Material platform (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"material platform" |"material platforms"

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Rayarama -- Los Angeles 11 January, 1968:

May Krishna grace you more and more and in your advance service of Krishna Consciousness. You have very nicely stated that I am your life. This means you are my body and so neither life nor body can be separated because on the spiritual platform there is no such distinction. On material platform sometimes life is separated from body, but in the Absolute platform there is no such distinction. Dr. Radhakrishnan foolishly makes such distinction on the Body of Krishna, and therefore when Krishna says that one should become His devotee, he commends that it is not to the Person Krishna, but to the Light within Krishna. He does not know that in the spiritual platform, there is no such distinction of life and body.

Letter to Janardana -- Los Angeles 21 January, 1968:

Regarding Ba'hai philosophy: I have read the pamphlet you sent me, and I find in it that this Ba'hai movement is more or less a humanitarian movement which has no spiritual information. Generally people are attracted by humanitarian movements and Swami Vivekananda was a popular figure of this platform but this humanitarian movement of the material platform is always unsuccessful because one has to counteract the 3 modes of material platform. I do not find any hint in Ba'hai literature where one can surmount the reactions of material qualities. The idea of Ba'hai movement is more graciously presented in our Krishna Consciousness movement. The Ba'hai movement doesn't take any consideration of living entities beyond the human society. But our Krishna Consciousness movement includes everything in the creation of God. As a scholar, you can read such books but I am sure it will not help very much in the matter of advancing our Krishna Consciousness movement. Humanitarian movements is certainly very attractive for the people in general, just like if you start a movement to stop war, it will be very attractive to the people in general. But as a matter of fact, war cannot be stopped. We aren't after stopping the war, but we are after utilizing war actions for satisfying of Krishna, as Arjuna practically performed. War cannot be stopped from the material world, but it can be purified. Therefore, so called humanitarians are our target of Krishna Consciousness.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 22 January, 1968:

You have accepted me as father, so I have also accepted you as my dear and real son. Relationship of father & son on spiritual platform is real and eternal, on the material platform such relationship is ephemeral and temporary. Although I cannot give you anything as father, still I can pray to Krishna for your more & more advancement in K.C. Your sincerity & service mood will always help you in advancing your genuine cause.

Letter to Gurudasa -- Los Angeles 13 February, 1968:

Regarding Acyutananda's letter to you: it is a fact that in Brahmacari Ashram no Grhasthas are supposed to live, but the American House which we are now contemplating has no separate department for Grhasthas or Brahmacaris. Therefore for the present we cannot make such distinction in the American House. We are just beginning the American House there and gradually we shall make departmental division later on. Your quotation from Lord Caitanya that nobody should identify as a Brahmacari, Householder, Sannyasi, is quite correct. On the Krishna platform there is no such distinction. The only reason is that on the material platform sex life is very predominant. Therefore a Brahmacari is advised not to live with Grhasthas. But if there's strong sense of Krishna Consciousness, this distinction of material world will disappear in spiritual light.

Letter to Cidananda -- Montreal 12 July, 1968:

A living entity has constitutionally mind, intelligence, and ego, but they are contaminated in contact with matter. At the present moment, our ego is working under some designation. Somebody is thinking that he is an American or Indian, and other is thinking that he is Brahmacari or Householder. This sort of ego is material but when one is firmly convinced that he does not belong to any material designation, but, his pure identification is eternal servitorship of Krishna—in Vedic language it is called, aham brahmasmi. That means I am spirit soul. The Mayavada philosophers on account of their negligence to serve Krishna, may sometimes come to this understanding of Aham Brahma asmi, but they again fall down to the material platform on account of such negligence. Therefore, this chanting process is being constantly in Krishna Consciousness, there is no such fear of falling down of the devotees.

Letter to Hayagriva -- Seattle 22 September, 1968:

f you can write a nice short article, inviting the hippies, to take to Krishna Consciousness, and practice it in New Vrindaban, I think many sincere hippies who are looking after something genuine, peaceful, they will come. So our movement if it is introduced amongst the hippies, because so far I can understand, they are after such thing for peace of the mind. Not only for the hippies, but for everyone. Everyone is seeking after peace and happiness, but they are seeking in the material platform. That is not possible to be achieved there. One has to be elevated on the spiritual platform and then his aspiration will be fulfilled.

Letter to Gurudasa -- Los Angeles 14 December, 1968:

It is very much encouraging to me to hear of so many activities of performing kirtana there. Kirtana is the universal principle, therefore, if you chant Hare Krishna offenselessly, that is to say, avoiding the 10 kinds of offenses, the vibration is sure to act. And anywhere this vibration is made, it will be liked because it is done on the spiritual platform. And on the spiritual platform, there will be certainly agreement. So long one is on the material platform, there is no agreement. So our movement is directly taken to the spiritual platform. So do it nicely, offenselessly, and it will be successful anywhere.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Vrndavanesvari -- New Vrindaban 25 May, 1969:

We are working neither on the sensual platform, nor on the mental platform, nor on the intellectual platform. We are working completely on the spiritual platform. The concept of European, American, or Indian is based on the bodily platform. So long one is under the impression that he is this body, he cannot make much progress in this movement. Lord Caitanya says that factually all living entities are the servants of Krishna. This servitorship cannot be rendered from the material platform, because Krishna is not matter. He is Sat-Cit-Ananda Vigraha. Anyone trying to serve Krishna from the material platform of body, mind and intelligence cannot appreciate this fact. One has to become free from the contamination of matter, represented in gross and subtle forms as body, mind, intelligence and ego. Until then, one is not a pure devotee.

Letter to Sacisuta -- Tittenhurst 19 September, 1969:

Regarding your question, this is also described in Chapter 9, when Krishna says that whatever you sacrifice, whatever you eat, whatever you give in charity—give it all to Me. Such action is also called Sannyasa yoga. Sannyasa means to sacrifice everything for the Supreme, and if we link up our activities in such way as is enunciated by the Lord, then all the diversities become unified in Krishna Consciousness. Krishna Consciousness is itself Brahma platform, so all our students who are engaged in the service of God, they are not on the material platform. They are already liberated

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Krsnakanti -- Bombay 29 November, 1970:

I have seen the pictures of your new altar and temple renovation and everything is looking gorgeous. Always be sure that the Lord is pleased and your success as His genuine servant is assured. I am glad that you have decided to give your time now fully to serving Krsna directly, but do not misunderstand the position of "outside" jobs. Any work which is performed by a devotee in Krsna Consciousness is never work on the material platform although it may appear to be so. Such a Krsna Conscious person is never associating with the materials of mundane work or with the mundane workers, he is always associating with Krsna by devotional service whatever his position may be. Krsna is maintaining everything at all times, but those who are less intelligent do not see that everything is working by direction of the Lord and they think things are running on automatically somehow or other. That is the view of atheists and fools. Persons in Krsna Consciousness always are fixed in knowledge that the Lord is the Supreme Controller of all that be.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Secretary to Minister of Education and Culture -- Los Angeles 7 June, 1972:

Besides this human welfare activity for communal sharing of the material necessities of life, there is an ancient Vedic program for simultaneously raising the whole society to the highest perfection of spiritual consciousness. We are, like you, the good public leaders of your nation, interested in material improvement, but also there must be spiritual improvement as well. It is not that I should be concerned only that my wife and sons eat and get satisfaction, but I must be concerned for the ultimate well-being of everyone. By nature, everyone is endowed with individual tastes and preferences, therefore what satisfies one many may not satisfy another, so there will always be some dissatisfaction and discrepancies of all sorts. Therefore, if we try to satisfy everyone's well-being on the material platform, we shall never find the end of it, and we shall be frustrated in our attempts, and there will be protest, etc.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Caturbhuja -- Los Angeles 9 May, 1973:

Your fifth question is, "Bhagavad-gita says that the conditioned soul is subjected to four defects. Does that refer to the body or the soul?" The defects are there in the living being when he is acting on the material platform. As stated in Bhagavad-gita chapter 15 verse 17: "dvavimau purusau loke, ksaras caksara eva ca, ksarah sarvani bhutani, kutastho 'ksara ucyate:" "There are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material world every entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every entity is called infallible." So the defects are there only on the material platform. One who is acting in Krsna Consciousness is beyond those defects.

Letter to Kirtanananda -- Bombay 18 October, 1973:

Material nature means dissension and disagreement, especially in this Kali yuga. But, for this Krsna consciousness movement its success will depend on agreement, even though there are varieties of engagements. In the material world there are varieties, but there is no agreement. In the spiritual world there are varieties, but there is agreement. That is the difference. The materialist without being able to adjust the varieties and the disagreements makes everything zero. They cannot come into agreement with varieties, but if we keep Krsna in the center, then there will be agreement in varieties. This is called unity in diversity. I am therefore suggesting that all our men meet in Mayapur every year during the birth anniversary of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. With all GBC and senior men present we should discuss how to make unity in diversity. But, if we fight on account of diversity, then it is simply the material platform. Please try to maintain the philosophy of unity in diversity. That will make our movement successful.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Amsu -- Vrindaban 13 August, 1974:

Regarding the worship of our Gaura Nitai by women pujaris, we worship Lord Caitanya in His householder life when He was with His wife, and not as a sannyasi. So, it is alright for women to do this service. But, besides this, service is spiritual and there can be no material designation. In Bhagavad-gita it is stated by Lord Krishna: striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te'pi yanti param gatim. The principle is that everyone who is properly initiated and following the rules and regulations can worship. This activity can not on the material platform.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Professor Stillson Judah -- Honolulu 11 June, 1975:

If a person has unflinching devotion at the lotus feet of Hari (God), then all the good qualities of great personalities like the demigods, automatically becomes manifest in the person of a devotee. Whereas a nondevotee, even he is decorated with material qualities, he is forced to act on the material plane and he stays in temporary field of activities. The idea is that spirit-soul is eternal and the material body is temporary, or for the sake of sense gratification. The mental plane is also material. People being forced to stay on the material platform, they are planning for temporary happiness, and being frustrated, they are jumping from one platform to another which are all temporary. But, fortunately, if one becomes situated on the platform of Krishna Consciousness, then his jumping over material platforms becomes ceased. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita as follows: yam labdhva caparam labham manyate nadhikam tatah—Upon gaining this, he thinks that there is no greater gain. So, at the present moment, there is great necessity to give to the human society Krishna, or God.

Letter to Ed Gilbert -- Vrindaban 9 September, 1975:

Regarding your question, God does not discriminate, but so long as we have got forms we have to discriminate. Without God consciousness the discrimination is there. Why should think that you are American or that he is an Indian? Upon this platform of discrimination the whole philosophy of nationalism, communism, this ism and that ism is going on. When one learns how to see individual persons without discrimination, then he becomes perfect. That is described in the Bhagavad-gita: vidya vinyaya sampanne/ brahmane gavi hastini/ suni caiva svapake ca/ panditah sama darsinah (BG 5.18). "The humble sage by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater (outcaste.)" It is only on the spiritual platform or Krishna consciousness or God consciousness platform that there is no such discrimination. So if you remain on the material platform and artificially desire no discrimination it is not possible.

Letter to Saksi Gopala -- Vrindaban 6 December, 1975:

This means that the consciousness is not clear, brahma-bhutah prasannatma, na socati na kanksati (BG 18.54), the clear stage of consciousness is free from hankering and lamentation. As long as we are on the material platform, bodily conception of life we will hanker for so many things required for material supremacy. Therefore to clear this cloudy consciousness Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommended that one should simply chant the Holy name of God sincerely and hear it with attention. To chant dance, take prasadam and be happy. Marriage is not recommended. Are you prepared to get a job, live outside the temple in apartment, provide the wife with bangles saris and sex? Better you concentrate on this chanting and hearing process, teach others and give them prasadam.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Ramesvara -- Calcutta 12 January, 1976:

Regarding the improvements of gold stamping and gold guilding on the Bhagavatams, I have already advised Radhavallabha Prabhu. Simply to make fashionable and increase the price may hamper the sales. Rather decrease the price.

That so many people are purchasing our literature in Los Angeles indicated that it is being advertised: Oh, I have got a very nice book. Then their acquaintances want the book also. The books distribution in Los Angeles during the six day period is transcendental samadhi. They are working in trance, not on the material platform. No common man can work so hard, it is not possible. Working without sleep means no death. Sleeping is dead condition. "Jiv jago, jiva jago, gauracanda bole, kota nidra yao maya-pisacira kole." Your book distribution is really intoxication.

Letter to Jayapataka -- Vrindaban 23 October, 1976:

We cannot expect all foreigners to come and manage Mayapur affairs. The best management is to turn the local men into devotees. Make the management perfect in this way. Things should be developed in such a way, based on devotional service, that there may not be any racial feelings. This is Kali-yuga. Very easily racial feelings are awakened on the material platform, but on the spiritual platform there is no such thing. Yes, what you are describing is the banking system. Every day, until the trial balance is calculated, no employee can leave the bank. That was the old system in Indian business.