My dear Mr. Nigam,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated March 11th, 1975 and have noted the contents. Now, I am on world tour. At present, I am staying in Perth, Australia, then in one week, I shall go to Melbourne, then Fiji, then Honolulu where I will stay for at least one month. Then I shall go to Philadelphia and San Francisco, etc.
I am very glad that you are holding some spiritual conference, but my only request is to follow the standard method of spiritual consciousness. One must know first of all, what is the spiritual basis. Anyone who is accepting this body as the self, he is no better than the cats and dogs. One must know what the spirit soul is within this body. He is eternal part and parcel of God, therefore, his only business is to revive his eternal relation with God and work on that fundamental basis so that he can achieve the ultimate goal of life. The whole thing is instructed in the Bhagavad-gita and if we accept the teachings of Bhagavad-gita, as it is without unnecessary commentary on it, then our spiritual movement will be successful. But, if we manufacture something out of our own concoction, it will never be successful. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (16/23):
- yah sastra-vidhim utsrjya vartate kama-karatah
- na sa siddhim avapnoti na sukham na param gatim
- (BG 16.23)
"But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims is headed for a hellish destination."
I hope this meets you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami