Reflection (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"reflect" |"reflected" |"reflecting" |"reflecting" |"reflection" |"reflections" |"reflective" |"reflectors" |"reflectory" |"reflects"

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to K. M. Munshi -- Bombay 21 February, 1957:

If I remember rightly, you have been criticizing in the meeting of the 16th instant about the culture of Hollywood cinemas. The Mayavadi philosophy having killed the spiritual variegatedness of the Supreme Being—the people are generally attracted in the variegatedness of material existence. In the vedanta sutras, we have direct information of how a spiritual entity is joyful—full of spiritual bliss. This idea of enjoyment is focussed through a material _ and as such the spiritual focus is reflected in a perverted manner. The attention of the people in general is attracted by the cinemas in place of temples, because the Mayavadi philosophy—impersonality of Godhead has created a void in the spiritual realm. But in fact the spiritual realm is not at all void. It is full of variegatedness of spiritual mellows. If you create a void in the Spirit unnecessarily, you have to create necessarily a fill-up in the material existence and that is the cause why temples are being replaced by vulgar cinemas.

So simple criticism of cinema houses will not fulfill the purpose. We have to create tangible interest in the temples for spiritual advancement of knowledge. With that purpose in view, it is necessary that the priests and pujaris must be enlightened men both in Theism and Sanskrit language also. They shall be primary teachers of the Bhagavad-gita in different temples. Both these temples and their management have to be reformed in the present context. We shall have to accommodate the process of temple entry by all classes of people but they may be so admitted for proper qualification and not for the purpose of a mere show.

Letter to Anand Prakash -- Bombay 14 August, 1958:

The thing is that the living being is the part and parcel of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and some way or other he (the living being) has come in contact with the material energy with an enjoying spirit to lord it over the material nature which spirit is a perverted reflection of the Absolute Enjoyer the Lord. In other words the living being due to his desire of becoming an imitation Lord of the material nature, he is suffering the effects of material energy in the shape of threefold miseries as a matter of police action of the strong material nature. The foolish living being is trying to overcome the stringent laws of Nature by different plans which are being frustrated __ regular way. The last snare of Maya or the material __ is an offering of opportunity to become one with __ Absolute thereby misleading him (the __ perpetually to pull on the material bondage under different categories of life.

1966 Correspondence

Letter to Ministry of Finance (India) -- New York 28 May, 1966:

Mr. N.C. Chatterji M.P. and the late President of the Hindu Mahasabha writes "You have done a first class work and you deserve the hearty commendation of every Indian and every Hindu. Your deep and penetrating study of the subject and your philosophic insight are reflected in this work. . . . You a are doing a great service to the cause of humanity."

So this is a cultural mission for enlightenment of the entire human society and New York is the best centre for distributing such cultural knowledge because it is the Head Quarter of the United Nations. We shall erect such a nice cultural Hall and Temple and everything is ready at this opportune moment. Kindly therefore give your sanction for this noble and sublime activities of Indian original culture still going strong.

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Rayarama -- San Francisco 14 December, 1967:

Regarding your last but one paragraph of your letter under reply. I may inform you that you cannot be fool as you have humbly expressed yourself. Better to remain an ever fool before the spiritual master. But if a disciple is actually fool it reflects on the spiritual master. To think of becoming a fool is the real qualification for a bona fide disciple. As soon as one thinks that he has become the wiser man than the spiritual master one is surely doomed. We should remain everlastingly a fool before the spiritual master. Not artificially but feelingly and then we can make real progress. Even my spiritual master a great scholar remained a so called fool before His spiritual master Who was outwardly an illiterate village fellow. So in the Absolute world the fool is also the master and the master is also a fool in reciprocal exchange of dealings.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Kancanbala -- Los Angeles 14 January, 1968:

Regarding love affairs in the material world: they are only shadows or reflections of the real love with Krishna. If you love Krishna in any capacity, you shall never be frustrated because everything in Krishna is perfect, eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge. So continue your present activities and chant your beads; whenever there is some difficulty consult Brahmananda or write to me; and Krishna will help you more and more on the path of perfection.

Letter to Hayagriva -- Los Angeles 15 January, 1968:

This is actually Krishna Consciousness. We can remember Krishna in every moment. We can remember Krishna while taking a glass of water because the taste of water is Krishna. We can remember Krishna as soon as we see the sunlight in the morning, because the sunlight is a reflection of Krishna's Bodily Effulgence. Similarly, as soon as we see moonlight in the evening we remember Krishna because moonlight is also reflection of sunlight. Similarly, when we hear any sound we can remember Krishna because sound is Krishna, and the most perfect sound, transcendental, is Hare Krishna, which we have to chant 24 hours. So there is no scope of forgetting Krishna at any moment of our life provided we practice in that way.

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

In Gita, in 10th Chapter, it is accepted by Arjuna that Krishna is the Original purusa or predominating factor or the Supreme Enjoyer. Stree is the enjoyed, or the energy, or the potency. God has got 3 energies in the spiritual world. One energy is existential, one is cognition, one is enjoyment. The same energy when reflected in the material world is exhibited in 3 mode—goodness, passion, and ignorance. Goodness is manifested in proper maintenance of the creation in the gradual development of spiritual realization, passion is exhibition in the matter of production, and ignorance is exhibited in the absence of real happiness. All these internal energies are acting in favor of the Supreme purusa; in the spiritual world they are acting harmoniously and in the material world they are acting in forgetfulness. Prakrti or stree is in forgetfulness is zero; and the living entities is also prakrti or stree, but he is in forgetfulness in the material existence.

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

This sex life is explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam, 3rd Canto, in the explanation of Vaikuntha world, when it is said that in the Vaikuntha planets, the women or the fair sex is many many more times beautiful, well-constructed, their face and smiling more attractive, their breasts and hips are very high, and they clearly and freely mix with male devotees,, But their strong sense of devotion towards the Lord and being absorbed in Krishna Consciousness, all the features of womanly beauty cannot stimulate their sex passion. In the material world the same reflection of beauty and bodily features at once stimulate sex passion. Therefore, the enjoyment of opposite sex in the Vaikuntha world has no action of sex life whereas in the material world the perverted reflection of beauty has resultant action of sex life which is the cause of dragging material existence. So the description of the Vaikuntha life is nirguna, and the description of worldly life is sahaguna.

Letter to William Odell -- Los Angeles 4 February, 1968:

The hand and body is created all at a time. It is not that the body is created first and then the hand is created. Our relation with Krishna is like the hand and the body. Therefore, Krishna and we both are eternal, and there is no history of eternity. It has no beginning and no end. Krishna is blue because He is all attractive. The sky is blue because it reflects Krishna's blue color in the spiritual sky as much as the sunlight is reflected through skylight glasses.

Letter to Yadunandana -- San Francisco 13 April, 1968:

I may give you one example: Material manifestation is temporary, as it is stated in Bhagavad-gita, that material manifestation at times comes into being and it at times vanquishes. So, when material variegatedness vanquishes, it does not mean that spiritual variegatedness also vanquishes. Material variegatedness is perverted reflection of the spiritual variegatedness, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gita, that this material manifestation is just like a tree with the root upward. Roots upwards of a tree means it is reflection. So also in Bhagavatam it is stated like this, that the material world is a combination of earth, water, and fire; just like a beautiful girl made of earth, water and fire, standing in the window of a storefront. Similarly, this material world is imitation beauty of the spiritual world, as much as the doll-girl is imitation of the real girl.

Letter to Purusottama -- Los Angeles 3 November, 1968:

In the ten commandments of the Bible it is clearly stated that, "Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not indulge in adultery, thou shalt not covet their servant or animals," but practically we see the so-called Christian world is full of the killing process reflected with adultery in every state encroaching upon other's property very organizedly. Similarly we find in India the so-called Hindu are doing all sorts of nonsense. So practically the whole world is without religion. Officially they claim some sectarian identification. Therefore, it is a fact that the religious principles of Krishna Consciousness which we are trying to preach under the direction of Lord Caitanya inducing people to chant HARE KRISHNA is the only panacea for the animalistic human society at the present moment. A man without religion is nothing but an animal and being every man is irreligious, therefore, the whole human society is certainly animalistic.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Mahapurusa -- Los Angeles 25 January, 1969:

Just like Yasoda is loving Krishna as her Son. So this is vatsalya rasa, parental love. When Krishna is separate from Yasoda, she cried for whole life and thus became blind. In this world there is not a single instance where a mother has suffered so much in separation from her son. Therefore, it is perverted reflection of the real love. Regarding your second question, the other names of Krishna which you have mentioned, such as Gopala and Govinda are as powerful as the name Krishna.

Letter to Rupanuga -- Hawaii 14 March, 1969:

Your eighth, "How can I explain how the light and heat from the single sun in this universe is able to reach so far? Is it a question of the receptivity of different planets?" We can see one sun only. So it is simply speculation whether there is one or more suns. But we get from authority of Sastra that there is one sun, in each universe, and the stars and moon reflects the light of this sun. There is one sun in the daytime, and it illuminates so nicely that all darkness is gone. But at night, you may argue, if these stars are so many suns, then why the darkness is still there??

Your ninth, "You once said that in case of a strong rush of sex desire to think of the Gopis, the Dearmost to Lord Krishna. Is there another help in case of anger or harshness?" Yes, think of Krishna, how He was angry on Hiranyakasipu and nobody could pacify Him, even Brahma with beautiful hymns. In anger also we can think of Krishna.

Letter to Yamuna -- New Vrindaban 27 May, 1969:

We understand from the scriptures that Krishna has His Vigraha, or Spiritual Body, exactly like a man who has two hands, two legs and all similar features. If you decorate your face, you do not see directly how your face has become beautiful, but when you see the reflection of your face in the mirror, then indirectly you can see the beauty. Therefore, by serving Krishna directly the result of the service indirectly comes to us. Just like we offer very nice prasadam directly to Krishna, but indirectly we enjoy the nice taste of the prasadam. So we should always remember this, that Krishna is always full in Himself; He does not want a pinch of our help for his satisfaction, but if we try to satisfy Him in so many ways as directed by acaryas and scriptures, indirectly we become benefited by such activities.

Letter to Colin Jury -- Columbus, Ohio 12 May, 1969:

Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your nice letter (undated). Practically, our Krishna Consciousness movement is based on transcendental pleasure. Music, dancing and feasts are the chief items for pleasure, and this pleasure is originally on the transcendental realm. They are simply reflected pervertedly in the material world, and every living entity has natural inclination for these three items. So Krishna Consciousness is to go back to the original position. Therefore, music and dancing can be purified for transcendental realization. Factually we do not reject anything, but we will accept anything as favorable for Krishna's service. In other words, we can dovetail anything in Krishna's service, and thus purify the contaminated covering of everything. So your talents for music may be employed fully for the cause of serving Krishna.

Letter to Upendra -- Tittenhurst 27 October, 1969:

So there is much potential for organizing the student communities to take part in our movement. I am pleased also that you are decorating your temple nicely, and the more you decorate the temple beautifully the more your heart will be beautiful. The example is that the more you decorate the original the more the reflection automatically is decorated. So our heart is the reflection of the Original Consciousness, Krsna, and the more Krsna and His paraphernalia are decorated the more this will be reflected in our heart and we will feel transcendental bliss.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Tittenhurst House, England 31 October, 1969:

In another place he says in discussing the Ten Commandments of the Bible about the sanctity of (human life). Instead of exactly quoting the commandment "Thou shalt not kill," he replaces by his own words "Thou shalt do no murder". But he does not know how his own words reflect to the then society wherein Lord Jesus Christ was preaching. To say to his audience, "Thou shalt do no murder" means they were very much accustomed to commit murder. So what is the position of that society where the members are accustomed to commit murder, and what class of preaching can be made to such persons? As we see in another religious principle there is instruction that henceforward you shall not co-habit with your mother. So we have to judge such societies where there are murderers and those having sex life with their mothers, what kind of men they are.

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Tittenhurst 2 November, 1969:

So nothing can be compared with our philosophy either in the matter of antiquity, philosophy, ethics, science, morality, etc., all in correct vision and approved by great stalwart acaryas. So far others are concerned, they cannot be compared even. For example, if Lord Jesus Christ said "Thou shalt not kill", or "Thou shalt do no murder" to the people, it does not reflect very good social structure of the audience. Our philosophy is above all these things. Just like we prescribe to our students no illicit sex-life, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling, but they are not ends in themselves. The real end is how to serve Krishna and sacrifice everything for Him. And to learn this transcendental art we have got so many volumes of books. So the summary is that instead of diverting our attention to read such unauthorized books, better pay our attention to more authorized Vaisnava literature.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to George Harrison -- Los Angeles 16 February, 1970:

The example in this connection is given that when a man decorates his face, he does not feel much enjoyment because he cannot see his own face. But he enjoys his beautiful face when it is reflected on the mirror. In other words, when a living entity, by rendering service to the Lord, feels happy, the Lord enjoys the situation.

Under the pressure of illusory energy, especially in the age of "Kali," all the people of the world are unhappy; but I am sure if they take to this simple chanting of the Holy Name of the Lord

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

under the guidance of Lord Caitanya, certainly they will be happy.

Letter to Tamala Krsna -- Los Angeles 21 June, 1970:

There are thousands of examples explained in our books that the conditioned soul is never affected with the material body. It is said in the Vedas asamga ayam purusa which means the living entity is always unaffected with matter. Another example is given that the reflection of the moon on water appears to be moving, but actually the moon is not moving, it is fixed up. So any living entity is like that. His reflection on the material body appears to be changing, but the spirit soul is fixed up, therefore this movement is called illusion.

Liberation means liberation from this changing condition.

Letter to Jadurani -- Los Angeles 11 July, 1970:

For example you may take some hints like this: Dhrtarastra sitting in the palace room and his secretary, Sanjaya, relaying the activities in the battlefield with a television-like picture within his heart. The idea is that he is looking within the reflection of the battlefield and explaining to Dhrtarastra. So if somebody tries for it, then I shall send similar hints with reference to some important verses.

You have inquired whether to illustrate Balaramaji's Rasa Dancing with expansions of Balaramaji just like Krsna expanded Himself for Rasa Dancing. No, we do not find such description in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. But He had His dancing pastime with the Gopis in a different place known as Ramaghata on the bank of the Yamuna.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Jadurani -- Los Angeles 3 July, 1971:

Nobody is free from anxiety. The soul is suffering and that is expressed through the manifested body. Not that the body is suffering separately. Just like, face is the index of the mind. Nobody can see the mind, but by the face it is understood that the person is in good mental condition. So the body suffering is the reflection of the soul suffering. So the king in your painting is not really happy, but rather full of anxieties. That is to be shown. Another example is that when my garments are dirty, I, the living entity, am not taking care of my dress. So from my dress, it appears how I am taking care. Similarly the condition of the soul is expressed through the body. When water is hot, that you cannot show by painting. You cannot paint the heat; you must touch the water. So by seeing the expression of the bodily features, one can understand whether the soul is happy or not.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Unknown -- Unknown Place 15 April, 1972:

For American students travelling abroad the Society provides at minimal cost a friendly and comfortable home away from home in its many hostels.

The phenomenal growth of ISKCON reflects a basic worldwide need for the type of instruction and training the Society offers. Heads of state, government officials, clergymen, professors and scientists, as well as professional men and businessmen the world over have commended the Society for its substantial, practical work in combating drug addiction, mental disorders, racial conflicts and the general moral decline of today's youth, as well as hunger and disease wherever they are found.

Letter to Balavanta -- Los Angeles 28 May, 1972:

Yes, that is a good policy, that you shall run for public office of state representative for Georgia state. That will be a good platform for preaching. Your speeches must be very effective because you will be always in the public eye and your behavior and words will reflect our whole society. But one thing is, because it is political election, you can criticize openly. When there is election you can severly criticize, and in that way it is nice proposal. At least this will give our movement good publicity and you will be able to enlighten in general by pointing out the bad state of affairs of present day society. At present moment, our leaders are simply misleading people, and the people in general are innocently following them to their ruin. So it is very much our duty to come to their aide and point out exactly how this sinful living, namely, slaughtering animals, intoxication, illicit sex life, and gambling, how these sinful activities are so much degrading to the human kind and how they are only producing hippies, wars, and endless suffering as a result.

Letter to Himavati -- Los Angeles 15 June, 1972:

So the servants of the gopis and queens cannot be ugly, they are as beautiful as the queens. In the Vaikuntha world there is no need of serving anything because everything is already clean and beautiful. It is so clean that just like a mirror when the maid-servants would sweep the floor they could see the reflections of their bodies. So remain always compact in Vaikuntha yajna, simply by thinking of the Glories of the Lord. Don't try to do anything artificially. That is sahajiya, which means a class of men that take everything very cheap. You want to perform sacrifice so continuously read our Vedic scriptures and perform the Vaikuntha yajna.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Jahnava -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 1 August, 1973:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated August 20, 1973.

You have written so many nice things in praise of me but I think that my Guru Maharaja is great, I am not great he is great. So sometimes by association of the great one appears great. Just like the sun is great heat and light and by reflecting the greatness of the sun's light the moon in dead of night also appears great, but actually the moon is by nature dark and cold, but in association with sun it has become accepted as great, this is the real position. So I thank you very much that you are appreciating my Guru Maharaja who wanted to preach Krishna Consciousness all over the world, he is so great.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Dr. W.H. Wolf-Rottkay -- Chandigarh 14 October, 1976:

Regarding the scientists, we have entrusted our own three scientists namely Svarupa Damodara, Sadaputa, and Madhva and we leave the matter to them, we do not say anything ourselves, but are leaving it to them. But there are many common men who do not believe that they have gone to the moon planet. So as common men we can simply say, how can dust and rocks reflect so much of light as to illuminate the night, like the sun at day. It is simply bogus to say that the moon is full of dust and rocks. Such a beautiful soothing planet is full of dust and rock with no living beings there is simply unbelievable. You are a learned scholar, do you think it is believable that dust and rocks can illuminate the whole universe at night. It is so soothing and beautiful. I shall be very glad to receive further enlightenment in this connection from your good self.