Training of Umapati dasa (Letters, 1967 - 1973)

Expressions researched:
"Account" |"Activities" |"BBF" |"BBFD" |"BBT" |"BKF" |"BTG" |"Back to Godhead" |"Bhaktivedanta Book Trust" |"Book Fund" |"Book Trust" |"Book Trust," |"Book" |"Books" |"Branch" |"Branches" |"Business" |"Center" |"Centers" |"Check" |"Checks" |"Consult" |"Consulting" |"Cooperate" |"Cooperated" |"Cooperation" |"Cooperatively" |"Dai Nippon" |"Debt" |"Debts" |"Deities" |"Deity" |"Deposit" |"Distribute" |"Distributed" |"Distributing" |"Distribution" |"Duty" |"Festival" |"Finances" |"Financial" |"Funds" |"GBC members" |"GBC" |"Governing Board Commission" |"Governing Board Commissioners" |"Governing Body Commission" |"Governing Body Commissioners" |"ISKCON" |"Initiate" |"Initiated" |"Initiates" |"Initiating" |"Initiation" |"Initiations" |"Iskcon" |"Kirtana" |"Language" |"Languages" |"Leader" |"Leaders" |"Leadership" |"Leading" |"Literature" |"Literatures" |"M-V trust" |"M-V" |"M.V trust" |"Macmillan" |"Magazine" |"Magazines" |"Manage" |"Managed" |"Management" |"Managers" |"Managing" |"Manuscript" |"Manuscripts" |"Mayapur-Vrndavana Trust" |"Mayapura-Vrndavana Trust" |"Meeting" |"Mission" |"Missionary" |"Money" |"Movement" |"Organize" |"Our society" |"Preach" |"Preacher" |"Preaching" |"Press" |"Print" |"Printing" |"Program" |"Programs" |"Publication" |"Publications" |"Publish" |"Publishing" |"Rathayatra" |"Report" |"Reports" |"Sankirtana" |"Temple" |"Temples" |"The society" |"Translate" |"Translated" |"Translating" |"Translation" |"Translations" |"Umapati" |"Umapati's" |"Zonal" |"Zone" |"Zones"

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Umapati -- Vrindaban 5 September, 1967:

I am so glad to receive your letter dated 28 August, through Acyutananda. You will be glad to know that he has safely arrived here via Delhi. He is a very intelligent boy, and has safely come without any difficulty.

Your letter is very much encouraging to me, that you are appreciating my humble service in spreading Krishna Consciousness in your great country. It was my ambition to begin my movement from New York; and by Krishna's Grace, I got good cooperation from some boys like you; and I felt too much aggrieved when some of you left me, but I was confident that all of your would come again, because Krishna Consciousness is not a material thing, and cannot be broken: it cannot be burned or wet or dried or stopped at any stage. When I received your letter, it appeared to me that I had received a letter from a lost child; so please continue your present attitude.

I have not heard anything from Harvey. Hope he is doing well. So far my health is concerned, I have improved considerably, and I hope to return by October next.

Kirtanananda is now a completely Krishna Conscious person as he has accepted sannyasa on the birthday of Lord Krishna with great success. He is the first sannyasa in my spiritual family, and I hope he will return back soon to begin preaching work with greater vigor and success. Please try to cooperate with the temple managers, because in my absence they might feel some difficulty. You are one of the old founders of N.Y. temple, and I hope you shall take some active part in improving the original center.

Letter to Hayagriva -- Delhi 27 September, 1967:

I understand also from Umapati's letter that he has already reached New York although I have not heard anything from him from New York.

Letter to Umapati -- Calcutta 22 October, 1967:

I thank you very much for your letter dated Oct. 15. It is so nice & enjoyable. Your appreciation of Krishna Consciousness is much improved by the grace of Krishna—because you are chanting Krishna's Holy names constantly. There are some truths which you have expressed as really sublime, especially the portion where you write to say "even though He Himself is unchanging, His glory will always increase." Krishna's name is Acyuta, unchanging, but He is Bliss although always full, still increases, to increase the blissful existence of the devotee. Please continue to think of Krishna & you will feel more & more the Blissful pleasure transcendental to all material contamination. I am very thankful to you for appreciating my humble service. You will be glad to know that I have already secured a visitor's visa to your country & have asked my travel agent to book my seat on the earliest possible date. I think I shall be in your midst by the middle of Nov. I went to your country with a mission & you all good souls were sent by Krishna to me. So let us cooperatively work together to vigorously spread Krishna Consciousness, to the suffering humanity at large. Your country is great & you are all good sons of America. Spread this knowledge so that America will be still greater in the eyes of the world. Keep this point of view in front of you & all your God-brothers combine together may execute this mission.

I am very glad to learn from Rayarama's letter that both you & Satyavrata (Moskowitz) are regularly attending class. So I thank you again.

Letter to Umapati -- Calcutta 23 November, 1967:

I am so glad to receive your letter dated 15th Nov. 1967. You're very anxious to see me back in New York and I may inform you that I had settled to be in San Francisco on the 24 of Nov. but due to a petty revolution in Calcutta I am not able to leave. Future arrangements are pending. I wish to go from San Francisco to the other two new branches and then return to New York. I am so glad to learn that you are now getting the fruit of chanting Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna is so nice that it clears the dirty things from the mind of the devotee and the more one is used to chant the Holy Name offenselessly, the more one develops love of God, forgetting the whole material nonsense. (It is my duty to deliver you the right thing in right earnestness and it is the duty of the receiver to act in the standard spiritual regulation. When you left us I simply prayed to Krishna for your return to Krishna Consciousness because that was my duty. Any good soul who approaches me once for spiritual enlightenment is supposed to be depending on my responsibility to get him back to Krishna, back to home. The disciple may misunderstand a bona fide spiritual master being obliged to do so under pressure of Maya's influence. But a bona fide spiritual master never lets go a devotee once accepted. When a disciple misunderstands a bona fide spiritual master, the master regrets for his inability to protect the disciple and sometimes he cries with tears in the eyes. We had an experience while my Guru Maharaja was alive. One of His disciples who accepted sannyasa was one day forcibly dragged by his wife. My Guru Maharaja lamented with tears in His eyes saying that He could not save the soul.) We should always, therefore, be careful in the matter of being attacked by Maya's influence and the only means of guarantee is to chant Hare Krishna offenselessly. The greatest offense is to defy the spiritual master and to act sinfully, thinking in the strength of chanting. If a man thinks that chanting will save him from all kinds of sinful reaction deliberately committee. by him, then he becomes the greatest offender. By chanting Hare Krishna certainly we become free from all sinful reactions, but that does not mean that we shall deliberately commit sins and counteract it by chanting. Your reference to Kirtanananda and Hayagriva is very nicely appreciated. We shall silently pray for them to Krishna and shed tears for them for our inability to save them. Let us honestly pray and go ahead with Krishna Consciousness. More when we meet.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Umapati -- Los Angeles 14 January, 1968:

Since you talked with me on the telephone, I received also your letter of Dec. 30, 1967, but I could not reply the same on account of my shifting to Los Angeles. I have come here last Saturday the 6th of January. I am feeling well here because the climate is warmer. I thank you very much for your acceptance of my guidance. My guidance means Krishna's guidance. I am very poor and therefore I can pray only to Krishna for your guidance. Krishna is Absolute and we are all under His guidance but the bona fide Spiritual Master is accepted as guidance because he is transparent via media between Krishna and the devotee. The devotee has no access to Krishna without the via media.

From your letter I can guess a first hand knowledge of Kirtanananda and Hayagriva. In the meantime I have received two letters from Hayagriva; one is already replied and the other is pending. Our line of action is simultaneous service to the Spiritual Master and Krishna. Without being favored by Krishna, nobody can have the association of a bona fide Spiritual Master and nobody can have the mercy of Krishna without being favored by the Spiritual Master. It is so intimately connected.

Kirtanananda's refusal to accept the Parampara system and authority of the scriptures is the cause of his misfortune. His version that the sun and the sunshine are one and the same is right, but when the sunshine is in the room it is not correct to say that the sun is in the room. His knowledge therefore is imperfect and therefore he cannot be a preacher. He is therefore contemplating for starting nightclub of the psychedelic type. His association is not desirable for the present neither I can think of his future correction. Hayagriva has fallen a victim and I am sorry for this.

Anyway, my dear boy, please remember that Maya is very strong. Any one of us can be arrested by her at any moment if we are not strongly attached to Krishna Consciousness. So my request to you and all others is to follow the principles of Krishna Consciousness adherently and there is no danger however the Maya may be strong.

Letter to Hayagriva -- Los Angeles 15 January, 1968:

Now it is understood from the letter of Umapati that Kirtanananda does not believe in parampara or in the necessity of scriptural authority.

Letter to Brahmananda -- Los Angeles 26 February, 1968:

Please inform Hamsaduta that I have received his encouraging letter: I am glad to learn that Sriman Umapati is coming to see me. He is heartily welcome.

Letter to Mukunda -- San Francisco 26 March, 1968:

How Umapati is feeling there? I have not heard anything from him.

Letter to Mukunda -- San Francisco 9 April, 1968:

How is Janaki? Please offer blessings to her as also to Baladeva. his family, Umapati and Sankarasan. shall be glad to hear from them

Letter to Mukunda -- Allston, Mass 6 May, 1968:

I know that Umapati is a very intelligent boy, and he tries in that way, he will come out a nice preacher in the future. If he has decided to remain a Brahmacari, and preaches our movement of Krishna Consciousness, it will be a great success for his life. Please inform him that his intimate friend, Hayagriva, came to see me in New York and we talked very frankly, and he is still my good disciple, and I have asked him to stay with me wherever I may be, and he has agreed.

Letter to Kirtanananda -- Allston, Mass 23 May, 1968:

P.S. Sriman Umapati's doing very well in L.A.

Letter to Aniruddha -- Allston, Mass 30 May, 1968:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 25, 1968, and I have also received one letter signed by three of you, Mukunda, yourself and Umapati, recommending the new boy Stanley Broderick.

Letter to Aniruddha -- Allston, Mass 30 May, 1968:

Regarding your personal sentiments not being in agreement with Umapati: I am very sorry that this thing has happened. We are preaching Krishna Consciousness, the greatest platform of harmony, and if we dissent amongst ourselves, and disunite, it doesn't look very well.

Letter to Aniruddha -- Allston, Mass 30 May, 1968:

If you think that you cannot agree with Umapati, you can stop discussing with him, and if there is any point of judgment, you can refer to me.

Letter to Aniruddha -- Allston, Mass 30 May, 1968:

I am writing separately to Mukunda also, as well as to Umapati in this connection, and I wish to know why there is disagreement.

Letter to Mukunda -- Allston, Mass 30 May, 1968:

In the meantime, I have received another letter from Aniruddha that he is in disagreement with Umapati. I do now know what is the basis of this disagreement, but when you are there, I request you to see to the matter and try to mitigate their illusory disagreement. Even there is disagreement, the platform should be Krishna Consciousness, and in that platform if there is disagreement there is no inebriety.

Letter to Umapati -- Allston, Mass 30 May, 1968:

A few days ago I received a nice letter from you in which you wrote nice things, and I was so glad that now you are making progress positively towards Krishna Consciousness. It is understood that Aniruddha and yourself are sometimes not in agreement in subjects concerning Krishna Consciousness. Of course, disagreements may be there, but there should not be dissension. I shall be glad to hear from you what is the point of dissension, and if it isn't very serious, I think you should ask Aniruddha not to be affected by such flimsy disagreement.

I am very glad to learn that L.A. temple is improving day by day. Similarly, the temples in other places are also improving, especially Buffalo, Santa Fe, and Boston. I am starting for Montreal on the 3rd of June, 1968, and I shall be glad to hear from you at our Montreal address.

Letter to Mukunda -- Montreal 11 June, 1968:

As Umapati has decided to leave Los Angeles, I would like that he may go to Santa Fe and help Subala there, because he is struggling alone there.

Letter to Subala -- Montreal 23 June, 1968:

In the meantime, you try to become self sufficient. I have also advised Sriman Umapati Brahmacari to join you. He is now in San Francisco as in S.F. they will require his help during the Rathayatra Festival. I am advising him to join you just after the festival. I hope both of you will be good combination, because Woompati writes "Subala is my good friend and it will give me great joy to work with him in your divine service."

Letter to Umapati -- Montreal 13 July, 1968:

I understand that you have now gone to Santa Fe and trying to get a job there. And I hope Krishna will arrange for this. Do not be worried. Another boy, Christopher Fynn, may be going there very soon. So three together try to live peacefully and always discuss on the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, chant Hare Krishna in regular classes, and whenever the opportunity is there, go to the park as they are doing in Boston and New York, and getting good collection.

In this connection you can consult Hamsaduta in New York, and Satsvarupa in Boston how they are successfully carrying on. Here also the Brahmacaris are chanting in the Expo, and the arrangement is they will get some lump sum of money, and they have already gotten $300.00. Hamsaduta has also collected, by chanting, $150.00. So if there is no jobs at all, then you can fully engage yourself in Krishna's job by chanting in the parks and public places, and certainly Krishna will send you salaries. Krishna provides all living entities and why not his sincere devotees? Therefore, we have to become simply sincere in our Krishna Consciousness movement, and all other things will follow.

Letter to Subala -- Montreal 13 July, 1968:

I am in due receipt of your letter of July 11, 1968, and it appears that things are not very happy there, in spite of Umapati's presence. How is it that you do not get any work? Umapati knows some technical work. Is there only work in the restaurants, and there is no other work?

Letter to Hayagriva -- Montreal 17 August, 1968:

At the present moment, many devotees from San Francisco, New York (specifically your intimate friend Umapati, is present here) have come here.

Letter to Umapati -- Montreal 28 August, 1968:

You will be glad to know that I am starting for New York on the 31st instant at 4:30 p.m., and reaching New York at 5:50. I wish to meet Satyavrata; if he does not like to come to our temple, then I wish to go there to his place. Please arrange for this sometimes on Sunday.

I hope you will remember my request to you about the press opening. The decision is now complete and now I am going to New York to arrange for it. Perhaps you have already known also about the land leasing for New Vrindaban attempted by Hayagriva Brahmacari and Kirtanananda Swami.