Prabhupada and Saradia devi dasi

Expressions researched:
"Saradia" |"Saradiya"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:

Śāradīyā: Swamijī? When we go to Kṛṣṇaloka to be with Kṛṣṇa...

Prabhupāda: Just see this girl, little girl, is aiming for going back to Kṛṣṇaloka. Just see. (laughter) I am giving an example. They don't care for this material senses. They are always thinking "When I shall go there, home, back to home, back to Godhead?" This is the psychology. Yes?

Śāradīyā: When we serve Kṛṣṇa, even though we don't have a material body...?

Prabhupāda: No. Material body you have to finish here. You are finishing your material body so many times even during this bodily existence. So material body cannot go into spiritual world. You have your material body here. Similarly, as soon as you enter in the spiritual world you have spiritual body.

Śāradīyā: We have a spiritual body to serve Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: As good as Kṛṣṇa's body. Kṛṣṇa has got spiritual body, similarly you will have spiritual body. Is that clear?

Śāradīyā: I want to know, when we serve Kṛṣṇa, we have spiritual senses, then that satisfies our spiritual senses when we serve Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇaloka?

Prabhupāda: Yes. You dance with Kṛṣṇa, you eat with Kṛṣṇa, talk with Kṛṣṇa, you enjoy with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa will kiss you also. (laughter) Kṛṣṇa is very kind to everyone, either you love Him as a lover, either you love Him as your son, either you love Him as your friend, or you love Him as your master. In whichever way you like you can love, and Kṛṣṇa will respond. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). In the Bhagavad-gītā you will see Kṛṣṇa says, "Anyone who loves Me in different ways or different type," so Kṛṣṇa also loves reciprocating that way. If somebody Kṛṣṇa..., loves Kṛṣṇa as enemy, Kṛṣṇa also gives him salvation in that way also. Kṛṣṇa is so kind.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 16, 1972:

Prabhupāda: So if I get facility for pushing on my missionary work, there is no harm in getting married. Because in Europe, America these boys and girls, they live like friends. So I said that "You cannot live as friends. You must get yourself married" and that is, that has proved... Here is a girl. Where is that Śāradīyā, Śāradīyā there?

Devotee: Here she comes.

Prabhupāda: Eh. When she was young, fifteen years, she very frankly told me that "I want this boy to marry, Vaikuṇṭha." (laughter) So I told Vaikuṇṭha that "You, you are reserved for her. As soon as she's over sixteen years, you have to marry her." Another girl, she is now at Manila. She's Australian. She was a famous actress. So she came to Los Angeles and surrendered to me. And I asked her that "You go to Tokyo. I have got a disciple. And get yourself married with him."

Guest: Oh, wonderful!

Prabhupāda: Yes. She never saw him. So in European countries...

Guest: That's impossible.

Prabhupāda: It is impossible. But she went and married him and they're living peacefully. Now they are married. So I have to see the interest of my missionary work. Never mind. Of course it is a novel thing, that sannyāsī is taking part in marriage. But what can be done? I have to execute my mission.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Baradraj and Chandanacarya Dasas -- Boston, May 4, 1969:

Prabhupāda: All right. Take your beads. Be happy. Baradraj. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (japa) Chant. (japa) Keep it there. You can keep it.

Śāradīyā: You want to move more closer?

Prabhupāda: You can keep it.

Candanācārya: Put it down?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Nama. You take little, little, everyone, and when I say svāhā, you put it.

Satsvarūpa: Prabhupāda? Is Śāradīyā dāsī going to take the Gāyatrī?

Prabhupāda: Gāyatrī, so where is that mantra sheet? Then I'll give you after. That's all.

Wedding Ceremonies

Wedding Ceremony and Lecture -- Boston, May 6, 1969:

Prabhupāda: You're, nobody is guardian? First of all, you come here. Both of you, come sit down. Satsvarūpa? Where is Satsvarūpa?

Satsvarūpa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Come here. So you can say that "Śāradīyā, my Godsister, was so long under my care. Now I give Śāradīyā to you, Vaikuṇṭhanātha, in your charge."

Satsvarūpa: Śāradīyā, my Godsister, has so long been in my charge. Now I give you unto my Godbrother Vaikuṇṭhanātha.

Prabhupāda: Now you say that "I accept her as my wife."

Vaikuṇṭhanātha: I accept her as my wife.

Prabhupāda: "And take charge of her..."

Vaikuṇṭhanātha: And take charge of her...

Prabhupāda: "...throughout her life..."

Vaikuṇṭhanātha: ...throughout her life...

Prabhupāda: "...and shall see to her comfort, provide with all necessities of life, without thinking of any personal gratification." (Vaikuṇṭhanātha repeats) You say that "I accept you as my husband. (Śāradīyā repeating) I shall serve you throughout my life as your most obedient servant." (chuckling) Yes. "And we shall live together peacefully for prosecuting Kṛṣṇa consciousness, forgetting everything else, and live happily." Now change your garlands.

Devotees: Haribol!

Prabhupāda: Now you sit down and cover the head. Yes. Cover the head. Yes. Just like... There is no, that red? Vermillion?

Himāvatī: Where is that red crayon?

Prabhupāda: Now you can sit down there, next her. No, you sit left. Now change. You sit here. Yes. Now she'll always remain on your left.

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk at Stow Lake -- March 23, 1968, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: You are all chanting sixteen rounds? No? (laughs)

Śarādīyā: I did at first but then I slipped back.

Prabhupāda: Is it very difficult?

Mālatī: No, we do not know how yet to regulate our time too well. Some days we chant sixteen rounds and then the next day, I don't know what happens. I think we sleep too much, I mean I think I sleep too much.

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Prabhupāda: How you are feeling, Śāradīyā? Nice?

Śāradīyā: I'm fine.

Prabhupāda: You are going to Europe? No? You have got to attend your school? That's nice.

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Śāradīyā: (break) What is the significance of using the barley and the sesame.

Prabhupāda: Some eatables, that's all. Grains are eatables. Therefore I am substituting. They are eatable. There must be something eatable.

Devotee (1): Does eatable... Does Kṛṣṇa eat out of the fire?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (1): He does? He eats all that?

Prabhupāda: Everyone eats. Kṛṣṇa also... Kṛṣṇa eats through fire. Therefore yajña is offered. Kṛṣṇa eats by so many ways, but people want to see that "I give foodstuff; it must be finished." (chuckles) So for the rudimental seers and the less intelligent class, this is...

Janārdana: Virāṭa rūpa conception.

Prabhupāda: Virāṭa rūpa, yes. That is also nice, right, that through fire He eats, yes, or through the mouth of the brāhmaṇas and devotees. Two things are there.

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Śāradīyā: (break) Simply by Your Divine Grace, on Kṛṣṇa's appearance day in San Francisco my mother came to the temple and she wore a sari and a tilaka.

Prabhupāda: Oh. (chuckles) You are converting your mother to this cult.

Yamunā: A very nice mother she has.

Prabhupāda: Unless mother is good, how the children are good?

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Jadurāṇī: Doesn't sound like you're concerned about temple affairs.

Prabhupāda: No. It... That's all right. For the time being you don't touch. You chant and everything will be... Soon you will be in good health. Then you will again work. Yes. Śāradīyā, you are painting? No. All right, you finish your school. You are going to school?

Śāradīyā: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. You are painting? That's nice. You? That's nice. Practice painting nicely. We'll require so many pictures. We shall publish so many pictures, book. You are not painting. You have no time to paint. You have got enough engagement. So you can... So long you are here, you just show how to Deity worship, how you are doing that, and they will learn. Yes. She is doing that very nice. So you can, all of you, all girls, you take, her. See doing, how she is doing.

Discussion with BTG Staff -- December 24, 1969, Boston:

Satsvarūpa: Well, Prabhupāda, you used that word once before, assistant. So then when Jāhnavā saw that letter she said, "That means I should paint." So all that assistant meant was that they all painted. And Śāradīyā began to paint. I don't know what you mean by assistant.

Prabhupāda: Assistant means that they should work under her direction. That is assistant.

Satsvarūpa: And produce pictures side by side with her.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I give some idea, sketch, and then under that sketch, instruction of Jadurānī, and...

Satsvarūpa: So according to Jadurānī, only she, Muralīdhara, Devahūti, and Baradraj were good enough, that the other weren't good painters, Jāhnavā and Śāradīyā. But I don't know that.

Prabhupāda: Then they may practice. They may be given to practice, not the actual work.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Introduction Speech By Dr. Kapoor and Conversation -- October 15, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Where is that girl, Śāradīyā? Here is nice girl. You see. And where is your husband? Oh. Oh, why you are so skinny?

Śāradīyā: Prabhupāda, he just got over jaundice. In Bombay.

Devotee: In Bombay he had jaundice.

Prabhupāda: Oh. So give him sugar candy water. Bring in the morning. You know sugar candy? The sugar candy... Soak sugar candy at night in a glass, and the first business in the morning you should take that glass of water, sugar candy.

Śāradīyā: He is doing all that now.

Prabhupāda: Ah. And he should not take at all ghee. No fatty preparation. And if it is possible, secure papaya, raw papaya, green, and boil it in the... These are the medicine for jaundice.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Krsna dasa -- Allston, Mass 1 June, 1968:

I am so glad to learn that your two brothers are growing very nicely, and I hope in future they will be great help to this missionary activities, and so I think also of your nice sister, Saradia. Please try to guide them properly.

Letter to Saradia -- Montreal 19 June, 1968:

I am so glad to receive your letter dated May 30, 1968, and I was just awaiting another letter from your intimate friend Ali Krishna. I am so glad to learn that Ali Krishna and you are all living with Malati and Syamasundara.. We have recently got a newcomer baby, Srimati Sarasvati devi, and pleased to learn that they are taking all care for you. I am also very glad that your mother is also taking part in Krishna Conscious activities. I have received one letter from Lilavati also, and I have replied her. I am very glad to know also that the injury in your hand is now cured.

Yes, I am happy to hear that you are going to visit with Jadurani. She will be very much happy to see you also.

We are preparing for starting for London and very soon we shall go there. And as soon as the newly born child is little strong, Malati and Syamasundara., along with you, may come to London and start our Sankirtana movement there.

Letter to Wendy Weiser -- Montreal 10 August, 1968:

And when you are in Boston, it is not very far from Montreal, so you can come here to visit. And when you come here, we shall talk together, and I shall initiate you as my disciple if you so desire. And I shall be very pleased to meet with you and also Saradia, if she also comes here.

Letter to Hayagriva -- Montreal 12 August, 1968:

Just on Saturday, several devotees have arrived from San Francisco: Mukunda, Janaki, Gurudasa, Yamuna, Syamasundara., Malati (and their little child, Srimati Sarasvati devi), and Saradia, all of them have come here for two weeks to practice together as our Sankirtana party, then they will all go to London and begin preparations for our center there. They are all ready for opening up a center there, so we are going to try to make it as successful a venture as Krishna desires. While they are here, we are having rehearsal of Kirtana daily, and I want also that they shall practice rehearsal of your play, about Lord Caitanya's activities. So if you can send a copy of your drama as soon as possible, they will begin rehearsing how to do it.

Letter to Jadurani -- Montreal 30 August, 1968:

I have noted down the description of the paintings that you have recently done, and I hope in the meantime Saradia has reached under your care. This girl is very innocent, and nice student; please try to keep her under your care, at least for one year. Then I shall get her married with Vaikunthanatha das Brahmacari. She is also good typist, and if possible she can help the typewriting work and assist Satsvarupa.

Letter to Krsna dasa -- New York 31 August, 1968:

Your sister Srimati Saradia has gone to Boston. She is as nice as her nice brothers and she has expressed her desire to marry a nice boy. I agree with her proposal but I have asked her to wait for another year as she is too young.

Letter to Saradia -- Los Angeles 12 December, 1968:

I am in due receipt of your recent letter and I have noted the contents with pleasure. Your kind thoughts which you expressed are very nice and encouraging to me. Also you have asked some intelligent questions and I am answering them here.

You have asked how Krishna is with the spirit soul in the spiritual world and the answer is that Krishna is the heart of the spirit soul, or spiritual body, So Krishna is never apart from us. Either He remains in the heart of the material body, or He remains in the heart of the spiritual body. This is Krishna's Causeless Mercy to all of His beloved children, or living entities.

To answer your second question, you should know that Arjuna and Kunti Devi are not in Krishna Loka. They are eternally associated with Krishna only in the material world. Just like Krishna is always in the spiritual world, so similarly He is always in the material world and His Pastimes are going on there also. In the material world, Krishna also has eternal associates, such as Arjuna and Kunti Devi. There is a difference between the body and soul of Arjuna and Kunti Devi. But although Arjuna is with Krishna in innumerable different material universes at one time, still there is only one spirit soul who is Arjuna. This spirit soul expands into many different bodies and thus you can understand that there are also incarnations of devotees as well as incarnations of Krishna. This is the power of the spirit soul, that it is unlimited. Such conception cannot be understood while one is still in the conditioned state.

Regarding your third question, both incidents are correct. I hope these shall answer your questions. Please convey my blessings to Satsvarupa, Jadurani, Devananda, Rukmini and all others.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Krsna dasa -- Columbus, Ohio 8 May, 1969:

You will be glad to learn that your sister, Saradia, was married last night with Vaikunthanatha, and they appear to be very nice, happy couple. When I was in Montreal, your sister proposed personally that she wanted to marry Vaikunthanatha one year ago. So according to her desire she is now married.

Letter to Krsna dasa -- New Vrindaban 7 June, 1969:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 25, 1969, and I beg to inform you that both Saradia and Vaikunthanatha are doing well in Boston. I hope you have sent her a letter of congratulations by now. When I was in Montreal Saradia expressed her desire to marry Vaikunthanatha, and immediately I asked that he would remain reserved for her. He is a very nice boy, and I hope they will be happy in their future homely life in Krishna Consciousness.

Letter to Balai -- London 15 November, 1969:

I understand that Saradia has come back to Boston, living with Vaikunthanatha. This is nice. One thing you should know—of course, I know that you are so nice that there is no possibility amongst you for disagreement between husband and wife; but sometimes it happens—so you can let Saradia know that in our Krishna Consciousness household life there is no question of separation. Our marriage is Absolute. But if sometimes some disagreement is there, they may live separately for a few days, but that does not mean they can think of separation. Please try to educate all the girls in that way.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Bahulasva -- Los Angeles 18 April, 1970:

Regarding Paramatma Das, I think he should simply push on with his school work as much as it may be necessary and the remainder of the time he may spend with the devotees in our Krsna Conscious activities. Certainly he is feeling some inconvenience due to the poor association at the karmi school but this is not a permanent situation. In the past many of our devotees like Lilasukha, Kancanbala, Indira, etc. in New York, Saradia in Boston, some others in Buffalo, and in other places also have finished up their required education in the public schools in spite of continuous feeling of disturbance by the nondevotee students and faculty. So if he finishes up his education in this way remaining under your care at the temple, then the unwanted association will not be harmful, just see that he is strictly executing his prescribed duties and that will keep him strong in spiritual life.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Vaikunthanatha -- Allahabad 12 January, 1971:

I will be very glad to receive the package of Deity clothes made by Saradia, but they have not arrived yet. I have been travelling about between many provinces of India and my mail is not always received timely. Anyway, I am expecting them at any moment.

Letter to Dr. Baltwant Singh -- Gorakhpur 22 February, 1971:

Now as our movement is spreading all over the world and I am working at present in India, two of my disciples, husband and wife, have already gone to Trinidad. They are somewhere in Frederick Street in Trinidad. The couple's names are Vaikunthanatha Das Adhikari and Saradia Devi Dasi and they are now at present in the Port-of-Spain. I'm enclosing herein one picture of the couple. If possible you can open correspondence with them. If you find difficulty then you can refer this matter to Hayagriva Das Adhikari; c/o New Vrindaban; R.D. 3; Moundsville, W. Virginia; U.S.A. He will help you with their address. You can arrange to call this couple, Vaikunthanatha and Saradia, and after their arrival it may be possible if so requested, to send more men by suitable arrangement. I am interested to open many centers all over the world and if you help us in this matter for opening a center in Guyana, it will be a great service to the society.

Letter to Abhirama -- Bombay 5 March, 1971:

I am very anxious that Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's message be carried to South America also. Now we have got one center in Trinidad, started by Vaikunthanatha and his wife Saradia. That is a beginning. So your idea of having a large boat travelling from city to city is very encouraging. So if you have got the means, then go ahead and do it.

Letter to Vaikunthanatha, Saradia -- Bombay 4 April, 1971:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your very encouraging letter dated 21st March, 1971 and have noted the contents carefully. I am so glad and proud of you that you two young boy and girl have gone to Trinidad to preach the mission of Lord Caitanya and you have impressed the public so nicely by your preaching work. May Lord Caitanya bless you and bestow his benediction upon you always.

The news of your newly established temple in Trinidad, San Fernando, is so much encouraging and now Kanupriya and his wife are running that center in your absence. Long ago I was invited by the people of Trinidad but at that time I could not go, although I had great desire to go there. Now you are fulfilling my desire.

Now you have gone to Guyana. Dr. Balwant Singh has written me how well you are being received there also. So take advantage and immediately open a center. It is a good field for selling our literature (5000 BTG per month to start is very encouraging) and the inhabitants are cooperative, so it is the ideal opportunity to open a center. So Trinidad or Guyana, one center should be established very nicely. Just like we have got our L.A. center and so many smaller centers. Similarly, in that quarter of the world there must be one very nice center. So concentrate your efforts in that way and when things are ready I shall send you Deities. And when the situation is favorable, I shall go there also.

Even though you have had no gayatri mantra, still you are more than brahmana. I am enclosing herewith your sacred thread, duly chanted on by me. Gayatri mantra is as follows:

(TAKEN OUT)

Ask your wife to chant this mantra and you hear it and if possible hold a fire ceremony as you have seen during your marriage and get this sacred thread on your body. Saradia, or any twice-initiated devotee, may perform the ceremony.

I remember the days when Saradia expressed to marry you and I immediately reserved you for marriage to Saradia. Later on in Boston you were married and since then you are working so nicely. I am very pleased upon you. Simply use this marital life for spreading the glories of Lord Krishna and in this very lifetime you will be promoted to associate with Krishna in Goloka Vrindaban. So please stay on the purity platform; chant 16 rounds daily and without fail, follow all the regulative principles, and read all our books and your life is sure to be successful. Unless one is sufficiently empowered, one cannot preach Krishna Consciousness. So the fact that you are preaching so nicely is proof that you are already benedicted by Krishna. So preach Krishna Consciousness and be happy.

Here in India we are having one massive Sankirtana Festival called "Bhagavata Dharma Discourses, a Hare Krishna Festival" where 20,000 to 30,000 people are attending daily for chanting, lecture kirtana and prasadam distribution. So here in Bombay preaching work is also very successful. Many important men are becoming interested. Most probably we will have our permanent center here soon.

Letter to Dr. Balwant Singh -- Bombay 4 April, 1971:

Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 23d March, 1971 and have noted the contents. I am so pleased that you have taken my two young disciples, Vaikunthanatha and Saradia, from Trinidad for preaching work. It is so kind of you that you are appreciating their work in this connection. Kindly continue to help them so that there may not be any impediment in their preaching work.

I thank you very much for inviting me to go there. If it is Krishna's desire that a temple be built in Trinidad or Guyana, then I shall go there. I have received one letter from Dindayal of Guyana in this connection and if the two of you can work with Vaikunthanatha and Saradia for establishing one center, that will be very nice. So thank you once more for your kind invitation and when the temple is established, I shall go there as soon as possible.

Letter to Vaikunthanatha, Saradia -- Brooklyn 24 July, 1971:

My Dear Vaikunthanatha and Saradia, my beloved son and daughter,

Please accept my blessings. I am so glad to receive your letter dated 4th July, 1971 from Trinidad and it has encouraged me so much that I am now confident that my missionary activities will go on even in my absence. You young husband and wife are so nice that Krishna will shower His blessings upon you both incessantly. Please keep up the spirit of preaching work and you will be victorious wherever you go.

I have received your press cuttings and they are very much encouraging. So you concentrate you energy for preaching in that part of the world. You are already popular there and you will become more and more popular.

Nara Narayana may be required for constructing a temple in Mayapur in India, but if he doesn't go to India then surely he will go to Trinidad to construct a new temple there.

So the public is in sympathy with our movement and I am sure that there will be no difficulty in extending your visas further. Work sincerely, keeping faith on Krishna and the Spiritual Master and everything will come out successful.

Letter to Vaikunthanatha, Saradia -- London 9 August, 1971:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 26th July, 1971 and have noted the contents carefully. Previously I had written you one letter on 24th July, and I hope that you have received it by now. Just now I have come to London after spending two weeks in N.Y. Both these centers are doing very nicely. Also, when I was in Los Angeles, Krishna das came to see me from San Francisco. He was having some doubts but now he is all right and has again begun making plans for going to Moscow. He is very enthusiastic about it.

So far Nara Narayana is concerned, presently he is applying for missionary visa so that he can go to Mayapur and help with the construction work there. So he won't be able to go to Trinidad. But you write to say that you are trying to get the use of one of many old temples there for an ISKCON center. That will be very nice, so try for it. BTG and book distribution is going on so nicely there. Especially continue this program enthusiastically. It is so much encouraging. I am so much grateful to you both, husband and wife, that you are so much helping me to fulfill the order of my Guru Maharaja and surely Krishna will give you all facility for making our Trinidad center a grand success and surely He will bless you more and more. Just as soon as you have secured a nice temple and have organized a nice program, I will be glad to come and visit there. That will be very nice.

Letter to Suresh Candra -- London 13 August, 1971:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated 15th July, 1971 and have noted the contents. I am glad to learn that you had contact with my disciple Vaikunthanatha and his wife Saradia Devi there in Guyana. Presently Vaikunthanatha and wife are in Trinidad at the following address: c/o B.N. Singh; 258 Christian Drive; Plaisance Park; Pointe-a-Pierre; Trinidad, W. Indies, and are working very hard to push on this Krishna Consciousness movement in that part of the world. They are very sincere young couple and I am very much appreciative of the fine work they are doing there. Formerly they were in Guyana but when their visas expired, they were forced to leave the country, despite the local support. But I know that there are many people in Guyana who are wanting to see us establish one center of our International Society for Krishna Consciousness there in Guyana. They can be of great help; simply they must be organized. You are there and are very enthusiastic for us to go there also, so you can do a great service by gathering local support and do whatever has to be done to allow Vaikunthanatha and his wife, or any other of my disciples, to go there and establish one very nice center. That will be very nice service, and Krishna will surely bless you.

Letter to ISKCON Trinidad, Vaikunthanatha, Saradia -- London 15 August, 1971:

I beg to thank you very much for your kind feelings of appreciation of my humble service unto you. You are all helping me in pushing forward this mission of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, coming down by disciplic succession to my Guru Maharaja. So whatever you have spoken, it is simply due to them. I am simply the via media to receive them, on behalf of my Guru Maharaja, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja Prabhupada.

Letter to Saradia -- Nairobi 25 September, 1971:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated 15th September 1971 and have noted the contents. Krishna has blessed you with a very nice child, Ananga dasi, and I am very much pleased to note how she has got some affection for Lord Jagannatha. That is very nice. And actually there is no harm in her playing with Jagannatha but how the Deity will be kept from being mishandled or kept in a dirty place or even thrown away at the whim of the child? You cannot always check her. Therefore to such a small child the Deity of Lord Jagannatha should not be given. Let her grow up a little so that she can follow some instruction in this connection and then you can give her.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Saradia -- Bombay 5 February, 1972:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of January 26, 1972, and I am very upset to learn the news of that incident in Trinidad. Yes, you are right to stay away from such a place, and there is no harm if husband and wife live separately for some time. I do not know if there is good possibility in Trinidad for preaching. If, as you say, you are only preaching among the Indians there, then I think they may not be taking up this philosophy of Krishna Consciousness very seriously, and in that case there may be better scope for you and your good husband to open a center in Europe, as requested by your brother, Krishna das. But if the people of Trinidad are very seriously interested in our ISKCON Movement, then we should remain there and expand our preaching work. In either case, if there are some brahmacaris interested to go there and help, and if you think your husband Vaikunthanatha can be spared for preaching in Europe, I have no objection. You should consult with the GBC men I have chosen to decide these matters of management.

Letter to Vaikunthanatha -- Bombay 29 December, 1972:

Sometimes Krsna may put us into some difficulty just to purify us and force us to advance in Krsna consciousness. The devotee should always see his difficulty in this light, that Krsna is so kind upon me for creating this condition of struggling, thus He is relieving me of so many billions of lifetime of sinful reactions by this very insignificant and temporary condition of suffering something. Or if our attachment for Krsna is not yet developed, and there is still attraction for the ordinary life of householder life, together with friends, family, children, working, like that, that is all right, by that process if one contributes something of his income to the preaching work and attends himself with family the temple for the class and kirtana, gradually he will get some enthusiasm and develop his attachment for Krsna. But that is the slow and troublesome way, and I know that you are so intelligent boy, along with your good wife Saradia, so you may do as you like, but it would please me very much if you will dedicate yourself and your wife completely to the preaching work. That is important. Running-on of factories, family, these are ordinary businesses and anyone may do them, any ordinary man, but you are not ordinary man, that I know. My best advice to you is that you do not bother yourself by so many speculative thoughts and thus only aggravate the situation further.