surrendered to Krishna, you are already perfect. But it is just like the ocean; we can swim forever and never reach the shore. Similarly, there is no limit to perfection—we may go on improving more and more, and still there is no limit to how much we may please Krishna, just like for the materialist there is no limit to how much Maya can kick us!

We should always be enthusiastic to try for shooting the rhinoceros. That way, if we fail, everybody will say Never mind, nobody can shoot a rhinoceros anyway, and if we succeed, then everyone will say, Just see, what a wonderful thing they have done. So if you are determined in this way to expand the Atlanta Temple, then you can try for it by begging for the protection of Krishna. Consult Satsvarupa your GBC man in this regard.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Balavanta -- Calcutta 18 February, 1972:

We have no complicated political platform. Politicians today are simply pick-pockets, tricking the voters to pick their pockets. They make promises to gratify the public's senses, but then they only gratify their own senses and the public throws them out, repeatedly. So we can promise perfect peace and happiness, and we can fulfill our promise very easily. You and the other devotees are the practical demonstration, and whenever you speak in public they may be also present and hold kirtana and give speeches also. Actually, this world is like a hospital. We are all like sons of rich men running mad in the streets. Our Father, Krishna or God, is the wealthiest father, and we are all His sons gone mad. Someone is thinking, Oh, give him food, that will help, or give him house, or clothes, this or that—but the madness is still there.* So this kind of bodily welfare work will not help. The world is supposed to be a place for curing men of their varieties of diseases of madness and sending them back home, like a hospital. But men have now got the mistaken idea to make a permanent settlement in this madhouse! Just like the hog is eating stool and he is thinking, Oh, I am enjoying like anything, and when I am finished, then sex with any she-hog—wife, daughter, sister, it doesn't matter—and for so many children I shall have to have big house, and on and on like this, all because of his madness that he thinks "I am enjoying." So preach like this, and I think many people will appreciate our philosophy and gain respect for this Krishna Consciousness movement. Do everything very cleanly and nicely.

Letter to Bhargava -- Los Angeles 13 June, 1972:

The more we become renounced from this material world, the more we advance in Krishna Consciousness. But we are only able to make such sacrifices and perform tapasya if we have got knowledge. So first thing is to become knowledgeable in Krishna Consciousness, then the tapasya or voluntary life of austerity will result automatically. So I am requesting all of my students to read my books very seriously every day without fail. In this way, if your mind becomes absorbed at least one or two hours daily in the transcendental subject matter of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, and other books then very easily you will make your advancement in Krishna Consciousness. It is not a matter of changing our engagement, adjusting this or that material condition, in order to find our real happiness. Krishna Consciousness is not like that. It is able to be performed under any variety of material conditions or with any type of engagement. Therefore if your duty as a photographer is very much helpful to our propanganda work and for improving our BTG then there is very much need for your remaining in that occupation and doing it to your best capacity. It is a fallacy to say that my present engagement with the press is not the best for my spiritual advancement, and if we think in this way we may go on trying out one engagement after another and always say the same excuse. This restlessness or agitation of the mind cannot be rectified by altering the material circumstances. If we are Krishna Conscious, any type of occupation will suit me and we shall always be satisfied. Therefore, I recommend you to read books more and more and try to understand the subject matter from different angles of vision and be always discussing it with your godbrothers even while you are working at the press, and when you are working and you cannot read, then listen to the tapes of my lectures and hear in that way. And never neglect to chant your 16 rounds of beads daily, rise early without fail, attend mangal arati, take bath, and follow the other regulative principles, and everything will come out very successfully, you can rest assured of that.

Letter to Saucarya -- Vrindaban 23 October, 1972:

So you should always feel yourself very much blessed by Krishna that you have come to this point after so much long struggling, so if there is from time to time little discomfort, do not pay it any attention. Now you have got the formula how to achieve very quickly the supreme perfectional stage, and it is up to you if you will practice it seriously or not. If you chant daily 16 rounds and read at least one hour daily Srimad-Bhagavatam, plus your other prescribed duties, never mind this or that, you will feel yourself becoming happy more and more and these practices will protect you from maya or hazy consciousness without any doubt. Of course, it is very much favorable to our advancement in spiritual life if we are engaged in some service for Krishna which is also pleasing to us to perform. So if you have got some special talent or experience you may discuss with Jagadisa how to engage yourself in that way. That is his duty as leader, to give you good engagement.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Vrindaban 5 November, 1972:

Advancement in Krishna Consciousness is not the result of material conditions. I shall not expect to find some perfect circumstances of occupational duty which will cause me to be automatically Krishna conscious, no. So why shall I think that by changing this, going here or there, doing something else—why shall I expect that I will become happy by adjusting material conditions in this way? They have not understood. Real attitude of devotional service is, whether I am here or there, whether I am doing this or that, it doesn't matter, just give me little prasada, little service, or if you make me big leader, that's all right—that is devotee, satisfied to serve Krishna in any circumstances of life. So try to impress this fact, we should kill this restless spirit. Enthusiasm and patience, these things required. If under changing conditions, I lose my enthusiasm, if I cannot endure the difficulties of my duty, therefore I go away—then how I can be leader? These things must be understood. Otherwise the whole thing will fall.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Madhukara -- Bombay 4 January, 1973:

Women are normally very lusty, more lusty than men, and they are weaker sex, it is difficult for them to make spiritual advancement without the help of husband. For so many reasons, our women must have husband. That's all right, but if once they have got a husband he goes away so quickly, that will not be very much happy for them.

Now I do not know the situation in your particular case, I am simply giving you the general policy or background understanding. We should never think of our so-called advancement as being conditioned by or dependent upon some set of material circumstances such as marriage, vanaprastha, or this or that. Mature understanding of Krsna consciousness means that whatever condition of life I am in at present, that is Krsna's special mercy upon me, therefore let me take advantage in the best way possible to spread this Krsna consciousness movement and conduct my spiritual master's mission. If I consider my own personal progress or happiness or any other thing personal, that is material consideration. If there was unhappy adjustment for becoming married, why you got married at all? Whatever is done, is done, that is a fact, but I am only pointing out that once before you did something without proper study of your real responsibility, now you are contemplating again some drastic action in a similar manner. Therefore consider it carefully in this light. There is one verse from Bhagavad-gita: yasman nodvijate loko lokan nodvijate ca yah/harsamarsa-bhayodvegair mukto yah sa ca me priyah, "He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress, is very dear to Me." (12.15)

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Dinanatha -- Vrindaban 7 September, 1975:

So I am coming there shortly and I will see how you are doing. I am glad to learn that one Moslem girl has joined. I do not know why there should be opposition from her community for wearing sari. In Bengal many Moslem women, they wear sari and there is no objection. Similarly, in other parts of India Moslem women, they wear sari and there is no objection. The fact that the Moslems are saying Hare Krsna to you on the street, that is your success. We do not care for Moslem, Christian, this or that. We see everyone as part and parcel of Krsna, and as such they should re-establish their loving relationship with Krsna.

1977 Correspondence

Letter to VARIOUS -- Unknown Place Unknown Date:

Can they deliver even an ant from the miserable conditions of this spot-life, from birth, death, disease, and old age? No. They have spent simply millions of dollars to make a show of their so-called learning and the resul is a handful of dust, that's all. So we are not very much impressed by them, neither we take their version as perfect. They will say that millions of years ago the human beings were primitive hunters. But if we see Vedic language, we can understand that their thought and language and intelligence was not that of primitive men, no. If you are looking for some excuse to doubt, then maya will always provide you. So this or that you may find out something flaw if you want. But Krsna says surrender unto Me and I will give you all protection, perfect knowledge of everything. You should not go to modern scientists for perfect knowledge. They cannot supply that. Krsna will supply you. Of course, sometimes there is allegorical reference in the Vedas, just like the body is called the city of nine gates, like that, so we may sometimes misunderstand due to our imperfect reading. Even it is true that they have landed on the moon, so what is their accomplishment? If I come to Earth planet and land in the Sahara desert, then I say, "Oh, this planet is a barren desert, no one lives here?" The moon may be like that or like this, so what does that help to our Krsna consciousness movement. We have nothing to do with moon planet or this planet and that planet in Krsna consciousness. We simply want to serve to Krsna, that's all. Do not be disturbed by these things. Simply go on with your work in positive mood. That will be best for you and for other also. After all intelligence to understand Krsna is not within the range of your material senses. You cannot make any experiments and calculations and expect to find Krsna. But if somehow or other you are fortunate enough to find out a pure devotee of the Lord, then you get opportunity to him, and as you surrender Krsna gives you the intelligence by which you may come to him, that is sure. No other process will give us any intelligence to understand things as they are, except Krsna consciousness.

Page Title:This or that (Letters)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:08 of May, 2013
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=12
No. of Quotes:12