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Dallas (Letters 1974 - 1976)

Correspondence

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Tamala Krsna -- Los Angeles 11 January, 1974:

Regarding the starting of a school in Vrindaban, yes engage Hari Goswami in a trial period there in Vrindaban. He should be engaged teaching Hindi and Sanskrit and if he does it nicely then he can transfer to Gurukula in Dallas. So for now he should also train up an assistant. Yes, we can start such classes in Bombay and Vrindaban for now. My wanting these subjects taught is a plea for getting the students visa. It is not for actually becoming great scholars. This was the impression I gave the Consulate General in N.Y. and he is helping. Dr. Kapoor has already refused to teach language. He is interested in teaching philosophy but we don't require it. We have everything required in the Bhagavatam. I want that the students can nicely recite the sanskrit verses and then they can read the full purport in English. So make arrangement for teaching Sanskrit and Hindi along those lines. B. R. Matta was pleased with this suggestion and said that with such a education program the Rama Krishna mission is taking huge amounts of money from the government. But before you try approaching government leaders first start an actual school program, then you can approach. Nor should these studies interfere with our program of simply presenting the Bhagavatam.

Letter to Dayananda -- Bombay 11 April, 1974:

It is extremely assuring to me to hear that Gurukula is doing nicely. The importance of the school in Dallas cannot be overestimated, both for our ISKCON movement, and for the outsiders as well, indeed it is important for the whole world. I was discussing this point in my lecture last night here in Bombay, that human life means tapasya, and tapasya must begin with brahmacaryena, life at Gurukula. The boy is supposed to lie down on the floor, collect alms for the spiritual master—not that they are trying very hard to make a comfortable material arrangement. But the result is that although in this age everyone is born a sudra, we are producing first class brahmanas who can actually do good for their fellow man.

Letter to Bali-mardana -- Bombay 13 April, 1974:

I have also seen your reports of BBT loans to temples for various projects in the upcoming months. Regarding using New Vrindaban land for building for the older Gurukula boys it is a very good idea. As for the younger children it may be better to keep them in Dallas. But there are only 100 of them; whether they actually need new buildings in Dallas? This is to be investigated and decided upon by the GBC.

Letter to Embar Sampath Kumarachar -- Bombay 17 April, 1974:

I am very glad you are coming to the U.S.A. You are welcome in any of our temples there. As you may know, our most important temples are in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Vrindaban, West Virginia, Philadelphia. So you are welcome to stay in any one of these temples and you can stay there as long as you like. I especially invite you to our children's school, Gurukula, in Dallas Texas. If you so desire you can take part there to take the post of head sanskrit teacher. As soon as you are in the U.S. go to Dallas.

Letter to Jagadisa -- Bombay 10 May, 1974:

I know Nandarani is expert in Deity care but I think she is working with the children. Your wife is also expert, so she can maintain the sewing and Deity worship program. But the standard must always be kept up. Sankirtana is also a part of Vaisnavism. All our activities are a part of Vaisnavism. So Sankirtana should also be developed at Dallas.

Yes, I have heard myself about Winipeg, that it is a big city in Canada. So if you think it better to move Regina center there that is approved by me. Yes, you plan to keep headquarters 1/2 year in Chicago and 1/2 year in Dallas, that is approved by me. Please send regular reports.

Letter to Jagadisa -- Frankfurt 18 June, 1974:

From your report it appears that the transfer of the older Gurukula boys above ten years old has proven successful. I am glad to hear they are housed in a clean building with electricity and hot and cold water and that their teacher from Dallas is with them instructing them just as before. I am always eager to hear that Gurukula is going well so be very vigilant that this program with the older boys in New Vrindaban as well as all levels of teaching at Dallas are just to the standard as I introduced it. There is no more important school in the world, so it requires careful guidance.

Letter to Sridhara Maharaja -- Los Angeles 7 July, 1974:

I am so much thankful for your appreciating my preaching work in the Western countries. Fortunately these American boys and girls are so kind upon me that we are happily preaching this movement all over the world. This time my world touring covers many European cities like Rome, Geneva, Paris, Frankfurt,; then I went to Australia to Melbourne, then to Chicago via Fiji and Hawaii. From Chicago I came to San Francisco and at present I am staying at Los Angeles. From here I shall go to Dallas, Texas. From there I shall go to West Virginia to our center New Vrindaban. From there I shall go to London. In London our Ratha yatra festival has been held up, and I think behind this obstruction there is some communal feeling. The local religious sect is not always happy on account of our movement being so fast growing. Especially thousands of young boys and girls are interested in this Krishna consciousness movement. So I think there is some plot to check up this fast growing movement. We are trying our best to counteract this opposing element but everything will rest upon Krishna.

Letter to Syamasundara -- Los Angeles 15 July, 1974:

I hope this meets you in good health. Now I am in Los Angeles, and am going to Dallas. Surely I will see your daughter there. From there to New Vrndavana, then to London to see how things are going on. then I shall go to India for the opening ceremonies of our Krsna-Balarama Temple. As I requested you formerly, I hope you will be present in Vrndavana.

Letter to Siddha Svarupananda -- Dallas 16 July, 1974:

I am here in Dallas, and after two days I am going to New Vrindaban, and then to London on my way to India. I will reach India by July 26th to arrange for our grand festival in Vrindaban.

I cordially invite you to attend our opening ceremony in Vrindaban because all of our sannyasis will be present there. You also come there as a regular sannyasi and take part. That is my desire.

Letter to Sudama Vipra -- Los Angeles 16 July, 1974:

So I am here in Los Angeles, from tomorrow I am going to Dallas, from there to New Vrindaban, and then to London on my way to India. I am reaching India by July 26th to arrange for our grand festival in Vrindaban. I cordially invite you to attend our opening ceremony in Vrindaban because all our sannyasis will be present there. You also come there as a regular sannyasi and take part. That is my desire.

Yes, it will be very nice if the Chinese boys come there to the Hong Kong center. That is our mission that the local boys take up interest in our movement.

Letter to Tusta Krsna -- Dallas 16 July, 1974:

I am here in Dallas, and after two days I am going to New Vrindaban, and then to London on my way to India. I will reach India by July 26th to arrange for our grand festival in Vrindaban.

I cordially invite you to attend our opening ceremony in Vrindaban because all of our sannyasis will be present there. You also come there as a regular sannyasi and take part. That is my desire.

Letter to Mr. Asnani -- Vrindaban 20 August, 1974:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated August 17, 1974 and have noted the contents. I have today informed my centers at New York and Dallas to receive Mr. & Mrs. Malkani and arrange for their accommodation.

Letter to Tulsi -- Mayapur 12 October, 1974:

Recently I have visited our Gurukula school in Dallas, and I was quite satisfied how the boys and girls are being trained up to be ideal Vaisnavas. This training from an early age is important, and I also was fortunate to have received such training when I was a child. So why not send Karnapura to Dallas, and come yourself to stay here at Mayapur.

Karnapura is an intelligent boy, so give him opportunity, and he will become a pure devotee in this lifetime; and in Mayapur you can devote yourself to chanting Hare Krishna and studying our Krishna consciousness philosophy. Here it is very peaceful living, an open place, very nice. In this way your mind will gradually become controlled.

Letter to Jagadisa, Jayatirtha -- Bombay 15 November, 1974:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated November 1, 1974 and have noted the contents. So for maintaining the Gurukula at least the cost price for the books must be paid. Gurukula can take the profit for its maintenance. BBT cannot pay for maintenance of the temples. BBT can only pay for printing and temple properties and construction.

Why are the Spiritual Sky accounts being serviced by Los Angeles rather than by the Dallas devotees?

Letter to Dr. Ghosh -- Bombay 17 November, 1974:

Since you left Bombay, I had been to many places in Europe such as Rome, Frankfurt, Paris, Sydney, Fiji, Honolulu, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, New Vrindaban, New York, London, and then here to India. I was thinking of you, but was missing your address.

Regarding the charitable dispensary, I am not very much enthusiastic for this enterprise because nowadays to keep a proper dispensary pushing on requires much attention and money also. I have heard from the authorities of the Rama Krishna Mission that their charitable dispensaries of hospitals are mostly run by paid men, as formally no intelligent medical practitioner was joining them to run it on.

Letter to Patita Uddharana -- Bombay 2 December, 1974:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated November 21, 1974 and have noted the contents. It is nice that you had a nice Diwali-Govardhana Puja celebration. I have not received any photos however. Regarding the Indian gentleman Krishna Das, he can go to Dallas and teach Sanskrit and English, or he can come here to Bombay if he likes.

As you are doing secretarial duties there at the Manor, there is one matter I would like you to look into. There is one man Mr. Mody. What happened? He is a big man. Now Kausalya has irritated him. Try to compromise the situation, and inform me.

Letter to Jagadisa -- Bombay 28 December, 1974:

Regarding Gurukula I am very happy to hear that the financial crisis has passed. That is very good. This is real management. As far as the children are concerned, people are accusing us sometimes that our children are undernourished, underfed and note cared for properly. So it is good that you are seeing that they are happy and healthy. They should be given milk at least 8 ounces a day if possible 16 ounces a day. Dahl, capati, rice, vegetable this will keep them fit. If possible a little bit of fruit also. As for fixing up the Deity house in Dallas with marble altars, this is not necessary for now. We shall see later on. For the time being organize the health, education and care of the children and continue the Deity worship as it is going nicely now. Deities are satisfied with bhakti not marble. Therefore try to increase the bhakti.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Yadunandana -- Honolulu 2 February, 1975:

It seems to be the best thing to continue our Gurukula program in Dallas, at least for now. However, the GBC is considering building another school at New Vrndavana since one very wealthy man has offered to do so. You can contact Kirtanananda Svami in this connection.

Letter to Manasvi -- Caracas, Venezuela 20 February, 1975:

I am very interested to hear of your progress there in Hawaii. Are things going nicely there? How is Siddhasvarupa Maharaja doing? How is his preaching? How are the people accepting? You can write me these things promptly. You should send the letter to Dallas, Gurukula. You are very intelligent devotee, so always keep yourself strong in Krishna Consciousness by following all of the regulative principles very very carefully.

Letter to Madhava Maharaja -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 8 March, 1975:

I thank you very much for your letter dated Feb. 5th, 1975, addressed to our Hawaii temple. I started from Bombay on the 24th of January, and then via Hong Kong and Tokyo, I reached Hawaii on the 29th of January. Then, I left Hawaii for Los Angeles and Mexico. From Mexico, I went to Caracas, South American countries, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, and New York. And just last night I arrived in London at the below address. Your letter arrived in Hawaii after I had already left that place and I received your letter redirected to New York only two days ago. So, just now, I am getting the opportunity to reply your kind letter.

Letter to Dr. G. Ghosh -- Tehran 15 March, 1975:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated Feb. 8th, 1975 and have noted the contents. On my world tour, I have received your letter redirected to New York City. I started from Bombay on the 24th of Jan., then via Hong Kong, Japan, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Caracas, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, New York, and London, now I am here in Tehran in our center as above mentioned. I shall be starting from Bombay tonight and will be staying for 2 or 3 days. Then I shall go to Calcutta from there. And after that, I shall go to Mayapur to hold our annual ceremony celebrating Lord Caitanya's Birth day. You are cordially invited to attend our ceremony there and then also our ceremony in Vrndavana. I wish that you may visit our temple along with your wife Mrs. Ghosh.

Letter to Radheswarananda Goswami -- Tehran 15 March, 1975:

I thank you very much for your letter dated Feb. 8th, 1975. I am now on world tour. I left Bombay on Jan. 24th, 1975 and traveled to Hong Kong, Japan, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Caracas, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, New York, London, and now I am at our Tehran center as above mentioned. And again, I am going back to Bombay tomorrow. So, your proposal is very nice. I wanted to take a party of sankirtana movement all over India, if some of the leaders like you co-operate with us. So, I am reaching Bombay tomorrow and I shall stay there until the 19th. If possible, please come and see me at my Bombay center as follows: Hare Krishna Land, Gandhi Gram Road, Juhu, Bombay 400 054. Or, if the letter does not reach you in time, I am inviting you to come to our festival at Mayapur from the 23rd-27th of March. Then we have also got the opening ceremony for our Vrndavana temple on April 10th, 1975. If it is convenient for you, please try to come and join the ceremonies.

Letter to Bon Maharaja -- Los Angeles 24 July, 1975:

I thank you very much for your kind letter dated July 15, 1975 and have noted the contents carefully. Your letter was addressed to our San Francisco temple, and it is forwarded to me here in Los Angeles. The day after tomorrow I am going to San Diego via Laguna Beach. Then I shall go to Dallas, New Orleans, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, New York, and then New Vrindaban, West Virginia. From there I shall go to Europe to London and Paris, and then I shall return to Bombay perhaps via Africa by the month of October.

Letter to Jagadisa -- Bombay 9 November, 1975:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated October 10, 1975, together with enclosures. Regarding the Dallas Army base property, you can forward this offer to Svarupa Damodara and in this connection you may correspond with him. We may require it for the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies. Do not reject this military base. We can use it for this purpose. You can use the Illinois property for the Gurukula and the army base for the Bhaktivedanta Institute. Send details to Svarupa Damodara of the military base.

The military academy property in Illinois sounds very nice. You can consider amongst the GBC and do the needful. Regarding your proposal to reduce the number of students in the Dallas school, and sending them to New York and Los Angles, that is a good idea. You can do that. Anyway, this should be considered by the GBC together and do the needful.

Letter to Svarupa Damodara -- Bombay 12 November, 1975:

Regarding your letter of September 21, yes, it is a very good idea to have a meeting at the Mayapur meeting time to thoroughly discuss the Bhaktivedanta Institute. So please do the needful. It will be a great service if you can organize such an Institute in the U.S.A. In Dallas there is one former army base which is now vacant that has a number of buildings and enough land. It is located about 70 miles from the city of Dallas. So you should immediately correspond with Jagadisa. It is very big and nice. I think we should take it for the Bhaktivedanta Institute. The climate there is also nice.

Letter to Jagadisa -- Bombay 20 November, 1975:

Enclosed is some correspondence I had with one Mr. Kumarachar. So he is now in London and he has his ticket up to New York, so if you want him to be Sanskrit teacher in Gurukula, you will have to pay for him from New York to Dallas. I do not know what he has been doing so long for 1 1/2 years since I wrote him April 17, 1974. Anyway, you can see if he is useful and if so, then you should keep him. So you can bring him to Dallas.

Letter to Jagadisa -- Vrindaban 6 December, 1975:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated Dec. 1, 1975, I have noted the contents very carefully. I said from the very beginning that we should not move, but you proposed moving, so now you are proposing staying at Dallas. So it is all right, stay at Dallas and develop there.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Kirtiraja -- Bombay 11 January, 1976:

You ask what you should do about your wife and child. What can I advise if your wife doesn't want to take inconvenience. Preaching means some inconvenience. There is no reason why you have to be settled in one place. The actual education of a child doesn't begin until five years. Before that the child is free. Thereafter, the child may be sent to Gurukula in Dallas. This is the Vedic system.

Letter to Jayatirtha -- Mayapur 20 January, 1976:

Regarding the ISKCON Gurukula presently situated in Dallas—The Gurukula must be based on the principle of renunciation; vairagya vidya nija bhakti yogam (CC Madhya 6.254). Bhakti is based on the principle of the renunciation of material desires beginning from the earliest age; kaumaram acaret prajna dharman bhagavatan iha (SB 7.6.1). From the very beginning, a boy must be trained to perform devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and not to be attached as the fruitive workers, the karmis, to the so-called fallible soldiers; dehapatya kalatradisu atma-sainyesu asatsv api tesam prammato nidhanam pasyanapi na pasyati (SB 2.1.4). The karmis are attached too much to their bodies, children and wives, who are like fallible fighting soldiers who must ultimately be destroyed. Although they are sufficiently experienced, they still cannot see this.

Letter to Ramesvara -- Mayapur 23 January, 1976:

I have received a letter from Pusta Krishna Swami. He has already paid for the Mercedes from his own money and he intends paying his debt to the Book Fund entirely in the future. Considering this, there is no need for Radha Damodara Party to pay for the car. Their money is already engaged for construction.

Another point is that BBT cannot give loan to Dallas for Gurukula construction. That is not possible. Jagadisa Prabhu is expecting a loan of $150,000 from the BBT. So I have told him that the money is already needed for construction here in India, in Bombay, Kuruksetra, and Mayapur. The best thing is that Gurukula should be moved to India.

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 Parent -- Mayapur 4 March, 1976:

There has been a serious mistake. I do not wish that Gurukula should be closed down in Dallas. So you kindly arrange to send your child back to Gurukula.

One thing is at least for the time being, you must arrange to pay the tuition for your child. If you like, you can get my books and sell them and you can pay tuition in that way. You purchase at the temple's price and sell them and with the profit you can pay your tuition.

Letter to Mrs. Blasko -- Melbourne 21 April, 1976:

Now that the Dallas Gurukula has been closed we have opened many smaller regional Gurukulas on some of our farming communities, such as our farms in Vancouver, Pennsylvania, and also Mississippi as well as others. It is best if you go to one of these regional Gurukulas where you can be nicely engaged in Krishna's service, and your young daughter can go to Gurukula.

Page Title:Dallas (Letters 1974 - 1976)
Compiler:Jahnu, Mayapur
Created:29 of Dec, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=33
No. of Quotes:33