Logic (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"logic" |"logician" |"logicians"

Notes from the compiler: VadaBase query: Logic not argument

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- Calcutta 5 November, 1967:

Replying your letter dated Oct. 21, I quite appreciate your statement and I am happy that you have now taken care of the Gita Mss. I have already written to Hayagriva that the instructions which I impart are not dogmas. Our instructions are all based on sufficient logic and philosophy. The thing is that while conducting missionary activities it is quite natural that sometimes the situation may become very provocative, but we have to deal in these matters very carefully. The boy who spat upon the person of Kirtanananda must send a letter of regret and apology. That will be nice. You should always try to pacify the living entities in their rebellious propensities. These individual propensities are factual evidence for their becoming individual entities. If everything would have been impersonal there would have been no scope for the individual manifestations. It is understood that Hayagriva will purchase the property at Wilkes-Barr with the help of Dr. Henderson's financial assistance. I do not mind that they will do something separately, but I wish that there may not be any misbehavior between the God-brothers. I think you can write Hayagriva a personal letter regretting the incident which had unfortunately occurred, namely spitting over the person of Kirtanananda.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Kirtanananda -- Montreal 30 June, 1968:

But, if the people are backwards and suspicious, then how your scheme will be successful, in that part of the country? This movement is meant for intelligent class of men, those who have reason and logic to understand things in a civilized way, and who are open-hearted to receive things as they are. But apart from such consideration, I think there is not any cause of suspicion if somebody sings and dances. So without remuneration if somebody sings and dances at his place, what is the cause of suspicion? But if the place is infested with such suspicious men and backward class, then how you can develop a New Vrindaban there? The circumstances as you have described them is not very favorable. Therefore I think the attempt will not be very successful. Krishna Consciousness movement can be pushed forward in a favorable atmosphere. If the atmosphere is not favorable, then don't attempt, it will be failure. P

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Sucandra -- London 8 December, 1969:

At the present moment we have to preach in an enlightened society. So Krishna Consciousness has got inexhaustible treasurehouse of philosophy, logic and science to convince people about God-consciousness. So if you are actually serious about following the footsteps of Lord Jesus Christ, you should take advantage of the great philosophical background of this Krishna Consciousness Movement and make people God-conscious, dedicating your life.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Mukunda -- Bombay 27 December, 1972:

I like very much your proposal for approaching all the big leaders of the world and presenting them one Bhagavad-Gita As It Is and one copy of BTG, along with letter of description of our Krishna Consciousness Movement. If you can send me the copy of that Supreme Court Judge's letter? If you simply inform them something, by way of the line of our preaching logic and authority, gradually they may come to know about us and help us. But one thing is, our experience is that such big men will not help us—except if there is some rare soul like Mr. George Harrison, and they must be guided also by our personally contacting them again and again and slowly build-up the relationship.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Indira Gandhi -- New Delhi 6 November, 1973:

So we in our humble way are trying to spread this cult of Bhagavad-gita all over the world, and my American and European disciples, two samples of them are meeting with you, are helping me in this connection. After all, Bhagavad-gita is the sublime cultural knowledge, and of course religion is included there, but it is not fanaticism or sentimental religion. It is based on pure science, philosophy, and logic.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Gopala Krsna -- Bombay 28 November, 1974:

Bali Mardan says that taking milk is also the same as eating meat, therefore you can eat meat. Therefore does it mean that because what I eat all turns to stool, then I should eat stool? If everything I eat turns to stool, does it mean I should eat stool? Is this sound logic? He was a sincere boy, but he has fallen down by bad association. Still I can rectify both of them, provided they agree.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Sri Rameshji Mahalingam -- Vrindaban 31 August, 1975:

Of course we have to speak the truth but very palatably. These neophyte devotees have not yet learned how to speak the truth palatably, but gradually they are learning. Certainly Hindu culture does not allow illicit sex, eating meat, fish or eggs, taking intoxication, or gambling. If Indians, after going to the foreign countries, learn this behavior, certainly it is not good. The only fault on the part of the devotee is that he could not present the things very politely. So you know the nature of the Western young men, so toleration is needed by you considering the position of the other party. Anyway I beg to apologize on behalf of my student, and shall solicit the pleasure of your goodness to visit our temple regularly. One should not be angry and eat his meals on the floor just because someone has stolen his plates. This is a Bengali saying. The logic is that if one's plates are stolen by a thief, we should not become angry and decide not to purchase new plates and eat on the floor.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Johannesburg 21 October, 1975:

Our authority is sastra. We give analogy for the general mass of people who have no faith in sastra. Analogy is not proof; sastra is proof. Foolish people cannot understand or accept, so we use analogy. The conclusion is not drawn from the analogy but from the sastra. We don't use a combination of logic and authority, we use authority. Logic we use to convince someone who doesn't accept the authority. The basic principle is authority. Vedas say that cowdung is pure and we accept it. There is no logic, but when we practically use it we see that it is correct. The logic of using analogy is called in the sastra "sakha candra nyaya." It is easier to focus on the moon through the branches of a tree. The moon is great distance away, and you say that it is just through the branches. So you can focus more easily on the moon because 2 points joined make a straight line. So focusing on the nearby object helps us to focus on the far-away object. This is the use of analogy.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Bhargava -- Honolulu 29 May, 1976:

Simply because there is no stock of books, we can do anything whimsically??? Is this logic? Gita is not spoken in Vrindaban, it is spoken on the battlefield of Kuruksetra, but this is Vrindaban picture. That chariot drive by 4 horses, that is the real Kuruksetra picture. It is not that because there is no stock we can do whimsically as we like and lose the idea, that is rasa-bhasa. Because there is no bread, you take stone to eat? There is no stock of bread so you will take stone??? The front picture is most important thing and you have changed it. It must remain standard, and not change.

Letter to Tamala Krsna -- Bombay 20 December, 1976:

You propose to induce the American people to surrender to Lord Caitanya by expansion of book distribution, that is wanted. When you come to that, that is success. Then you can take charge of the government. And, as soon as in America the Krsna conscious boys are in power the whole world will be changed. The idea is to bring under control all atheist class of men. There are two ways of bringing the opposition under control. One is by logic and philosophy, the other is by force. That was done by Bharata Maharaja when he was king of this planet.