I tell you as a sincere friend that you must immediately retire from active politics if you do not desire to die an inglorious death. You have 125 years to live as you have desired to live but you if you die an inglorious death it is no worth. The honour and prestige that you have obtained during the course of you present life time, were not possible to be obtained by any one else within the living memory. But you must know that all these honours and prestiges were false in as much as they were created by the Illusory Energy of Godhead called the maya. By this falsity I do not mean to say that your so many friends were false to you nor you were false to them. By this falsity I mean illusion or in other words the false friendship and honours obtained thereby were but creation of maya and therefore they are always temporary or false as you may call it. But none of you neither your friends nor yourself knew this truth.
Prestige (Letters)
Correspondence
1947 to 1965 Correspondence
I am trying my level best to reopen the business but still it will take minimum one week to come to the normal condition. I am awfully stranded and put to much shame. Will you kindly help me as you have done so many times? As a son has no shame to ask his father, so I feel no shame for it because there is no other help at the present moment. If you can, please do send me T.M.O. for Rs 300/- & save my prestige & honour. I expect to return you this sum after a fort night. As soon as my business is opened I shall at once get back Rs 1000/-. May God bless you.
1967 Correspondence
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of Your letter Dec. 2, 1967 with great pleasure. I am so glad to learn that we are receiving orders for our records from far distant places. It is all Krishna's mercy. You will be pleased to know that I have purchased my ticket for New York via Tokyo and San Francisco. I am starting tomorrow morning at nine-thirty. By evening reaching Tokyo via Bangkok and Hong Kong. I shall rest 24 hours in Tokyo and on the 14th at night, I am starting for San Francisco. By local time I am reaching San Francisco on the same day, the 14th at 12:45 p.m. by P.A.A. 846. Yesterday I have sent one telegram to this effect, and I hope I shall reach there safely as scheduled. I am so glad to learn that Satyavrata and yourself are trying to get the teachings of Lord Caitanya published. You do not know how pleased I am to hear this news. When one book is published I think I have conquered an empire. So try to publish as many books as possible and that will enhance the beauty and prestige of our society. The Ramakrishna mission has nothing to say substantial but because they have money and have published so many rubbish literatures they have become very cheaply popular. You can just imagine how much powerful our society will become when we have as many substantial literatures published. We should not only publish in English but also in other important languages such as French and German.
1968 Correspondence
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter (undated) and thank you very much for it. Your sentiments are very kind, and I very much appreciate them. Regarding your question about what determines our fortune, generally when we are in the material world, we try to be prosperous by material opulence. Just like a common man tries to have a good house, a good wife, a good property, good social prestige, and this way, go on increasing the bodily concept of life, and possess more and more in relationship to the body. This is unfortunate. All living entities beginning from Brahma down to an ant, everyone is trying to increase such materialistic way of happy life without knowing that any amount of material comforts of life cannot make the spiritual living entities happy. Therefore, when a living entity becomes very serious to become really happy and gets into touch with Krishna Consciousness by the Grace of Krishna and the Spiritual Master, that is the beginning of his fortunate life. And the more one becomes advanced in that fortunate way of life, the more he becomes happier and happier. This is the difference between fortunate and unfortunate. The beginning of contact with Krishna Consciousness is the beginning of good fortune. That some people may come and others may not, this is also due to association. Suppose a man accidentally comes in contact with our society and gives some service willingly or unwillingly, that is the beginning of his fortunate life. We go from door to door canvassing people to join Krishna Consciousness movement means that we are trying to make them fortunate. Anyone who gives some service to this Krishna Consciousness movement is fortunate proportionately. At least the seed of his fortunate life is sown there. Whether he gives service of some sort, willingly or even unwillingly, the seed is sown, and the fortune will come proportionately. Even if somebody looks shabby and unclean, if he simply says this Krishna Consciousness is very nice thing, even he is not able to take full advantage of it at the time, still he is far more fortunate than any Rockefeller.
1969 Correspondence
Regarding your need for more manpower, I have already asked Arabinda to go there, and he will be writing to you soon about this. Regarding the securing of advertisements, this responsibility should be divided among three centers, namely New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Purusottama has already gotten some advertisements for you, and he is teaching Sudama to help him also in Los Angeles. In San Francisco, both Cidananda and Dindayal will be trying for this also. In New York, Gargamuni and Nayana Bhirama should work in this way also. Nayana Bhirama did nicely in securing advertisements for this last issue, so I think he is skillful enough to be very helpful for the next issue also. If advertisements are sold in many different cities, it will add prestige to the magazine, because people will see that we are getting advertisements from all over.
Please accept my blessings. I have received your very long letter dated February 9, 1969. I have to read it very carefully and reply you in due course, but I wish to inform you that the advertisements are not very congenial to our prestige, especially the hippy kind of advertisements. So we have to think over how we can avoid the advertisements and publish at the same time. The hippy advertisements referred to by Purusottama was written to you on my consent. When I look through the back issues, the comic pictures of Vamanadeva, of the hunter, of the bride-groom party, such things are very instructive. I think instead of engaging our pages in the matter of book reviews with which we do not agree, we should utilize these pages for such comic pictures. On the whole, I wish to present Back To Godhead purely in the line of Krishna Consciousness throughout and criticism of too much materialism, as you have written many articles already. That is very nice.
Regarding Jadurani, if she does not improve in a month or two, then she will come back and live with you, chanting Hare Krishna and depending on Krishna. Don't bother; Krishna will take care of her. I don't think that she is very dangerously ill because her face indication was not bad. But after all, we have got these material bodies, and some temporary ailments may come and go, but we have to tolerate. But in all cases, you must find out a nice place as temple, either by purchasing or by renting. If you think that advancing $10,000 will get a nice house, then you can find out and we may find out the money. But first you must let me know how you shall repay. If you purchase one house, even you make down payment of $10,000, you have to make monthly payments of $300 or $400. So these things are to be considered. But if you can find a nice house which will accommodate all the householders and brahmacaris, then that will be very good. But do not take on any big responsibilities now. Concentrate on organizing Sankirtana very nicely and try to sell Back To Godhead. That is our main propaganda. It is very encouraging that you are daily collecting about $50. Now you have got a nice carriage, and thus you can go anywhere you like. Try to keep nice peace with the police as far as possible, because our method is to be tolerant more than the tree and humbler than the grass on the street. We don't mind for so-called prestige. If keeping peaceful we can execute our Krishna Consciousness duties, that is all we want.
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 20, 1969 and I have noted the contents. Prior to this I received one letter from Arundhati explaining why things were delayed, and you have also kindly explained it. So everything by Krishna's Grace is all right. Regarding your dismissal from the job, I think it is Krishna's indication that you are not meant for such kind of service. Now you can freely and completely engage yourself in Krishna's service as He has very kindly allotted to you in the matter of editing, transliterating and helping your wife in composing. This is sufficient engagement for you. Besides that, as you have now improved in speaking you can do nice preaching work. I think you must have improved in that way because you are going through so many transcendental literatures, so you must have your ideas and philosophical notions in the matter of Krishna Consciousness. So it will be a great advantage if you get occasion speaking engagements in various schools, colleges and universities, provided they pay for it. In your country, if somebody accepts a service free of charges or at lower rates, he is considered to be third class. So although we are prepared to render our services free of charges, still, for the prestige of the society we must charge. And if you get some scholarship stipend from the foundations, that will be a great achievement. Not for the money, but the foundations will gradually recognize what valuable service we are rendering to the human society.
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters dated December 4, 1969 and December 6, 1969. So far as transferring $1,400 to the account of ISKCON, I have done it immediately. The copy of the advice to the bank is enclosed. Please note down my account number there which is now transferred to the same branch on Broadway. So when convenient you also transfer in the same way so there will be no difficulty of exchanging money. Regarding the Franklin and Marshall College, as you have desired that it is a wonderful opportunity for me, so that I may be able to write in seclusion while my elderly students may manage the society affairs, that is a very welcome suggestion. So you can accept the proposal immediately. Besides that, I see that Professor Thomas J. Hopkins and the students of the college are very much eager to hear from me, so I must fulfill their eager desire, even there is some inconvenience. But I hope if I get a nice apartment with heating arrangement, there will be no inconvenience. I am also pleased to note that they are going to purchase my books, 30-35 sets. That is a great boon for us. If we can introduce our books in these colleges and universities, it will be great prestige for the society and myself also personally. So let us do this business as an experiment.
Another thing, I have received a great complaint against the United Shipping Corporation regarding supplying goods to our Hawaii branch. So pending inquiry, you should not forward any order to them, and if you have got any money due from them, you should try to adjust by taking goods from them immediately. Regarding BTG, I am so glad that you are printing 50,000 copies henceforward. I have received also your press management report, so the only thing to be amended there is that all books especially must be twiced edited, once by Satsvarupa and once by Hayagriva. In every publication house all printing matters are edited at least three times. So we should be very much careful about grammatical and printing mistakes. That will mar the prestige of the press and the institution.
1970 Correspondence
Regarding your second question, Byabhaichary, you have got 31 only out of 33. I think some of the brackets are not counted. So if the parentheses are removed from "intoxication" and "impotency" and they are also counted, the total of symptoms will come to 33. Simply add commas after the preceeding symptoms namely "prestige" and "impudence" respectively.
Somehow or other, we shall overflood the market with Krishna Conscious literature. That will create our prestige, and being cheap distribution, many people will learn our philosophy. Another point is that while BTG is delayed, you can sell these.
I am very glad to learn about New York's situation. New York must have a nice Temple as Los Angeles as soon as possible. That will be prestige for New York City. Next weekend, you can transfer my bank money, as addressed by you personally.
So kindly try to convince the Prime Minister and take up this matter very seriously because by the spread of this cultural movement India's prestige will be glorified. Bhagavad-gita although accepted as Hindu gospel is not limited with the Hindu community. All over the world this book is studied. There are hundreds of foreign editions of this book and actually I am seeing how they are anxious to receive this culture. If you want more information I shall be very glad to supply you, and you please try to help this movement for the remaining days of your life. Both of us are now old enough. I shall complete my 74th year by the next month and you are of the same age, so let us do something combinedly for the remaining days of our life so that our mother India may be glorified all over the world.
Yes, the police and Government men will gradually understand us and naturally their harassment will diminish. The same thing is happening everywhere. So prepare excellent literatures, that will enhance our prestige.
1971 Correspondence
It is good that you GBC members are meeting and conjointly discussing such things as life membership, book distribution, etc. The future hope of solid standing of our mission is on the proper management of our governing body. Now we are increasing in volume. The area of our activity is expanding. Under the circumstances, if our management goes on nicely to maintain our prestige and good name, that will be our success. Such status quo can be maintained only on our being freed from any kind of sense gratifying attitude, because pure devotional service means: anya avhilasita sunya or without any other desire than to satisfy Krishna.
So far as making speaking engagements is concerned, by all means you may do so but first of all I shall let you know definitely when I am going to N.Y. Then you can make many engagements in respectable circles. That will enhance the prestige of our society.
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 11th February, 1971 and have noted the contents. Yes, Washington D.C. is very good location for the site of East coast Rathayatra festival. So go ahead as planned and do it nicely. I do not know whether I shall be present at that time, but if Lord Jagannatha desires, then I shall be there without a doubt. The point is that recently there is contemplation going on for me to go to Australia and then Russia, so my return to U.S.A. may be somewhat delayed. Here in India things are going on very nicely also. We just completed one grand Sankirtana festival entitled "Bhagavata Dharma Discourses, a Hare Krishna Festival" in which 25,000 to 30,000 people were attending daily for eleven days for lecture, arati, kirtana and prasadam distribution. It was a grand success and we should be establishing our permanent center here in Bombay very soon.
I am so glad to hear how you are increasing your program at the schools and colleges and teaching classes there also. That is very encouraging. This university teaching should be vigorously done and our literatures introduced as well. It is an ideal opportunity to do so. And you are getting free ghee from the city school system. That means support of the local government. That is very nice. If you can gain the sympathy there of the government, local state or national, that will so much enhance our prestige. So go on trying for it.
I have seen your newsletter and it is very nice. The same should be sent to our life members in India. A list is enclosed herewith and as soon as you print such newsletters they should be posted to all these life members by surface mail. A second list will also be sent by Tamala Krishna for Calcutta life members. Yourself and all the other centers should do the same. It will enhance the society's prestige as well as your own locally. You can reprint the list of members and circulate to all centers with instructions as I have just now given you. So far as distribution of our pictures is concerned, that is another branch of propaganda work but they must be printed at least as nicely as Brijbasis; then people will purchase.
Please accept my blessings. Sriman Bhagavan das is mailing out one newsletter of our activities to the Indian families in U.S.A. to gain their support, especially in Chicago. I have seen one copy and it is very nice, so I have asked that he send a copy to each and every one of our life members here in India as frequently as they are printed up. It will enhance their prestige locally as well as that of the society as a whole. In this regards you can immediately send Bhagavan das an up-to-date list of all life members in Calcutta. A complete list of all Bombay life members, etc. has already been sent.
So far the chief guest is concerned, I have written Tamala that if Indira Gandhi or some nice donor is not available, then forget this function. I was in Calcutta when there was an attempt to post one literature in which it was falsely declared that Indira Gandhi was to perform the corner stone ceremony, and I objected. Everything should be done very carefully. We are increasing in volume and we have got some prestige. Nothing should be done irresponsibly.
If there are sufficient men in Calcutta, then why not send some and try to develop Delhi? Subala Maharaja sometimes says that he will conduct the Vrindaban press and sometimes he says that there is no need. He is not fixed up. It was the program in Delhi that BTG in Hindi would be published. There was so much enthusiasm for this Hindi work in Delhi and now nothing is done. We are making members on the condition that there will be a Hindi BTG but no arrangement has been made to date; simply words. Ksirodakasayi left India all of a sudden. Dr. Rao is competent to translate but I do not know why he is silent. I first went to India some time last year at the end of August. So you are all in India for at least one year but still you cannot publish a second issue of Hindi BTG. So immediately arrangement should be made. We have to publish from India BTG in different languages. Whatever prestige we have got is due to our magazines and books. So in this connection, no attention is being drawn and, as Tamala is in charge of Indian affairs, I wish to draw his serious attention in this matter. What arrangements are there for printing our magazine in different Indian languages? Some Bengali man, Mr. Chaterjee's son-in-law, wanted to translate. What happened to that?
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of November 24, 1971, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I have not received as yet any recommendation from Rupanuga for initiation of your wife, but as soon as I do I shall be glad to accept her. You are a very good boy, and you are sincerely serving Krishna, so you may know it for certain that very soon all of your anxieties will disappear. I am especially pleased that you are eager to attract the upper class of your society by hosting them in your place you have got near the temple. This is a good proposal. First convince them of our philosophy, then request them very seriously to cooperate with us in spreading this great Krishna Consciousness Movement. If we get their cooperation then our prestige and local standing will be very solid and respectable. So I am very much pleased that you are developing this program of approaching big big businessmen and leaders.
I am very glad to hear that Hindi BTG is ready for publication. As you have suggested I am enclosing a bank draft for Rs. 4000/- drawn in the favor of Radha Press, Delhi. We cannot pay the Rs. 1000/- asked by Crescent Press for advance towards paper; and Hitsaran Sharma has done very nicely for us with the previous issue so we shall continue to take his help. The duty of publishing our Back to Godhead in Hindi is a most important service to all of your countrymen and if you can promote and increase the sales of the magazine that will insure the prestige of our movement. Practically, the success of our Movement is due to my books and BTG being distributed throughout the world. So I hope you will see that the magazine comes out regularly and that my books can also be published in Hindi.
1972 Correspondence
I am not surprised that Mr. Rathanam Iyer has decided to cancel the program you were planning. I was not eager to accept his proposal in the beginning because it has been our experience that it is never good to have to depend upon others for our preaching. I am sorry that now that it has been advertised in the newspapers that I am coming to Madras, if I do not come our prestige may suffer. Anyway what is done is done. The fact is that I am the only one in India who is openly criticizing, not only demigod worship and impersonalism, but everything that falls short of complete surrender to Krishna. My Guru Maharaja never compromised in His preaching, nor will I nor should any of my students. We are firmly convinced that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all other are His part and parcel servants. This we must declare boldly to the whole world, that they should not foolishly dream of world peace unless they are prepared to surrender fully to Krishna as Supreme Lord.
Please accept my blessings. I have received your letter of March 11, 1972, along with copy of MacMillan contract. Now, first thing is don't sign any contracts without hearing from me, I am thinking about the matter. There is some opinion that it may not be very much advantageous for us to enter such contracts with Macmillan Company. But first I want to know the opinion of Karandhara and others like Rupanuga and Bhagavan. So far Bhagavad-gita As It Is, that is already signed, so we must continue as we have agreed. But practically we have increased our book distribution now to exceed what they are able to do, and still we shall have to purchase our books from them at 50%, and because we shall account for most of the sales, plus do most of the advertising ourselves, then they are making huge profit while we do the work! This arrangement is not good. But one thing is, because they have published our book, therefore there is some prestige in that. Now if you can induce them to distribute very profusely our Bhagavad-gita As It Is, by giving it big big publicity at their expense, then it is only fair and the agreement is all right. Another thing is that they must pay us for all the lay-out and pre-press work that we have done on the Gita, otherwise we are simply handing them everything while they take all the profits and we get nothing. So on the whole I am not very hopeful for dealing with this Macmillan Company, or any other big publishing house. I have seen in New York many many big big publishing houses, very rich, but I do not find any rich writers of books. Even Jawaharlal Nehru wrote some book on politics which became very widely known, but he remarked that their books are selling like anything but I'm not getting anything.
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated April 15, 1972 and I have noted the contents. This food distribution program is to be done very, very nicely as I have already written in my last letter. Generally people make a plea that why are there so many hungry and naked. So we invite all hungry and naked people to come to us and we will give them food and clothing and Krishna consciousness as well. This will attract the general public and there will never be any shortage of food-stuffs, so continue regularly. In Bombay there are many generous persons who like food distribution programs, and actually, our temple should be the via media for feeding the poor with food and spiritual knowledge. Our Bombay program should be based on giving Krishna consciousness through the English medium and distribution of prasadam without any discrimination. This will enhance our prestige and will accelerate our spiritual life as well. The temple program of arati, kirtana, bhoga offerings, discourses, etc. should continue. There should be no neglect of that program.
I am very glad to hear that the American officers in Delhi are very much favorable to our movement. It is very good news. If you can persuade them to give us foodstuffs directly, then we shall use it properly and America's prestige will be widely spread throughout India. We can organize for distribution of prasadam all over India, in factories, schools, and so on. If we simply have kirtana and distribute nice prasadam, everywhere there will be good respect for us. So I hope you will stick very closely to this matter of acquiring surplus foodstuffs from your government and seeing to it that the food is distributed widely throughout India by our Krishna Consciousness devotees. This is a very great favor to me. As Saurabha has advised, so that was also my plan, that there should be many gardens and courtyards at our Vrndavana center. The condition of the owner Mr. Saraf was that within three months construction work would begin. We have fenced the land but otherwise we have done nothing. So immediately bricks must be bought so they can sit during the rainy season and become soaked. A tube well must be dug immediately. I don't know why it was not done. If needed we can draw up the water by pump and store it in a tank, just like before Vrndavana Station. We shall require much water for construction and for the vegetation. So a water supply must be there. We must have our own well, sweet or salty, it does not matter. So far the land of Mr. Dalmia, first develop what you have got. Or if they will accept a low price, or if we pay him the Rs. 60,000/- whether he will pay us back as donation? Your proposal for a separate asrama for women, that is a very nice proposal, and that must be done. At present, at all of our temples around the world no husband and wife live together.
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter from Vrindaban dated July 29, 1972 and I have noted the contents carefully. Now you please remain there and jointly help Gurudasa and the other two Indian boys and hold as much as you can kirtana and discourses widely all over the Vrindaban village. Take help from Visvambhara Goswami and the other good Godbrothers and make our presence in Vrindaban very impressive and prestigious, and that will by the greatest service. That is my advice. Keep your prestige very nicely there in Vrindaban. Follow the principle of leading sankirtana party every day from Radha Damodara Mandir to our new place in Raman Reti. And wherever possible hold kirtana and speak in Bengali and English. If you are able to have such engagement from 6 A.M. to 10 P.M. daily, do that.
The Maidan programs in India should be done in consultation with all. We have now got our reputation and we must do everything very carefully to keep it. Same process, four or five or six big men, whatever they think the others must say all right I shall accept. Nothing should be done by personal whims. This should be avoided. Our prestige should be always kept, that means we must be very sincere and serious to execute our work; then it will be all right.
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated August 31, 1972 from Calcutta, and immediately on receipt of the letter, I have sent you a telegram to the Vrindaban address as advised by you, confirming your proposal for the Hyderabad program from November 17 to December 10. My immediate program is that I shall remain in Vrindaban from October 15 to November 15, and after that it will be possible for me to go to Hyderabad. Your preaching in Hyderabad has become very successful along with your other colleagues, Sriman Subala das Maharaja and others, and I thank you very much for your great success in this respect. As it is our motto on the head of Back to Godhead, "Godhead is light, nescience is darkness. Where there is Godhead there is no darkness." The whole world is full of darkness. The so-called yogis, swamis, mayavadis, scientists, philosophers, political leaders, all are different types of glowworms, so in the darkness of cloudy night during the rainy season, the croaking of the frogs and glitterings of the glowworms are supposed to be very prominent. But as soon as there is clear sunlight or moonlight, all these insignificant glowing and croaking disappear. So our movement is Krishna. The Krishna Consciousness Movement is nondifferent from Krishna. If we therefore present the Krishna Consciousness in right earnestness, then certainly all these insignificant glowworms and frogs will have no more importance. Please therefore take it very seriously and do it on the right path which is not very difficult, then certainly we will come out victorious all over the world. I have read all the newspaper cuttings and handbills very attentively, and I very much appreciate the counter presented by us against the vilificaion by the enemies. Sriman Subala das's reply in the paper with reference to the context of sastra are excellently gorgeous. He has given references from Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Nectar of Devotion and Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and it is very nice. So Krishna is within everyone and He becomes revealed in proportion to our sincere service, Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuratyada (Brs. 1.2.234). I am also glad that you have collected 25,000 rupees within three weeks with all great honor and prestige. Thank you very much. In Vrindaban I wanted a temple like Radha-Govindaji's and a simple residential quarter, but it has not yet begun due to so many reasons. Now when you have gone please do begin something without any delay. Our Bombay affair has been little muddled because the conveyance deed is not yet executed. I have sent Bhavananda to Bombay to look after the matter with Giriraja, but I do not know what is the resolution by this time. Anyway, let us work very diligently for Krishna all over the world, and our advancement will depend on our sincerity. Here in New Vrindaban, the Janmastami Festival continually from September 1 is going on very gorgeously. There are more than 500 guests and they are listening to Bhagavat Discourses with rapt attention, chanting and dancing. Many respectable Indians are coming. One Dr. Srivastava, professor of statistics at Colorado University, is interested in developing this scheme. Sriman Kirtanananda Maharaja has arranged very nicely. Everything is very satisfactory.
1973 Correspondence
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your special delivery letter of July 17, 1973 and I have carefully examined the contents.
I am glad to hear from you that everything is in order at our Boston temple and that the house is nearing completion in repairs and rehabilitation. This will very much increase the prestige of our Boston center so that respectable people will come and sit and hear about Krsna Consciousness. Please do not worry regarding some rumors that were being circulated here by outsiders about the Boston ISKCON temple. I can understand the actual position from your letter; so please push on with all programs as you are doing.
Krsna Consciousness is factually the only solution to all the suffering which is besetting fellow humanity and all living entities. So we have great responsibilities in discharging our duties in devotional service.
Your idea to get our men made as official government guides is nice, also if the government agrees to build one or two room in our temple that will be good. If respectable gentlemen become interested in our Krishna Conscious Movement then our temple in Vrindaban will stand first, because all other temples in Vrindaban gather general mass of people without philosophical understanding. Some 50 years ago some Christian priest went to Vrindaban and inquired from many residents why Krishna enjoyed Rasa dance with other wifes which is against the Vedic principle, but nobody could satisfy him. On this point my Guru Maharaja said that Vrindaban is inhabited by neophyte devotees. So we wish our temple will be able to reply anyone in the matter of Krishna Consciousness, then many modern philosophers and scientists will come to Vrindaban, that will be very much prestigious.
In addition to thieves and rogues, there is risk that even our own men may fall victim to stealing. We have the examples of Kausika and Mahadeva, both devotees who stole from Temples. Prabhupada said, "Our men are coming from outside with so many bad habits and the stealing mentality is there. We are trying to reform, but if the opportunity is there, the mentality may come forward and they may fall down. We will loose our money, our prestige and out students. Why expose them in that way? No jewelry! It is not the time for that."
In summary, purchasing jewelry for the Deities is unnecessary, dangerous and unauthorized. Prabhupada said to "write elaborately to all Centers on this point. Try to understand the principle."
We improve on Deity worship by regulated puja, purified chanting and bold and enthusiastic preaching work. Those are the real ornaments with which to decorate the Lord.
1974 Correspondence
This touring will enhance our prestige for the Krsna Consciousness movement. People will appreciate devotees from foreign countries visiting Vrindaban. It will attract the attention of the Tourist Department of government. Immediately, Tamala Krsna Maharaja and Gurudasa, you must arrange, with the help of the panda. The party can not only be headed by our leaders, but with the help of Indian assistants like Caitya-guru, Sacidulal. Arrangement must be made like that.
It is understood from London that you are a debtor there for many, many pounds, and you are also a debtor to the Society for so many pounds. But, we can wait for repayment, but do not lose your credit of the bank, and immediately write them a letter to keep your credit, as well as our prestige.
1975 Correspondence
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 1-8-75 and have noted the contents. I have received one copy of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 4, Volume 4, and Krsna Consciousness: the Matchless Gift. Thank you very much for these books. One thing is that every volume of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya Caritamrta and any other big volumes, must have a full index. It is not a very prestigious presentation without the index. All volumes in the future must have the index.
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated November 7, 1975. It is a very good achievement that you have gotten this new building in Detroit. It is very aristocratic and prestigious. Do everything very nicely there now. You now have very good facility for broadcasting our Krsna consciousness propaganda. Just do everything very carefully and soberly. As soon as everything is set up, I will go there. You can call the new Detroit temple Devasadhan, meaning celestial.
1976 Correspondence
In Calcutta the Chowringhee quarters were known as the English quarters and the neighborhood places were maintained very nicely. The Indian quarters were known as native quarters therefore even in our own city there was such a division as English quarters and native quarters. Anyway this policy became successful when our leaders took them as fact. Mahatma Gandhi wanted to refute this white prestigious position but he also failed because he did not understand spiritual culture or God consciousness. During the Moslem time, although sometimes fanatically, there were some cases of breaking the temple, but there was no such policy to kill the Indian culture. On account of this during the Moslem period even during the time of Aurangazeb there were Indian Princes and political leaders like Sivaji and Jaya Singh.
| Page Title: | Prestige (Letters) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, MadhuGopaldas |
| Created: | 18 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=38 |
| No. of Quotes: | 38 |