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Abide (Letters)

Correspondence

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Brothers -- Allahabad 1 January, 1955:

I am very much glad that you are willing to live with us. As already informed we have no restriction for admitting inner members, so far nationality, caste and creed are concerned. But the inner members will have to abide by the following rules, which are necessary as basic principles for spiritual upliftment. The inner members will not have

(1) illegitimate connection with women.

(2) He shall not be addicted to intoxicating habit. No member shall be allowed to smoke, chewing betel, drink tea etc. inside the house.

(3) He must be satisfied with "Prasadam" which will be served to him & must be strictly vegetarian. No inner member shall be allowed to eat fish, meat, eggs, onions, etc.

(4) the inner member shall not indulge in unnecessary indoor or outdoor games, sporting or gambling habit. The nominal boarding charges is Rs 25/-. No charges for lodging.

(5) the inner member must enroll himself as regular member in the A. B. or C. Category. Members with voting power will have to pay the scheduled monthly subscriptions The lowest rate of subscription is Rs 10/- per month. Any one unable to pay the membership fee may apply for free membership or lesser subscription for consideration of the Board of Executive members. The executive committee can decide on it.

(6) The inner member is requested to rise early in the morning before sun-rise and finish his morning duties for inner & make cleanliness. And after finishing such duties, he will have attend to "Mangalaratric" service to be held in the temple of "Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu & Radha Govinda".

(7) The inner members will be served with Prasadam after "Mangalaratric" (mostly some milk-preparation)

(8) After partaking the "Mangalaratrik" Prasadam, he shall attend the morning class of "Path Kirtana" in which chanting of the holy name of God along with musical instruments, will be sung before and after reading of "Srimad Bhagavad-gita" "Bhagavatam" etc. This function will continue from 6 to 8 in the morning.

(9) After this a cup of milk along with other foodstuff will be served to the inner members as break fast.

(10) After breakfast the member can devote himself, for studying book in this connection which will be supplied to him by the League.

(11) At eleven noon, the "Bhogarati" service will be done in the temple and the members will be requested to attend this ceremony after bath, __.

(12) Just after "Bhogarati" function, the members will be served with "Prasadam" which shall consist of the following items: (1) Rice, (2) Dal, (3) Capatis with ghee (4) 2 curry (5) Bhija (6) Khicheries (7) ___ (8) Sauces (9) Pampar (10) miscellaneous.

(13) After taking "Prasadam" in the noon the member may take rest from one to three in the after noon.

(14) At three in the after noon there will again "Baikali" ceremony in the temple which the members will be requested to attend. And again at the end of the "Baikali" ceremony at about 4, the members shall be served with Prasadam consisting of a cup of milk & some fruits.

(15) the member shall then attend the Path Kirtana class from 5 to 7 in the evening as is done in the morning.

(16) from 7 to 8 pm there will be "Sandhyaratrik" ceremony in the temple & the members will be requested to attend to this.

(17) At nine in the night, there will be again Bhogarati ceremony which members will be requested to attend. After this "Prasadam" will be served consisting of capatis or rice with dal, currys & some milk preparation at the end.

(18) From 10 to 4 at night the members shall take rest for the night,

(19) After six months of living or earlier as the case may be the members will be expected to be initiated in the devotional service of Theism or Vaisnavism.

(20 For such initiation the member will have to accept "diksa" according to the rules of the Gosvamis & just become a qualified "Brahmin."

(21) Initiated members shall observe the "Ekadasi Brata" twice in a month and on that day he will be allowed to take only fruits & none of the cereals.

(22) Initiated members shall adhere his body with the marks of Vaisnavism;

(23) He shall chant the holy name of God systematically & regularly according to the rules of the Goswamis.

(24) He shall try to worship in the temple after learning the art from another co-worker. The initiated member is converted & accepted as bona fide Brahmin & thus he can enter the temple.

(25) He may enhance his spiritual education taking lessons from Geeta, Bhagavata, Science of Devotion, Lord Caitanya etc. and prepare for the examination of Bhakti-Sastra, Bhaktisiddhanta, Bhaktivedanta etc.

(26) If he desires to be a preacher, he will be trained up in that way & will be given the titles of ___ ___ ______ according to preaching capacity.

(PAGE MISSING)

Letter to Shastryji -- Unknown Place June 1964:

I thank you for your granting me an interview yesterday morning but I was not successful in my mission because your dealing with me yesterday was more official than hearty. You asked me to send you my Srimad-Bhagavatam Part II with a note. This is not only expensive for me but also troublesome for me. Any way as you wanted me to send you a note. I am abiding by your order but I am doubtful whether you will have any time to go through my notes. The first thing is that here is the copy of your letter which you sent me on ______ after receipt of the 1st part.

1966 Correspondence

Letter to Sir Padampat Singhania -- New York 20 January, 1966:

There is great difference between these people and our Indian people. In India people are automatically taught spiritual life by tradition and these people are automatically taught to be materialistic. They are sincere undoubtedly but because they have no information of the Bhagavatam life, they appear to be different. It is the duty of every Indian to preach the cult of Bhagavatam in every part of the world and your cooperation in this attempt will be highly appreciated by Lord Dvarakadhisa. Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita has said that one who helps in the matter of preaching the principles of Bhagavad-gita is the most favorite of the Lord. So this knowledge should be distributed systematically and we Indians specially the Hindus and more specially the Vaisnavites must abide the instruction of Lord Krishna to distribute the knowledge all over the world.

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- San Francisco 28 March, 1967:

At last also I may say that you can forget the great loss. Do work sincerely in Krishna Consciousness abiding by the order of Krishna and everything will be in order.

Letter to Brahmananda, Satsvarupa, Rayarama, Gargamuni, Rupanuga, Donald -- San Francisco 28 March, 1967:

I have received your letter of the 24th March 1967 and previous to this I received one copy of the letter addressed to M/s. Willium Alfred White Inc. I have replied Mr. Goldsmith's letter also giving him the whole history of the cheating business. It is understood that Mr. Goldsmith says the hope of getting back the money is very slim. Under the circumstances there is no need of pushing good money for the bad. $6000.00 has already become bad money and therefore no more good money should be spent after this. Forget the chapter. Take it for granted that Krishna has taken away this money from you for your deliberate foolishness. In future be very cautious and abide by the orders of Krishna. If you abide by the orders of Krishna, He can give you thing that you may need. Be cheerful and chant Hare Krishna without any lamentation. As I have told you several times that my Guru maharaj used to say that this world is not a fit place for gentleman. His version is corroborated by the following verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Letter to Kirtanananda -- New York 13 April, 1967:

Residential quarters for students and others on terms of our rigidity is very good project. We should increase this project like Y.M.C.A. organization without any profit. We shall supply nice Prasadam at cheap rate and we shall give shelter to persons who will abide by our rules. That will help in increasing the numbers of devotees because they will attend our lectures and take our Prasadam and will have opportunity to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam etc. I think we should make an experiment of this project during the world Exposition.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Nathan Baruch -- Montreal 7 August, 1968:

Your letter is very encouraging, and I think in future your enthusiasm and energy can very suitably be engaged in the transcendental loving service of Krishna. Everyone of us has got a certain amount of good energy derived from Krishna, and when that energy is employed under the expert direction of Spiritual Master, one's life becomes successful. That is the secret of Krishna Consciousness. The Spiritual Master must be bona fide representative of Krishna, by disciplic succession, receiving orders from the superior, and the disciple must agree to abide by the orders of the Spiritual Master. This is the simple method of spiritual advancement; if you remember this principle it will be very nice.

Letter to Brahmananda -- Seattle 16 October, 1968:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated Oct. 10, 1968, and I am so much grateful to you for your kind sentiments for me. It is all Krishna's Grace that He has sent such a nice assistants to me, for executing the mission of my Spiritual Master. Personally, I am nonentity; I have come here on the order of my Spiritual Master, and He has kindly sent you all boys to assist me. So whatever is being done, there is no credit for me, but all the credit goes to my Spiritual Master, because He has arranged everything, and I am simply to abide by His order.

Letter to Dinesh, Krsna Devi -- Los Angeles 19 November, 1968:

Regarding Kallman: The contract is in New York, there in a file, but this Mr. Kallman has failed to abide by the contract. He printed 10,000 copies of the record, but he did not pay a single cent. Although the contract was that he would pay me 15 cents per record. You can consult your father what is the position. I think Mr. Kallman has broken the terms of the contract, but Brahmananda told me that he has taken a letter from Brahmananda adjusting this account. Of course, Brahmananda had no power to adjust this account without my sanction. So you can inquire from Brahmananda what is the position. Otherwise, the contract is already broken. So by joint consultation with your father and Brahmananda you can do the needful. I understand you are coming here by the 23rd instant, and when we meet we shall discuss on this point broadly. But Mr. Kallman is very intriguing. But when he comes before me, he presents himself as a great devotee. So this is the position. But he has not paid me a single cent, that is a fact.

Letter to Devananda -- Los Angeles 23 November, 1968:

I can understand from your letter that you are working nicely for the spreading of Lord Caitanya's mission. Just keep this your attitude of sincere service and without a doubt Krishna will give you all intelligence to serve Him nicely. Krishna is not ungrateful but rather He sees all our efforts and appreciates our sincere service. Krishna is interested in how we engage our energies in His service. We are very small, very insignificant, so what can we do? Simply He wants to see that we are engaging our time and energy in His service. And you always remember to abide by the laws of Krishna as described by His bona fide Representative, and the passage of going back to Godhead is assured. This is Krishna's Mercy. But pure devotees do not even want to go to Krishna's abode. Simply our prayer should be, My dear Krishna, please remind me to always chant Your Holy Name, please do not put me into forgetfulness. You are sitting within me as Supersoul, so you can put me into forgetfulness or into remembering You. So please do not put me into forgetfulness. Please always remind me to chant, even You send me into the hell, it doesn't matter, just so long as I can always chant Hare Krishna. Lord Caitanya and Nityananda are singing one very nice song in which they are requesting everyone to please chant Hare Krishna, and come along with Them. So that is our request to everyone.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Levine -- Los Angeles 25 January, 1969:

Regarding your initiation, you have to decide yourself whether both you and your wife can follow our four disciplinary principles. I do not know if you are able to abide by these principles immediately. Otherwise there is no objection in the matter of initiating a good soul like you.

Letter to Krsna dasa -- San Francisco 3 April, 1969:

Last night, one German boy was initiated by me, and he will be entrusted for rendering all my books in German language. There will be now no difficulty to publish the German edition of Back To Godhead therefore, in your newly purchased press. You should take the indication given by Lord Krishna: The press is already there, the press worker, Jaya Govinda, is coming, and the German scholar has joined our institution. Don't you see the indication by Krishna that we must make propaganda in the German language in that part of the world? So you have to adjust things by the indication of Lord Krishna. Don't do anything whimsically. The direction comes through the Spiritual Master, and any one who abides by the order of the Spiritual Master to give shape to the wish of the Lord, he is perfectly surrendered soul. So don't be childish, stay there. Let Jaya Govinda come and begin printing the BTG.

Letter to Krsna dasa -- New Vrindaban 13 June, 1969:

Regarding registration of the society, you can simply translate our New York registration form into German and submit it to the court clerk, depositing the requisite fees, and I think that will finish the registration problem. If the police do not allow you to perform kirtana in public places, do not disobey their orders. Try to abide by the law of the state for taking advantage of performing kirtana as far as possible.

Letter to Swami B. S. Bhagavata Maharaja -- Los Angeles 21 August, 1969:

I thank you very much for inviting me to your head office in Calcutta for heart-to-heart talk and discussion. I shall be always glad to abide by this suggestion, but the thing is if I go to India, it will cost me at least Rs. 25,000 to go and come back. In this old age, wherever I go I take with me one personal assistant. This means if I go to India, I will have to take my secretary, and that means two return tickets also, as well as other expenses. But if something is tangibly understood on the line of cooperation, it will be not difficult for me to go and see the acharya of the Mission for the final decision.

Letter to Pradyumna -- Tittenhurst 13 October, 1969:

I understand from your letter of October 8th that there is a struggle with the Kazi. This obstacle by the Kazi is not new to our Krishna Consciousness Movement. It was there even during the time of Lord Caitanya, but we must steadily go on with our activities without caring for these so-called custodians of law. We are the most lawful citizens in the world, but if some demon Kazi gives stumbling to our execution of duties, we cannot abide by such order. I am very glad to learn that some of the Catholic priests are sympathetic with our movement. The government says "In God we trust", and we are preaching the message of love of God, pleading with the people to become servants of God. So where is the cause of breaking the public peace? I am enclosing herewith a declaration of our Krishna Consciousness Movement which you may present in court if necessary. You depend on Krishna, try to face the charges by your best abilities and surely Krishna will help you. A similar charge was brought against our men in Philadelphia and the learned judge found that we are not culprit.

Letter to Sridhara Maharaja -- London 7 December, 1969:

Another point I beg to inform you is that His Holiness Yayabar Maharaja has got land in Ishodyan and he wants Rs. 10,000 for it. He says that he wanted to construct some Math, but for want of sufficient resources he could not do that, so now he wants to dispose of it. I have requested him to donate this land to our institution because the land was meant for some service to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Since he could not utilize it by constructing a temple or building there, I am prepared to do it for the service of the Lord and in pursuance of the desire of Bhaktivinode Thakura. If he donates that land to our institution, we can immediately invest Rs. 200,000 minimum for constructing a temple and home for the European and American students. I know Sripada Yayabar Maharaja always abides by your good advices. So if you think it is proper, you can advise him in the above manner so that we can fulfill the desire of Srila Prabhupada by mutual cooperation in the matter of discharging His Mission. I hope you will kindly understand me right and do the needful. Thanking you in anticipation.

1970 Correspondence

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

Regarding your question of an initiated person falling prey to the maya, the answer is that so long we are in this material world, there is always chance of being spoiled by Maya, so we must stick with vow to the Lotus Feet of Krishna. An initiated devotee is given the chance for becoming free from the entanglement of karma wheel. Initiated means beginning, not perfection. The Spiritual Master's business is to guide him to the perfectional point. But if one does not strictly follow the guidance of a bona fide Spiritual Master his initiation does not bear any meaning. The initiation performance is an agreement by the disciples to abide by the order of the Spiritual Master. Therefore, if the Spiritual Master is bona fide and the disciple is serious to abide by His order, then the success is sure. But if a disciple follows strictly the devotional way of life, he is no longer a karmi and all his activities which may appear to be like ordinary work, or it may be activity according to Scriptural injunction, are counted as devotional service. And devotional service in all circumstances is free from the actions and reactions of karma. I hope this will clear the matter.

Letter to Bali Mardan 1975 So. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, Cal. 90034 March 13, 1970:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 7 March, 1970. I am so much obliged to you for the fine sentiment you have expressed in connection with my humble service; but this is not very extraordinary—every human being, for his own interest, should accept a Spiritual Master and abide by His order. This is the Vedic system, and whatever we are trying to do, it is in pursuance of the old order.

Letter to Bali Mardan 1975 So. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, Cal. 90034 March 13, 1970:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 7 March, 1970. I am so much obliged to you for the fine sentiment you have expressed in connection with my humble service; but this is not very extraordinary—every human being, for his own interest, should accept a Spiritual Master and abide by His order. This is the Vedic system, and whatever we are trying to do, it is in pursuance of the old order.

Letter to Syamasundara -- Los Angeles 12 April, 1970:

Regarding how George may continue his meditation, that meditation may be done by keeping one picture of Krishna, keeping his mind concentrated on the picture of Krishna and softly chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra as long as he likes. That will complete both his meditation and Krishna Consciousness perfectly according to the last verse of the sixth chapter of Bhagavad-gita which says, "And of all yogis, he always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in Yoga, and is the highest of all."

Letter to Syamasundara -- Los Angeles 15 April, 1970:

So the atheist is hypocrite himself when he says that he does not believe in God. He has to believe in God in the form of Death. A criminal hypocritically says that he does not believe in the Government, but a civil citizen abides by the law of the Government. The Government is present therefore both for the criminal and for the law abiding citizen. To the criminal the Government is present as force of law and order, putting the criminal in the prison house and giving the civil citizen all facilities for peaceful life.

Letter to Brahmananda , Gargamuni -- Los Angeles 31 July, 1970:

It is the injunction of the Vedas that the Spiritual Master should not be treated as ordinary man even if sometimes the Spiritual Master behaves like ordinary man. It is the duty of the disciple to accept Him as Superhuman Man. In the beginning of your letter your comparison of the soldier and commander is very appropriate. We are on the battlefield of Kuruksetra—one side Maya, the other side Krsna. So the regulative principles of a battlefield, namely to abide by the order of the commander, must be followed. Otherwise it is impossible to direct the fighting capacity of the soldiers and thus defeat the opposing elements. Kindly therefore take courage. You are capable in so many ways. Let things be rightly done so that our mission may be correctly pushed forward to come out victorious.

Letter to Bali-mardana -- Tokyo August 21, 1970:

You are now elected as one of the Commissioners of the GBC, so you have got great responsibility. So far we are concerned in the disciplic succession of Lord Caitanya, if we simply abide by the order of the Acarya in disciplic succession, then things are made very easy. As Krsna is saying in Bhagavad-gita that He is sitting in everyone's heart and especially to His devotees who are constantly engaged in His Transcendental Loving Service He gives special instruction so that the devotee may make easy progress of the path of back to home, back to Godhead.

Letter to Gargamuni -- Tokyo August 23, 1970:

There is a statement in the Caitanya-caritamrta that without being empowered by Krsna nobody can preach the glories of His Holy Name and the only means for acquiring this spiritual strength is to abide by the orders of the Spiritual Master. That is the verdict of all Scriptures.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Krsna Devi -- Gorakhpur 16 February, 1971:

Your husbands letter along with yours is very encouraging and I have answered it separately. I'm so glad to know that both of you are enhancing your Krishna Consciousness by mutual cooperation. May God bless you. You are all helping me by abiding the orders of my Spiritual Master, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami maharaj and He'll be pleased upon you who are His grand spiritual children. So this program to open a branch in Israel has got all my approval.

Letter to Yamuna, Gurudasa -- Nairobi 17 October, 1971:

The leaders of the society must try to understand this point, that godlessness cannot give any relief to the human society. The whole world is so made that the living entity must serve Krishna; otherwise he has to serve maya. It is the same example that the citizen of the state has to render service to the government in order to become a good citizen. If one does not abide by the government laws then he is put into prison walls and forced to serve the government more tediously. So if we do not perform sacrifice, yajna, which means method of activities for pleasing the lord; as you know it is stated in Bhagavad-gita that any work not done for the satisfaction of the Lord must entangle the doer in the complication of the stringent laws of material nature.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 17 December, 1971:

I am especially pleased that your Gurukula project is going forward nicely. I consider that this is one of our most important projects, because people in general are only suffering due to poor fund of knowledge. So if we have facility to give them the right knowledge of how to make an end to suffering condition of life, then we shall be performing the highest type of welfare work. So you can try on this point to convince rich businessmen, educators, politicians, etc. to help us push forward this gurukula system for guiding their young children on the right path to becoming sober, upright citizens. You can inform them that if they give me proper facilities that I can save all the young people of your country from the worst danger. People are always willing to give anything for educational purpose. They think that if their children get the right knowledge then they will become very successful in life, and that is their concern, so they sacrifice everything for good educational cause. Now their children are all becoming hippies, and they do not want so much technology and knowledge which gives them no real satisfaction, so they are losing all interest in education and only they want to enjoy life, that's all. But if such children are given practical guidance on the transcendental platform, above the bodily and mental conception of life, then they will develop into perfect citizens—moral, honest, hard-working, law-abiding, clean, faithful to home and country, like that. That is the unmatched success of our Krishna Consciousness schooling system, so you introduce it nicely, so that your country's leaders will see something very nice and come to our assistance.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Vamanadeva, Indira -- Bombay 4 January, 1972:

I am very glad to hear that our Krishna Consciousness Movement is meeting with good success already in Oklahoma City. That is predicted by Lord Caitanya, that in every town and village Hare Nama Sankirtana will be well received. It is now an established fact that wherever we go, we will be well received. People are appreciating how pure are our devotees that they are able to abide by the regulative restrictions. Even in your country where sinful activities are the common practice, never the less people are respecting the fact that we are able to follow these principles, while they themselves cannot. So stick very strictly to these principles and chant regularly daily sixteen rounds and you will always remain the topmost position. Have nice Deity program, always have lots of Kirtana, serve ample Prasadam very sumptuously and speak something from my books. If this is done in every center our movement will very soon become the world religion as has now been predicted by one prominent Japanese philosopher in a newspaper here.

Letter to Gargamuni, Mahamsa, Naranaraya, Giriraja -- Los Angeles 19 June, 1972:

My dear boys, kindly accept my blessings, and I hope by Krishna's Grace you are doing all well. This morning I received one telephone message that there is some misunderstanding between yourselves, and Giriraja, who is in charge of Bombay center. I may inform you in this connection that what I am doing to push on this great movement in the world is all with your cooperation. It is not possible for me alone to execute this great responsibility. Kindly, therefore, abide by the direction of the man in charge of the center. If there is lack of obedience then there cannot be discipline, and without discipline we cannot manage a huge world organization. I shall be returning by September next. Kindly therefore do not make any fracture during this period at least, and when I return if you all don't like the man in charge surely I shall replace him out of you. But for the time being, please do not make any rupture, and please obey by the direction of Giriraja Brahmacari.

Letter to Giriraja -- Amsterdam 30 July, 1972:

So far the school of Sumati Morarji, make the children into Vaisnavas through English medium of learning. We are not going to abide by the government schedule. They should be taught our books as soon as they can read and write. The idea is that those who will later on accept service, they cannot be accepted by us for schooling, we cannot help them. They must be the sons of rich and important men who will not be taking education simply to use it for eating and sleeping. They should be taught just to do like the elders, that is, rise early, cleanse, attend mangal arati, read our literatures, chant, go for sankirtana, like that, and besides that, a little ABC, mathematics, geography, history, that's all.

Letter to Mohanananda -- Ahmedabad 11 December, 1972:

Only a few weeks back I had got a letter from Satsvarupa wherein he has informed me that Stoka Krishna has left Dallas and that he must go there to take charge himself. But he is sannyasi and he should travel and preach, and he has not much taste for watching after so many things. So I had suggested him to get a full-time manager, some grhastha, nice husband and wife together, to manage the things, and that he shall expect that such person will stay tightly and develop it and make that his life work. It is the most important preaching work, to train our children in Krishna Consciousness education of life. And I think that you are just the right man to do it. Krishna has given you the right idea, just see! I was also at Dallas school last summer and I was very much impressed with these children, how nicely they are becoming preachers and kirtana men and girls. If we can develop properly, one day they will turn the world by their preaching. Let the small children from all good families in your country come to our Gurukula school and take education from us. They may be certain their children will get the real knowledge which will create the best citizens of brahminical type, clean, honest, law-abiding, healthy, industrious, all good qualities they will have. Now I think Krishna has inspired you in this way, and every facility is there, you are the pioneer in Dallas and you know how to do everything nicely, that I know, so now you go there immediately after consulting with Satsvarupa and Karandhara and Madhudvisa and the others, take their advice and do the needful.

Letter to Deva Mira -- Bombay 29 December, 1972:

I am stopping in New York by next summer. Meanwhile, I shall request you not to make any disturbance and I shall request Bali Mardan to leave you alone. You must abide by the order of Bali Mardan, you write as Dr. Please let me know what kind of Doctor you are? Have you got any bona fide certificate? Send me the copy of the certificate at once. Please let me know this immediately.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Sir Alistair Hardy -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 28 July, 1973:

Now so far as ideology of religion is concerned: Religion means to abide by the orders of God, that's all. God is great, we are his sons, he is supplying all our necessities these are the right understandings. Why should there be any difference in religious practices. If you come to God consciousness then we can understand the birds the beasts the plants everyone is son of God, we have no right to kill. But the so called man made religious systems say the animals are our food and another religion says, "No, no, there should be no animal killing," this difference in practice of religious systems is due to want of God consciousness. If we actually come to the point of God consciousness then all these differences will be perfectly resolved, but unless there is actual God consciousness you will not be able to change the Ideologies. I have asked many Christian Gentle men "Why are you killing when in the Bible it is clearly said, Thou shalt not kill?" they cannot give me any satisfactory reply. In a round about way they try to avoid this question. So all these are due to a lack of God consciousness.

Letter to Sir Alistair Hardy -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 28 July, 1973:

So all these problems are due only to a lack of God consciousness. Therefore is you can actually help people to know about the supreme powerful that will be a great help. But I see that your method is not very satisfactory. You are making research by accepting the statements of common peoples expression of religious sentiment. There is no need of research, the result of research in this matter is already there perfectly presented in Bhagavad-gita, all we have to do is accept it and the whole problem of research is solved. You want to establish your conclusion of religious experience by taking the opinions of laymen. A laymans sentimental expression about religious problems is not a practical understanding of religious problems. Religion as we have explained means the orders of God, therefore it must be scientifically studied, what are his orders, how to abide by them. Simply by taking statistics of the sentiments of common men we cannot come to the right conclusion.

Letter to Rupanuga -- Bombay 13 October, 1973:

I am very glad to learn of the book distribution. You keep the paperbook editions. Why people should pay unnecessarily? Regarding your question about the spiritual world and the material world, there may be maya, but one who is Krsna conscious has nothing to do with it, exactly like there is the police department but the law abiding citizen has nothing to do with it. In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated: daivi hy esa gunamayi/ mama maya duratyaya/ mam eva ye prapadyante/ mayam etam taranti te. (BG 7.14). In answer to your other question, yes, the heat is bodily temperature.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Trivikrama -- Bombay 1 May, 1974:

I am very concerned, however, that in the midst of such good reports, the devotees there are quarreling, namely Sri Ballavh and Dvija Hari. Sri Ballavh was particularly given to your charge for his reformation, and he promised me in Calcutta that he would abide by your instructions, so this report is not very good.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Ram Patel -- Bombay 10 January, 1975:

I am in due receipt of your letter concerning your son Durgesh. I am very sorry for any inconvenience that has come upon you due to this misunderstanding. I did not receive any letter from you until now about the situation so I was not aware fully of the circumstances as you have given them. Your son should stay with you and abide by your instructions. I will be coming there in April and will be more than glad to meet with you and your son at that time if you so wish. Again, I am sorry for any misunderstanding that may have occurred.

Letter to Mr. K. T. Desai -- Bombay 12 November, 1975:

You mention transcendental meditation, but what is transcendental meditation? We do not find it in any authorized scripture, but jnana-yoga is there in the Vedic literature and the yogis practice this type of yoga. These things are explained in the Bhagavad-gita 6th Chapter very nicely. And in the other Vedic literature we find that a yogi by concentrating his mind can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead within the core of his heart. Bhagavad-gita states:

yoginam api sarvesam
mad-gatenantaratmana
sraddhavan bhajate yo mam
sa me yuktatamo matah
(BG 6.47)

And of all yogis, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.)

So this is the perfection of meditation. One must have faith and great love for the Supreme Lord. He must be a devotee. Therefore bhakti is the perfection of meditation.

Letter to Sri Krishna C. Batra -- Vrindaban 8 December, 1975:

So this bhakti yoga is practiced by varieties of rendering service to the Lord, They are divided into nine prescribed methods as it is called sravanam, kirtanam visnoh, smaranam pada sevanam, arcanam vandanam dasyam, sakhyam atma nivedanam (SB 7.5.23). The actual path to understand God is bhakti yoga as it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita, bhaktya mam abhijanati, yevan yas casmi tattvatah, tato mam tattvato jnatve, visate tad anantaram. (BG 18.55) "One can understand the Supreme Personality as he is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God." This bhakti yoga is identical with Krishna consciousness this is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita, Yoginam api sarvesam, mad gatenanteratmana, sraddhavan bhajate yo mama, sa me yuktatamo matah. (BG 6.47) And of all yogis, he who always abides in me with great faith, worshiping me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with me in yoga and is the highest of all.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Madhudvisa -- Nellore 7 January, 1976:

Mr. Deoji Punja came to see me in Bombay. If any of the trustees are to be dropped, this has to be discussed between the trustees themselves. These are all important men and we should be careful lest they become offended. If I say something it will not look well. If some of the trustees are not abiding by the principles or not chanting 16 rounds, then they should be induced by the other trustees who are following, to step down. I think you can follow what I mean.

Letter to Yasomatinandana -- Mayapur 18 January, 1976:

I am in due receipt of the names of the persons recommended for first and second initiation. I accept all the new devotees as my initiated disciples. Their spiritual names are:

Bhakta Phil—Sarvaksadasa
Bhakta Mark—Parivadi dasa
Bhakta Jimmy—Kalasamvara dasa
Bhakta Bruce—Rudracandi dasa
Bhakta Martin—Krodhesvara dasa
Bhaktin Karen—Sarvaga dasi
Bhaktin Sue—Brahmapatni dasi

All of them must agree to faithfully chant 16 rounds minimum daily and rigidly abide by the four regulative principles.

Letter to Elaine -- Mayapur 1 February, 1976:

Spiritual life means to become pure, and chanting Hare Krishna will automatically make you pure. But just as when a physician prescribes a certain medicine, he also describes the conditions under which the medicine will be most effective. Similarly, the chanting will have the most effect if you can abide by the principles of purified living: First, no eating of meat, fish, or eggs. Second, no gambling. Third, no taking of any kinds of intoxicants such as drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, coffee or tea. And fourth, no illicit sex life, which means sex life only within marriage and then only for the purpose of procreating Krishna Conscious children. If you can follow these principles and chant Hare Krishna, you will make great spiritual advancement. The best thing is for you to associate with the devotees at the Dallas Temple, then it will be much easier.

Letter to Nityananda -- Honolulu 23 May, 1976:

On your recommendation I am accepting Danny Miller and Michael McKinly for first initiation into Hare Krishna chanting. You can have sannyasis chant on their beads, and give them their spiritual names and beads at the fire sacrifice. They must abide by the regulative principles; no illicit-sex, no intoxication, no gambling, and no meat-eating, and chanting minimum of 16 rounds daily. Then there will be steady and sure progress. Their spiritual names are:

Danny—Kalaksara das
Michael—Gunavasa das
I hope that this meets you in good health.
Letter to Vasudeva:

In case you do not like this arrangement then you may keep the temple as your private property and as my disciple I will give you guidance. But you may not use the ISKCON name to collect funds or to take loans. In this connection until this matter is resolved no loan may be taken from the bank or elsewhere and all collections in the name of ISKCON, must stop. If you desire to keep the temple as private property then Upendra das may return to Hawaii and ISKCON Fiji may be dissolved. If you want to consider this project as an ISKCON project then you must abide by the orders and direction of the GBC, which you do not like to do. Now whatever you like let me know.

Letter to Sharma -- Vrindaban 27 September, 1976:

I am in due receipt of your letter undated and have noted the contents. So, why did you leave Mayapur if you are so expert in chanting? Read my books and do some menial service, but why you have left Mayapur? You are restless, so what can be done. You were chanting in Mayapur. Wherever you may live, you have to abide by the order of the authority. Because you are restless you are not fit for chanting absolutely.

Letter to S. N. Sharma -- Vrindaban 9 November, 1976:

Yes, if you want to give us this land we shall be willing immediately to invest in developing a project there. We have long been interested in developing something in Delhi, but we were waiting for the opportunity. What Krishna preaches is meant for the weaker section. If they feel weak and abide by my direction, it is not my direction, it is Krishna's, they can be raised to the standard of the most exalted persons, even if they are all fools and rascals. The teaching is very simple, "man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru" (BG 18.65). Even a child can do it. Even the weakest child can do it if he is trained up. Let all the weaker section come to me. I shall train how to become first class men by chanting Hare Krishna Maha mantra and be fit for Krishna consciousness. That will solve all their problems. It is doing practically all over the world. I don't think there is any other institution throughout the whole world which can take charge of a weaker section and raise them to the standard of most exalted persons.

1977 Correspondence

Letter to Laksmi Narayana -- Bombay 26 March, 1977:

As you are recommending these devotees for initiation, I am accepting them. Their initiated names are:

John—Jaya Jagannatha dasa
Lisa—Lalita Krsna dasi

No you must hold a fire sacrifice and they should vow to abide by the four regulative principles and chanting minimum sixteen rounds daily. Dugdhapana dasa may also be given his second initiation and you may find his sacred thread duly chanted on enclosed. After the ceremony he should hear the gayatri tape in the right ear. By your good example teach him how to be brahminical.

Page Title:Abide (Letters)
Compiler:Visnu Murti
Created:20 of May, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=47
No. of Quotes:47