The sages of old age discovered it by spiritual culture that man's energy should be utilized only for spiritual realization. Not to speak of Lord Sri Krishna who spoke the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita near about 5000 years ago, we know that within 2000 years of human history no sages including Jesus Christ, prophet Mohammed, Lord Buddha, Acarya Sankara, Madhya, Ramanuja or even Lord Caitanya gave any importance to materialistic way of living. Material necessities were always subordinate to the spiritual realization. They saw it that the bread problem, clothing problem and shelter problem are never solved by material activities because in the law of nature the elephant is given the whole jungle to eat and the little ant is given a grain of sugar to solve their respective bread problems and yet the animals remain hungry.
Five thousand years (Letters)
Correspondence
1947 to 1965 Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
I shall always pray to Krishna for your steady advance, but try to follow the principles which are necessary to strengthen oneself in the matter of spiritual advance. Never think that I am absent from you. Physical presence is not essential; presence by message (or hearing) is real touch. Lord Krishna is present by His message which was delivered 5,000 years ago. We feel always the presence of our past Acaryas simply by their immutable instructions. I hope you will understand me right and do the needful. Kirtanananda says from my bodily feature that I am improving; I am also feeling like that.
1968 Correspondence
With further reference to your letter dated Feb. 16, 1968, I may inform you that this Krishna Consciousness movement is not a recent movement, started a few months or a few years ago, but this movement has been existing for a very long time, dating back to the Vedic Age. Without tracing the history of this movement, we can safely say that at least 5000 years ago, this movement was started from the Battlefield of Kuruksetra. Later on, it was organizedly recorded in the great voluminous literature, known world over as the Srimad-Bhagavatam, and the very famous Bhagavad-gita, by the original author of Vedic literature, Sri Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. Since that time, this movement is current in India, supported by great Acaryas like Ramanuja, Madhva, and Visnu Swami, and Nimbarka. Later on, about 500 years ago, it received great impetus from Lord Caitanya, and since that time, there are millions of supporters for Krishna Consciousness in India.
1969 Correspondence
Q. 11. Faculty and degrees and academic or religious accomplishments: (list all names of members who have such, as Brahmananda, Hayagriva, Satyabhama, Kirtanananda, Lilavati, etc. who have academic background qualifications).
Our religious principle is as old as 5000 years and the whole thing is explained in our recent publication of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, published by MacMillan, of New York and London. If required, a copy of this book may be secured and the whole idea may be grasped. And this is a missionary society for enlightening the people about God-consciousness, which we are preaching as Krishna Consciousness. Our main principles are as follows:
To follow in the footsteps of the Mahatmas means to give submissive aural reception to the words and instructions of the bona fide Spiritual Master in the line of disciplic succession from the Lord Himself. When the Lord appeared on this earth 5,000 years ago, He instructed Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna, and this purely transcendental message of Krishna has been passed down for the past 5,000 years by the media of sincere disciples giving submissive aural reception to the words of Krishna via the medium of the bona fide Spiritual Master. This acts like electricity, and if you touch a wire anywhere which is connected to the powerhouse, then you will be in contact with the electric current. But if the wire is broken or separated from the powerhouse, then there will be no electric current.
1970 Correspondence
The original Personality of Godhead is Krishna. Perhaps most of you who are present in this meeting have heard the name of the famous book "Bhagavad-gita." The teachings of the Bhagavad-gita were given to Arjuna by his friend and philosopher Lord Krishna 5000 years ago, and since then the cult of Krishna Consciousness is historically current in India. Most of you know that the people of India worship Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead in many millions of Vedic temples, some of them more than two thousand years old.
But factually this Krishna Consciousness is coming down through a chain of disciplic succession from a time some millions of years ago because the first student of this cult was Vivasvan, the present predominating deity in the Sun-globe planet. Later on Vivasvan taught this philosophy to his son Manu, who again taught this philosophy to his son, King Iksvaku, who ruled over this earthly planet.
The original ksatriya kings were all descendants from King Iksvaku, the father of the dynasty in which Lord Ramacandra appeared. That is a long history comprising a period covering not less than 40 million years according to Vedic scriptures. Lord Krishna also appeared in the same family a little more than 5000 years ago; and because the cult of Krishna Consciousness became broken in course of time, Lord Krishna again re-established the same formula by teaching His dear friend Arjuna for benefit of the entire human society.
Four hundred and eighty-four years ago Lord Caitanya preached this cult of Krishna Consciousness in a simple and practical way so that everyone can take it without any trouble and thusly become happy in this life as well as in the next. The purpose of Krishna Consciousness is to love Krishna or God. We have a general propensity to love someone else, which is the basic principle of living condition.
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?
Regarding your question why does the moon appear in pictures of Krsna yet the abode of Krsna is described as having no need of sunlight or moonlight, the answer is that these pictures show Krsna as He appeared in Vrndavana 5,000 years ago. It may be understood therefore that it is the moon of this world which is seen along with Krsna in these pictures.
Please try to read our literatures very carefully and try to understand the philosophy with the help of your good husband.
I am enclosing one sheet listing standard practices and qualifications of a devotee and ten offenses to avoid in chanting, for your reference.
1971 Correspondence
This ancient Krishna culture and philosophy is the oldest in the world or in the universe. At least from a historical point of view it is not less than 5,000 years old.
Perhaps you may know that I have started this cultural movement since 1966 and it is already spreading all over the world. Krishna culture is so popular in India that even the government attracts many foreigners by Air India timetable to visit Vrindaban, the land of Krishna culture. Enclosed please find one page from the latest Air India timetable (April, 1971) wherein the Krishna culture is depicted for general attraction.
And how is their science advancing when their sons are all becoming hippies who have no interest in such science? Compare our so-called knowledge today with the giant brains who gave us Vedic literature. No poetry, no science, no philosophy, no religion, no culture, no knowledge we have today can be said to be superior to that we find 5,000 years or more ago in India. So where is the question of advancement of civilization? We cannot create even one flower, what to speak of one sun, so we should not be hopeful that in this material atmosphere there will be any kind of improvement at all. Better to become closely associated with the Supreme Perfect, then we shall know what is perfection of our life. This is the culmination of evolution.
1973 Correspondence
Yes, you may show all Brahmas very big in comparison with three-headed Brahma, otherwise how you can compare the elephant and the mosquito? The picture of my Guru Maharaja is nice.
So far your questions about Lord Jagannatha and Ratha-yatra Festival, the first Ratha-yatra Festival was 5,000 years before, when Krsna and Balarama and Subhadra came from Dvaraka to Kuruksetra. So far the festival at Puri, there is no such history, but it must be more than 3,000 years. At least there is recorded history 2,000 years old, because we see in the Aquarian Gospel that Lord Jesus Christ was attending the Ratha-yatra Festival at Puri. Yes, there was attempt by Radharani to take back Krsna from Kuruksetra to Vrndavana.
1974 Correspondence
We don't imagine God. Krsna is not imagination. He presented Himself 5,000 years ago as He is, and we are presenting Krsna as He is. We are presenting Krsna's philosophy and teaching as it is and what can we do more? But this process of presentation has become fortunate and we have become successful. I do not wish to change the process. I hope you will appreciate this process of preaching to please the facts as they are confirmed by all Vaisnava acaryas. We are publishing our books thoroughly on the basis of this philosophy and recently the report is that in highly educated circles of scholarly people in the universities they are taking interest very rapidly in our Krsna Consciousness movement. Here is an excerpt from a recent letter from our propaganda office: "Yale University and Temple U. have now ordered 60 volumes of your Divine Grace's Bhagavatam set, and Yale also ordered 12 volumes of your Divine Grace's Caitanya Caritamrta set . . .
1975 Correspondence
I am in due receipt of your letter dated August 16, 1975 and have noted the contents. How can you prove that Vedic culture did not exist before 5,000 years? Darwin's theory says millions and millions of years in calculation. So how are these millions of years existing?
Mundane archeologists are mistaken because they say from monkey the human beings have come into existence, but at the present moment both the human being and the monkey are existing. The monkey is not extinct. So these theories are not correct. Nobody has seen a monkey giving birth to a human being. As the monkey and the human being are existing side by side at present, so for millions of years they were existing like this. That is our theory. The modern material archeology has no meaning for us. Our realization is depending on the spiritual platform.
There is Vedic literature that gives proof of Lord Parasurama driving out the ksatriyas. We do not take these mundane histories as authority. Regarding the dating of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Battle of Kuruksetra took place at the beginning of Kali yuga, and Kali yuga has passed more than 5,000 years. The Bhagavad-gita was also spoken at the beginning of the fight, so we take it as 5,000 years ago. From the Bhagavad-gita we learn it was spoken by the sun god millions of years ago. We take this as authority. If you don't accept my authority, then I don't accept your authority. That is the way of evidence, to accept the Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Vedic literature. The calculation is that the Kali yuga is 432,000 years, out of which we have passed 5,000 years.
Physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not. Therefore we should take advantage of the vani, not the physical presence, because the vani continues to exist eternally. Bhagavad-gita for example is the vani of Lord Krishna. Although Krishna was personally present 5,000 years ago and is no longer present physically from the materialistic viewpoint, still Bhagavad-gita continues. So you have correctly concluded.
Nairobi temple is very nice, and there is great potency there. Now just cooperate with Shakti Mati and organize things nicely. This is wanted. Also you may thank Parvati for making the sandesh I took on the plane. She has made it very nicely. She learned the art.
According to them, the stars are all suns. The stars may have the same composition as the sun but they are not suns. The Brahma-samhita says that the sun is the king with unlimited light and temperature. The Srimad-Bhagavatam sublime literature describes all these things and it was written five thousand years ago. And they say that five thousand years ago there was no civilization. That Srimad-Bhagavatam has this information proves that Indian civilization is the oldest civilization.
So by the sincere help of you American and European boys and girls it is actually happening. It is not bogus, like communism, socialism and so many isms going on in the world today. But is purely spiritual authorized by the disciplic succession tracing all the way back to Krishna himself who spoke this science of life 5,000 years ago on the battlefield of Kuruksetra. The battlefield is still there and you will be happy to know that yesterday we have been at that very spot where Krishna spoke to Arjuna, and we will build a gorgeous Krishna Arjuna temple there. People will come from all over the world to see it and understand the authority and sublime message of Lord Krishna.
There are so many contradictory things, but we have our authority and they have their authority. Our knowledge is from vedic scriptures which we accept as definite and without any mistake. A modern scientist believes that there was no civilization before 3,000 years, our Bhagavatam was spoken by Sukadeva Goswami 5,000 years ago and he is explaining "as I have heard it from authority", so we have got parampara system for millions of years. If there was no civilization before 3,000 years, then how this subject matter of knowledge could be discussed? How could it be received through the param-para system? So there is contradiction certainly. But the statement that there was no civilization 3,000 years ago can be adjusted by the conviction that there was civilization, millions and millions of years ago.
| Page Title: | Five thousand years (Letters) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 06 of Nov, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=20 |
| No. of Quotes: | 20 |