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May appear (Letters)

Correspondence

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Upendra -- Allston, Mass 1 June, 1968:

And if the coconut is shaken, it is found that the coconut fruit is moving within. Because it has dried up and broken away from the inner walls of the coconut skin. So it has nothing to do with the outer skin, even though it appears that it is within that skin. Similarly, when one is purely in Krishna Consciousness, it may appear that he is within the material existence, but actually he has nothing to do with it. He is dried up, like the coconut fruit; and that process of drying-up is forgetting all sense gratification, and executing Krishna Consciousness full time. So, when one is purely in Krishna Consciousness, his present life and in future life are identical.

Letter to Hayagriva -- Seattle 7 October, 1968:

The marriage tie should be taken as very sacred. One who marries for subduing lust is mistaken. Because lust cannot be satisfied simply by indulging in sense gratification. It is compared with that extinguishing the fire with large amount of petrol. For the time being, the fire may appear to be extinguished by pouring a large quantity of petrol, but the petrol itself is so dangerous that at any time, it can be in flame. So to subdue lust is a different process. Then you have to take to Deity worship. I am sending herewith one copy of the process of Deity worship. Krishna is Madan Mohan. You have already stated in your letter, it is very nice, that you would much prefer to channel all your desires to Krishna, and you ask me how is this possible when enveloped in maya, seeing only material forms. You have also written to say that if you can see the Absolute Beauty which is all-attractive, then you could not help but be attracted and would scorn mundane beauty. This is actually the remedy.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Rupanuga -- Hawaii 14 March, 1969:

Is Arjuna an instructor Spiritual Master and not an initiator Spiritual Master and therefore not listed?" The time gap mentioned by you is inevitable, because the disciplic succession sometimes becomes disconnected, as we find from the Bhagavad-gita. This is the influence of material energy, and to link it up again, it takes some time. That some time may appear to our calculation a big gap, but in relation with the eternal time, it is not even as instant. So this big gap or small gap of time is relative. Just like our 24 hours and Brahma's 24 hours, there is much difference. Our 24 hours is not even a fraction of his second.

Your fourth question, about the "life force" mentioned in Chap. 4 of the Bhagavad-gita; I do not find that page. Please send me the page number in your next letter and I will explain.

Letter to Rupanuga -- Hawaii 14 March, 1969:

When we put ourselves in the position of enjoying good or bad reaction, then we suffer or enjoy. But action in Krishna Consciousness has nothing to do with such material suffering or enjoying. Therefore action in Krishna Consciousness is inaction, whereas a person doing nothing materially may appear to be inaction to others, but actually he is doing something for Krishna. In other words, the materialist thinks of the devotees as inactive. Similarly, the devotees think of the karmis as inactive—simply spoiling time, building sandcastles.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Jaya Gopala -- Los Angeles 11 January, 1970:

The initiation performance is an agreement by the disciples to abide by the order of the Spiritual Master. Therefore, if the Spiritual Master is bona fide and the disciple is serious to abide by His order, then the success is sure. But if a disciple follows strictly the devotional way of life, he is no longer a karmi and all his activities which may appear to be like ordinary work, or it may be activity according to Scriptural injunction, are counted as devotional service. And devotional service in all circumstances is free from the actions and reactions of karma. I hope this will clear the matter.

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Los Angeles 23 January, 1970:

Just like the example is given of the shining moon covered by the cloud. When the cloud moves along with the peeping moonshine, it appears that the moon is moving. Anyone who has seen such movement of cloud in the sky must have this experience.

So, the moving of the cloud may appear to the layman's eyes as moving of the moon, but that is not a fact. Similarly, the moving of the body of a pure devotee is not the moving of the pure devotee. After all these are facts for the process of realization, but we can try to understand them as far as possible from the statement of authorized Scriptures through the version of the Spiritual Master or saintly persons.

Letter to Karandhara -- Tokyo 22 August, 1970:

So in the absence of physical presentation of the Spiritual Master the vaniseva is more important. My Spiritual Master, Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura, may appear to be physically not present, but still because I try to serve His instruction I never feel separated from Him. I expect that all of you should follow these instructions.

Hope this will meet you in good health. Please keep me informed of your good activities always and offer my blessings to all the boys and girls and the little children.

Letter to Hayagriva -- Calcutta 26 September, 1970:

I have received your letter of Sept. 11, 1970, and have noted the contents. It is nice that you are personally managing New Vrindaban now, and I am sure that everything is progressing nicely just to the standard. So for the present just continue in this way. Krishna will give you all intelligence how to do it. Regarding Mr. Ginsberg's article, yes, it may appear if it is followed by an adequate refutation. But kindly make the refutation very strong; then that will be nice. I am adding some points that you may elaborate on.

1) As you state, Krishna is identical with His name. That means that His name has the same qualities as Himself, i.e. sat, chit, ananda. No mundane vibration is eternal, otherwise why does it grow tiresome and have to be changed every other week. Nor do mundane songs produce real knowledge or bliss unending. Also, this transcendental vibration purifies one. Anyone can see practically how our students are becoming purified, but the chanters of material songs are not.

Letter to Krsnakanti -- Bombay 29 November, 1970:

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.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Jadurani -- Calcutta 19 May, 1971:

They are also foods too much spicy. All this is described there in Bhagavad-gita.

Vidura looks like a human being; "self-same body" means looking like material body. Any devotee always is in a spiritual body although it may appear material; Smoke is smoke; When Krishna says unto me, he means unto "me." So he should not be pictured with Radharani,* Why a snake? Being entangled in the qualities of material nature is very subtle, so why a snake?

I am so glad to hear that the devotees are appreciating that everything belongs to Krishna. That attitude is very nice and should be maintained. Actually it is a fact. By illusion only we think things belong to someone else. And if the painters are new, certainly they should be given instruction. They should be helped in every way.

Letter to Hiranyagarbha -- Delhi 22 November, 1971:

He is very favorable to our Movement. It appears that more and more the gentleman class of men in your country is respecting this Krishna Consciousness Movement, so you should approach them one by one and convince them very tactfully to help us.

A man is known by his notions and by his words. But sometimes it may appear that he is doing something, but he may be thinking something else. So a man is really known when he speaks, then everything is revealed. So if this Mayavadi sannyasi does not speak, then he can fool everyone. But if you force him to speak he will expose himself, therefore he is silent. Even he remains silent, we shall speak very loudly and expose these bogus men. Let our philosophy be challenged by anyone and we shall defeat them. I want that you distribute our books very widely, as many as possible, then people will get the right information. We show people by the results: so many centers, happy devotees, big books, strong conviction—like that.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Unknown -- Los Angeles 16 September, 1972:

I know that you will understand that this subsidy will greatly facilitate the growth of Society-wide programs and everyone will benefit. From your local view it may appear to be an imposition, but I assure you that overall it is in the interest of Lord Caitanya's Movement. Regarding your regular remittance, it will be left solely to your integrity and "for the overall benefit" conscientiousness. I am sure you will do the needful.

Also, regarding the sale of translations to outside publishers (which we hope to do with the Bhagavad-gita As It Is for Spanish, French, and German) 50% will go to the local Center which did the actual translating and 50% will go to the Book Trust, as per Prabhupada's directions.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Robert Keene -- Bombay 9 January, 1973:

I do not know what are exactly the facts of the matter, but if there are any discrepancies as you say in the temples of ISKCON, they should be immediately rectified by conscientious officers. Of course, we cannot expect to find always any utopia in this material world, that is a fallacy, and it may appear to someone who is materialistically inclined that what we are doing is not only harmful to our materialistic condition, but also that we are not caring for our students and so many other things. But if you inquire from our students more carefully, you will come to understand that these superficial matters are not very serious in the long run, and that the students are becoming very happy by their acquiring spiritual knowledge and serving Krsna in so many ways. It is said that "one man's food is another man's poison."

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Jagaddhatri, Pasupati, Sailogata, Pamela -- Dallas 30 July, 1975:

No one invited me. Even you boys and girls did not invite me. But, I came and I preached aggressively, and therefore you are now my disciples. So now you well know you have to approach the men and women of your country, and it may appear that superficially that you have to disturb them. They are doing their business peacefully, and you come and disturb them, "Please take this Krishna book."

Of course it is good that you are concerned about being chaste, shy, and submissive amongst your godbrothers. Canakya Pandit said that every man should see all other women as mother, and similarly a woman should see all men as son. So what is your difficulty? If you are completely aggressive on Sankirtana, there should be no material aggressiveness and pride remaining. You have to distinguish between devotees and non-devotees.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Purusottama -- Los Angeles 4 June, 1976:

Life cannot be prolonged by heart transplant. You cannot increase the duration of life. One can perhaps give some relief to disease, that is another thing, but the duration of life is destined. From the dead body, one cannot bring life. Similarly, it may appear that one is prolonging the duration of life by medicines or heart transplant, but that is not the case. If one lives 4 years after having had a heart transplant, then by nature's law he was destined to live four years with or without having had a heart transplant. So what is the value of heart transplant?

1977 Correspondence

Letter to Artists -- Unknown Place Unknown Date:

Regarding your question, how could Visnu appear from the nostril of Brahma? The answer is that Visnu being all pervading, He can appear from anyplace. He appeared as Nrsimhadeva from the pillar. So, one may question how Visnu may appear from pillar, but actually He appeared. He is all powerful with inconceivable potency, and therefore He can appear Himself from anywhere He likes. When Lord appeared as a small hog from the nostril of Brahma He began to expand Himself more and more and gradually He became a gigantic boar. So these are inconceivable energy of the Supreme Lord. It does not, however, mean that Brahma's nostril is the birthplace of Visnu. The sun rises from the eastern horizon. That does not mean that eastern horizon is the birthplace of the sun. I hope you will understand the transcendental appearance and disappearance of the transcendental Personality of Godhead as such.

Page Title:May appear (Letters)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:27 of Jun, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=16
No. of Quotes:16