Krsna is teaching (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"krsna teachings" |"krsna's teachings" |"teachings of Lord Krishna" |"Krishna comes down to teach" |"Krishna is teaching"

1969 Correspondence

Dr. Haridasa Chondhery said: "The book is without doubt the best presentation so far to the western public of the teachings of Lord Krishna—the standpoint of the Vaisnava tradition of India."

Letter to Hayagriva -- Los Angeles 31 January, 1969: P.S. You know Dr. Haridasa Chondhery of San Francisco. He writes as follows:—"I am delightful to receive your affectionate gift of 'The Bhagavad-gita As It Is.' Whenever I find some time, I read a little from it. The book is without doubt the best presentation so far to the western public of the teachings of Lord Krishna—the standpoint of the Vaisnava tradition of India . . . etc." Actually it is so. Now we have to make some propaganda work to convince the different colleges and universities to read this real form of B.G. to the Western Public.

I have received a statement from Dr. Haridasa Chaudhuri of the California Institute of Asian Studies that ours is the best presentation of the teachings of Lord Krishna to the Western public.

Letter to Upendra -- Los Angeles 1 February, 1969: As much as possible you should try to introduce to the colleges our Bhagavad-gita. In every college there is a religion department, and most of them have interest in the Bhagavad-gita. So you can show to the chief man of this department that this is a real presentation of Vaisnava philosophy. I have received a statement from Dr. Haridasa Chaudhuri of the California Institute of Asian Studies that ours is the best presentation of the teachings of Lord Krishna to the Western public. So if they are actually serious to receive instructions from Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita, they absolutely must read this publication of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. If they want some nonsense upon the plea of reading Bhagavad-gita then there is nothing we can do to help them. Everyone is free to act according to his inclination.

Dr. Haridasa Chaudhuri has appreciated my Bhagavad-gita, and he remarks as follows: "The book is without doubt the best presentation so far to the western public of the teachings of Lord Krishna from the standpoint of Vaisnava tradition and devotional Hindu mysticism."

Letter to Brahmananda -- Los Angeles 5 February, 1969: Regarding my teaching in different universities, you will be pleased to know that recently I got one letter from Cultural Integration Fellowship President, Dr. Haridasa Chaudhuri. He has appreciated my book, and he remarks as follows: "The book is without doubt the best presentation so far to the western public of the teachings of Lord Krishna from the standpoint of Vaisnava tradition and devotional Hindu mysticism." So actually this is the correct position of our Krishna Consciousness movement. There are religious classes held in almost every university of your country, and they are eager also to study different kinds of religions. So far as Bhagavad-gita is concerned, there is no doubt about it that I am the only authority in your country in this matter. Nobody can speak on the Bhagavad-gita so authoritatively as I can do. That is a fact. So if the university wants to take advantage of this opportunity, even in this old age I can go from one university to another, and I am sure they can learn from me only the true teachings of the Bhagavad-gita; from me and from my students who are already trained up in this connection.

If we wish to present the real traditional cultural ideas of India to the western public, we have to present to them the teachings of Lord Krishna as they are.

Letter to Dr. Chaudhuri -- Los Angeles 6 February, 1969: I am so glad to have received your letter dated January 27, 1969, and I have appreciated your comment about my book that it is "without doubt the best presentation so far to the western public of the teachings of Lord Krishna". Actually that was my purpose to write another commentary on the Bhagavad-gita. I think I have explained this matter in my introduction. You have written to say "Vaisnava tradition in India", and that is the real cultural standing of Vedic civilization. In the Rigveda you will find the mantra, tad visnu paramam padam sada pasyanti suraya. In the Visnu Purana also it is said, visnu bhakti bhovet deva. So Vedic civilization means the civilization of the devas, or the demigods, and the whole purpose is to understand Krishna. As it is said in the Bhagavad-gita, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyam [Bg. 15.15], the whole purpose of the Veda is to understand Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, if we wish to present the real traditional cultural ideas of India to the western public, we have to present to them the teachings of Lord Krishna as they are. That is my mission, and I am pleased to inform you that I am getting good response in America especially and also in London and Germany.

Dr. Haridasa Chaudhuri, the President of the Asiatic Studies Institute in San Francisco, has opined as follows: "The book is without doubt the best presentation so far to the western public of the teachings of Lord Krishna from the standpoint of the Vaisnava tradition in India—the standpoint of devotional Hindu Mysticism."

Letter to Tirtha Maharaja -- Los Angeles 7 February, 1969: My books are being published by MacMillan Company, and the first publication is Bhagavad-gita As It Is. I am sending a copy of this book for your personal reading by separate mail. Please let me know of your opinion. Dr. Haridasa Chaudhuri, the President of the Asiatic Studies Institute in San Francisco has opined as follows: "The book is without doubt the best presentation so far to the western public of the teachings of Lord Krishna from the standpoint of the Vaisnava tradition in India—the standpoint of devotional Hindu Mysticism."

Unfortunately, unscrupulous and rascal so-called scholars, religionists and philosophers have misinterpreted the teachings of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita, and they have misled the whole population.

Letter to Mr. Kair -- Los Angeles 8 July, 1969: Actually, India is the country of religion. The present government policy to kill religious faith of the people is resulting in frustration of religious life because it is not organizedly taught. But by nature the people of India have a hankering for spiritual advancement, and therefore the present situation is a natural result of the clash between two opposite ideals. In this case also the best treatment is to give the people scientific religious ideas which are very clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita. But unfortunately, unscrupulous and rascal so-called scholars, religionists and philosophers have misinterpreted the teachings of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita, and they have misled the whole population. Bhagavad-gita is popular not only in India, but also all over the world. Unfortunately, the real idea has been distorted. We have therefore presented our Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and perhaps you know it; it is published by MacMillan. I have tried to explain in this book the real purpose of the Bhagavad-gita. Bhagavad-gita is the authorized book to teach people how to love Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is nothing else except devotional service to the Lord described there, but great politicians have misinterpreted the sunshine-like clear statements of Bhagavad-gita with a cloud of mental concoctions. So if you think seriously to improve the condition of India, you can begin even in a small-scale the propagation of Krishna Consciousness, and if you do it seriously and sincerely, surely you will be successful.

1970 Correspondence

You are intelligent and eager devotee, ready to spread Lord Krsna's teachings, so do it.

Letter to Ekayani -- Los Angeles 3 May, 1970: That is nice if you get that land in Miami and open a center there. You are intelligent and eager devotee, ready to spread Lord Krsna's teachings, so do it. That will be very good, it is an excellent proposal. So as you say the deep Southern part of this country is virtually untouched, but I think Kirtanananda Maharaja has gone to several places there, and he has been very successful. So try to attract the students, they are our great future hope, and they will take up this matter very quickly because the students are not very contaminated.

1976 Correspondence

Krishna comes down to teach us real knowledge, therefore He tells you to give up encroaching on His property. Better to deliver it to Him.

Letter to Dr. Chittaranjan Mohapatra -- Mayapur 21 March, 1976: Concerning your question as to why we should sacrifice everything to Him; because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the Proprietor and Enjoyer of everything; Bhoktaram yajna tapasam sarva loka mahesvaram . . . [Bg. 5.29]. Everything belongs to Him. We have unlawfully encroached upon His property this is mine, that is mine . . . Krishna comes down to teach us real knowledge, therefore He tells you to give up encroaching on His property. Better to deliver it to Him. Therefore, perfection of life is when we deliver or return everything to Him, and He tells us this for our benefit! The sooner we return everything to Him, the better it is for us. Our Krishna Consciousness Movement is teaching this fact all over the world.

We are already propagating Gita, but "As It Is," without changing. This should be the method. Krishna is not going to flatter the politicians and learned scholars, rather Krishna is teaching them how to flatter Krishna. If one is not prepared to surrender to Krishna, then what is the meaning of preaching Gita.

Letter to Giriraja -- Los Angeles 6 June, 1976: I have received one reply from Mr. Bajaj of the Gita Pratisthan dated May 25, 1976, and it is not feasible for me to attend this meeting so if appears wise you can go as my disciples on my behalf, both yourself and Gopala Krishna. This is the line that you should adopt: We are already propagating Gita, but "As It Is," without changing. This should be the method. Krishna is not going to flatter the politicians and learned scholars, rather Krishna is teaching them how to flatter Krishna. Na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah, etc [Bg. 7.15]. If one is not prepared to surrender to Krishna, then what is the meaning of preaching Gita. If one has got their own philosophy, then let them preach their own philosophy, but do not do it in the name of the Gita. This is our protest to all of the interpreters of the Bhagavad-gita. If they do not believe in God, Krishna, and they don't want to surrender to Him, then let him preach atheism. Everyone has got the right to do this, but why through the Gita. This is like a man who wants to smoke ganga, but he does not want to be caught. So he takes a friends' hand and smokes it in his hand, and then when the authorities come, he says, "Oh, I have not smoked ganga, see, my hands are clean!" The idea is that if one wants to preach the Gita, then he must preach it as it is, otherwise, don't go through the Gita. So as my students, you can speak very tactfully.

If we revive Krishna consciousness in a systematic way, within a very short time we can revive our original Indian culture on the basis of the teachings of Lord Krishna and the Bhagavad-gita.

Letter to Gaura Govinda -- Vrindaban 18 September, 1976: So it is a long process how Indians, especially educated Indians, have become victimized by the slowly deteriorating position of Indian culture, but there is no use tracing out the history but generally we have lost our own culture and our leaders are not very serious to revive our own culture to the point. But still the mass of people, not being very much advanced in education, stick to the Indian culture. For example, lakhs of people still visit Jagannatha Puri during the Rathayatra Festival, lakhs still visit the Kumbha mela, and lakhs still visit the holy places of India, but there is no encouragement by the leaders. It is only a continuation of the original culture. So there is no hopelessness; if we revive Krishna consciousness in a systematic way, within a very short time we can revive our original Indian culture on the basis of the teachings of Lord Krishna and the Bhagavad-gita. So we have to work very hard for this purpose and if you follow the path of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it will be very easily done.