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If one is intelligent (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"If a devotee is intelligent" |"If a man is intelligent" |"If anybody is intelligent" |"If anyone is intelligent" |"If one person is intelligent" |"If you are intelligent" |"if he has got intelligence" |"if he is intelligent" |"if one has got intelligence" |"if one is intelligent" |"if she is intelligent" |"if somebody is intelligent" |"if the boy is intelligent" |"if the husband is intelligent" |"if the leaders are intelligent" |"if the teacher is intelligent" |"if they are intelligent" |"if we are intelligent"

Correspondence

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Sir -- Calcutta May 1949:

On the conclusion of the All Religious Conference held at Bombay very recently, I may submit that nothing practical has come out of it for uniting the different faiths of the world. The practical solution is lying in the transcendental message of Sri Krishna the Personality of Godhead as given by Him lately in the Bhagavad-gita.

In this sacred philosophical discourse the Supreme Godhead declares Himself as the begetting Father who impregnates the seeds of living entities in the womb of Mother Nature who in turn gives birth all varieties of living species. So the plain truth is that the Supreme Godhead is the Father, the Nature is the Supreme Mother and all living entities so many children of Almighty Father Godhead and the Mother Nature. The whole arrangement is therefore a family unit and one should wonder as to why there is so much anomaly in this universal family affair.

The answer for this is also given in the Bhagavad-gita. It is said that there are two classes of children in the creation of Godhead and nature. One class is called the daiva (godly) and the other class is called the asura (demonic or godless). As sons of the almighty Father Supreme Godhead, all the living entities have individual independence and when some of the children misuse the godgifted independence for their sense gratification and not to fulfill the plan of Godhead, they develop the demonic qualities and become asuras. But those who do not misuse the the godgifted independence for sense gratification they continue to remain as the Daivas. For sense gratification the asura children of Godhead and Nature forgets the plan of Godhead and thus they begin to exploit and trouble the mother Nature and other obedient children of Nature, for their own benefit sometimes centralized and sometimes extended. Those children who do not do like this are gods themselves distinguished from the asuras.

The Mother Nature is, as She should naturally be, the most faithful mistress of Godhead and She becomes angry for the behavior of the Asura and thus assume the role of Daivamaya (generally known as the Mohakali, Durga, Bhadrakali etc.) and take at once Her grim trident and inflicts the weapon in the heart of the asura who is also Her son. The asura thus becomes subject to threefold miseries and this is done according to the plan of Godhead as the mother has to chastise the disobedient son in order to make him alright. This process of chastisement is necessary for the benefit of both the asura and the daiva sons in order to stop disorder in the great plan of Godhead. As sons as the asura, however, surrenders unto Godhead as the obedient son and servitor of the plan of Godhead the asura is turned into a devata. The angry mode of Mother Nature at once subsides and she appears to such godly sons as the most affectionate Mother in the role of Yogamaya (commonly known as Laksmi, Sita and Radharani etc)

So according to Bhagavad-gita the whole trouble of the world is due to the increase in the number of the asura and decrease in the number of the daivas. Who is a daiva and who is a asura is clearly defined in the Bhagavad-gita. Thus the whole problem has to be solved according to expert advices and it is not possible to solve the world problem so easily as by holding occasional discussions by some who are already themselves under the influence of the asuric qualities. This should be done most scientifically which is above mistakes and illusion.

As stated above the asura, as soon as he surrenders to Godhead makes the whole problem solved. But unfortunately the ____ to the threefold miseries of mother Nature and thus befooled by his repeated foolish activities will not easily surrender unto Godhead due to his long forgetful relation with the almighty Father. It is a hard job therefore to turn the asura to be a daiva but the process has been made easy by the Personality of Godhead Himself in the Bhagavad-gita. Mahatma Gandhijee took up this cause to begin with but he is gone without further progress in the matter. If we are intelligent enough we should again take up the matter more scientifically and do the job very nicely for the peace of the world.

I have, according to the instruction of my spiritual master, chalked out a programme of work according to Bhagavad-gita and I wish to discuss it personally with your good self to give the plan a practical shape. Will it be convenient for you to see me for this purpose? I am prepared to go to you at my cost at wait upon you if so desired by you. Awaiting your early reply and thanking you in anticipation.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Sivananda -- Los Angeles 12 February, 1968:

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated Feb. 8, 1968. You want to counteract the activities of Maharishi, but you must know Maharishi is the agent of Maya. Our process of Krishna Consciousness and Sankirtana movement is already counteracting the spell of Maya, but the Maharishi says that you remain under the spell of Maya. His preaching is that you enjoy, and simply you pay him $35, and purchase his mantra. People in general are already under the spell of Maya. That is to say, they want sense gratification. If anyone encourages the method of sense gratification, at the same time become a yogi, why people will not prefer that method? We say there is no illicit sexlife, no intoxication, no meat eating, no gambling, so if Maharishi says there is no restrictions, naturally large number of people will follow him. That means they want to be cheated, and Krishna sends them a cheater. We cannot cheat people like him. We must say the truth, as they are prescribed; in the Bhagavad-gita there are 18 kinds of austerities, 13rd chapter. The restrictions which we are following are austerities. Without austerity, without celibacy, any amount of nonsense meditation will not help. So there is no comparison of our method with Maharishi's method. We are not out to counteract any kind of vandalism. We must present the genuine thing before the public, and if they are intelligent enough they will take it up and realize it. The followers of Maharishi are not intelligent class of men. If you have any advancement in the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita, you can test any follower of Maharishi, you will find he is nil.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Montreal 16 June, 1968:

Brahmacaris and Brahmacarinis can live in the temple provided there is separate arrangement. The restriction is there because if they live together there might be sex impulses agitated. The whole principle is especially for the Brahmacaris to avoid causes which may give impetus to the sex desire. But in your country it is very difficult to make aloof the boys and girls because they are accustomed to mix together. So it is not possible for me to introduce this new system very strictly, because they are trained differently. Someway or other, if you are intelligent boy, you should make arrangement for the boys and girls to live separately; Brahmacaris at one place all together, and the Brahmacarinis all together at another place. We should always remember that sex life in spiritual advancement is great impediment. So keeping this point of view in front, we should intelligently manage things with great care. So that our aim of life may not be missed.

Letter to Aniruddha -- Los Angeles 19 December, 1968:

Please convey my blessings to Cidananda. I have received his letter and am encouraged that he is taking interest in selling our Bhagavad-gita As It Is. You may all try to distribute this book as far as possible and it will be a great service to our movement. If any sincere person reads this book I think that he will be impressed by the solid footing on which our Krishna Consciousness is based. All of the nonsense Bhagavad-gitas that deny Krishna are simply bluffs so if one is intelligent he is sure to get some inkling of the authorized nature of our Krishna Conscious philosophy. So try to promote sales as far as you are able and Krishna will surely help you in this important endeavor.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 4 November, 1970:

Please accept my blessings. I have received your letter of 23 September, 1970, along with the note from your good wife, and have read them with attention. The sentiments which you have expressed are very much encouraging to me, that I have got such disciples as yourself who are more anxious to serve me than my own children. You are one of my oldest and best-qualified students, so now you may, along with the other men of GBC, take over from me management of ISKCON affairs and work combinedly to open as many centers as possible all over the world. If you simply carry out the instructions which I have given you Krsna will reward you with all success.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said that this chanting of the Hare Krsna Mantra will be heard in every nook and cranny of this globe. He is God, so there is no doubt about it. So if we are intelligent we will take advantage of this opportunity and get the credit. If we do not, someone else will.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Rupanuga -- Delhi 10 December, 1971:

I am happy to hear that so many guests are attending your temple. Actually, that is the same story everywhere. So I have become convinced that our Krishna Consciousness Movement is finally having some effect on the world, and I am very satisfied with the work of my sincere disciples for assisting Lord Caitanya in this way. Actually, He has said that this KC Movement will spread to every nook and corner of the world—so there is no doubt it will happen. He is God, so how can He be wrong? So it will happen. So if we are intelligent we will assist and get the credit. Otherwise, someone else will.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Secretary to Minister of Education and Culture -- Los Angeles 7 June, 1972:

Your great founder of your nation, Mr. Nikolai Lenin, was very much intelligent, and he could understand that people become united only under the guiding principles of a commonly accepted philosophy or standard of truth. But if we examine the course of history, we must conclude, with Mr. Karl Marx, that this so-called standard of truth constantly changes, and that what one group of people accept at standard of perfection at one time, the same people may again reject that standard and take another philosophy as the all-in-all, and so on. So if we are intelligent leaders of state, it is to our advantage to benefit all the citizens by satisfying their material requirements, but even more is it our duty to satisfy their need for being secure and confident that they are working under the principles of a truth or reality which does not change and is therefore absolute. That is spiritual satisfaction. Spiritual means philosophical, otherwise it is sentiment and sentiments are fickle and always changing. So we can very much appreciate your rejection of sentiment as a basis for practical activity.

Letter to Atendriya (Andy Wiernsz), Bahusira (Bill Oliverson), Jitamitra (Judy Jones), Maharha (Mary St. John), Omkara (Oksana Olenczuk), Vajasana (Vicky Burt) -- Bombay 23 December, 1972:

Please accept my blessings. Upon the recommendation of Sudama Goswami I have gladly consented to accept all of you as my duly initiated disciples. Your beads are chanted by me and are enclosed herewith. I have given you the spiritual names as follows:

Andy Wiernsz/ATENDRIYA DAS
Bill Oliverson/BAHUSIRA DAS
Judy Jones/JITAMITRA DASI
Mary St. John/MAHARHA DASI
Oksana Olenczuk/OMKARA DASI
Vicky Burt/VAJASANA DASI

Now my request to you all is that you very seriously stick to the principles of devotional service, observing strictly the four basic restrictions, and without fail always chant at least 16 rounds on your beads daily, and be happy.

If you practice these basic principles successfully, not forgetting your duty even for a moment, automatically your love for Krishna will come out and you will keep yourselves always enthusiastic to serve Krishna. So you have now got the golden opportunity of this human form of life, and it is not by chance that you have met your spiritual master, so if you are intelligent you will conclude that, whatever else I may do, I must accomplish the supreme goal of my life in this very lifetime and go back to home, back to Godhead. Otherwise, maya is always looking for an opportunity to drag us down, and especially she may attack those devotees who are trying to go away from here. But if you keep yourselves always engaged 24 hours in Krishna's business, and help me spread this Krishna Consciousness movement all over the world, however you are best able to do it in your own way, then you will be freed from all attachment to maya, by Krishna's grace. Just as when the darkness and the light come together, the darkness cannot stand before the light, so maya cannot remain in the presence of Krishna. Always remember therefore to chant Hare Krishna, and that will save you in all circumstances, without any doubt.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Madhukara -- Bombay 4 January, 1973:

Now I do not know the situation in your particular case, I am simply giving you the general policy or background understanding. We should never think of our so-called advancement as being conditioned by or dependent upon some set of material circumstances such as marriage, vanaprastha, or this or that. Mature understanding of Krsna consciousness means that whatever condition of life I am in at present, that is Krsna's special mercy upon me, therefore let me take advantage in the best way possible to spread this Krsna consciousness movement and conduct my spiritual master's mission. If I consider my own personal progress or happiness or any other thing personal, that is material consideration. If there was unhappy adjustment for becoming married, why you got married at all? Whatever is done, is done, that is a fact, but I am only pointing out that once before you did something without proper study of your real responsibility, now you are contemplating again some drastic action in a similar manner. Therefore consider it carefully in this light. There is one verse from Bhagavad-gita: yasman nodvijate loko lokan nodvijate ca yah/harsamarsa-bhayodvegair mukto yah sa ca me priyah, "He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress, is very dear to Me." (12.15) One mistake of judgment often made by the neophyte devotees is that any time there is some disturbance or some difficulty they are considering that the conditions or the external circumstances under which the difficulty took place are the cause of the difficulty itself. That is not the fact. In this material world there is always some difficulty, no matter in this situation or that situation. Therefore simply by changing my status of occupation or my status of life, that will not help anything. Because the real fact is that if there is any difficulty with others, that is my lack of Krsna consciousness, not theirs. Is this clear? Krsna says that His dearest devotee is one who does not put others into difficulty, in fact, who puts no one other into difficulty. So try to judge the matter on these points, whether or not you are putting either your wife or yourself into some difficulty. The right understanding of Bhagavad-gita is Arjuna's understanding. In other words, Arjuna came to the conclusion that he must perform his occupational duty, not as a material obligation, for reasons of wife, family, friends, reputation, professional integrity, like that—no. Rather he must conduct the functions of his station of life only as a devotional service performed for Krsna. That means that devotional service is what is important, not my occupational duty. But it does not mean that because occupation duty is not the real consideration, that I should give it up and do something else, thinking that devotional service may be carried on under whatever circumstances which I may whimsically decide. Krsna recommended Arjuna to remain as he was, not to disrupt the order of society and go against his own nature just for convenience sake. Our occupational duty is not arbitrary, that means once we have taken up some field of action, if we are advanced in our understanding, then we shall not change it for another. Rather our devotion is the important factor, so what does it matter what I am doing so long my work and energy are completely devoted to Krsna? Just like Krsna, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He has no work, neither He has anything to do, still He comes here to teach us this lesson. He accepts not only His occupational duty as cowherd boy, royal prince, but also He accepts married life, He enters politics, He is philosopher, He is even chariot driver during a great battle, He does not give example of Himself avoiding His occupational duty. So if Krsna Himself is exhibiting by His own conduct what is the perfection of existence, then we should heed such example if we are intelligent. Even supposing there is wife at home, with children, that does not matter, that is no hindrance to our spiritual life. And once we have accepted these things, occupational duties, we should not lightly give them up. That is the point. Of course, our occupational duty is as preachers of Krsna consciousness. So we must stick to that business under all circumstances, that is the main thing. Therefore married, unmarried, divorced, whatever condition of life, my preaching mission does not depend on these things. The varnasrama-dharma system is scientifically arranged by Krsna to provide facility for delivering the fallen souls back to home, back to Godhead. And if we make a mockery of this system by whimsically disrupting the order, that we must consider. That will not be a very good example if so many young boys and girls so casually become married and then go away from each other, and the wife is little unhappy, the husband is neglecting her in so many ways, like that. If we set this example, then how the thing will go on properly? Householder life means wife, children, home, these things are understood by everyone, why our devotees have taken it as something different? They simply have some sex desire, get themselves married, and when the mater does not fulfill their expectations, immediately there is separation—these things are just like material activities, prostitution. The wife is left without husband, and sometimes there is child to be raised, in so many ways the proposition that you, and some others also, are making becomes distasteful. We cannot expect that our temples will become places of shelter for so many widows and rejected wives, that will be a great burden and we shall become the laughingstock in the society. There will be unwanted progeny also. And there will be illicit sex life, that we are seeing already. And being the weaker sex, women require to have a husband who is strong in Krsna consciousness so that they may take advantage and make progress by sticking tightly to his feet. If their husband goes away from them, what will they do? So many instances are already there in our Society, so many frustrated girls and boys.

Letter to George -- Bombay 4 January, 1973:

I can understand by your activities that you are making good spiritual progress, by Krishna's grace. That is very good news to me. It is not by accident that you are coming gradually to the right point, neither it is very common thing, no:

bahunam janmanam ante
jnanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma sudurlabhah
(BG 7.19)

"After many births and deaths, he who is actually wise surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare." Mahatma means great soul, and such great soul is sudurlabhah, very rare. Great soul does not mean politician, or scholar, or so-called yogi, or any other so-called big, big man, famous musician, or scientist, or anything like that. No, great soul is one who understands that Vasudevah, Krishna, is the cause of all causes and all that is, and then surrenders unto Him. You are doing that, therefore I say that you are great soul, not because you have got some material name, fame or wealth. But that will vanish at the time of your death, so what good it is? But because you are serving Krishna in devotional loving mood, therefore I say great soul. There is one Bengali proverb that the person who is actually famous is the Devotee who is known by all other Devotees to be great.

So that surrendering to Krishna, that is great soul. Now you may enquire, what is that surrendering? Surrendering to Krishna means to try to please Him only, by our serving mood. Just like if I want to please you, or someone else, they will appreciate me by my serving their desires, that will give them pleasure. So if we want to please Krishna, He is kind enough to give us the formula how to please Him in Bhagavad-Gita, so if we are intelligent we shall follow the instructions and orders of Krishna as He gives them, that is pleasing Krishna, that is surrender. If I say, Yes, I like rasagulas, I like this type of incense, I like this and that—so if you bring me rasagulas, that incense, like that, that will be pleasing to me, will it not? But Krishna is not so rascal as me, He wants only little flower, some water, that's all, but main thing He wants is our devotion, nothing more:

manmana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo'si me.
(BG 18.65)

"Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend." So to become the friend and the devotee of Krishna, that is required. Just become the pet dog, that is surrender.

Page Title:If one is intelligent (Letters)
Compiler:MadhuGopaldas
Created:22 of Jun, 2013
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=10
No. of Quotes:10