Repentance (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"repent" |" repentance" |" repentant" |" repentantly" |" repented" |" repentiful" |" repents" |" repenting"

1967 Correspondence

The agreement was signed like marriage ceremony without the presence of the bridegroom. The mistake was there and now you are repenting.

Letter to Rayarama, Satsvarupa -- San Francisco 30 March, 1967: But actually this Mr. Hill has no sufficient money to pay Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor may know this fact and therefore he was not present when you all foolish boys assisted by similar lawyers signed the agreement without the presence of Mr. Taylor. I repeatedly warned you even at the last point that we should not pay the check unless there was agreement between Mr. Taylor and Hill. The agreement was signed like marriage ceremony without the presence of the bridegroom. The mistake was there and now you are repenting.

1968 Correspondence

I am very glad that you are repentant even for some action which is not sanctioned by me.

Letter to Mukunda -- San Francisco 26 March, 1968: I am sorry I am delayed to reply your letter dated March 14, 1968, which I received over a week ago. I am very glad that you are repentant even for some action which is not sanctioned by me. This attitude is very nice and improves one in progressing on the path of devotional service.

1969 Correspondence

Your humble repentance is just like a Vaisnava student, so I thank you very much for this humbleness.

Letter to Gargamuni -- Los Angeles 5 February, 1969: Regarding the eight Gopis and my Spiritual Master, I think you did not follow what I said, but that does not mean that you should be disappointed. We are all students, and we are apt to commit mistakes; but that does not mean that we should be disappointed. Lord Caitanya also presented Himself before Prakasananda Sarasvati as a foolish student of His Spiritual Master, although He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Anyway, the actual fact is that the eight Gopis are as good as Krishna and Radharani. Therefore, no Vaisnava will claim to be one of the eight Gopis because that will tinge one with Mayavadi philosophy. If somebody says "I am Krishna." or "I am Radha." or "I am one of the eight Gopis." that is against Krishna philosophy. My Guru Maharaja claimed to be one of the sub-devotee assistants of the eight Gopis. Lord Caitanya also claimed Himself as servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna [Cc. Madhya 13.80]. So even though you might not have understood, you can correct it now and don't be disappointed. Your humble repentance is just like a Vaisnava student, so I thank you very much for this humbleness. Lord Caitanya taught us to be humbler than the grass on the street and more tolerant than the tree. So these symptoms are Vaisnava symptoms. There is no question of rejection or dejection. I am always at your service, and you can question whenever there is any doubt, and I will try to answer them as far as possible.

1970 Correspondence

I am very glad to know that you are so much repentant even for this insignificant mistake, and that will push you forward further in Krsna Consciousness.

Letter to Pradyumna -- Los Angeles 22 February, 1970: The minor mistake which you committed on the first verse of Isopanisad I marked, but I ignore it as very insignificant. I am very glad to know that you are so much repentant even for this insignificant mistake, and that will push you forward further in Krsna Consciousness. Please be happy and work on with steady and firm determination.

1971 Correspondence

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your repentant letter dated 28th January, 1971, and I am so much glad that you have again come to our camp after some time being mislead by Maya.

Letter to Yugalakisora -- Gorakhpur 15 February, 1971: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your repentant letter dated 28th January, 1971, and I am so much glad that you have again come to our camp after some time being mislead by Maya. You should take severe warning from this incident and not treat the matter as very light. Maya is always peeping for a chance to allure the neophyte devotees from the path of Krsna Consciousness and this potential danger is always there everywhere in the material world. The only solution to the danger of material entanglement and consequent unhappiness is to surrender unconditionally at the Lotus feet of Krsna because only He can give assurance of protection from all sinful reactions. So you are very much fortunate that Krsna has again taken you back into the company of devotees.

1972 Correspondence

You state that you have returned to your rightful position of serving Krishna in the Miami center, and that you are very much repentiful and wish to return to your husband.

Letter to Arundhati -- Bombay 22 March, 1972: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated March 1, 1972, wherein you state that you have returned to your rightful position of serving Krishna in the Miami center, and that you are very much repentiful and wish to return to your husband. That is very good news to me, as I am always glad to see when my disciples exhibit good sense. Yes, you have understood rightly that one can never really be satisfied apart from Krishna, so I think that now if you simply stick very closely to the regulative principles and always keep yourself and your child 24 hours engaged in devotional service, so much so, that you will be too much busy serving Krishna to think about other things. In this way, your mind can become steady.

If you are repentant, that's all right. You have got your wife, so if you are sexually inclined therefore you should always be with your wife. You are repenting, so Krsna will excuse you. But never do this again.

Letter to Name withheld -- 17 December, 1972: Our business is to raise ourselves to the highest status of life as preachers of Krsna's message, and one should behave himself rigidly, then he should instruct others. Two things: Be himself exemplary, then teach others to be exemplary. If one has not come to that high standard, he cannot judge or criticize others. There is one saying from Bible: 'Judge not, lest ye be judged.' So how we can preach unless we are able to make judgements? That will not be possible. Only those who are above suspicion can judge others. One must himself act in such a way that he is always above suspicion. Then he can judge, then he can preach. But now you have no power to instruct. One who is not following himself, how he can instruct others? If you are repentant, that's all right. You have got your wife, so if you are sexually inclined therefore you should always be with your wife. You are repenting, so Krsna will excuse you. But never do this again. Rather you should stop sex-life altogether, make this your austerity. Do not eat nicely, chant always sixteen rounds, and pray to Krsna to excuse you for your great offense. You are one of the senior devotees, therefore if you behave like that then the whole Society will be at risk. By their nature, gestures, dress, women are lusty—that is their habit. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that when a woman comes to serve you, you must be very careful, especially for sannyasis and brahmacaries."

1977 Correspondence

Revive rigidly the devotional practices and be repentant. Then Krsna may be pleased to excuse you. You must be repentant.

Letter to Ekesvara -- Bombay 4 January, 1977: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated nil and have noted the contents. So, revive rigidly the devotional practices and be repentant. Then Krsna may be pleased to excuse you. You must be repentant.

If you are actually intelligent and not simply pretending intelligence, then you will take this as a lesson and make repentance. If Krsna sees that you are sincerely repenting, He will excuse you.

Letter to VARIOUS -- Unknown Place: Now I am old man, I have become a little weakened, and I do not know how much longer I shall be able to push on this Krsna Consciousness movement in active preaching capacity. Therefore I have entrusted my right hand men, like GBC, sannyasis and men like yourself, to take up where I had left off and continue expanding and propagating KC all over the world as per the desire of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In this way, you have got the opportunity of being favored by Krsna to become responsible leader of the human society, therefore I am simply surprised that you have again fallen under the spell of old bad habits. If you are actually intelligent and not simply pretending intelligence, then you will take this as a lesson and make repentance. If Krsna sees that you are sincerely repenting, He will excuse you. As austerity, you should forget these things and never again think about them in your mind. That will make you very strong.