League of devotees

Expressions researched:
"league of devotees" |"league"

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 6, Purport:

The warning is already there, and responsible leaders of religious sects must meet together and form a common platform of a league of devotees of the Lord. There is no need for self-realized souls to live in a secluded place. Perfect self-realized souls, engaged in the service of the Lord, are unafraid of māyā, just as law-abiding citizens of a state never fear the police. Such fearless devotees of God always speak scientifically about the existence of God, even at the risk of death. Such devotees of God feel compassion for the mass of people, who have completely forgotten the Supreme Lord and who engage in the false pursuit of happiness that ends in the sense pleasures enjoyed by the hogs and dogs.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1973, New Delhi:

Brahmānanda: So in Bombay you mentioned that Lilavati Munshi... There was one house...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Brahmānanda: ...and you were trying to get that house...

Prabhupāda: Yes, and she took away.

Brahmānanda: ...and you were prevented.

Prabhupāda: She took away. Because I was trying to organize a League of Devotees from that house, and Kṛṣṇa wanted, "What is this nonsense? You are stick here, in Jhansi? You come here, in open field." That was Kṛṣṇa's intent. But I thought that "Even Kṛṣṇa took away this?" This Lilavati Munshi...

Śyāmasundara: Now her institution is...

Prabhupāda: But my intention was to start this movement.

Śyāmasundara: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: I was simply planning in different way. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's favor. I never deviated from this plan. Since I heard it from my Guru Mahārāja, I've simply planning how to do it successfully. But I thought at that time, that "I'll be able to do it if I get some money. Let me do some business for the time." That I was thinking. But Kṛṣṇa said, "Even if you are pauper, you try; you'll get everything." But I thought, "Without money, how this can be done?" That was difference of opinion with Kṛṣṇa, argument. And I was dreaming also, Guru Mahārāja, asking me, "Come on." So I was going. So I was, "Oh, I have to go? I have to take sannyāsa?"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Jayapatākā: I just met him once. Tejas brought him. He's got some āśrama. Some ācārya or something. Ācārya something.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that Prabhākāra.

Jayapatākā: Ācārya Prabhākāra?

Prabhupāda: No. Prabhākāra is different. Prabhākāra was first initiated by me.

Jayapatākā: Your first disciple.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Hari-nāma-mantra he was given.

Gargamuni: What year was that?

Prabhupāda: 1954 I think. He did some service. In Jhansi...

Gargamuni: You had that League. I saw photos of that. That League of Devotees.

Prabhupāda: Hmm. A very nice building.

Gargamuni: That was nice.

Prabhupāda: Very nice building.

Gargamuni: With front wall and you had painted "League of Devotees."

Prabhupāda: Oh, you have seen.

Gargamuni: I have seen the photo. Big place.

Jayapatākā: That is still existing?

Prabhupāda: Very big place. That you have seen this Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha in Mathurā? No. There is Caitanya Mahāprabhu Deity. That Deity was there. When I closed that I brought that big, big sannyāsī and delivered them, they will show.

Jayapatākā: One man cheated you there? Some land? No.

Prabhupāda: The building belonged to a big zamindar. So Prabhākāra arranged. So it was to be given to me, and I wanted to start the League of Devotees from there. So I spent some money, whatever money I had, and it was going on. But in the meantime, this Lilavati Munshi, Mrs. At that time she was wife of the governor. Her husband, K. M. Munshi. She had some organization of foreign women. So somehow or other she got imagination that "This house is very nice." She was governor's wife. So it was not given to me rightly, but I was using. So she wanted that house. Through collector and through all government officials pressure. She wrote me later on, that "Bhaktivedantajī, you wanted to organize, but you could not. But I have got this institution. Why not give it to me?" So, of course, there were many lawyer friends. They advised me that "You do not give up. You should litigate." So I thought, "Who is going to litigate? Let me go to Vṛndāvana." So I left. So at Mathurā I delivered the Deity to this Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha, and I made my place in Vṛndāvana.

Gargamuni: You had such a hard struggle in the beginning.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Room Conversation -- October 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: It was not unpleasant. When I was living alone, doing everything, it was not unpleasant. I was... Very nice. That was an accident. Otherwise, it was not unpleasant. Alone everything I was doing. Rather, I had not so much anxiety for management. Even my, this son came to live with me. I said, "No, you don't."

Hari-śauri: Who was that? Vṛndāvana there?

Prabhupāda: Hmm. They sent, my family, to go and live with me. He came twice, thrice. The reason is that I asked him "If you want to live with me then you have to live with me as sannyāsī, brahmacārī.

Hari-śauri: And he couldn't.

Prabhupāda: Otherwise... From 1954, '55. Up to '54... 1950, I left home 1950. From '50 to '54 I lived in Jhansi.

Hari-śauri: That was when you started the League of Devotees?

Prabhupāda: Hmm. At that time there were many students. They were not my disciples, but they were coming. Like... that Prabhākāra?

Hari-śauri: Yes, Prabhākāra Ācārya.

Prabhupāda: He was the head.

Hari-śauri: (laughs) You were teaching Vaiṣṇavism or...

Prabhupāda: Yes. I wanted to start from there. It was very nice, big house. But this K. Munshi's wife tactfully wanted me to... The Governor's wife. That was a very big house.

Hari-śauri: Oh, there were some politics. I didn't know.

Prabhupāda: But he peacefully took it. I could have fought but I did not like. All the pleaders in Jhansi, they said, "Don't leave." She was pressing through the collectors, to the manager. That house belonged to some zamindar. But it was under the management of another man, Reba Shankara(?). So he was proprietor of one cinema hall. So the governor's wife was pressing him through the collector because the license has to be renewed from the collector. Collector was insisting that "You give that house, Lilavati Munshi. Indirectly. Otherwise, your license will not be issued."

Room Conversation -- October 3, 1976, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: They didn't leave you very much choice.

Prabhupāda: I thought, I could not do something tangible. That's a fact. (indistinct) Somehow or other, I thought, let me go to Vṛndāvana. What is the use of fighting? Otherwise, all the big lawyers in Jhansi, they were my friends. They said that "You not go. We shall arrange." I thought that "I have left my home, for this reason I am going to, again litigation. I don't want this house. Let her do something."

Hari-śauri: The League of Devotees, was that Godbrothers again? Was that some Godbrothers that you joined up with or was that just...

Prabhupāda: No, after leaving Jhansi I went to this Godbrother.

Hari-śauri: Keśava.

Prabhupāda: I lived there for few months. Then I went to another Godbrother, that Imlitala, Delhi. Then I left there. I used to live alone in Delhi. Then I took one house in Keśī-ghāṭa. Then the Rādhā-Dāmodara men they called me that "You can live here. We give you two rooms. We don't charge. We give you the place." I came to Rādhā-Dāmodara. And from Rādhā-Dāmodara temple I went U.S.A.

Hari-śauri: I was just wondering what exactly the League of Devotees was.

Prabhupāda: Oh, League was that, that was... I was trying to collect some devotees. Some of them, they were medical... Yes. Medical students. So they came and used to live with me. But still, I lived there for two years. From 1954 to '56. I had some surgical operation in my testicles there. They were taking care. This Prabhākāra and... They were not full time. They were students. That's all. They were living with me.

Hari-śauri: But your Bhāgavatams, it says they were published by the League of Devotees. Does that just mean yourself or there were others?

Prabhupāda: (laughs) That was... League of Devotees was my organization. Therefore I gave that name.

Hari-śauri: But actually it was just you. Oh.

Prabhupāda: That League of Devotees, I was alone doing. (laughs)

Hari-śauri: I was trying to understand who it could be.

Prabhupāda: I am everything at that time. There were some students, but they were not any active. I was doing everything. That League of Devotees means I am everything. I wanted to organize with this Prabhākāra Miśra and others. But they were not interested to be...

Hari-śauri: Not to become Vaiṣṇavas.

Prabhupāda: No, to devote whole time. They were... Just like Prabhākāra comes still. But if you ask him to do full time work, that he'll not do. Therefore I did not initiate others. He was initiated, Haridāsa. But they were all learned scholars, Sanskrit.

Hari-śauri: Do any of them come now? Do any of them come now apart from Prabhākāra?

Prabhupāda: Hmm? No, they are, they have gone in the... They are practicing as medical men. They were students, medical students. Now they are practicing.

Hari-śauri: They don't come to see you or anything now?

Prabhupāda: Sometime they came. Long time it is passed. That was in 1956 or '55. No, '54.

Hari-śauri: In Jhansi.

Prabhupāda: So, twenty years past. More than twenty years. You can speak of twenty years history. What is that? (end)

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Bailey -- Allahabad 7 July, 1953:

Sir—With reference to the letter of Sri Satish Asthana published in your columns of the 2nd instant, I have the honour to inform all concerned through your esteemed paper, that an association for missionary activities under the name and style "The League of Devotees" has already been established recently with the same aims and objects as suggested by Sri Asthana and Sri Sitaram.

The registered office of the above League is situated at the big spacious building "Bharati Bhawan" at Sipri Road, Jhansi. Gentlemen interested in such cultural activities may ask from the Founder Secretary, the prospectus of the mission (in Hindi or in English) with details of the institution.

Letter to Mr. Bailey -- Allahabad 7 July, 1953:

It is wrong to interpret that Vedic religion (commonly known as "Hinduism") is not proselytistic. The proselytizing method of "Bhagavad-gita" is to turn the face of all mundaners towards the transcendental service of the Absolute Personality of Godhead "Sri Krishna" which process can only save them (the mundaners) from all calamities past present and future.

The present Godless civilization has to be remoulded into Godly one and for this purpose all missionaries (Hindu or non-Hindu) who have regard for scientific proselytizing method may join this "League of Devotees"

(PAGE MISSING)

Letter to Registrar of Joint Stock Companies -- Allahabad 4 February, 1955:

With reference to my interview with your honour on the 3rd instant, regarding registration of the Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulations of the League of Devotees (alias Sarbabhouma Bhagavata Samaj), I beg to inform you that I have deposited the fee RS 50/- (Rupees Fifty only) in the Imperial Bank of India Ltd, Lucknow and beg to hand you the following as advised by you.

(1) The Memorandum of Association clearly signed by the present members of the League of Devotees.

(2) The Rules and Regulations duly signed by the present members of the League of Devotees.

(3) Deposit Challan No 81D/4 3/3 for Rs 50/-

Kindly acknowledge receipt of the above and do the needful at your earliest convenience.

All correspondence in this regard may be addressed to the undersigned in his present address as above mentioned.

Thanking you in anticipation,

Yours faithfully—

A.C. Bhaktivedanta

Enclosures—3.

Letter to R. N. Aggarwal M.A -- Delhi 13 December, 1955:

Re: your secretary's letter No. D.O. 807/P.T. the League of Devotees: D/22/11/55

With reference to the above and my subsequent interview with you, I beg to inform you that it has been now decided to hold a preliminary meeting of the above league in the city first to discuss the aims & objects.

Myself, Lala, Girdhari lal and, Advocate Bipinchandra Misra, three will be convenors.

I request you to preside over this meeting and give me some time at your convenience so that the meeting can be arranged accordingly.

In this meeting all the members of your committee as well as other respectable residents of old Delhi will be invited to give it an initiation.

Letter to Sirs -- Delhi 25 December, 1955:

Names of the Executive members of the Delhi section of the League of Devotees.

(1) Rai Bahadur Pandit Narain Das, 21 Pusha Road, N. Delhi

(2) Rai Sahale Seth Girdharilal, Bag Diwar, Delhi

(3) Seth Baseswar Natha, 9 Barkhnkakau Road, N. Delhi

(4) Sat Narayana Gurvala, Malibara, Delhi

(5) Rai Sahale Ram Saran Das, 11 Ramanagar, N. Delhi

(6) Sri Makhanlal Gupta, ___, Delhi

(7) Sri Bipin Candra Misra

(8) Lala Maha Sankara, Ramanagar.

(9) Pandit A.C. Bhaktivedanta

(10) Lala Mohanlal Advocate. c/o Girohilal

(11) Sri Ram Prakash, ___, Chawn Bazar

(12) Sri Direndra Kumar, Siddhomal & Sons, Chawn Bazar

Dear Sirs,

With reference to the inaugural meeting of the Delhi section of the League on 22/12/55 the gentlemen named above have been selected to be the executive members. The immediate program of work is to find out some suitable place for the central office as also to provide the place of residence for the workers.

When I was at Jhansi, I was provided with a big palatial building to live in associated with 40 workers who are being trained up for intinerary preaching work. The expenses were about Rs 1000/- per month. I approached the Govt for help but even after one year no definite decision could be arrived at by the Govt and the matter is still pending. Jhansi was a poor place & I shifted to Delhi.

My associates were therefore disbursed & I came to Delhi to give it a new life. Delhi is the only centre where from this cultural movement could immediately be given effect because it is the centre of international political, social educational & cultural movements. What I want to do immediately are as follows:—

(1) To hold consecutive meetings at different Mohallus & houses of Delhi for impressing the ideas of the mission.

(2) To give training to at least 7 to 10 educated young men in the "parampara lessons of Bhagavad-gita" and then to "Brahma Sutra," Bhagavata & Caitanya Caritamrta

(3) To publish an English monthly paper to sell specially to the English knowing heads of the society and to get printed some relative literatures __.

A meeting of the executives has to be called for discussing the above subjects but before doing so I wish that you all gentlemen may kindly fill up the typed membership forms enclosed herewith—so that following your foot prints other members of the public may __ members of this institution in large numbers.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Yours faithfully,

For the League of Devotees (Reg. J.S.)

A.C. Bhaktivedanta

Founder Secretary

To __ of the following immediately

(1) Letter Heading (English)

(2) Visiting Cards (English)

(3) Japa Appeal (English & Hindi)

(4) Membership forms (English & Hindi)

(5) Rubber Stamps

Letter to Brother -- Unknown Place September 1955:

Dear Brother,

I am in due receipt of your kind enquiry and I am glad that you wish to become a member of the League of Devotees for learning the science & techniques of Theism or spiritualism of the highest standard. The Prospectus is enclosed herewith please find & decide for yourself for becoming a permanent member of this noble institution.

The membership fees are mentioned below which is the extract from the Leagues registered rules & regulations.

Rule 1. "The general body of the League will consist of members of the four orders of life namely (a) Brahmacaris (b) Grhasthas (c) Vanaprasthas (d) Sannyasis or Tyagis".

Rule 4. "The members will be of three classes defined as class A, B and C in accordance with the membership fees paid. (a) Those who will contribute Rs 500/- and above per month will belong to the "A" class. (b) Those who will contribute Rs 50/- and above per month will belong to the "B" class. (c) Those who will contribute Rs 10/- and above per month will belong to the "C" class."

Rule 16. "Every member is entitled to one vote either in person or by proxy at a general meeting held for its elections of the members of the Executive Committee or for any other purposes."

If you think yourself unable to pay either of the above mentioned membership fees per month, then you can apply for free membership or for a lesser value of monthly subscription for consideration of the Executive Committee, who will decide on the subject.

But if you become preacher member, in that case you will have to pay once Rs 10/- only for the degree of "Bhakti-sastri" which will be awarded to you by registered certificate of degree for your becoming preaching member of the League and doing the necessary preaching work on behalf of the League. The preaching work is conducted as follows:

(1) As soon as you get the certificate of degree of "Bhakti-sastri" at once you become a bona fide preacher of this institution and for this you will have to read "Bhagavad-gita" regularly.

(2) As you go on reading "Bhagavad-gita" question will arise in your mind for so many teachings in that Book & you are at liberty to ask us for answers of those questions which will be replied to you very clearly for your understanding.

(3) Some of the general questions are already answered in different pamphlets & one of them is sent herewith for example and your understanding.

(4) These questions & answers you will have to preach to others, so that both yourself & your audience will be benefited by that process.

(5) If you cannot go to others outside your hearth & home, you can do the preaching work amongst your family members only and in this meeting your other friends, neighbors & relatives also can join.

(6) Hold this meeting regularly for one hour in your home or any other suitable place near about your home, and chant the hymns or slokas of "Bhagavad-gita" with reverence & devotion. If possible the reading of Bhagavad-gita may be preceded & followed by a congregation chanting of the holy name of God as mentioned below—Hare Krishna . . . Hare Hare.

(7) Now relevant questions that may be arising out in the meeting may either be answered relevantly & just according to the authority of "Bhagavad-gita". But if it is found difficult the question may at once be referred to us and it will be very nicely & clearly answered by us for clear understanding of all concerned.

(8) Some of the audience also may be interested in becoming a preaching worker of this League & we shall be glad to substain him in the same way as we shall be dealing with you. We are interested more in preaching members than in the sleeping members.

The motto of preaching shall always be aimed at the ultimate goal of life. The ultimate goal of life is to re-establish our lost relation with Godhead who is the Absolute Whole, and we all living entities are His parts & parcels.

We have forgotten our relation with Godhead from time immemorial by somehow or other & due to our forgetfulness of the relation, we are roaming life after life in different species of bodies which are 84 lacs in number. This process of transmigration from one body to another after death is a __ of disease of the living entity & the chance of curing the disease is possible very effectively in this human form of life.

The value of this human form of life is therefore immense and a moment lost of this life means a loss of immense value. Do not therefore neglect the time that you have been allotted by the laws of Nature and utilize it fully—not in the matter of animal life but in human life. Eating, sleeping, fearing & sense gratifying process are meant for the animal portion of our life, but as human being we have got the special prerogative for searching out the cause of our threefold miseries & to rectify it in this very life without any further loss of time.

The League of Devotees stand to serve the humanity in this spirit & the preaching member's cooperation in this noble act of human behavior will reciprocally benefit both the League and its preaching members.

The highest benefit that is possible to do to the humanity is this act of preaching for receiving the Divine Consciousness of the living being. By doing so, we do not only send a living entity back to home & back to Godhead but at the same time we ourselves also go back to home back to Godhead. Rise up to the occasion of this preaching work & be a real benefactor to the people in general & your family members in particular.

(PAGE MISSING)

Letter to Sri Biswambhar Goswami -- Shanti Kutir, Vrindaban 25 December, 1956:

Revered Sri Goswami Ji,

Kindly accept my respectful obeisances. I have come to Vrindaban to see you specially on some important mission.

The attention of Government is now turned to the side of reforming the religious activities of Indian sadhus and Sannyasis and they are now going to enact some statutes in this connection. Of course nothing is possible without the sanction of the Supreme Will of Sri Krishna but still man-made laws must have defects as the lawmakers are deficient in four primary principles of a conditioned soul.

I have come to Vrindaban to consult with you if it is possible to form an association of the Vaisnavas of all Indian Sampradayas to protect the interest and principles of all the Acaryas: Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu amalgamated the views of all the previous Acaryas in His thesis of Acintya-bhedabheda Tattva explicitly explained by Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Govinda Bhasya of the Vedanta-sutra.

My earnest desire is to form immediately an association of the Vaisnavas and for this purpose I have got one association registered and in the name and style of -

The League of Devotees

(Hindi script - Sarvabhauma Bhagavata Samaj)

I hope in the meantime you have gone through the articles of my paper "Back to Godhead" and the spirit of my writings. I wish that you may kindly arrange for this association at Vrindaban and publish this paper "Back To Godhead" not only in English language but also in other Indian vernaculars under the name and style

(Hindi script:) "Bhagavan Ki Katha"

The news and views of the association "The League of Devotees" may be published with the Sampradaya's interest and in that way the interest of the Vaisnavas will be protected from the onslaught of man-made laws. We may not have any objection for enacting a statute for controlling the unauthorized activities of unscrupulous Sadhus-but we must be prepared to protect the transcendental ideas enunciated by the great Acaryas.

His Holiness Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami was the originator of Vaisnava Smrti in our Gaudiya Sampradaya and your good self is the worthy descendant of Sri Goswamiji. I hope you will kindly take this matter very seriously and accept my voluntary cooperation in this connection.

Yours sincerely,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta

Enclosure - 3.

N.B. Some papers, in connection with the Delhi meeting of The League of Devotees, are enclosed herewith please find. ACB

Letter to Members -- Bombay:

THE LEAGUE OF DEVOTEES INC.

Under Societies Act No. XXI 1860

Editor: "Back to Godhead"

Founder Secretary: Goswami Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta.

Bombay Office: 93, Narayan Dhuru St. Bombay-3.

Dated as post mark.

On the Supreme Order of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj, I beg to inform you that it is now high time to revive the divine consciousness of mankind, the people in general, modern leaders, philosophers, and religionists - considering the deteriorated world situation in every respect.

Dormant divine consciousness of the living entity is developed in the human being by natural evolution but it is sometimes snubbed down by artificial force on account of too much desire to Lord it over the material nature. The result is that such mode of civilization renders people short-lived, slow in understanding matters important in life (spiritual knowledge), accepting the wrong way of perfection, unfortunate even in material prosperity and always disturbed by diseases and distresses. And these are some of the gifts of nature in the mode of Godless civilization.

The above symptoms are now dominant all over the world in spite of the Godless leaders' various plans to bring in peace and prosperity upon the people. The only remedy is to revive the dormant divine consciousness by dissemination of spiritual knowledge.

Back to Godhead is devoted to this mission for all round human welfare work with wider outlook and for this there are many appreciations by educated circle. It is now decided that copies of the above paper will be posted to the leading men of the world in the following scale: (1) Afghanistan 1,000, (2) America 10,000, (3) Argentina 500, (4) Belgium 500, (5) Brazil 500, (6) Burma 1,000, (7) Canada 500, (8) Chile 500, (9) China 10,000, (10) Czechoslovakia 500, (11) Denmark 500, (12) Egypt 1,000, (13) Ethiopia 500, (14) France 1,000, (15) Germany 5,000, (16) Greece 1,000, (17) Indonesia 500, (18) Iran 500, (19) Iraq 500, (20) Italy 1,000, (21) Japan 2,000, (22) Laos 500, (23) Mexico 500, (24) Monaco 500, (25) Mongolia 500, (26) Nepal 500, (27) Netherlands 1,000 (28) Norway 1,000, (29) Philippines 500, (30) Poland 500, (31) Saudi Arabia 500, (32) Sudan 500, (33) Syria 500, (34) Thailand 500, (35) Sweden 500, (36) Turkey 500 (37) Vietnam 500, (38) U.S.S.R. 10,000, (39) Yugoslavia 500, (40) Austria 500, (41) Bulgaria 500, (42) Finland 500, (43) Holy See 500, (44) Hungary 500, (45) Rumania 500, (46) Switzerland 500, (47) Australia 2,000, (48) Cambodia 500, (49) Ceylon 500, (50) Ghana 500, (51) Malaya 500, (52) Pakistan 1,000, (53) United Kingdom 10,000. It is expected that all intelligent men will join this spiritual movement for a total reformation. This propaganda work is a part of SAMKIRTANJAJNA recommended for the people of this age.

The difficulty is that misguided people are more interested in the matter of sense gratification than in self-realization which is the ultimate goal of life. We have therefore taken up the difficult job to perform and it is our duty to do it.

We invite you to cooperate with the mission for collective welfare and help in the matter of wider circulation of the spiritual propaganda made by the BACK TO GODHEAD.

We shall request you to bear the cost of publishing, printing and distributing some issues of the BACK TO GODHEAD. This paper is issued twice in a month and the cost of 2 x 1,000 copies are as follows: -

Printing Rs. 72/-

Paper 50/-

Posting (at concession rate of postage) 40/-

Packing 8/-

________

Total Rs. 170/-

________

Rupees one hundred and seventy only.

Please try to contribute the expenses for one, two, three or more up to 2 x 12 issues in a year. If not at least for one month in a year, you can accept the burden for God's sake and distribute the same with YOUR GOOD NAME PRINTED ON THE ISSUES AS A DONOR. This service of spiritual value with your hard earned money on behalf of Godhead, will be recognized by the Lord and you will be blessed with spiritual enlightenment in your life without fail. Please experience it factually exactly like a man fed in hunger.

Sacrifice, charity and penances are three essential things for attaining spiritual light. The suggested way to you is the easiest one to cover all the above three important spiritual activities. Do not miss this opportunity. Kindly adopt it immediately and see the result how it acts.

May good counsel prevail upon you. Please read the current issue of the paper which is donated by an enlightened soul and follow the example for your as well as the world's good.

Thanking you in anticipation,

Yours faithfully,

Goswami Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta

Editor: Back to Godhead and Founder Secretary The league of Devotees

Enclosure: - 1.

Letter to Sri Munshiji -- Bombay 18 February, 1957:

Please accept my greetings. I am thankful to you for your granting me an interview and accepting a few copies of my paper "Back to Godhead" which you have promised to go through at your leisure hours. And on reading the paper, I hope, you may be able to make an estimate of my mission in the matter of the Bhagavad-gita.

I heard it through reliable sources that you are a great admirer of the Bhagavad-gita and your Vidyalaya has a special department for preaching its philosophy. I came to Bombay from Vrndavana to co-operate with you, because there is no difference between the missions of both yourself and myself.

I also attended your meeting of the 16th instant on the subject of "What is the matter with the world?" I was very glad to know your opinion about it and so far I remember that you concluded to go back to Godhead which only can save the world from a disaster of civilization.

Actually that is the position. Men have forgotten their eternal relation with Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Some of them are so foolish as to think that everyone of them are so many Sri Krishnas (?) or Gods although we know that God is one, one without a second. But there is no doubt in the fact that the man, nay every living entity, is a part and parcel of the Supreme God in quality; and therefore qualitatively there is no difference between living being and God. But so far quantity of energy and potencies are concerned, there is a great ocean of difference between living being and God. Therefore, the right philosophy is that God is simultaneously one and different from the living being. Those, who therefore consider God and living beings are identical in every respect, are polluted in thought. This pollution of thought of the empiric and atheistic philosophers now prevailing practically all over the world, has caused a tremendous deterioration of human civilization as to become agnostics in dealings. Symptoms of this agnostic trend of human civilization is described in the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad-gita and I need not describe it before you.

Therefore the preaching of the Bhagavad-gita must be in the line of its parampara system as it is described in the 4th chapter of the book. If it is not done so, then such preaching of the Bhagavad-gita, even if it is done by the erudite scholars, will be a sheer waste of time, energy and money.

I wish, therefore, that you may co-operate with me in giving the idea an effective shape.

In this connection, I would like to draw your attention particularly to my papers (issue No. XI) "An essential service" and (Issue No. X "Sri Krishna the Supreme Vedantist". In this connection, I have already made an association registered, of which a short description is given on the 4th page of the issue No. X which, I hope, you will kindly note.

Some friend asked me to join your institution for preaching the cult of Bhagavad-gita; but if you find it difficult to accept my service, then I shall go on organizing my society separately. And if you advise me to do so separately, then I would request you to become a formal member of the League personally. I hope you will not take my offering in an inferior complex but accept it in a spirit of love for the Bhagavad-gita. Om Tat Sat,

As I have been engaged in speaking of the Bhagavad-gita in your "Bhavan" for a few days, you may kindly send me the reply to the address given on the top of the first page.

Om Tat Sat.

I am,

Yours sincerely,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta

Letter to Seth Mangumal Amarsingh -- Bombay 24 July, 1958:

I beg to inform you that Sri Sanjib Banerji manager of the United Bank of India, has advised me to see you between 1 to 2 p.m. and he has told me that he had telephonic conversation with you about me. I have come from Vrindaban on a missionary purpose and the necessary papers in this connection are enclosed herewith. Please find. Sri Banerji has spoken very high about your good-self that you are highly interested in the matter of propagating the cult of devotion and the message of Vrindaban.

The present Vrindaban city is the excavation of the six Gosvamis headed by Srila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis who were deputed by Lord Caitanya to re-establish the Bhakti cult and inexecution of the order of Lord Caitanya the six Gosvamis lived there made a vast research in the Sastras and left behind them a vast literatures of pure Bhakti cult to be broadcast all over the world by later Acaryas. As such my Spiritual Master Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Goswami Maharaja made a great effort to execute the order of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and we were fortunate enough to meet Him for service. Apart from his various uncommon activities in the line, He was kind enough to order me to propage the same cult in English language to preach the cult in the foreign countries and in obedience to His order I am trying to do my bit. What I have done so far will be spoken by the enclosed papers. But I am practically struggling very hard for this job without any tangible success till Sri Sanjib Banerji has told me that you are the right person to co-operate with me in this noble task for propagating the Bhakti cult and combined in the message of Sri Caitanya Caritamrta.

The hearing tendency is made easy and still more favorable by songs and music of spiritual value to be equally shared by all classes of men namely the highest educated and the lowest illiterate. The movement is sublime and easy at the same time.

The League of Devotees is registered to make this movement in an organized way and I wish to enquire if any co-operation and help can be expected from your honour.

Awaiting an early reply and thanking you in anticipation.

Letter to Harbanslal -- Bombay 2 August, 1958:

You know that I am attached with one cultural mission of the name of the League of Devotees as well as Indian cultural Congress which is trying to broad caste this message of Paropakara. The standard of Paropakara should be such as will be useful both in the current life as well as life after death. Every sane man thinks of Paropakara in that way. Temporary sense gratification is not real Paropakara. Please therefore begin these Paropakara activities in the foreign countries as you have gone there. I think your going there is another __ preaching the Indian culture as above mentioned. I shall be glad to be in touch with you by correspondence so that I may be giving you my humble suggestion for this service.

Letter to Ratanshi Morarji Khatau -- Bombay 5 August, 1958:

I shall request you therefore not to mislead the people in general under the garb of religiosity and indulge in the transcendental pastimes of the Lord known by the name Rasa Panca Adhya. This society stands to rectify all these anomalies in the name of religion and I shall ask your good sense to join hands with us to stop all these nonsense. India's culture of spiritual value has an unique position and it has to be learnt by the human society in right earnest from the right sources. As an Indian and a man of good sense with practical business-brain you should not at least indulge in such organization under the influence of unauthorized person. Instead of indulging in the organization of such unauthorized persons you may kindly learn the science from the authority and make your life enlightened and attain success of the boon of human form of life. The League of Devotees is an organized effort to render this service to the human society without any pretentious conventions. We are publishing one paper of the name Back to Godhead to educate people in the right direction and I am sending herewith one pamphlet in which the opinions of several respectable gentlemen are inserted as to how they are being appreciated.

Letter to Darshanacharya Dr. B.L. Atreya M.A. D.Litt etc -- Bombay 14 August, 1958:

The hearing tendency is made easy and still more favorable by songs and music of spiritual value to be equally shared by all classes of men namely the highest educated and the lowest illiterate,. The movement is sublime and easy at the some time.

The League of Devotees is registered to make this movement in an organized way and I wish to enquire if any co-operation and help can be expected from your honour.

Letter to Jugalkishore Birla -- Bombay 26 August, 1958:

Please accept my respectful greetings. I beg to inform you that it is a matter of great satisfaction for us especially and for all generally that your honour is very sincerely anxious to preach the universal truth of Bhagavad-gita all over the world.

We know it also that you have spent much of you valuable energies for this purpose but so far it has not been to your satisfaction.

The purpose of the Bhagavad-gita can be preached only when it is taken up by real devotees of Krishna the Personality of Godhead.

One of the real devotees of Krishna was Arjuna during the appearance of Lord Krishna and as such the parampara of the Bhagavad-gita, which was broken prior to the occurrence of the battle of Kuruksetra, was reestablished at the battlefield and Arjuna was authorized to understand the purpose of the Bhagavad-gita. We should not miss this important point if we are serious about preaching the gospel of the transcendental literature.

As such it is understood in the beginning that one who does not follow the foot prints of Arjuna, cannot enter into the mystery of the Bhagavad-gita and therefore nobody can preach the gospel of Geeta without knowing its mystery.

There are thousands and one scholars in India and abroad but very few of them have followed the foot prints of Arjuna except the Vaisnava Acaryas such Sri Ramanuja, Sri Madhya, Lord Caitanya, Sridhara Swami, Madhusudana Sarasvati, Vishvanatha Cakravarti, Baladeva Vidyabhusana, etc. and many others who have followed the bona fide Acaryas.

The League of Devotees, is registered to train preachers and missionary workers for preaching the pure cult of the Bhagavad-gita not only in India but also throughout the whole world—exactly on the line of the bona fide Acaryas as it is recommended in the very Bhagavad-gita. And that is the right way to successful preaching of this Universal Truth for the benefit of all without any distinction of caste creed color or nationality. Every one is open to approach the Personality of Godhead Krishna not only from the species of the human kind but also from the species of life other than the human kind. This is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita. So far the system of Varnasrama is concerned it is no one's monopoly business and any qualified man can be classed in the Varna and Ashram as it is described in the Bhagavad-gita.

The cult of Hinduism or the system of Varnasrama are not being utilized in the spirit of the Bhagavad-gita and as such the abovementioned cult is waning day by day. We should take serious note of this kind of deterioration of the Arya Hindu Dharma and shall request you to come forward to help this institution determined to preach the pure cult of the Bhagavad-gita. You should not allow anymore the gross misuse of the cult of Sanatana Dharma at the risk of world peace and prosperity but come forward forward to co-operate with us in this noble mission and help us with all your strength.

I hope you will not misunderstand the position of the Acarya who is so important a figure in the matter of learning the transcendental science. The Acarya is the direct representative of the Personality of Godhead. And no body can claim to become a bona fide Acarya if he has not strictly followed the footprints of the previous Acaryas authorized in the matter. The whole thing has been disturbed in the set of Sanatana Dharma only by violating this principle of following the Acarya. So far the Bhagavad-gita is concerned every one, let him be a very great scholar in the mundane sense, must be in confirmed position along with the mode of understanding of Sri Arjuna. That is the crucial point of testing an Acarya false or real Sri Arjuna is the first man to understand Geeta and the mode of his understanding is clearly defined in the Bhagavad-gita. So there is no difficulty in testing an Acarya whether he is false or bona fide.

Our determination is to preach the Bhagavad-gita strictly on that parampara system as it is recommended in the Bhagavad-gita.

In the last portion of the Bhagavad-gita the necessary qualification of understanding the Bhagavad-gita is clearly stated.

According to this formula of qualification one who does not accept Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead—is unable to understand the Bhagavad-gita.

Such devotees of Krishna are actually Mahatma. Such Mahatmas are very rare. They are seen always engaged in the transcendental service of the Lord especially in the preaching work of the Lord's glories in His different energies namely the material as well as the spiritual which are described in the Bhagavad-gita as the Para and the Apara Prakrtis. These Mahatmas are always anxious to preach the universal message of peace mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita and it does not matter in whatsoever Ashram he belongs to. Arjuna was a householder Ksatriya and was fighting for the interest of the Lord and as such he was the first Acarya in the parampara line.

Arta, Artharthi, Jnani and Jijnasu are the beginners in the line of understanding the Geeta. The Mahatmas are above all these four classes of men and they are the post graduate men in the line. We know also the Ashuras who are divided into four classes namely the Duskrtinas, the Mudhas, the Naradhamas and the Foolish scholars. In order to preach the Bhagavad-gita we have to create the Mahatmas and not the Foolish Scholars who have unauthorizedly taken up the Bhagavad-gita without following the parampara line. That is an important point.

Please therefore join this League of Devotees and try to preach the Bhagavad-gita through the bona fide Mahatmas. Any one who follows strictly the footprints of Sri Arjuna is certainly a Mahatma. It does not mean that a red-dressed man is a Mahatma and a noble householder like your good self is otherwise. We can find out Mahatmas like Arjuna in the householder life also and in this age of Kali we should find out More Mahatmas in the householders life than in the other camp.

We are struggling very hard to give the mission a practical shape for want of money. It has not yet come to the point save and except publication of two papers only one in Hindi and the other in English. And if your good self joins, many other richmen of the world will certainly join.

The minimum expenditure is estimated to be Rs. 3000/- a month to begin with. Three hundred members of this noble mission can at once raise this sum for training the preachers and other necessary expenditure.

Please therefore come forward and become the headman of this League. See that the money is properly being utilized and see the result also side by side. I am sure you will be encouraged to take interest in this missionary work more and more by the practical result of the work.

Awaiting your early reply and thanking you in anticipation.

For the League of Devotees,

Yours faithfully,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta

Founder Secretary.

Letter to Brother -- Jhansi November 1958:

So do not become a madman in false conviction. Do not remain in ignorance for your problems. Be just like a fully developed conscious man and acknowledge that you have never been happy in the true sense of the term neither your ideal of happiness has ever been fulfilled.

The way in which you are seeking to be happy or trying to make others happy in your manufactured ideology—is called "Maya" or illusion. By such illusory way of making yourself and others happy, you have simply been credited with creation of much disturbances and entanglement for all concerned. That is the record of history of the material world. Empire may come and empire may go, the problems of life remains the same. Please therefore be cool headed and patiently ask within yourself if you are really happy.

The happiness which you are hankering after is possible to be attained as soon as you learn to introspect yourself within yourself. You are yourself your friend and you are yourself your enemy. You can raise yourself by your self effort and you can down yourself by the same effort. It is simply to know the direction and the way. In the right direction you can make yourself happy in the right way. Please therefore contact us and we shall help you to raise youself to your normal happiness. It is no dream neither any bluff. You shall know yourself how far you have made progress in that path and our duty will be to help you only. Thinking that you shall be a prospective member of our League of Devotees, I am sending you herewith a copy of the Prospectus and I wish most sincerely that you should become an active member of this great institution. Pay or pay not you can become a member without obligation and the League welcomes you always accepting you as the Divine child.

Yours Sincerely,

For the League of Devotees,

Abhay Charanarvinda Bhaktivedanta

Secretary.

Letter to Dr. Y. G. Naik M.Sc., Ph.D -- Delhi 28 March, 1960:

I am glad to note that you have got the highest estimation for Gita. I am just trying to present the conclusion of Gita to the world as it is and without any imperfect compromise with speculative interpretations. We have to learn the lessons of Gita from the authorized disciplic succession as it is advised there in the book (4th Ch.). Unfortunately every one not in that line tries to explain Gita in his own way and this process is misguided the people. We have to counteract this disruptive tendency and put them at right.

I shall be very glad if you join my mission (The League of Devotees) and on receipt of your favorable reply I shall send you the prospectus. An erudite scholar like you should join and help in this noble attempt. Your appreciation of India's cultural heritage is very much enlivening for me. Let us jointly distribute this great cultural heritage to the world at large in an organized manner and through the recommended process of Divine Love propagated by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Please try to help me as far as possible. Awaiting your reply with interest. Hope you are well.

Letter to Mathura Prasad -- Vrindaban 23 May, 1964:

I beg to thank you for your kind cooperation in the matter of Bhagavatam Mission. I shall try to see the Hathras gentleman of whom you have given me the name and the address. Kindly send me some more addresses of gentlemen so that I shall send them the books and other necessary papers to convince them about the importance of the work I have undertaken. After seeing the Hathras gentleman I shall go Delhi and from there I shall send you some sets books and other literatures to you per Railway parcel and then I shall again go to Agra from Delhi to secure some members of the League of Devotees which is a registered society possessing certificate of exemption of income tax to receive donations.

1966 Correspondence

Letter to Mangalaniloy Brahmacari -- New York 16 July, 1966:

Regarding the Jhansi incidence referred to by your Guru maharaj I may inform you that the donor of the house did not like to hand over the estate to any individual person. I therefore registered a society (The League of Devotees) and I invited your Guru maharaj to join it as the head man. But he, as he was with the then Kunjada desired to have the property in the joint name of him and Kunjada. So I became silent and I left the whole scheme. Let us now forget all these past incidences and go forward with present responsibility.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Bank Manager -- From FOUNDER-SECRETARY LEAGUE OF DEVOTEES 1975 So. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, Cal. 90034 USA August 8, 69:

From: FOUNDER-SECRETARY:

LEAGUE OF DEVOTEES

1975 So. La Cienega Blvd.

Los Angeles, Cal. 90034 USA

August 8, 69

LT_690808_E1

Manager

THE BANK OF BARODA

856, Chandni Chowk

Delhi-6, INDIA

Dear Sir:

RE: ACCOUNT #2408

Kindly close this account, and whatever amount is there in credit balance please transfer to my personal account # 1452. Thank you.

Sincerely,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Letter to Manager of The Bank of Baroda -- Los Angeles 8 August, 1969:

Manager

The Bank of Baroda Ltd.

Post Box No. 1801

Mafatlal House

Backbay Reclamation

Bombay-1

Dear Sir:

RE: ACCOUNT #4996 LEAGUE OF DEVOTEES

Kindly close this account, and whatever amount is there in credit balance please transfer to my personal account #4966. Thank you.

Sincerely,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Letter to Manager of The Bank of Baroda -- Los Angeles 8 August, 1969:

I thank you very much for your letter #FEX.21/-2295, dated July 28th, 1969, and I have noted the contents. I am enclosing herewith another formal advice on behalf of The League of Devotees for transferring the balance to my account #1452. Please do the needful.

Regarding Indian exporters, I beg to request you to send me some addresses of musical instrument dealers in Delhi. Most probably some of them might be your clients, and if you kindly advise them to send their catalogs or price lists, it will be very appreciated.

Sincerely,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Letter to Manager of The Bank of Baroda -- Los Angeles 8 August, 1969:

I thank you very much for your letter No. FGN: 14/1026, dated July 30th, 1969. First of all I beg to draw your attention to the credit balance in my SB account #4966. I think the credit balance quotation by you, Rs. 280.55, is not correct. The last balance in my credit on the 24th of July, 1965 was Rs. 502.55. Since then I have added further amounts, and I do not find any amounts drawn since then. Therefore, the balance should be not less than somewhere around Rs. 800. I request you to send me immediately a statement of account and oblige. In the meantime I am enclosing a separate advice for transferring the balance of the League of Devotees to my personal account.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Hanuman Prasad Poddar -- Los Angeles 5 February, 1970:

So our initiation process is executed according to authorized regulative principles. This is the sum and substance of our initiation process. In the beginning, they are given Hare Nama and during sacred thread ceremony they are given Gayatris and eighteen letter Krishna Mantra. The disciple chants daily the Gayatri Mantras thrice—morning, noon, and evening. The beads are chanted a minimum of sixteen rounds daily, or in other words, 27,648 Names daily.

I am enclosing herewith some printed copies of the rules and regulations, ten kinds of offenses, etc. which are regularly observed by the students.

Hope this will meet you in good health.

Yours in the service of the Lord,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

P.S. So far the means of the books published are as follows:

3 volumes Srimad-Bhagavatam League of Devotees $16.00 (set)

1 paperback Bhagavad-gita As It Is Collier (MacMillan) $2.95

1 hardback Bhagavad-gita As It Is MacMillan $6.95

1 Teachings of Lord Caitanya ISKCON Press $5.95

1 Sri Isopanisad ISKCON Press $1.00

1 Nectar of Devotion ISKCON Press $5.95

1 Krishna ISKCON Press $10.00

1 Easy Journey to Other Planets League of Devotees $0.50

1 Two Essays ISKCON PRESS $ .50

Monthly magazine "Back to Godhead" ISKCON Press $0.50

French ed. "Back to Godhead" ISKCON Press

German ed. "Zuruck zur Gottheit" ISKCON Press

Some of these are being enclosed herewith, and the balance will be dispatched from New York along with books.

The management of our different centers is made by three officers; namely a President, Treasurer, and a Secretary. They have got separate banking accounts in each center. The checks are signed by two officers out of three. Although in each banking account my name is there as Acarya, and when I am in a center sometimes I sign the checks, still, usually I do not. I try to keep myself aloof from business transactions; but as far publications is concerned, I manage the book fund personally.