Very little (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"very little"

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Mahatma Gandhi -- Cawnpore 12 July, 1947:

I am your unknown friend but I had to write to you at times and again although you never cared to reply them. I sent you my papers "Back to Godhead" but your secretaries told me that you have very little time to read the letters and much less for reading the magazines. I asked for an interview with you but your busy secretaries never cared to reply this. Anyway as I am your very old friend although unknown to you I am again writing to you in order to bring you to the rightful position deserved by you. As a sincere friend I must not deviate from my duty towards a friend like your good self.

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.

Letter to Mr. Nakano -- Delhi 18 April, 1961:

The hope and expectation of the Congress is undoubtedly very great and I wish that I may fully utilize this opportunity for general welfare of the entire human society. I have fully explained my views authoritatively in my statements already sent to you for publication and the gist idea is expressed in the letter of the Mayors the copy of which is also enclosed.

As a Sannyasi I have no personal purse for expenditure. Under the circumstances if the Government denies to help for the passage then I will have to ask for the same from you otherwise my going to the congress will end in dream only. I have very little faith in the dealings of the politicians and specially of the Indian politicians.

From the conversation of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan it appeared to me that the Govt. does not approve of such congress as are organized by private persons and as such they do not participate in such congress. I shall wait for their final decision for one week more when the matter will be clear, yes or no.

1966 Correspondence

Letter to Madhava Maharaja -- New York 1 August, 1966:

I am trying to construct a Temple of Sri Sri Radha Krishna in New York specially and I was trying to get exchange from the Government of India. I am very sorry to inform you that the Government of India Finance Ministry has expressed its inability to sanction Exchange Release from India but the Indian Embassy in America at Washington W.C. has directly sanctioned to raise funds from the Indian residents in America and directly from the American citizens.

The American Foundations do not contribute anything to any institution or organization if it is not properly incorporated by law of the land. So far I have knowledge of the Indian residents in America they are mostly engaged in local educational or Indian Government service in the Embassy. Therefore there is very little hope to get from them any substantial help for the proposed temple construction which will require some millions of dollars. But if the Americans take the matter very seriously there are many Foundations one of them alone can contribute such amount.

I have therefore very recently incorporated one organization very recently (within a fortnight past) under the name of INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS (Incorporated in U.S.A.) The Trustees of this organization are all American gentlemen headed by one of the leading lawyers of New York Mr. Steven J. Goldsmith B.Sc. M.A.B.L. who comes regularly in my weekly classes and chants the Mahamantra very devoutly.

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Nandarani -- Calcutta 28 November, 1967:

This prabhu means boss. If everyone of us thinks of his fellow worker as boss there is no question of misunderstanding. The mistake is that being addressed as boss or prabhu one thinks himself as exactly Prabhu or the boss. One should not forget himself as humble servant even though one is addressed as prabhu. The spiritual master is offered respects as they are offered to the Supreme Lord. Unfortunately if the spiritual master thinks that he has become the Supreme Lord then he is doomed. A bona fide spiritual master always think of himself as the servant of the Lord. One should never forget __ be humble in dealings. If everyone of us would conduct our business in that spirit of prabhu and servant then there is very little chance of being misunderstood. Sometimes misunderstanding may take place but it should be adjusted in a spirit of service attitude to the prabhu. I know that my presence is very urgently required. Arrangement is already completed circumstances alone have checked my departure. Please therefore don't be worried. I am coming to your place within a fortnight. Convey my blessings to Dayananda and others.

Letter to Jadurani -- San Francisco 16 December, 1967:

I was so much happy to receive your letter Nov. 21, 1967, on my arrival. I hope in the meantime you have received my letter from Calcutta. I also hope you might have received some pictures which were sent from Calcutta. If you can, send one offset copy of the horses and chariot of Arjuna. Govinda dasi may draw a small picture of the same chariot for printing on the front page of Back to Godhead.

When I left your country on the 22nd of July, I had very little hope to come back again. But Krishna informed me that I'm not going to die immediately; therefore, I have come back again to get inspiration of Krishna Consciousness from you all good souls. Although officially I am your Spiritual Master, I consider you all students as my Spiritual Master because your love for Krishna and service for Krishna teach me how to become a sincere Krishna Conscious person.

Yes, as I told you before, you can send all the different varieties of pictures to every center, especially the Sankirtana picture and Radha-Krishna picture. As you asked, the Panca-tattva paintings also.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Syamasundara -- Los Angeles 12 November, 1968:

From the pictures I can understand how sincerely you are working there. So even we could not establish a temple, there our preaching work is not in vain. So there is no cause of disappointment—you go on with your work as you are doing and everything will come successful in due course.

Yes, it is your good fortune that you can serve Krishna in so many ways—to work, to write, to speak, to paint, to build—all of these talents must be employed in Krishna's service. That will make you perfect. We are so fortunate to be in this human form of life, and to have the opportunity and the capacity to serve Krishna, and as there is very little time, we must do as much each day as we possibly can to serve Krishna, and to become always engaged in thoughts and activities of Krishna. Maya may try to pull us from Krishna's service, and try to engage us in her service, but we must simply persevere, and try to do as much as possible for Krishna each day, and gradually it will be easier and easier to keep engaged in Krishna Consciousness activities. And pray to Krishna to please keep us always engaged in the service of His Lotus Feet. Krishna is very kind, and He is never ungrateful, and will give you more and more opportunity to serve Him. That is His Mercy.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Rukmini -- Los Angeles 31 January, 1969:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated January 23, 1969, and also I have seen your wonderful portrait of my Guru Maharaja. This picture is a great joy to me, and it is now hanging in my room in the temple where I may always gaze upon it. I thank you so much for your sincere service, and i am very much encouraged that you are already a nice artist, and what to speak of the improvements you will make with further practice.

Regarding your question about the individual soul becoming all-pervasive, the idea is completely nonsensical rascaldom. Such theory is simply a bluff. Artificially, by means of practical psychology, one can understand very little of another's thinking and feeling. But this is in no way all-pervasive. If any yogi says like that, especially the modern so-called yogis, it is simply falsehood. In however perfect stage of yoga one may be, he may understand something of another's mental condition, but this is never all-pervasive. This all-pervasive consciousness is possible only in the Supersoul.

Letter to Damodara -- Los Angeles 16 August, 1969:

In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated yad yad acarati sresthas tat tat evetaro janah (BG 3.21). The thing is that people generally follow their leaders. So if one leader is convinced about the importance of this movement, many others will follow. So if actually you invite President Nixon, it will be a great forward step in our movement. If the President comes, then we can invite many other important men, and they will also come, as well as the press representatives will come. So there will be a great assembly, and if we can convince them even a very little of our transcendental movement, it will be a great stride. So if possible, try for this arrangement seriously, and pray to Krishna. He will help you. Please keep me informed of your activities in this connection. On the whole I am so much pleased that you have opened a branch in Washington, which is the center of all elites.

I very much appreciate the nice sentiments you have expressed, and Krishna is available only through service. We cannot demand from Krishna to know about Him. When you actually learn to serve Him, He reveals Himself. That is the process. And the success of life is simply by pleasing Him. That is the version of all Vedic literature. Knowledge means to know Him, and success means to please Him. And how He is pleased, that can be known through the transparent medium of His confidential servant. This is the process of understanding Krishna Consciousness. I was very much anxious to hear from you, and this letter is encouraging. Similarly, Hamsaduta and Himavati are trying in Berkeley, and although they have not found as yet any temple, their work is going on nicely.

Letter to Gargamuni -- Tittenhurst 29 October, 1969:

I give you special permission as follows: You find out of 24 hours at least one hour conveniently for chanting Hare Krishna with great attention, either by the Deities or any place, without being disturbed by anyone else. So you have 23 hours for other things. Now these 23 hours, whatever you do in them, either eating or working or sleeping, you always try to think of Krishna. That will keep you intact of Krishna Consciousness. If one is always careful about falling down and prays to Krishna that he may not fall down on account of greater strength of Maya, then Krishna will give him special protection. This was advised to Arjuna by Krishna Himself. Arjuna was a great fighter, statesman, and at the same time a great devotee. A statesman and military commander has very little time to perform the routine work of devotional service, but Krishna advised him especially to be engaged in his occupational duty, and at the same time always be thinking of Krishna. This is the secret of not being a victim of Maya. Rayarama's case is different. He definitely denied my instructions. I asked him to come to me and live with me, and he definitely denied. So this denial is cause of his temporary suspension of devotional life, but if he has executed devotional service in the past sincerely, I think he cannot go back.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Yamuna -- Los Angeles 10 April, 1970:

I thank you very much for your burfi. It is so nicely made. Lest it go out of stock, I am eating only a very little quantity daily. But how you have made it, if you send the formula, maybe Nanda Kumar or Devananda may be able to prepare it.

I hope you are taking care of the Deities with greater attention, and teaching your younger God brothers and sisters to follow the Arcana bidhi. As we open many branches, we shall require many devotees like you to take care of the Deities very nicely.

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

For the time being there is no question of going to India, but if we get a good place there and a nice branch there, then I may ask you to go there for some time, but your headquarters will always be in Germany.

Both husband and wife learn how to work on the composer machine because we have to print so many things in German language as we are doing here in English language.

Yes, when you are out of your station you can carry these Deities, but so long you are in Hamburg you will have very little time to arrange separately for worship. When a householder is not in touch with the temple, then he can have separate worship at home.

Regarding printing our literatures in Germany, in your last letter you wrote to say that you could do it there, but if there is no question of your doing it, forget it. Regarding the composing machine, yes, I have heard that Brahmananda is helping you out in this connection.

Regarding jobs for householders, there is no confusion. If your whole time is needed for Sankirtana Party there is no need of working in a Karmi firm. Actually all our devotees are supposed to be brahmanas. A brahmana's business is to preach the glories of the Lord, to learn the essence of Vedic knowledge—Krsna Consciousness—and to teach others of the same knowledge. And for living condition, whatever they get in the form of contribution from others, they can they can live barely to keep the body and soul together, and the balance spend for Krsna.

Letter to Bhagavan -- Tokyo 20 August, 1970:

It has been arranged that we are going to Calcutta on 29th August and our Calcutta address is as follows: ISKCON; 37/1 Hindustan Road; Ballyganj; Calcutta-29.

I hope you have received the circular letter which was sent to each member of the GBC for reporting me the work going on in his jurisdiction. I do not know in whose direction is our New York Temple. I have received no report from New York since a long time. So if it is in your jurisdiction you may kindly inform me what is going on there. Other reports are very encouraging. Keep your schedule nicely, then there will be very little chance of Maya to creep inside.

Maya is on the back side of Krsna and if we keep ourselves always in front side of Krsna, engaged in His service, then the external energy on the back side of Krsna will not be able to attack us. These things are very nicely explained in First Volume, 27th Chapter, Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Letter to Damodara -- Bombay, India 12 November, 1970:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 4th October, 1970 and I've noted the contents with much pleasure.

I am glad to see that you are working in the universities. They are a good field for spreading our Krishna Consciousness activities. Try and get all our books accepted in the college libraries and classroom courses. That will be our real success. Dr. Cenkner is correct in saying that Sankaracarya's belief is personal. Actually he is a covered personalist. He became impersonalist just to drive away Buddhism. All of India was Buddhist voidism. So, although a personalist, he had to keep pace with voidism by expounding impersonalism. There is very little difference between impersonalism and voidism, but because he had to bring Buddhists back to the Vedic cultural form, he adopted impersonalism. From the Padma Purāṇa, it is learned that Sankaracarya is Lord Siva, and who can be a greater devotee than Lord Siva? Lord Siva is considered to be the foremost Vaisnava.

Please continue to try and convince the world leaders who are in Washington D.C. about our Krishna Consciousness program. Why don't you approach the Congressmen and Representatives and inform them of the work that our men are doing within their states and cities. If they are favorably impressed with our work, they may be able to give us government land and property and so many other facilities which we can utilize to aid all of the population. I think so many men will be glad to receive our books, so please utilize this opportunity. Simply it requires determination and imagination. Maybe you can get the Indian Ambassador and his wife to hold a meeting at which many important men can be invited. If he and his wife are favorably impressed, certainly they can hold a nice meeting one evening. At that meeting you can speak and explain what our movement is and show slides and movies. Make a book table and display all of our books. Never mind if they also like to read from Ramakrishna. If you give them our KRSNA book to read, very soon all other tastes will go away.

1971 Correspondence

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

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.

Lord Caitanya was not holding Sudarsana cakra; simply he was calling; Narada came out of Brahma's heart very little and then grew like a child; Narada entered the body of Narayana. That you have to show yourself. Now can I instruct you? He can enter through any part of the body. Just like so many universes are coming out from all parts of the body of Maha Visnu, so where is the difficulty to understand that the entire creation can re-enter from any part of the body?; Narayana appeared and disappeared to Narada's vision like lightning. So you can show Him almost invisible and speaking.

Letter to Gurudasa -- Los Angeles 13 July, 1971:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated 31st June, 1971 and have noted the contents carefully. Yes, we were in Moscow for five days. The city is very clean but the socialistic government is not very good. Only you can take what the state supplies. There is very little freedom there. Anyway, there is hope for opening a center in the future; we have made some friends there. From Moscow I came to Paris, L.A. and then attended the very successful Rathayatra festival. Now I am again in L.A. and will begin making my way back to Calcutta beginning in the 16th instant. So I hope things are going on nicely for the Mayapur festival. I have had no letter from Tamala since I have come here. So you mentioned in your letter about an appointment with S. S. Dhawan. What is the result? No one has informed me. Whether the appointment actually took place? In this connection, Syamasundara already sent one letter to Tamala to let us know and do the needful. Unless some big man lays down the corner stone, our whole attempt will be frustrated. Actually the function in Mayapur will be held for this purpose.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Karandhara -- London 14 July, 1972:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 9, 1972, along with letters to temple presidents, which I have signed and duly posted. I am glad to hear that the owner has accepted our bid of $63,500 cash, and I shall be returning to U.S.A. before the end of 50 days to settle the matter. I have promised Brahmananda to be in Nairobi up to August 27th. If the deadline for payment is August 30th, that leaves very little time. Shall my presence be required to sell the FNMA bonds and make other arrangements? What do you suggest?

So far Dayananda, I have no objection if the grhasthas live outside and earn money, but I do not want them to leave. The strict temple procedure is only for those who live in the temple. Grhasthas should live outside, and they cannot follow strictly everything, but why they should give up altogether their devotional procedures? So many big stalwart devotees are leaving, why is this? Advaita, Uddhava, Krsna das, and now our Dayananda and Nandarani. I have sent them each one letter, so if you find them, you may deliver them my letters. This is not at all good if our big devotees fall down so easily and go away. Try to save them.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Tusti -- Dallas 20 May, 1973:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 17, 1973. Thank you very much.

You ask: "You said when you gave me the name Tusti dasi, 'Now you can be satisfied without eating.' Do you mean that I should eat very little?" Yes in spiritual life one must be careful not to eat more than is required to keep body and soul together. The most important point is that one becomes satisfied by serving Krsna rather than by serving the senses.

Now, please always follow the four regulative principles and chant sixteen rounds minimum every day without fail.

1977 Correspondence

Letter to Giriraja -- New Delhi 11 May, 1977:

This letter as well as the other letter advising a transfer of Rs. 6 1/2 Lakhs to State Bank of Hyderabad account, should only be presented to Bank of America after they advise you that they have received Gurukrpa Swami's $100,000.00, and not before. But Mr. Mohatta should be shown all the bills so that he can check them. I am not at all in favor of paying them any more money until the final bill is presented.

Has I.O.B. began construction of their premises yet? Thank you for organizing the all day Sunday Kirtana program. This should be developed very nicely, stressing kirtana and prasadam.

Yes, my health is improving a very little. The house that we have been given is the best in Risikesh. It is very nice and the climate is much better than Bombay's. Many persons are coming in the afternoons for darsana. I hope this meets you well.