Grass (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"grass" |"grasses"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: grass or grasses not "blade* of grass"

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- Vrindaban 4 August, 1967:

Regarding your question about Lord Caitanya's thinking himself lower than the grass, it should be understood spiritually. The dimension of the spirit soul is 1/10,000 part of the hair tip; so the spirit soul is certainly smaller than the grass. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was teaching us as a teacher, so he represented himself as an ordinary living entity; but as the Supreme Brahman he is greater than anything.

I am glad that you had a demonstration of kirtana at the home of the Consul General. Whenever you meet you should strictly speak the Truth without any consideration of future material gains. If we are sincere servants of Krishna, our material necessities will never be hampered.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Los Angeles 4 February, 1968:

I thank you very much for your letter dated January 1, 1968; and I am so proud to have such spiritual sons and daughters like you, who are so humble in their dealings but who are so high in their spiritual understanding. Lord Caitanya instructed us to be more humble than the grass on the street, and more tolerant than the trees, and to offer all respects to all, demanding no respect for ourselves. All these nice qualifications make one worthy to chant Hare Krishna. Just try to follow these principles and keep staunch faith in Krishna and in Spiritual Master, and your life will be successful without any doubt.

Letter to Rupanuga -- San Francisco 12 March, 1968:

Om Tat Sat: Tat means the Absolute Truth, and Sat means eternal. Omkara is also used denoting address. Om Tat Sat means, oh, the Absolute Truth is Eternal.

Santa-rasa means appreciation of the greatness of the Lord, but there is no active service of the Lord. The land, the grass, the trees, the plants, fruits, or the cows in the transcendental world are supposed to be situated in the santa-rasa. As spiritual beings, they are all conscious of Krishna, but they prefer to appreciate Krishna's greatness remaining as they are.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Gargamuni -- Los Angeles 5 February, 1969:

Lord Caitanya also claimed Himself as servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna (CC Madhya 13.80). So even though you might not have understood, you can correct it now and don't be disappointed.

Your humble repentance is just like a Vaisnava student, so I thank you very much for this humbleness. Lord Caitanya taught us to be humbler than the grass on the street and more tolerant than the tree. So these symptoms are Vaisnava symptoms. There is no question of rejection or dejection. I am always at your service, and you can question whenever there is any doubt, and I will try to answer them as far as possible.

Letter to Mandali Bhadra -- New Vrindaban 25 May, 1969:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 14, 1969, and I have noted the contents carefully. Now I am staying in New Vrindaban and it is a very nice spot for developing our community project. There is sufficient land for building great temples and houses for devotees. There is pasturing land, and sufficient grass and vegetables for the grazing of cows. I am glad to learn that you have already translated the foreword of Bhagavad-gita, and you have already sent it to Hamburg. The boys there are working very hard, and recently they have sent me some newspaper cuttings describing about their Sankirtana activities. They are expecting your arrival there at any moment. Jaya Govinda has got some experience of layout work, and when you go there you should do it jointly. Until then there is no need of corresponding with him about layout, and thus delay matters. I have already informed them that when you are there you will be the chief editor, and your name should be mentioned as editor of the paper.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Moundsville 31 May, 1969:

Concentrate on organizing Sankirtana very nicely and try to sell Back To Godhead. That is our main propaganda. It is very encouraging that you are daily collecting about $50. Now you have got a nice carriage, and thus you can go anywhere you like. Try to keep nice peace with the police as far as possible, because our method is to be tolerant more than the tree and humbler than the grass on the street. We don't mind for so-called prestige. If keeping peaceful we can execute our Krishna Consciousness duties, that is all we want.

Regarding the manuscripts which Pradyumna requested you to send him, first of all let Pradyumna get the machine. Then I shall advise. For the time being you keep it as you have been doing. I shall let you know in due course.

Letter to Uttamasloka -- New Vrindaban 7 June, 1969:

We should not be greedy and we should not mix with persons not interested in Krishna. In this way, we can make steady progress and maintain our membership in Krishna's family. Thus, at the end of this life we will enter actually into the spiritual world. So your main business should be to spread Sankirtana, becoming tolerant as the tree and becoming humbler than the grass. If you have anytime any difficulty, please try to settle up in the above way, but do not leave the company of devotees. That will not help you, even though there may seem to be some difficulties.

Letter to Jayagovinda -- Los Angeles 4 July, 1969:

This means that when one fails to become Lord of everything, he wants to mix up with the Supreme Lord and tries in that way to automatically become Lord of everything. What he can't perform by his own capacity he wants to have done by being merged into the Supreme Lord. That is the mentality of the general people. But if anyone becomes humbler than the grass and more tolerant than the tree, it is understood that he has accepted a Spiritual Master. Besides that, if we accept Sikshastak as authority given by Lord Caitanya, this means we accept Lord Caitanya as Spiritual Master. In the Bhagavad-gita it is openly mentioned that Arjuna accepted Krishna as the Spiritual Master. There is another mention in the Sikshastak, Lord Caitanya says "I do not want any wealth of this world, I do not want any following, neither do I want a beautiful wife. Simply I want to become a servant of the Lord." To become the servant of the Lord means to accept a Spiritual Master.

Letter to Gopala Krsna -- Hamburg 3 September, 1969:

Personally I have no faith in them, but if you decide to open correspondence with them, I have no objection. But my personal opinion is not very hopeful. I thank you very much for your submissive mentality, and as it is stated in the Bible that God is for the humble and meek, similarly, Vaisnavas are taught by Lord Caitanya to become humbler than the grass and more tolerant than the tree. Thus one can seriously execute progress in Krishna Consciousness.

Letter to Ranadhira -- Tittenhurst 8 October, 1969:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated September 28th, 1969, and your attitude of a humble devotee is very much appreciated. Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught us to be humbler than the grass on the street and more tolerant than the tree, and thus chant Hare Krishna Maha Mantra without any impediments.

I have seen you when I was in New Vrindaban, and you are quite fit to take charge of New Vrindaban asrama. Take especially nice care of the boys there. They are our future hopes. I have not heard anything from Satyabhama or Paramananda for some time, so please inform me of their whereabouts at present. In Hayagriva's letter I understand he doesn't want much to be interfered with by others, so you do the management very nicely so that everything may go on smoothly.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Gajendra -- Los Angeles 27 January, 1970:

When a Krishna Conscious person is elevated to a responsible position, he never becomes puffed up. Just like a tree when overladen with fruits becomes humble and lower down; similarly, a great soul in Krishna Consciousness becomes humbler than the grass and bowed down like the fruitful trees because a Krishna Conscious person acts as the agent of Krishna, therefore he discharges his duty with great responsibility.

You are very much welcome to write once in a month, and I shall be very glad to reply them point by point. I am glad to learn that everyone is busily engaged in Krishna's business and chanting 16 rounds and reading Srimad-Bhagavatam regularly. This is our life. Here also I have introduced in the L.A. Temple 24 hour engagement. When Krsnakanti (Carl) returns, you will learn from him everything how this Temple is doing nicely.

Letter to Acyutananda -- Los Angeles 15 March, 1970:

I have seen the rough diagram of the proposed Bhowanipur Temple, but I suggest that in some corner of the house there must be a garage, because in future I wish that you American boys should live elegantly to the tradition of your great country. But at the same time you shall preach the Sankirtana movement, becoming humbler than the grass and more tolerant than the tree as instructed by Lord Caitanya.

The plan suggested by you that the ground floor be the hall, etc. is quite nice, and I think you may see the plan of the Caitanya Research Institute which may help you.

Regarding Mayapur land, I understand that ____ Ali is in problem for keeping the money. I understand that he wants to invest the sale money to purchase another suitable land, but he has no such land in his view at present. Therefore he does not wish to sell the land. This plea is not very sound argument.

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Los Angeles 26 April, 1970:

Regarding what to do about local authorities checking your Sankirtana activities in the streets, just show to the police officer how peaceful we are. They should give us help to encourage such peaceful activities. We should not take any action in angry mood. Lord Caitanya has advised to become more humble than the grass and more tolerant than the tree, and be ready to offer all respects to others while not caring to accept any respects for oneself. As far as possible we will try to follow this principle, and Krsna will help us in all respects.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 25 November, 1970:

I have asked that as far as possible, all unpublished manuscripts be printed by him on ISKCON Press. I have also requested Kulasekhara to go to Boston to assist Advaita and I am confident that the tense situation will be relieved.

Yes. You have the right attitude towards disturbing comments of fellow devotees. Lord Caitanya has advised us to always remain more humble than the grasses and more tolerant than the tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and ready to offer respects to all persons. It is not our policy to reject someone on any personal grounds. Rather it is our duty to encourage him on the common platform of devotional service to Krsna.

I have received very nice reports from all our centers how they are very much appreciating my books and they are understanding association with the Spiritual Master is the same as association with His vani or teachings. This is a transcendental fact.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Dr. Bigelow -- Allahabad 20 January, 1971:

Just like a spark comes from fire, and when the spark falls down it appears to be extinguished. The spark soul originally comes from the spiritual world to the material world. In the material world he falls down into three different conditions which are called the modes of nature. Just like the spark of fire when it falls on dry grass and the fire quality continues. When the spark falls on the ground it cannot display its fiery manifestation unless the ground is favorably situated. Similarly when the spark falls on water it becomes extinguished. As such we find three kinds of living conditions. One is completely forgetful of his spiritual nature. One is almost forgetful but still there is an instinct of spiritual nature, and one is completely in search of spiritual perfection. There is a bona fide method for the achieving spiritual perfection by the spiritual spark soul and if he is properly guided then he is very easily sent back to home, back to Godhead where from originally he fell down.

Letter to Jadurani -- Los Angeles 14 July, 1971:

The picture of Sadbhuja, 6-handed Lord Caitanya, anyone can paint, it doesn't matter, but it must be done very nicely.

Bhisma was lying on the bed of arrows on one side of the battlefield. There was trees and grass, but no dead men were around. Only there was the Pandavas. Krishna and great sages such as Vyasa—big, big men. Krishna was in the forefront in His royal dress. Bhisma was a stout and strong old man. The arrows were piercing his body only. They did not go all the way through. The arrows piercing his back were supporting his body and there were many arrows piercing his chest. There were no arrows in his head. A sunset scene is all right.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Dayananda -- Los Angeles 20 May, 1972:

If you ask one child to be a tree, he will immediately hold out his arms "Just see I am a tree." If you ask him to be a cow he will walk on his hands and knees immediately and you can hit him with a stick and say "hut, hut." And if they will not take prasadam you can say "Now you are a cow and you must eat the grass" and immediately they will stand on hands and legs and eat prasadam like cow eating grass. So in this way our children in Dallas school should be trained because I want that a new generation of devotees shall carry on this great mission successfully.

I have received notice from Mandakini that her Russia trip was very much successful and that she will be returning to marry Anatole as soon as she can get proper visa. So you please give her all assistance to get proper visa so that she may continue her work. She is very very nice devotee.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Bali-mardana -- Vrindaban 14 August, 1974:

I have received one letter from Sudama das Goswami that both of you had some hot conversation on the points of management, but I request both of you not to become agitated on any controversial point. A Vaisnava is supposed to be more tolerant than the tree and more forbearing than the grass. Besides that we have taken a great mission of the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, so everything should be done very diligently and soberly so that our missionary activity may not be hampered. All of our members are giving voluntary service, so they should always be encouraged in their service attitude.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Gargamuni -- Los Angeles 7 June, 1976:

So Ramesvara Maharaja should be forwarding this amount to you for the prasadam distribution program in Mayapur.

If the Jagannatha Puri land is simply desert, sand, and there is no prospect of growing any vegetation there, like grass and trees and plants, then in the hot season it will be difficult to go there and to remain there. So before we consider this plot of land, it will be necessary to see if there is possibility of vegetation or not. What about the Bhuvaneśvara land?

Letter to Radhavallabha -- Vrindaban 7 September, 1976:

All of the sketches which you have sent to me while I am in India are approved. The picture of the Mohini Murti capturing the demons should take place outside on grass, there is no floor or walls. Prahlada Maharaja does not have a beard. Always avoid beards. It is not true that there are no shoes in Krsna lila, rather there are shoes except for the Vrndavana pastimes. But the shoes are of another quality, they are beautiful with jewels etc. On the battlefield they must wear shoes. The severed head of Rahu should look like the head of a demon, not round like a planet.