An intelligent person (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"the intelligent person" |"an intelligent person" |"the intelligent man" |"an intelligent man" |"the intelligent men" |"the intelligent persons" |"the intelligent persons" |"Any intelligent man" |"Any intelligent person"

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam when Karabhajana Muni was elucidating the different incarnations of Godhead in different yugas, he said that "In the Kali-yuga the intelligent persons will worship the incarnation of Sri Krishna, by the transcendental sankirtana method."

Letter to Juggannath Babu -- Calcutta 14 March, 1949: In the Srimad-Bhagavatam when Karabhajana Muni was elucidating the different incarnations of Godhead in different yugas, he said that "In the Kali-yuga the intelligent persons will worship the incarnation of Sri Krishna, by the transcendental sankirtana method. This incarnation of Sri Krishna will be non-blackish in the color of His body but will constantly chant the name of Krishna along with His many disciples who will act as the soldiers for the deliverance of the fallen souls of the Kali-yuga.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Now we have got our English Srimad-Bhagavatam and there will be no difficulty to impress the audience with our Siddhantas and any intelligent man impressed with our Siddhantas will certainly change his life's mode of action.

Letter to Tirtha Maharaja -- New York 23 November, 1965: So my lecturing or appointing one selling agent here for my books is already finished and if I remain such many lectures can be arranged in different parts of the country. One Dr. Choudhry is prepared to arrange for my lectures in San Francisco, Los Angeles etc but in my opinion such casual lectures may be a good personal advertisement but factually they do not make any permanent effects. But if there is a centre of activity for attracting people as you are doing in the Research Institute, the people can be trained up in the cult by regular association and hearing the transcendental sound of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Now we have got our English Srimad-Bhagavatam and there will be no difficulty to impress the audience with our Siddhantas and any intelligent man impressed with our Siddhantas will certainly change his life's mode of action. I think you may take up this suggestion very seriously and immediately start the centre and other things will automatically follow. And above all this is to satisfy the transcendental desire of Srila Prabhupada who desired very enthusiastically to start centres like that in the foreign countries. If you want to start the centre on rented house, the rent will not be less than three to four hundred dollars but the space will be one fourth of the house as we want to purchase. If you agree kindly confirm it by wire so that I can ask the broker to stay the house for some time for sale to other party.

1968 Correspondence

This Ramakrsna, who is actually Gadadhara Chatterjee, declared himself as the same Rama and Krsna. If he is accepted as such by some person, is he very intelligent man?

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 25 February, 1968: In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated that one who worships the demigods just like Brahma, Siva, Indra, Candra or demigoddesses like Kali, Durga, Sarasvati, etc., are described as persons who have lost their intelligence. One person who has lost his intelligence, how he can become an incarnation of God? A person who has lost his intelligence, is not even counted amongst the higher section of society. So, the Ramakrishna is a bogus man according to the statement of Bhagavad-gita. Vivekananda was also not even intelligent man because he accepted Ramakrsna as incarnation of God. This Ramakrsna, who is actually Gadadhara Chatterjee, declared himself as the same Rama and Krsna. If he is accepted as such by some person, is he very intelligent man? Suppose a man comes before somebody and says he is Pres. Johnson. and the foolish man accepts the pretender as Pres. Johnson, is that man to be accepted as very intelligent man? Vivekananda was not even an intelligent man because he accepted Gadhadhara Chatterjee as incarnation of God without any credentials. We accept Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead on the evidence of Vedic literature.

1969 Correspondence

Sex urge is a symptom of every living entity, but in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is advised that it is something like the itching propensity. If one can tolerate this itching, he can save himself from enormous troublesome business resulting from this itching sensation. So an intelligent person rather suffers the pain of itching sensation than accepting the after effects of satisfying the itch.

Letter to Madhudvisa -- New Vrindaban 10 June, 1969: Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters dated June 6, 1969, and I have noted the contents carefully. Your determination to remain as brahmacari is very encouraging. Actually, a living entity does not require to be entangled more and more. Rather he should save his time to finish the Krishna Consciousness business, and thus be liberated in this life. Sex urge is a symptom of every living entity, but in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is advised that it is something like the itching propensity. If one can tolerate this itching, he can save himself from enormous troublesome business resulting from this itching sensation. So an intelligent person rather suffers the pain of itching sensation than accepting the after effects of satisfying the itch. In India, therefore, there are many akanda brahmacaris, and my Guru Maharaja was the best brahmacari. So your decision to remain a brahmacari is very glorious, and if you you stick to the principles of Krishna Consciousness rigidly, you will never be disturbed by any sex urge, and life will be very much simplified, completely being engaged in Krishna Consciousness.

1970 Correspondence

The human being is supposed to be intelligent more than the animals, so the intelligent persons or pious persons are coming in contact with Krsna consciousness.

Letter to Jagadisa -- Los Angeles 9 July, 1970: Your second question: Is there any particular reason why some spirit souls become directed toward Krsna Consciousness in the first place? How does one get on the progressive path of elevation to Krsna Consciousness? The answer is that it is by the mercy of the Lord that one comes in contact with a Spiritual Master Who can revive the dormant Krsna consciousness of the conditioned soul. Krsna is always merciful and He comes Himself, He leaves behind Him instruction like the Bhagavad-gita, etc. and He sends His representative, the Spiritual Master. In this way the merciful propaganda is going on. Every individual soul has got the discriminating power, so those who are pious they take advantage of this opportunity of the mercy of the Lord. But both pious and impious souls are being convinced by this Krsna consciousness movement. The human being is supposed to be intelligent more than the animals, so the intelligent persons or pious persons are coming in contact with Krsna consciousness.

The intelligent person does not desire anything—he simply surrenders unto the Lord or he desires to serve the Lord and that is his greatest opportunity.

Letter to Jagadisa -- Los Angeles 9 July, 1970: A living entity who is desiring for spiritual upliftment, the Lord is giving him the opportunity of the Vedic literatures and the Spiritual Master. But His advice to all living entities is to give up all nonsense and everything else and surrender unto Him. The living entity by accepting one kind of opportunity is going to hell and by accepting the other kinds of opportunities he is going back to home, back to Godhead. So both opportunities are offered by the Lord. Therefore indirectly you can say that one is being sent to hell and one is being sent to the spiritual world by the Lord—but He is simply supplying the opportunities to everyone as he desires. The intelligent person therefore does not desire anything—he simply surrenders unto the Lord or he desires to serve the Lord and that is his greatest opportunity.

We take the oldest one which is genuine—that is Krsna consciousness. We are not interested in anything newly manufactured. If Meher Baba or for the sake of that, any other Baba claims to be Krsna, so why any intelligent man will go to the substitute leaving aside the original?

Letter to Janmanjaya, Taradevi -- Los Angeles 9 July, 1970: Regarding your second question how to convince the young persons who are thinking that Meher Baba is an avatara. it is very difficult to deal with these misguided people. If you meet sincere people you may inform them that we are concerned with Krsna Who is historically 5,000 years old. So any other party who comes from India or any part of the world cannot claim such long history as far back as 5,000 years. There are sometimes manufactured avatara. in the history of the Vedic literature, but we don't accept them. We take the oldest one which is genuine—that is Krsna consciousness. We are not interested in anything newly manufactured. If Meher Baba or for the sake of that, any other Baba claims to be Krsna, so why any intelligent man will go to the substitute leaving aside the original?

The school college and university students are very intelligent, and bad experience has taught them to be cautious, so if you keep all your programs to the standard as I have already instructed in so many ways, then they will easily become satisfied that this is the real way of life for any intelligent person—Krsna Consciousness.

Letter to Tirthapada -- Bombay 13 November, 1970: Please maintain the program of Temple worship, distribution of Prasadam, Sankirtana Party, distribution of literatures, study and Krsna work all in order and make everything as nice as possible. The school college and university students are very receptive to this Movement, so we must present them with an excellent example. They are very intelligent and bad experience has taught them to be cautious, so if you keep all your programs to the standard as I have already instructed in so many ways, then they will easily become satisfied that this is the real way of life for any intelligent person—Krsna Consciousness.

Yes, any intelligent man can immediately appreciate the qualities of a Vaisnava devotee.

Letter to Bhagavan -- Bombay 24 November, 1970: Yes, any intelligent man can immediately appreciate the qualities of a Vaisnava devotee. The devotee is always truthful and therefore everyone feels confident about what he may say or do under any condition. So the judge has appreciated the transcendental qualities of our devotee Narottamadasa Das. I've seen your notice to the other centers regarding your new Sankirtana practices and it is very nice. Please continue to work cooperatively in this way and I will be very much grateful to you for your sincere efforts.

1972 Correspondence

We have introduced a Life Membership program there in India, for the purpose of giving the intelligent men in the society an opportunity to help push on this great movement of pure Vedic culture.

Letter to Sriman Ram Prashad Dasa -- Los Angeles June 14, 1972: Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 1, 1972, and I have noted the contents. We have introduced a Life Membership program there in India, for the purpose of giving the intelligent men in the society an opportunity to help push on this great movement of pure Vedic culture. Our members receive all our books printed to date - Bhagavad-gita (in 1000 page edition), Caitanya-caritamrta, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Sri Isopanisad, Srimad-Bhagavatam (to be completed in 60 volumes), and other books totalling about 20. They also receive any book which will be printed in the future, as well as a lifetime subscription to Back to Godhead magazine. Any of our life members and their immediate families are permitted to stay in any of our 100 temples anywhere in the world, free of charge, for as long as they like. So my suggestion to you is that you communicate with Sriman Giriraja dasa Brahmacari, the president of our Bombay headquarters, and he will give you more information regarding this membership program.

1973 Correspondence

It appears that you are an intelligent man because you approach submissively and not to argue.

Letter to Subrata Lahiri -- Bombay 4 January, 1973: Please accept my greetings and blessings. I have received your letter and I very much appreciate your kind sentiments. It appears that you are an intelligent man because you approach submissively and not to argue. In your letter you mention Bhagavad-gita. Actually the whole purpose of Bhagavad-gita is to revive our sanatana-dharma, which is the eternal occupation of the living entity. Sanatana-dharma does not refer to any sectarian process or religion. It is the eternal function of the eternal living entities in relationship with the eternal Supreme Lord. The English word "religion" is a little different from sanatana-dharma. Religion conveys the idea of faith, and faith may change. One may have faith in a particular process, and he may change this faith and adopt another, but sanatana-dharma refers to that activity which cannot be changed. Man professes to be a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or any other sect. Such designations are not sanatana-dharma. A Hindu may change his faith to become a Muslim, or a Muslim may change his faith to become a Hindu, or a Christian may change his faith and so on. But in all circumstances the change of religious faith does not effect the eternal occupation of rendering service to others. Thus, to profess a particular type of sect is not to profess one's sanatana-dharma. The rendering of service is sanatana-dharma.

I am very glad to hear that they are selling nicely in Delhi also, now try to tax your brain for finding new ways and better ways for distributing our books widely to the intelligent men of Delhi city.

Letter to Tejiyas -- Bombay 5 January, 1973: Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated January 1, 1973, and I am very happy to learn from you about all of the progress in Vrndaban and Delhi. You are coming to Bombay very soon, so we will speak at more length when you see me. When you come we shall discuss with Mahamsa and Yasodanandana about the funds for Vrndaban building work. I am very glad to hear that Puranjana has been able to obtain the CCP Certificate for Rs. 2 lakhs. That is very important business. Without books we will make no progress in India, because practically everything we have done so far in this country has rested on these books. So I am very glad to hear that they are selling nicely in Delhi also, now try to tax your brain for finding new ways and better ways for distributing our books widely to the intelligent men of Delhi city.

Your statement that "no intelligent man can resist becoming the member" because of our books is a very good observation.

Letter to Tejiyas -- Calcutta 15 March, 1973: This program of approaching MPs is very very important. If you can get this petition approved, that would be a great boon to our movement. Even if 15 or 20 MPs join our Society that will be a new chapter for us. And your petition is very attractively worded. Actually India is the spiritual leader of the world but the fools and rascals are trying to sabotage the position.

Your school preaching is very much welcomed by me. We are in need of new recruits to carry out so many ambitious programs here in India, so if you can infiltrate the school system as you did in America that will be a great service. Yes, this program for the factories I have already outlined. Let the labor-management disputes be finished by prasada and regular kirtanas with temples right on the premises.

Your statement that "no intelligent man can resist becoming the member" because of our books is a very good observation. Now these beautiful books have become the firm basis for our movement and any intelligent person in any part of the world cannot but fail to admire them.

I said it long ago, that we are trying to make Brahmanas from anywhere in the world. We can offer the intelligent person the opportunity to be trained up in the highest spiritual knowledge and train him up as a preacher himself.

Letter to Pusta Krsna -- Hyderabad 23 March, 1973: Yes, your study program is nice. By writing according to our realization we become more and more convinced and all doubts are destroyed. I have looked over your essay and I think you are understanding our philosophy rightly. Why don't you write something for Back to Godhead?

We can avoid idle conversation and utilize our time in the spare moments for studying slokas from the Gita and Bhagavatam. Practically I have given you more than enough for 50 years at one sloka daily. If we can simply read one sloka daily, that is step by step progress.

I said it long ago, that we are trying to make Brahmanas from anywhere in the world. We can offer the intelligent person the opportunity to be trained up in the highest spiritual knowledge and train him up as a preacher himself. That is a very attractive offer, so in your traveling SKP you can preach like that, and quote some important slokas from our books and wherever you go you will be respected and you can recruit some solid devotees for pushing on this movement. So kindly go on with your program.

So if the intelligent men of the world like yourself cooperate with this all-important mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, we can save the world from the state of misery and chaos that now prevails.

Letter to Ho Hon Pei -- Los Angeles 10 May, 1973: "Out of many thousands of men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth."

If just .01% of the world's population becomes Krsna Conscious, the whole situation on the earth will change. Just see what has happened. I started alone in 1966 and in just seven years now we are three thousand, and it is growing more and more.

So if the intelligent men of the world like yourself cooperate with this all-important mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, we can save the world from the state of misery and chaos that now prevails.

1974 Correspondence

Yes, by all means you may print my morning walk speaking about "Life comes from Life into a small book; this argument should be spread, as any intelligent man will be convinced that our discussion is thoroughly scientific and exposes the so called materialistic scientists as rascals.

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Hyderabad 21 April, 1974: Your activities in book publication and distribution in the German and other European languages is very engladdening to me. I am enclosing the latest letter I have received from Wolf Rottkay and I am glad you have been able to engage him; cultivate this man, he is an important elderly professor in a U.S. university and wants to be engaged in Krsna Consciousness. Your chart for reporting book and record distribution is approved by me, as from this chart I can quickly see how the centers are doing. Yes, by all means you may print my morning walk speaking about "Life comes from Life into a small book; this argument should be spread, as any intelligent man will be convinced that our discussion is thoroughly scientific and exposes the so called materialistic scientists as rascals. So go on printing and distributing as many books as possible; this is your real work and your personal success. From you report of an hour long kirtana at Moscow Airport, I understand that the sankirtana movement has already begun there and now it will go on further.

1975 Correspondence

So my suggestion is that some of the intelligent men of Ranchi are welcome to stay here with me and try to understand the philosophy of Krsna consciousness.

Letter to Parasuram R. Jalan -- Vrindaban 7 September, 1975: Please accept my greetings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated September 1, 1975. Becoming a life member of this movement is not the necessary thing. Life membership is a side issue. We want people like you to co-operate with this movement. We want you to work for this movement. This is essential. You must know the philosophy and try to co-operate. Money is not important thing. Money is sent by Krsna.

The thing is that unless one understands the philosophy that the human life is meant for understanding Krsna, then simply a group of men such as you propose of the Jaycees, this will not help us. We have to impress upon all men the importance of this movement. Therefore people should be given the chance to hear somehow or other, to hear the philosophy of Krsna consciousness.

So my suggestion is that some of the intelligent men of Ranchi are welcome to stay here with me and try to understand the philosophy of Krsna consciousness. Then it'll be easier for you to start a center there. So you are invited to come and one who cooperates with this movement, he is the real life member. I hope this meets you in good health.