Our standard of purity must be kept, otherwise there will be loss of spiritual strength, and subsequent fall down. Everyone of you should be thoroughly convinced of the power of the Hare Krsna mantra to protect you in all circumstances and chant accordingly at all times without offense. Then advancement will be swift and you will gradually come to see everything clearly so that you may act for the pleasure of the Lord without uncertainty. When one is spontaneously engaged in this way, always in the service of the Lord and anxious to avoid all mundane activities, he is actually experiencing the taste of bliss in Krsna consciousness.
Pleasure (Letters, 1971 - 1977)
Correspondence
1971 Correspondence
Letter to Vaikunthanatha -- Allahabad 12 January, 1971:
I am very glad to hear from you after some time and I am glad that you are feeling very happy in our Society. That is the sign of advancement in spiritual life that one is detached from material sense gratification and finds pleasure in serving Krsna only.
Letter to Sri D----ji -- Allahabad:
We are staying at the Magh Mela, at the Prayag pilgrimage. The program here is going on very nicely. It will be a great pleasure for us if you visit and stay with us in this sacred pilgrimage.
Letter to Dr. Bigelow -- Allahabad 20 January, 1971:
Undoubtedly the soul is present in the heart of the living entity, and it is the source of all the energies for maintaining the body. The energy of the soul is spread all over the body and this is known as consciousness. On account of this consciousness spreading of energy of the soul all over the body, you can feel pains and pleasures in any part of the body. The soul is individual and he is transmigrating from one body to another, just as a person transmigrates from babyhood to childhood, from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to youthhood and then to advanced old age. Then the change called death takes place when we change to a new body just as we change our old dress to a new dress. This is called transmigration of the soul.
Letter to Sudama -- Allahabad 22 January, 1971:
So far as recruiting men is concerned, we have to create men. Preaching means to recruite more and more men. This process is called gosthananda which means pleasure by seeing increase of followers. So far I know, not a single Japanese has been initiated.
Letter to Anandini (Karen Anderson) -- Bombay 30 March, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 14th January, 1971 as well as the $50.00 gift sent by you also. Thank you very much. I am so glad to accept you as my disciple. Your spiritual name is Anandini Devi Dasi; Anandini means "pleasure." Your beads are also duly enclosed and to keep them strong they should be soaked in oil; mustard oil will do. Also they should be restrung properly.
Letter to Palika -- ISKCON Fort, Bombay 7 June, 1971:
I am very glad to learn that you are organizing your press work more cooperatively. That gives me so much pleasure. When I go there I shall give you so much work that it will be an over-burden, so that you will be so much engaged. All my senior disciples are requesting me to revive my translating work and I would like to do so for the remaining days of my life. So you have to help me to get Srimad-Bhagavatam and the other translating work done as quickly as possible.
Letter to Bhakta dasa -- Bombay 17 June, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 19th May, 1971 and have noted the contents with pleasure. It is so much encouraging to note how nicely your program is going on there. In all aspects of temple life you seem to be doing so nicely and Sankirtana is being well received also. So continue your program with all enthusiasm for making ISKCON San Diego a grand success. It appears that Krishna has His blessings upon you, so continue as you are doing and you will get more blessings from Krishna. Thank you very much. And Krishna will supply you everything. If the prescribed rules and regulations are followed, then there will be no scarcity.
Letter to Professor Kotovsky -- Moscow 24 June, 1971:
It was a great pleasure to talk with you on Tuesday and I hope you will kindly read the chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam which I left with you. From your book Soviet Studies of India I understand that academician Mr. A. P. Baranrikov completed a great translation, working the matter of Tulsidas's Ramayana into Russian. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the ripe, mature fruit of the Vedic knowledge, and Tulsidas's Ramayana (Ramacharitmanasa) is but a partial representative of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The real Ramayana is Valmiki's Ramayana. Tulsidas was a devotee of Lord Rama and he has given his thoughts in his book Ramayana. But the real original thoughts and ideas are in Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Letter to Hrdayananda -- Los Angeles 5 July, 1971:
Regarding lecturing at the university of Florida, if they will pay plane fare for two men there and back in addition to the sum they have agreed to give, then it will be my pleasure to go there. I require one assistant with me, so fare for two men, round trip, must be there; then I can go. By the middle of this month I am going to N.Y. so you can make plans accordingly.
Letter to Bhagavan -- Los Angeles 7 July, 1971:
Everything prepared should be offered and kept on a table and the customer or guest should come and take prasadam on a plate to his full satisfaction. He can sit at table with chair. The items of prasadam you already know; kachori, Luglu, Samosa, sweet balls, simply wonderful, vegetables, chutneys, puspana, halava, etc; The ingredients are easily available. As other things are available, you can increase your menu. And any party who pays more than $5.00 can be presented with a small book like Easy Journey, or Krishna, the Reservoir of Pleasure, and a copy of our magazine. And if possible, continually tapes should be played of kirtanas and songs and record albums also.
Letter to Dinesh Candra -- Los Angeles 13 July, 1971:
I am in due receipt of your very encouraging letter dated 30th June, 1971 and have noted the contents carefully. Your endeavor is very much appreciated. Thank you very much. You have my all good wishes. Success or no success, it doesn't matter; you have come to Israel with your family and that is my pleasure. All blessings upon you.
Letter to Madhudvisa -- New York 28 July, 1971:
Yes, even an ordinary man absorbed in some other thought forgets his bodily pains and pleasures. So why not in Krishna Consciousness? I learned from an intimate friend of Stalin that he underwent surgical operation of the abdomen without any anesthetic. It was in the papers. He saw it that his own abdomen was being operated on. He was so strong minded. So when one is in Krishna Consciousness, he no more feels any bodily pains and pleasures. After all, we are not this body. But we should make progress steadily by following the rules and regulations, not making experiment. Just like Haridasa Takhur was beaten in 22 market places and he felt no pain. Prahlada was boiled in oil. So we have to take instruction from them, but not to imitate.
Letter to Sukhada -- London 4 August, 1971:
I beg to thank you very much for your kind letter undated and delivered personally by Harer Nama Prabhu on 1st August, 1971 at New York. Upon his recommendation and the recommendation of Satsvarupa Prabhu I have gladly consented to accept you as my duly initiated disciple and have given you the spiritual name Sukhada Devi Dasi. Sukhada means one who is always giving pleasure to Krishna. That you can do by engaging in His service 24 hours. Surely then He will be pleased and bestow upon you all blessings for making rapid advancement in Krishna Consciousness.
Letter to Vaikunthanatha -- London 6 September, 1971:
I am sending herewith, please find, complete plans for a temple there in Trinidad, drawn by Rancor Prabhu here in London. So as soon as you receive the deed you should give these plans to the government, get them sanctioned and begin construction. In the design you will find a portion especially meant for my residence. So it will be a great pleasure for me to go there and live with you for some time. Since 1965 or before that there was a plan for me to go to Trinidad. I had some correspondence with one Mr. Kuldap. I do not know if you have met this gentleman. He was very anxious to get me there.
Letter to Patty Dorgan -- Delhi 17 November, 1971:
As far as your questions, Krishna is not in need of anything, He is purnam, the Complete Whole. And yet He appreciates our love for Him, just like everyone appreciates if someone exhibits love for them. So He kindly allows us to show that love by considering that if I do not feed Him, Krishna will go hungry, if I do not give Him rest, He will be tired, like that. He reciprocates by pretending to be dependent on me, my slave, just to give us opportunity to find the real object of our loving propensity and to take pleasure by pleasing and serving Him. Everything we do should be for the reason that it gives pleasure to Krishna. Because Krishna's intimate associates give Him the most pleasure, and because they are His favorites, it pleases Him to see that these associates and close friends are also offered all respect by the devotees.
Letter to Himavati -- Delhi 17 November, 1971:
I have received your letter of Nov. 2, 1971 and I have appreciated the contents carefully. I am especially pleased that you are finding great pleasure in serving Their Lordships in Hamburg Temple as pujari. I think that under your care They have become very gorgeous and satisfied. It is the sole aim of life to be constantly absorbed in thoughts about Radharani and Krishna, and because you are so determined to become fully Krishna Conscious, Krishna has given you this opportunity to realize that aim by serving Him directly. I have always instructed that the standard of arcana worship must be kept very high, because this will insure that every other temple activity will also flourish. So I am relieved to know that now the Deities are in your care. Thank you for this.
Letter to Himavati -- Delhi 17 November, 1971:
Children especially are inclined to appreciate Krishna's pastimes, so begin by reading to them from Krsna Book. They are not yet covered by false prestige and will very quickly take to tapasya as if it were amusing like a game! Just see the young brahmacaris in India. The Guru says do this, do that—immediately they do—they go out and beg all day in the hot sun and come back with a little rice, then take rest on the floor with no covering. And they are enjoying, it is pleasurable to them to work very hard. So it is very important to train children to endure all sorts of hardships and restrictions at the boyhood stage. Later, no one will renounce what he has accepted as the standard of enjoyment, to accept a standard of less enjoyment. So I think you should begin immediately holding class regularly and advertising for it.
Letter to Bhutatma -- Delhi 5 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge your letter dated 11/17/71, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I have not heard your report from Fresno center for some time, so I am encouraged to see that everything is going nicely there under your supervision. Now upon the shoulders of you the leaders of this Movement falls the responsibility of practically saving this earth planet from the present dangerous position. So the work is in your hands. Let me be free now to translate books, that is my desire. You become very responsible and convinced of this our Krishna philosophy and if you maintain your purity then you will convince everyone else with this philosophy, that is our mission. Kindly assist me to please Lord Caitanya in this way, by spreading Krishna Consciousness or pure love of God, and know it for certain that by this work you shall very very soon go back to Home, back to Godhead.
Letter to Upendra -- Delhi 8 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge your letter dated November 22, 1971, and with pleasure I note that Melbourne Temple is going on very nicely under your supervision. Now keep the standard of our routine work very high, and you will always meet with all success. The best news is that you are increasing nicely the distribution of my books and literature. This is the best activity, to distribute solid information about Krishna. Our preaching stands solid on these books. No other movement or cult has such vast background of authority, so we are not afraid to challenge anyone and everyone to defeat their philosophy on the basis of that authority. Krishna appreciates such strong preachers as His dearmost servants, so let us work very enthusiastically to drive away rascal philosophy and establish the real religion of Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
Letter to Sankara -- Delhi 9 December, 1971:
I think you have written me two letters. Your former letter was also received by me. So far I remember I have replied it. In any case, very soon I shall be going to Calcutta, and there I shall call you and you may remain with me for some time for translating under my direction. Then I shall be able to see how you are translating my books. If you can do it very nicely, then I shall entrust the whole matter to you. This will be a great pleasure for me.
Letter to Jayatirtha -- Delhi 9 December, 1971:
Competition and profiteering spirit are always there in the living entity. It is not that they can be artificially removed in some manner. Factually we saw in Russia that by removing competition and profit calculation from society the people were not at all happy, and still these things are going on. So we shall not expect that we are any different. Only difference is, that our profit is for Krishna's pleasure, and our competition is how to please Krishna more than someone else. Even amongst the Gopis there is competition to please Krishna, and there is envy also. But this envy is not material, it is transcendental. They are thinking, Oh, she has done something more wonderful than me, that is very nice, but now let me do something even more wonderful, like that.
Letter to Jayatirtha -- Delhi 9 December, 1971:
Karandhara and you are sincere workers, so Krishna will give you intelligence. So go on with your program nicely. In every case always remember Krishna so intelligence will come from within. I am very glad the deity worship is going so nicely. They look very glowing, and that is very satisfying to me. When I shall go to Los Angeles very soon, I shall take transcendental pleasure in offering my obeisances to Them.
Letter to Rupanuga -- Delhi 10 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of December 2, 1971, and it has given me great pleasure to hear such encouraging news from you. Practically speaking, it appears my work in America and the Western countries has been now successful and everything is now going on very nicely there. Because by Krishna's Grace I have got good assistants like yourself, therefore I am successful. Now I have built the skyscraper framework, you fill it in nicely.
Letter to Atreya Rsi -- Delhi 12 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of November 24, 1971, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I have not received as yet any recommendation from Rupanuga for initiation of your wife, but as soon as I do I shall be glad to accept her. You are a very good boy, and you are sincerely serving Krishna, so you may know it for certain that very soon all of your anxieties will disappear. I am especially pleased that you are eager to attract the upper class of your society by hosting them in your place you have got near the temple. This is a good proposal. First convince them of our philosophy, then request them very seriously to cooperate with us in spreading this great Krishna Consciousness Movement.
Letter to Kirtanananda -- Delhi 12 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of November 17, 1971, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am especially pleased that your travelling Sankirtana Party is being organized nicely under your supervision, and that it is meeting with good success. This travelling SKP is busses carrying tents is very encouraging. It should be continued all over the country. One thing is that all the students on the party must strictly follow the rules and regulations.
Letter to Sivananda -- Delhi 12 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of December 1, 1971, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. You have from the very beginning been a very determined and nice servant of Krishna, and just now as I am taking my daily massage, I remember that you also used to massage me. You are a very good boy, thank you very much for helping me.
Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 17 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of December 6, 1971, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am especially pleased that your Gurukula project is going forward nicely. I consider that this is one of our most important projects, because people in general are only suffering due to poor fund of knowledge. So if we have facility to give them the right knowledge of how to make an end to suffering condition of life, then we shall be performing the highest type of welfare work. So you can try on this point to convince rich businessmen, educators, politicians, etc. to help us push forward this gurukula system for guiding their young children on the right path to becoming sober, upright citizens.
Letter to Balavanta -- Bombay 22 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your two letters dated September 24, 1971, and November 22, 1971, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am especially pleased that you are infiltrating the schools and colleges with improved programs, how to encourage the student class to participate in Krishna Consciousness. I completely approve of this program. I am also glad to hear from you how the distribution of literatures is also improving.
Letter to Nayanabhirama -- Bombay 22 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of December 8, 1971, and I have noted the contents with pleasure. I am especially pleased to hear that our KC drama program is being developed by you nicely. We have got unlimited stock for such dramas, so go on in this way, improving more and more, and Krishna will give you direction so that one day, very soon, your all dreams will come true and you will be acting our KC dramas on the Broadway.
Letter to Sridama -- Bombay 22 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 10, 1971, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am especially very very pleased that you are getting that large church for our Miami center. All over the world we are getting more respectable and we are getting big big houses for our Radha Krishna Temples, but if yours is the biggest, then I must certainly come there and see it. If the weather is good, then why I should come there and spend some time for my translating work? I think this will be my last tour—now let me go on translating, that is my real work.
Letter to Upendra -- Bombay 22 December, 1971:
I am encouraged to hear from you that Melbourne Temple is even better than Sydney Temple, so I must surely come there to see it. Go on like this, transcendental rivalry, just like San Francisco and Los Angeles, this pleases me very much. But it is not that we are envious! No, material envy is not like that. Even the gopis, they were envious of one another, in a transcendental sense. They were thinking, Oh, she has attracted Krishna more than me, that is very nice, she has given Him more pleasure than me, now let me try more to please Him. That is the process, how to improve in Krishna Consciousness.
Letter to Himavati -- Bombay 26 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge your letter undated, and I am very glad to hear that you are finding such great pleasure in serving Radha and Krishna. Both you and your good husband are very sincere and hard-working, and practically you together have saved our European centers from collapse. Krishna has given you very nice ability to serve Him, better than most, therefore I have relied on you completely to save centers in Germany which had fallen into neglected condition, and because you have done so nicely, I am very very pleased with your both service. So there is no question of dissatisfaction.
Letter to Giriraja -- Bombay 28 December, 1971:
I am most pleased especially to hear that you are distributing many books.* Go on increasing books, and go on increasing my pleasure. You are doing very very nicely in Madras, and except for you I think there is hardly any devotee so hardworking and with such good ability to persuade men to help us. So far transportation, etc., you arrange all of that with Tamala Krishna.
Letter to Mukunda -- Bombay 28 December, 1971:
I beg to acknowledge your letter of December 12, 1971, and it has given me much pleasure to hear from you after such long time. I can understand that you are feeling some separation, as I am also feeling some separation from both you and your good wife, Janaki. I am very pleased to see that you are all right and that you are advancing nicely in Krishna Consciousness. Why your naughty wife, Janaki, does not write me? She is angry upon me or what is that? You are both some of my first disciples, and because of you so many others came, so I am always remembering you fondly.
1972 Correspondence
Letter to Svati -- Unknown Place January 1972:
Regarding your other questions: Children may be recommended for initiation when they are twelve years old. We should avoid as far as possible any physical punishment to train children. It is better to use sweet words or if it is absolutely necessary to punish then you may bind with ropes in one place or show the cane, but do not use—like that. I have recently explained to Aniruddha in Dallas school and you may write to him for details. The most important thing however is to see that somehow or other the children are always engaged in some kind of Krsna conscious activity, then they will naturally develop a taste for it and think it great fun even to work very hard for Krsna's pleasure.
Letter to Krsna Bhamini -- Bombay 4 January, 1972:
I always receive your letters with great pleasure. I am glad that you are appreciating so much this Krishna Consciousness Movement. Lord Krishna extends His mercy to all living entities, but He is particularly attentive to the needs of His devotees. You are blessed with an advanced devotee husband, you have now two nice devotee children, and by Krishna's grace you have taken a genuine Spiritual Master. So you are the most fortunate of women because you have been given every opportunity to attain the highest goal Krishna consciousness in this very lifetime.
Letter to Makhanlal -- Bombay 10 January, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 29th November, 1971, and I have noted the content with great pleasure. Below find one letter for initiates, please. Because you have recommended, I am happy to accept them as my duly initiated disciples. Seven beads, two copies of Gayatri mantra and two sacred threads, duly chanted on by me, have been sent under separate post. Hold a fire yajna and give Gayatri mantra to Tulasi Manjari and Rukma. I think you have got a tape of me reciting Gayatri mantra. One thing is that the tape should be heard through earphones into the right ear. So the fire yajna can be held for all nine devotees.
Letter to Cyavana -- Bombay 18 January, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge your letter and I am pleased about all the news. It sounds that you are doing well, and I'm so pleased to learn that Damji Devji, as well as Mr. Shah, they are helping you so much. So I am very much obliged to them. Please offer my sincere thanks to them. It will be a great pleasure for me to meet them again when I return to Nairobi.
Letter to Cyavana -- Bombay 18 January, 1972:
As you are so quickly managing the affairs of East African campaign, I am sure you have all blessings of Lord Krishna, so continue to work very hard for His pleasure and all of you will go back to Home, back to Godhead.
Letter to Hamsaduta -- Jaipur 20 January, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated January 7, 1972, and with great pleasure I have noted your unbounded enthusiasm to carry out this great mission of spreading the light of love of Godhead in this hellish material world. That is the only requirement for successfully completing the perfection of the living condition, that you should always be enthusiastic to perform services unto the Lotus Feet of the Lord despite all obstacles, and then you can be assured that all of the other qualities or necessities for pure devotional service will be met, such as patience, determination, etc. and then without doubt you shall be delivered to the realm of unlimited bliss, freed from all anxieties.
Letter to Mandali Bhadra -- Jaipur 20 January, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated December 28, 1971, and with pleasure I have noted that your translation work is going on. This I want, that you shall from now on be the Head of the translating department in German language for all ISKCON literatures. You translate yourself as it is comfortable, but all other translations in German language by other translators must be checked by you, edited, and corrected very strictly for grammar and proper use of German language.
Letter to Sri Govinda -- Jaipur 20 January, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of December 31, 1971, and with pleasure I have noted that you are rivalling the West Coast centers in the matter of selling books. But I do not think that anyone can do better than they are doing. But you may try very hard, and if you are sincere enough then you may be the biggest distributer of my books and then I shall surely come there to your Cleveland center to live there in that new house. When Krishna sees that His devotee is sincere, there is nothing He cannot do to help that sincere devotee to advance towards Him. So I am engladdened to understand from your words that you are serving Krishna very sincerely, and you may know it for certain that in this way you shall very soon go back to Home, back to Godhead.
Letter to Upendra -- Jaipur 21 January, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter of January 2, 1972, and with pleasure I have noted that you are desiring to be personally present with me again, and I also am looking forward to seeing you all nice boys and girls in Australia again. Yes, you may be my cook when we shall meet at that time. Tomorrow I am flying to Africa for a few days to attend Brahmananda's festival in Nairobi, and I may even stay there for some time if our Mayapur program is cancelled due to government restrictions against foreigners in Nadia district. But I am sure to come there to Australia by springtime.
Letter to Karandhara -- Nairobi 25 January, 1972:
The reports of increased book sales all over the world gives me so much pleasure. I thank you very much for your very determined efforts to push on this movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Letter to Sudama -- Bombay 4 February, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of January 21, 1972, and I am especially glad that Karandhara is there and that you are working conjointly to print many books. that is my greatest pleasure, to see books being printed and distributed profusely. Without books, how can our preaching go on? I will be very glad if you can print Bhagavad-gita As It Is in Japanese version, and that will be sufficient to convince many Japanese boys and girls to become devotees of Krishna.
Letter to Govinda -- Madras 12 February, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters dated January 16 and January 23, 1972, and it is with great pleasure that I remember you and your good husband by reading them and seeing the nice work you are doing in the "New Navadvipa News" and other pamphlets. I am very sorry to hear about your demoniac neighbor cutting down many tulasi plants, but do not worry, he shall get his due punishment in time, rest assured. Simply go on in the normal way, and gradually his threat will disappear.
Letter to Locana, Nalinikanta -- Calcutta 18 February, 1972:
We shall be celebrating the Appearance Day in Mayapur this year form 25th to 29th February, and then I shall be returning to Bombay for the month of March to initiate construction of our first "Hare Krishna City" on a large plot of land we have purchased there. However, if for some reason I shall return to USA before then, I shall with great pleasure come to your festival at Berkeley. At least I will be present there with you all in spirit, as always, you may know that for certain.
Letter to Upananda -- Calcutta 19 February, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of January 11, 1972, and I have noted with pleasure that you are increasing your book distribution and that you have "struck at the very heart of the city of Melbourne." You have understood our philosophy rightly, that we boldly challenge anyone—philosopher, scientist, educationist—to understand our philosophy, and for that we enter without hesitation into the heart of the biggest cities and preach to anyone and everyone the message of Lord Caitanya, who himself was like the lion in strength.
Letter to Vaikunthanatha -- Calcutta 21 February, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February 3, 1972, and I have noted with pleasure that you are pushing on with this Krishna Consciousness movement there with full enthusiasm. As for your shortage of literature, that seems to be the general story throughout the Society, but just recently Karandhara as gone to Japan and ordered nearly $200,000 worth of our books to be delivered by April 1st, so you may place your order now with New York or with Miami or whoever supplies you with books, and soon you shall have plenty. Meanwhile, you may send to ISKCON Press for any small literatures which are available, such as "Easy Journey" and "Topmost Yoga."
Letter to Nandarani -- Mayapur 27 February, 1972:
I am always remembering with pleasure you and your good husband Dayananda, and how you have been with me practically since the first and how you are serving Krishna so sincerely and making such nice progress in Krishna Consciousness.
Letter to Mahatma -- Sydney 10 April, 1972:
Just like Sudama Vipra, he did not want to offer something very small, but his wife insisted so he offered Krishna only a small bowl of flaked rice, and Krishna took it with great pleasure, and when Sudama vipra returned home to his poor hut, he found a huge palace made of jewels. So the point is to make use of what we already have. That is most important, and if Krishna sees that we are using is properly for pleasing Him in loving attitude of devotional service, then Krishna gives every facility in reciprocation of love. So if you have talent for musical achievement, that is nice; but if you nourish some idea of becoming famous by playing some music, that will be a source of frustration—the end.
Letter to Giriraja -- Sydney 12 April, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 5, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. It appears to be very encouraging. Regarding the pandal, I do not know why they have not removed it yet, because we have ordered them to take it away, so if they have not done it, that is their business, we are not going to pay more that you have already paid. But if they are willing to sell the whole things at cost price, we are willing to purchase the whole thing. If possible, negotiate in this way.
Letter to Bhavananda -- Auckland 14 April, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 4, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure and relief, because my special interest is in Mayapur, that we shall make it especially to glorify Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the best manner of programs, constructing buildings, preaching, Sankirtana, like that. Now in Mayapur there are two much important programs, namely, first of all, a school must be started in English medium. The children may work in the temple compound for gardening and cleansing, then they shall attend class. If they are given sufficient comfort, they will stay with us and develop nicely.
Letter to Atreya Rsi -- Tokyo 25 April, 1970:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 17, 1972. I am returning back to Los Angeles by the 20th May. At that time it will be a great pleasure to have your association there.
Letter to Giriraja, Cyavana -- Tokyo 25 April, 1972:
Either in books or in cash, you will be supplied. I have just heard from Karandhara that he has dispatched several thousand paperback editions of Krishna Book to Bombay, so you may make arrangement how to sell these immediately, and for CCP permission you correspond with Gurudasa in Vrindaban. If you get from Mr. Jayan, simply hold in safe deposit box, and, as required, withdraw in smaller amounts and enter in the books as "Chit Collection," or "Misc. Contributions," or like that. One thing, how much you have deposited since I left India? I want to see a copy of each months' Building Fund Account statement for my records also, so Mahamsa may send regularly. I think that you are both doing very nicely in all respects there, along with Mahamsa and Saurabha, and I am putting all trust and confidence in you all nice boys to perfect this Juhu scheme for Krishna's pleasure. Thank you all very very much.
Letter to Gurudasa, Yamuna -- Tokyo 25 April, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of Gurudasa's letters dated 8th April, 1972, and nil, respectively, and Yamuna's letter dated 9th April, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am much very happy to hear that hut and fence are finished. You may submit the bill to Gargamuni with my approval that he can pay it. I don't think there is any question of Ksirodakasayi's ability to manage everything there, and he is appointed president by me, so what is the question? So far designing the temple is concerned, it is nice that you have got the honourary services of one Mr. Suri to help us.
Letter to Madhavananda -- Tokyo 25 April, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 3, 1972, and I have noted the contents with pleasure. I am very much engladdened to hear that you are arranging nice engagements in Calcutta, especially in the schools. This is a very important program, so do it nicely. So far the report of other things, it is all very good news. Especially you may try for wholesale book distributing through Rupa and Co., and you may inform them that yesterday 1,500 3-volume sets, or 4,500 books, of paperback-size Krishna Books were dispatched to Bombay from here, and that in the near future many more books are to be shipped to India, so there will be always regular supply.
Letter to Tamala Krsna -- Tokyo 25 April, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 20th April, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. It appears that things are going very nicely there in all respects, and I am very much relieved. I did not hear from you in Sydney, as you have mentioned, but anyway I was also writing to you and Acyutananda that my godbrother in Jessore district was very much anxious for us to come there and I was suggesting for you to go there. So now I think it is a very good opportunity, so you may go with your party immediately. If possible see Sri Mujibur Rehman, president of Bangladesh, and show him evidence that Parsis, Jews, Christians, Muslims, all parties are participating in this Krishna Consciousness Movement—so why they Bangladesh Muslims should not join? We want to unite everyone culturally.
Letter to Dayananda -- 26 April, 1972 Tokyo:
letter dated April 16, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. Yes, I am hoping that Lord Jagannatha may attract me to come to London this year. I shall be very glad to come there if He displays His opulence from that side so that I may be attracted by Him. Actually, I have just received invitation today from Harivilas prabhu inviting me to come to one Hare Krsna Festival in Paris around that time also, so I am considering very seriously. Especially if there is good prospect for getting that church at Oval Cricket Ground.
Letter to Gurudasa -- Tokyo 4 May, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 4/24/72, and I have noted the contents with pleasure. The Life Member meeting in Delhi is very important, so do it nicely. Also, about 20 men have come from U.S. to Bombay, so I think some of them may come there to help you. You may request Giriraja to send four or five men to help you, I fully approve.
Letter to Bhavananda -- Honolulu 9 May, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 26, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. Yes, the attraction should be so made that the Muslims will somehow come to our Mayapur temple, for learning English, for seeing arati, like that. In Bombay, many children are coming and they have all got bead bags and they are chanting, so gradually introduce chanting on beads as well. If they believe in the serving of God, we are also servants of God, why not they should join us.
Letter to Don -- Los Angeles 20 May, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge your letter dated April 7, 1972 and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am especially engladdened that you have gone to such cold climate as northern Canada and despite all difficulty you are making good progress in the advancement of Krishna Consciousness there. I have read your booklet with great pleasure and I am forwarding it to Back to Godhead for publishing.
Letter to Ranadhira -- Los Angeles 21 May, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated May 15th, 1972 and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. You are very descriptive writer and I enjoy very much your descriptions and use of words. Actually, if we are engaged in writing and speaking on behalf of Krishna, this is the best process for advancing in Krishna Consciousness. Such activity forces us to think very clearly on the subject matter in order to speak or write on it to convince others. So I think that you should develop your ability for writing and spend sometime writing articles for Back To Godhead.
Letter to Acyutananda -- Los Angeles 8 June, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated June 1, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am very glad to hear that you are going to take Indian citizenship and passport. Now you be in charge of our Mayapur Center. Practically speaking you were my first disciple, and I think it is Bhaktivinode's desire that my first disciple shall go to Bengal and revive Krishna Consciousness there. So I have heard also from Tamala Krishna that he is going with his party to Bangladesh for preaching among the largely Mohammedan population.
Letter to Sriman Joshi -- Los Angeles 13 June, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 2, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am very much encouraged that you are offering your considerable services for helping me to advance this bhakti-yoga system or Krishna Consciousness Movement all over the world. So I shall be very pleased to meet you personally here in Los Angeles at my apartment, as I shall not be gong to San Francisco in the near future because I am attending the Rathayatra Festival in London this year instead. So if you are free to meet me here in Los Angeles, I shall be very pleased to see you at that time.
Letter to Madhudvisa -- Los Angeles 16 June, 1972:
I am very much concerned that the devotees should be given all good instruction and knowledge of Krishna Consciousness, that is the duty of the GBC man. (?) better to utilize time and train the devotees, especially the responsible officers, and they can go out for preaching to non-devotees and making new devotees. But if they do not have any knowledge, how can they go out and preach? So you GBC men are my selected few for insuring that what I am doing will be carried on very nicely for the pleasure of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So now you must all my senior disciples and leaders become very, very much aware of your grave responsibility to the human society for delivering them from the clutches of catastrophe, and be always cool-headed and utilize every moment in the best manner possible.
Letter to Tribhuvanatha -- Los Angeles 16 June, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated 10th June, 1972, and with great pleasure I have noted the contents. I was wondering what you are doing, so I am very glad to hear your report of getting the very nice temple in Edinburgh. I think it is Krishna's desire that you have got that place in such perfect location, so now apply yourself very seriously and take advantage of this opportunity for spreading Krishna Consciousness all over that city and in other places in Scotland. The price of 13 Pounds a week for such a large place is not at all bad. Yes, take the place for as many years as they will agree to.
Letter to Bob -- Los Angeles 16 June, 1972:
I thank you very much for your letter dated June 12, 1972, and I have noted the sentiments expressed therein with great pleasure. I am very much glad to hear that you are associating with us, and I know that you are a very good boy, very intelligent and your behavior is gentle, so I have all confidence that very quickly Krishna will bestow all His blessings upon you and you will feel yourself becoming perfectly happy in Krishna Consciousness.
Letter to Stokakrsna -- Los Angeles 20 June, 1972:
On the second point, if someone is coming to our school for the first time, still, they must eat what we are eating, namely Krsna prasadam. Yes, everything should be prepared for the pleasure of the Lord, without any other consideration. Our policy is that the children should be so trained that they will enjoy performing austerities, it is not that we shall spoil them at young age by indulging them in sense gratification. If there is obedience then there will be discipline, and without any discipline the management is very difficult. So first obedience by the children.
Letter to Aksoja 1 -- Los Angeles 25 June, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter from Amsterdam dated June 21, 1972, and I look forward with pleasure to attending some of your meetings there in Holland near end of July. Yes, the two engagements for July 28 and July 29 sound all right, and as you have kindly invited me, if you make all nice arrangements, then I shall be very glad to attend them. One thing, you have mentioned a "band" for playing in the park.* If we hold public meetings, we can only hold kirtan, with our usual program of preaching being the main feature of attention.
Letter to Tamala Krsna -- Los Angeles 28 June, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 22, 1972, and with great pleasure I have noted the contents and enclosures. But one thing, I do not find any mention of how the work is going on there at Mayapur. I have entrusted you as the leader of this project to see that it is always going on at full capacity, that the men are working, that the money shall be collected and spent wisely and timely, and in all respects take full responsibility for this great construction work.
Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 1 July, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter from Cleveland dated June 26, 1972 and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. Similarly I have received such nice letters from Rupanuga and Hrdayananda, and I am very much satisfied that you are all feeling the serious nature of this Sannyasi mission. So far you are concerned, I am especially stressing the importance of our Dallas Gurukula for training up the next generation of Krishna Consciousness preachers. This is the most important task ahead. I am seeing practically how wonderful the children are coming out.
Letter to Gunagrahi -- New York 3 July, 1972:
Especially I am very much pleased to hear that the University of Buffalo has given to you more than $1200.00 in grant. I can understand by your enthusiastic preparations for Rathayatra in Buffalo that you are very sincere boy and capable devotee. This is very much wanted throughout the society of men, that some few of you will come to the understanding that by serving the Lord with my full energy that this will be my happy position of life and that no other occupation will give me any, not even an ounce of pleasure. Such persons like yourself who are thinking in this way are getting all intelligence and facility by how to do the things properly, and that Krishna is helping you with intelligence and ability, now you take the right course and utilize the opportunity given to you by Krishna to actually inject the human society with that same determination to serve the Lord.
Letter to Jayapataka -- Paris 22 July, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 10, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am very glad to hear that the building work is going on with full speed, including both day and night shifts of workers. Do not worry, I am sending you two first-class men from England, both of them have got good experience in engineering and building work. They are named Smarahari das and ___. They shall be arriving very soon in India, and you can train them to help you there full-time. Besides, you may ask Giriraja if Saurabha das can come from Bombay from time to time to assist you there and see how the things are going on. He is experienced man.
Letter to Sri Joshiji -- Paris 25 July, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 15, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great interest. From London now I am staying in Paris, and from here I shall go to Amsterdam and then to Edinburgh, again to London, and from there I shall go to Nairobi for installing Radha-Krishna deities in our own temple there. Your letter under reply gives me great pleasure when I understand from your childhood you are a great devotee of Lord Krishna, and now in your old age you are still anxious to preach the doctrine of Lord Krishna, namely, to surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Letter to Prahladananda -- Paris 25 July, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 7/13/72, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am so glad to hear that the things in Austin center are going on very nicely, never mind there are not many devotees there. Our program is to enlist the men with quality for serving Krishna, not for attracting the masses for simply watching and going away. As long as the classes are going on well, the rules and regulations are being observed sincerely, the sankirtana party is going out with enthusiastic mood—if these things are going on, then everything is first-class.
Letter to Gargamuni -- Amsterdam 29 July, 1972:
I have received your letter from Dvaraka dated July 17, 1972, and with great pleasure I have noted the contents. I am very glad to hear that your Sankirtana party is having such great success all over Gujarat province and I am very much pleased upon you. This is actually Lord Caitanya's movement, this Sankirtana party for preaching and chanting. So do it nicely, and I shall try to help you as much as possible.
Letter to Tamala Krsna -- London 1 August, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 25, 1972 and with great pleasure I have noted the contents. It is of course regrettable that we are stopped for the time being from entering into Bangladesh for spreading our propaganda there. So for the time being, Bangladesh may be left aside. I am trying in a different way to help you in this respect, and I shall let you know. Meanwhile suspend trying to push something which is not possible. Now there is a very important job for you to do.
Letter to Tejiyas -- London 9 August, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter from Delhi dated 2 August, 1972 and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am very glad to hear that we shall be holding another Hare Krishna Festival in Delhi this year, and I am hoping that I shall also be able to attend as before. That LIC grounds is no longer available, but we must find another suitable location within the city center of New Delhi,* as close to Connaught Circus as possible. That will be very nice. So you and your good wife kindly give Gurudasa all assistance for organizing the festival, and I shall also come if I am able.
Letter to Lalitananda -- New Vrindaban 2 September, 1972:
As for your questions, Lalitananda means one who takes his pleasure from Lalita, who is one of the chief Gopis around Krishna. So you are the servant of one who takes his bliss from Lalita. Yes, if there is arrangement for swinging the deities sometimes, that is all right. Anything may be done which will be pleasing to the Lord, and He is often fond of swinging motions. You may place cows and peacocks on the altar at Montreal, that will be nice. So far I am concerned, I have no objection if there is carved form of guru on the Guru-Gauranga altar, but one thing, is unless that sculptor is very excellent, it should not be attempted.
Letter to Patty Dorgan -- New Vrindaban 4 September, 1972:
I thank you very much for your letter dated September 1, 1972, and I have noted the contents with pleasure. I am so pleased to hear that you are living nicely with your parents and carrying on with your Krishna Consciousness activities. That is a good proposal. Never mind there maybe some inconvenience. Krishna always appreciates when his devotee makes some sacrifice on His behalf, so there is no real difficulty under any conditions so long as we remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Letter to Amogha -- Los Angeles 13 September, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter from Djakarta dated August 29, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I have also recently received one letter from the Djakarta Krsna Consciousness club and it is very nicely offering respects on Vyasa Puja occasion. I have replied them duly. I am very glad to hear that your mission is resumed in Indonesia and that you are taking up this work again with full enthusiasm. And the response has been very good there. Now go on teaching in this school and distributing our literatures more and more, and try to recruit some local men for becoming our disciples and helping you there. For relying upon devotees from outside to come there is not very practical business. It is better to recruit some local men and train them to do the work. But I think Madhudvisa can supply you with one or two men conveniently, you may request him this.
Letter to Puri Maharaj -- San Francisco 7 October, 1972:
I am coming to India by the 15th of October and will stay during Urja-vrata at the Radha-Damodara temple in Vrndavan. It will be a pleasure if you will come and stay with us at Vrndavan during the urja-vrata period. So I thank you very much for taking so much trouble. If we get that house we shall celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada a little pompously. In my last letter to you I also requested you to take permanent permission from Visvanath Das, the chief minister, for permission of admission for my devotees in the Jagannath temple. At present I am here in San Francisco and your letter addressed to London is just now received by me.
Letter to Jayapataka -- Vrindaban 22 October, 1972:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated October 17, 1972, and the pleasure of my again spending some days in Vrindaban is only exceeded by the pleasure of hearing from you the good news of our activities in Mayapur. I am very much encouraged to note the many signs of progress in the building work and other things. You are the best man for this task of being responsible for our world headquarters at Mayapur, thank you very much for helping me in this way.
Letter to Narottamananda -- Vrindaban 23 October, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 9, 1972, and I have noted with great pleasure that you are opening a new centre in Bloomington, Indiana. You are fixing up your new place very nicely, that will attract men to come there. But always remember that our first business is preaching and distributing literatures, never mind we have to live under a tree. But because the people of your country expect something, we must give them place, but preaching is our real business.
Letter to Saucarya -- Vrindaban 23 October, 1972:
Of course, the nature of woman is to be attached to her husband and family, so our system is to minimize this attachment by making the ultimate goal of our activity the pleasure of Krishna. Just try to please Krishna always, and no material circumstances will be able to cause you any discomfort.
Letter to Rupanuga -- Vrindaban 24 October, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated nil, and with great pleasure I have read also the enclosed brochure "Who Will lead Us?" That is a new chapter for Krishna Consciousness movement. Now we shall begin to educate the politicians gradually. But they are so much corrupted by their sense gratification that we shall find it a difficult task. But if gradually we may present our philosophy in public places as you are doing in Atlanta, that will be appreciated by the intelligent class of men, and it will become well known that our philosophy of political leadership is of the highest standard and morality, and if anyone wants to advertise himself that he has made programme for the welfare of the people, he must be forced to compare his programme with ours so the citizens may judge which is better. Continue increasing this political activity, it is very pleasing to me.
Letter to Bali-mardana -- Vrndavana November 2, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 20, 1972, and I have appreciated very much the enclosed booklet, "Krsna, the Reservoir of Pleasure." Although none of you have yet been here in Vrndavana, still, Krsna has given you the spiritual vision and you are seeing Vrndavana actually, the paintings are so nice. Just see how the cows are looking at Krsna. Now you distribute these books by millions all over the world, then everyone will see how wonderful is Vrndavana. That is the best preaching work.
Letter to Bhagavan -- Vrindaban 5 November, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 11, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I am very glad to see the things are going on well in France and other places, and that you are there in Europe is a great relief for me. Now I am sure there will be some solid work in Mediterranean zone and the preaching work will be expanded nicely.
Letter to Citsukhananda -- Ahmedabad 11 December, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 17, 1972, and I have noted with pleasure that you want to go to Caracas, South America, to join Hanuman for opening centre and preaching work there. That will be very, very nice. I know that you are the right man because I saw for myself how nice you have created the Mexico City temple of ISKCON, and I was very much inclined to those devotees. Only I had some difficulty with language difficulty to preach, but still I could see how pious they were and eager to listen anyway. That is the only qualification, if someone is eager for spiritual improvement.
Letter to Visvambhara -- Ahmedabad 14 December, 1972:
Following in the footsteps of Gopis comes in the perfectional stage. First you come to the perfectional stage, then you talk of Gopis. Going to girls and making them pregnant, then talking of Gopis, that is going on, that is nonsense. Without coming to the perfectional stage, if anyone tries to understand the Gopis he becomes a sahajiya. Gopis are not ordinary women, they are all expansions of Krishna's pleasure potency. So when we understand Krishna, then we shall understand Gopis. We can simply follow foot prints of Gopi how they loved Krsna.
Letter to Jayapataka -- Bombay 19 December, 1972:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 29, 1972, and I have noted the contents with pleasure. I am so much happy to hear from you all the good news of our Mayapur centre! No, your liking of engagement there is not at all an inappropriate attachment, rather it is your qualification for pleasing your spiritual master. Attachment must be there, for Krishna or for maya. So you have become attached to developing the Mayapur centre, that is Krishna's work, so Krishna appreciates very much when His devotee becomes attached to Him in this way. Yes, the cooperative spirit of working together without any argument is especially prominent in Mayapur, more than other places in India.
Letter to Jayapataka -- Bombay 19 December, 1972:
Such surrendered devotee sees that everything is part of Krishna's plan, that whatever is meant to be, I am doing that, so let me do it with my full attention to every detail, let me become absorbed in such service, never mind what it is, but let all other considerations be forgotten and only my desire to do the thing best for Krishna's alone pleasure be my motive. That is advanced stage of understanding devotional service or Krishna Consciousness. Thank you very much for your kindly coming to the point.
Letter to Revatinandana -- Bombay 31 December, 1972:
You are good kirtana man, you can sing and play mrdanga like anything, you are also good cook, you are expert philosopher and preacher, you are in the renounced order of life, having given up all thoughts of wife, family and home, you are determined to assist me by training up so many younger devotees in Krsna consciousness, you have got good ideas how to push on our movement also—in so many ways you are among the best qualified and most appreciated of my disciples. Because you are so much qualified and advanced in Krsna consciousness, therefore Krsna is giving you great strength and pleasure is being derived by you from your working in this way. By this traveling and preaching in the schools, colleges, youth clubs, like that, selling books, this program is very very much appreciated by me, and I think that you are accomplishing more good preaching result than anyone.
1973 Correspondence
Letter to George -- Bombay 4 January, 1973:
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.
Letter to George -- Bombay 4 January, 1973:
What is that friendship? At the end of 12th Chapter of Gita Krishna describes that the person "who is very dear to Him, or His best friend, is one who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor, who is free from false ego and equal both in happiness and distress, who is always satisfied and engaged in devotional service with determination and whose mind and intelligence are in agreement with Me . . . He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress . . . A devotee who is not dependent on the ordinary course of activities, who is pure, expert, without cares, free from all pains, and who does not strive for some result . . . One who neither grasps pleasure or grief, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things . . . One who is equal to friends and enemies, who is equipoised in honor and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and distress, fame and infamy, who is always free from contamination, always silent and satisfied with anything who doesn't care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and engaged in devotional service . . ." such person is described by Krishna as "very dear to Me."
Letter to Damodara -- Bombay, India 9 January, 1973:
Main thing is to somehow or other create first quality preachers on Krsna's behalf. So many boys and girls are simply wasting their time in so many frivolous ways, but if we are sincere and serious to attract them to Krsna's fold, very easily we shall be able to persuade them to join us. That means simply let them get a taste of something higher than their present-day sense pleasure. Of course, that will not be so easily done, and that will be your credit for doing it. You have got now good experience, and you are mature, cool-headed and sincere devotee, therefore, I shall expect a very good result from your activity in this way.
Letter to Bhakta dasa -- Calcutta 26 January, 1973:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated January 14, 1973, and I have noted the contents with pleasure. It is very pleasing to me that you have distributed so many of my books and preached to the students. This is our mission of life, to somehow turn the minds of the conditioned souls to Krsna consciousness and thus give them the highest perfection of life. So you are a very sincere soul and Krsna will give you intelligence how to do this more and more.
Letter to Hladini -- Calcutta 28 January, 1973:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated January 1, 1973, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. It is so nice to see how enthusiastic you are in executing this process of devotional service and how much you like your engagement there in New Vrindaban. So you continue in this way, always thinking of Krsna, chanting 16 rounds, reading the books, and doing your daily chores all on behalf of Krsna. As your devotional service becomes mature you shall see Krsna more and more, and more and more you shall realize the qualities of the holy land of Vraja.
Letter to Kirtanananda -- Calcutta 28 January, 1973:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 10 January 1973, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I can see that Krsna is giving you more and more facility for developing this New Vrindaban scheme. So this is very nice. I am very pleased that you have acquired some more cows. In Mayapur also we have some cows now. So you are the manager there, and in cooperation with the GBC men it is up to you to see that everything is developed very very nicely and that all the land is utilized properly, not that it is sitting going to waste. So once you are utilizing everything very nicely, then you may increase more and more as you like. So consult with the GBC and you may decide whether it is worthwhile to purchase more land at this time.
Letter to Nayanabhirama -- Calcutta 28 January, 1973:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 1/1/73 and have noted the contents with great pleasure. It is so nice to hear how your wife Daivisakti Devi Dasi is distributing so many books and collecting big big donations for the Lord. This is very very pleasing to me, as our book distribution and collecting of funds is so much important for pushing on this movement. So if all of the devotees in New York can collect like that, at least $100 daily, then very shortly you will have enough funds for getting that big skyscraper for use as the world headquarters of our Krsna Consciousness movement.
Letter to Ramesvara -- Sydney 14 February, 1973:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated February 5th. and I have noted the contents carefully. I am very much pleased to hear of your increased book distribution and it gives me great pleasure to hear of your increased eagerness to distribute my literature. Through the distribution of this literature, we can completely annihilate all the bogus yogi groups in the world. Of this fact I am sure.
Letter to Dr. Singhal, Mr. Saraf, Dr. Poddar, Mr. Vasista, Giriraja -- Auckland 21 February, 1973:
This morning Srukirti received telephonic message from Bali Mardan. It is understood that Mr. Nair is dead. So it is good news that Nrsimhadeva has killed a demon like him. Prahlada Maharaja said that even a saintly person becomes pleased when a scorpion or a snake is killed. So if it is a fact that Nair is dead it is a matter of great pleasure for all devotees.
Letter to Kirtanananda -- Calcutta 6 March, 1973:
I shall secure gold Sesa and carry with me for the foundation and most propably while returning to L.A. through New York at that time if the ceremony is being held I shall attend. It will be a pleasure for me. Your vision of 7 Temples on 7 hills is very encouraging. May Krsna fulfill your transcendental desires. The graphic drawings of the Temples are very saris factory and the devotees working together is very encouraging. May Krsna help you in your noble endeavor to come out successful in the project of New Vrndavana. Your Krsna is most beautiful, just like an attractive boy. I hope this meets you in good health.
Letter to Tejiyas -- Calcutta 15 March, 1973:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated March 12th and have examined it with great pleasure.
This program of approaching MPs is very very important. If you can get this petition approved, that would be a great boon to our movement. Even if 15 or 20 MPs join our Society that will be a new chapter for us. And your petition is very attractively worded. Actually India is the spiritual leader of the world but the fools and rascals are trying to sabotage the position.
Letter to Sri Govinda -- Los Angeles 25 April, 1973:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated April 24, 1973 with enclosures. Your report has given me unbounded pleasure and I very much appreciate your activities. Your university program has given me much satisfaction, so you try to continue it. Yes, they must appreciate my Bhagavatam because it is nothing business but is a matter of realization.
Letter to Lynne Ludwig -- Los Angeles 30 April, 1973:
This verse is spoken by Krishna, or God, Himself in Bhagavad-gita so who can be more final authority? That means that anyone who has understood that the material worlds are places of misery and temporaryness, duhkhalayam asasvatam, they never return here again, and because they are mahatmanah, the great souls, Krishna keeps them with Him, having qualified themselves to escape this nasty place by becoming His pure devotees. So the point is that to make advancement in spiritual life, everything material, unless it is utilized to serve and please Krishna, must be viewed with a pessimistic eye. We are not very much hopeful for any lasting pleasure or satisfaction for our deepest cravings within this realm of gross matter.
Letter to Giriraja -- Los Angeles 8 May, 1973:
I am in due receipt of your two letters dated May 3, 1973, and have noted the contents with great pleasure. I think by the grace of Krsna you are getting some glimpse of hope to keep in possession the Hare Krsna land for our missionary activities. The laurel of victory will be if we can get the whole land at a monthly rent of 1000rs, as you have stated. To pay 1000rs rent per month means to keep a fixed deposit in the bank about 1 lac 70,000 and the bank pays 7 1/2% interest per anum and if we keep some fixed deposit in a private fund like Mafatlal or Birla at 12% then we have to deposit say a little more than 1 lac of rs. If we can construct a temple and building without permission of the landlord that will be our greatest triumph. If such a law is inaugurated then it is to be supposed that it is Krsna's plan.
Letter to Kirtanananda -- Mayapur 14 June, 1973:
The deities may be immediately repaired and worshiped. Now we must take precaution as you have suggested. You may get some guns and some of the boys may be trained as ksatriyas. Such gun shots could have taken place long ago since we are challenging everybody. So we must be prepared to fight. We cannot stop this movement. It is actually a fight against Maya. So Maya may also sometimes cause casualties in our camp. So, we must only thank Krsna and seriously dedicate everything for Him. So, you are Kirtanananda Maharaja, take pleasure in performing kirtana. That is our real weapon against Maya.
Letter to Kirtanananda -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 27 July, 1973:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 21st July, 1973. I have noted the contents with great pleasure. Yes! Go on acquiring the surrounding lands and in this way we will establish a local self governing village and show all the world a practical example of spiritual life as Krishna Himself exhibited in Vrindaban. Agriculture and protecting the cow, this is the main business of the residents of Vrindaban, and above all simply loving Krishna. The cows, the trees, the cowherd men and Gopis, their chief engagement was loving Krishna, and in New Vrindaban we want to create this atmosphere and thereby show the whole world how practical and sublime our movement is.
- I shall go to New Vrindaban as soon as your palace is finished. Jaya!
Letter to Kirtanananda -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 27 July, 1973:
Why do you say "little sannyasi", you are Maharaja—Great King. Like Yudhisthira Maharaja and Pariksit Maharaja—Emperor. Actually you are doing something very, very big—so you are Maharaja. Krishna will bless you. Therefore you are Kirtanananda, one who take pleasure in Kirtana.
Letter to Ramesvara -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 3 August, 1973:
I am in receipt of your letter dated July 29, 1973 and I have noted the contents with great pleasure.
There is no doubt about it, to distribute books is our most important activity. The temple is a place not for eating and sleeping, but as a base from which we send out our soldiers to fight with maya. Fight with maya means to drop thousand and millions of books into the lap of the conditioned souls. Just like during war time the Bombs are raining from the sky like anything. So you are the expert in this field.
Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 28 August, 1973:
Krishna is very kind upon you because he has given you so many responsible tasks. So always think of the Lotus Feet of Sri Krishna and you will find no difficulties in executing the tasks allotted to you by Krishna. Bhaktivinode Thakura used to say all difficult tasks he had to execute for Krishna were considered as great pleasure for him.
Letter to Karandhara -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 1 September, 1973:
My schedule of program is as follows; Sweden on the 5th September after returning I shall go to Japan by the 15th via Tehran and India. Then from Japan I shall return to Los Angeles via Hawaii, estimated by the 10th October. Certainly at that time I shall drive on my Rolls Royce car with great pleasure at least for three months. Pray to Krishna that I may execute my touring program without any disturbance.
Letter to Kurusrestha -- Bombay 16 October, 1973:
Please accept my blessings. . . I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 5, 1973 with enclosed pictures, and you have given me much pleasure. The altar is very nice and so are all the pictures. It appears to be very neat and clean. Please keep this standard. The tulsi also is very nice. It is a fact that the American people are the most fortunate in the world, and that this Krsna consciousness movement is the final touch of fortune. You are doing very nicely, and I thank you very much.
Letter to Indira Gandhi -- New Delhi 6 November, 1973:
I wish that our Indian government will be proud to take up this cultural movement very seriously, so that the whole world will be benefited, and India will be glorified. I hope Krsna will give you the proper sense to understand my humble presentation, and it will be a great pleasure to know you have relished this Bhagavad-gita As It Is without any unauthorized commentation.
Letter to Hamsaduta -- New Delhi 8 November, 1973:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter with enclosures dated October 26th, and have noted the contents with great pleasure. It is Krsna's mercy that you were able to take in a copy of Bhagavad-gita to Moscow. It is very encouraging that the boy without any association is maintaining the standard. This is due to his chanting 16 rounds and following the regulative principles. Now he should be in your charge, so you kindly guide him and keep him in our atmosphere and utilize him properly, but steadily and cautiously. Yes, you arrange for their marriage. I am writing both Bhagavan Das and Mandakini, the copies herewith enclosed. Their marriage will be very good, and both of them will get some strength.
Letter to Bhakta dasa -- New Delhi October 11, 1973:
I thank you very much for installing Radha-Giridhari. From my childhood I was very much fond of Radha-Krsna, and now my good disciples are helping me to open so many Radha-Krsna temples all over the world. It gives me so much pleasure. Now introduce Ratha Yatra. That was my childhood activity. I want to see my disciples all over the world introduce two items, opening Radha-Krsna temples and Ratha-yatra festivals. Do this under the protection of Guru-Gauranga.
Letter to Kirtanananda -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 24 November, 1973:
I am feeling very much happy. Here everything is going on very nicely. It has given me much pleasure. Now when I go to New York I wish to meet both you and Hayagriva Prabhu, and if you so desire I can go from New York to your place for a few days. I have got important talks with you for development of our New Vrndavana project, so kindly get information from Bali Mardan Swami, and as seen as you hear that I am there, please come and see me with Hayagriva Prabhu. If you so desire, I shall go to New Vrndavana along with you. Hope this will meet you in good health. I offer my blessings to all the devotees there.
1974 Correspondence
Letter to Tejiyas -- Los Angeles 2 January, 1974:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 17, 1973. It is a source of great pleasure for me to hear that you are seriously undertaking publication of the abridged version of Bhagavad-gita As It Is in India. As you know my Guru Maharaja emphasized book publication above all other preaching activities because it is the big mrdanga which can be heard all over the world. Sometimes people are reluctant to contribute for our temples and for our religious activities but for education everyone will be ready to help. All over the world they are taking our books seriously and that is accepted by educational departments as extra study books at schools and colleges.
Letter to Brahmananda -- Honolulu 26 January, 1974:
I have received my copy of special BTG. It is very nicely done. I thank you very much. With great pleasure I note that although the Government of Kenya did not allow me to enter the state, my work was not hampered on account of my absence. In your last letter I was informed that Cyavana Swami has left your protection and gone to South America. I don't know why he has done so.
Letter to Brahmananda -- Honolulu 26 January, 1974:
Anyway, you have dedicated yourself to the service of the Lord, therefore you are always glorious. I'm very much indebted to you that you have gone so far away from your own comfortable country for the service of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and this service will be appreciated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Please go on preaching like that and you will be blessed. I think Krsna did not let me go in Africa because he wants to see you all work independently of me. I'm getting old and can not move, so if you all my students work 10 times more than me that will be great pleasure for me.
Letter to Baja Panalalji -- New Delhi 5 February, 1974:
I am thinking to go to Hyderabad by the end of March and certainly it would be great pleasure to me to stay under your shelter and I am looking forward to this opportunity.
Letter to Taittiriya -- Mayapur 3 March, 1974:
I have studied your activities while in Honolulu and it gives me great pleasure to find out such s devotee qualified as you are in our society. I wish you will execute responsibilities in the future in the matter of our societies multi activities. In this connection I especially request you to try to open a center in China. So far I have information of the Chinese people and so far I have seen Chinese boys in Hong Kong, I am very hopeful for success in China. Similarly, my experience in Japan, when I was in Tokyo last time and the time before that, I found the Japanese boys and girls very nice and humble and submissive and respectful.
Letter to Dr. Ghosh:
I know you are very studious and I request you to become a member of our society so you can get all the books free of charge. Anyway, it will be a great pleasure for me if you can come and live with me for some time. From here, Vrindaban, I am going to Bombay, at the following address: Hare Krishna Land, Gandhi Gram Road, Juhu, Bombay. Conveniently you may try to come and live with me for some time.
Letter to Dr. Ghosh:
I wish that in the fag end of life if you and I together can preach Krsna Consciousness all over the world, people will be benefited and all problems of the world will be solved. That is my conviction. I take the opportunity of sending this letter with your cousin-brother Mr. Zazumdar. He is a nice gentleman, almost of our age. I talked with him and felt great pleasure. Sometimes I think of going to Allahabad. So whenever I shall get the opportunity I may go, as I like the place. I am obliged to you for your remembering me even after so many years passed when we were together in Prayag Pharmacy.
Letter to Dr. Ghosh:
There is no difficulty in understanding this philosophy in full brain and it is the urgent necessity that it be spread all over the world. Therefore the best service to human society is to educate them after the principle of the Gita, otherwise they are losing the chance of perfection in the human life and going down again to the circle of birth and death and transmigration in different species of life numbering 8,400,000. It is very interesting to discuss on this point and it will be a great pleasure for me if you come and stay with me for some time and preach this philosophy amongst the higher section of society.
Letter to Bhagavan -- Bombay 6 April, 1974:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 30/3/74 along with the French edition of Back to Godhead which is certainly a great pleasure for me. I can see by this publication and by your report that things are going on nicely in Europe. All your programs are approved by me; simply if you keep on with it, slowly but surely we will become very solidly situated there with many devotees and books and temples. Krsna simply wants to see our desire.
Letter to Jayapataka , Bhavananda -- Bombay 9 May, 1974:
The news that you are able to keep up the prasadam program which is now up to 1500 persons on Sunday is very welcome and I hope you can continue this without stoppage. The success of Bhavananda Maharaja's English lessons of the Varnasrama College has given me great pleasure and I am sure many devotees will come from this program. It is a first class idea.
Letter to Ramesvara -- Bombay 9 May, 1974:
Your letters are a great pleasure for me to read. You are always broadcasting the glories of the Sankirtana movement in the shape of ISKCONs book distribution and surely you will be recognized by Lord Caitanya for your unbounded enthusiasm and expertise in seeing that my books are distributed all over the world.
Letter to Alfred Ford -- Los Angeles 16 July, 1974:
By the by I beg to invite you to our opening ceremony of our newly constructed temple of Krishna Balarama at Vrindaban beginning from August 8-15. I think we have exchanged some correspondence but I have never seen you. It will be a great pleasure to see you at your convenience.
Letter to Ramesvara -- Vrindaban 13 August, 1974:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated August 8, 1974 and also your letter dated July 18, 1974 with enclosed Chinese edition of Back to Godhead. I understand from your letter that you have loaned Hong Kong center $1500 for printing Chinese edition of Krsna Reservoir of Pleasure.
Letter to Bhurijana -- Vrindaban 17 August, 1974:
I am very glad to receive your letter dated 8/7/74 from Singapore. I am very pleased that you have gone to that place simply on my order, alone, to preach the message of Lord Caitanya. I like this kind of spirit in you very much. You know I went to your country also alone, in old age, because of the order given to me by my spiritual master. So I get great pleasure when I see my own disciples from America going to far off places leaving their rich nation with all facilities and their families, to preach. The secret of success in spiritual life is to satisfy one's spiritual master.
Letter to Sridhara -- Vrindaban 19 August, 1974:
Regarding your question about eternal spiritual and temporary spiritual, the temporary spiritual is the impersonal brahmajyoti. The impersonalists by severe austerities and penances arise to the Brahman effulgence. But it is only temporary. Eternally we cannot remain aloof. As living entities, we want pleasure in association; therefore we see in the material world where for sense gratification the karmis take so much responsibility. First of all they accept one wife. The more he enjoys the wife, the more he becomes implicated. So, this means that we must have pleasure even at the risk of gross implication. Therefore our Krishna Consciousness movement is that we want pleasure but without any implication. This is happening actually. All of our Krishna Consciousness students they are enjoying life without any implication.
Letter to Sridhara -- Vrindaban 19 August, 1974:
The impersonalist who prefers to merge with the Brahman effulgence has no shelter at the lotus feet of Krishna. Therefore such impersonalist even though raised to the Brahman platform come down again to the material world for pleasure's sake. In India you will find many sannyasis who merge into the Brahma effulgence, but without any pleasure there, they come down to the platform of material activities of opening schools and hospitals—Daridra Narayana, etc. Such men with poor fund of knowledge do not know that in the material world however you try to arrange things very right, it will always fail. But in the spiritual world the spiritual varieties displayed by Krishna along with his associates gives eternal pleasure. That is wanted. The Brahma effulgence, there the pleasure is temporary.
Letter to Srutadeva:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated August 15th, along with the sankirtana news letter #19, and I thank you very much for it. You can continue sending me these news letters as you publish them weekly. It is this sankirtana which is the life and soul of our movement. Sankirtana and book distribution should go on together side by side. I am always glad when these activities are increasing and my pleasure is always increasing.
Letter to Ramesvara -- Vrindaban 14 September, 1974:
I am in due receipt of the August BBT report dated September 1, 1974. Thank you for sending it, it has given me much pleasure. I am now improving in my health and soon will be leaving Vrindaban for Mayapur. The new form for book distribution in South America is very encouraging. So print largely and distribute. Just as large temples there can distribute easily over 1,000 Isopanisads each day, then you will very easily distribute 100,000 copies per month, so do it.
Letter to Madhavananda -- Vrindaban 16 September, 1974:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated September 10, 1974 hand delivered by Paramahamsa Swami with enclosed color photos and cans of ghee. Your success there has given me great pleasure, and I thank you very much for your sincere service in fulfilling the mission of my Guru Maharaja. In the foreign countries you are getting so many Indians, and they are not getting even here in India. Now in U.K. the Indians are getting life. They are Krsna conscious, but now they are getting the chance to serve Krsna. The pictures are wonderful, and I am getting them framed and will hang them in my quarters here. We are creating new life for the Indians in England.
Letter to Ajita -- Vrindaban 19 September, 1974:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 8/18/74 and the contents have given me much pleasure. You have given me all happy news. The festival success is very encouraging to me. So go on with your festivals. Everyone will like this movement, it is such a nice thing, what Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given. You have captured the essence, and therefore you are successful in being able to distribute it to the people of Sweden. I am very glad that I have got such good disciples as you.
Letter to Mr. Jayakar -- Mayapur 9 October, 1974:
I will be going to Bombay, and I am just waiting for my new apartment to be finished and the construction to be completed. I think it will be ready within one or two weeks time. It is at Hare Krishna Land, Gandhi Gram Road, Juhu, Bombay-54. As soon as I reach Bombay it will be my duty to inform you and my great pleasure to meet you again.
Letter to Ajita -- West Bengal 10 October, 1974:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 2, 1974 and have noted the contents with pleasure. I am glad to learn that you are expanding all your activities, and I very much appreciate your efforts in this connection. Lord Caitanya will bless you.
Letter to Sri Kanungo -- Mayapur 17 October, 1974:
I therefore want to see you personally, and it will be a great pleasure for me if you both husband and wife come here. It is a very nice place, and you will like to remain here for one or two days. I hope you can come here, accompanied by one of our men from Calcutta.
Letter to Ajita -- Mayapur 19 October, 1974:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 2, 1974 and have noted the contents with pleasure. I am glad to learn that you are expanding all your activities, and I very much appreciate your efforts in this connection. Lord Caitanya will bless you.
Letter to Ramesvara -- West Bengal 25 October, 1974:
In the morning after his lecture from the Prayers of Queen Kunti in Srimad-Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada takes great pleasure in the kirtan with the devotees singing and dancing very nicely. The large temple area affords ample space for everyone to take part in the (indistinct) dancing, and as we move to and fro up and down the temple Prabhupada pelts us with handfuls of flowers. Afterwards he circumambulates the Deity house of Radha Madhava three times, each time ringing the temple bells three times and turning around completely in front of the Deities.
Letter to Gurukrpa -- Bombay 14 November, 1974:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated November 5, 1974 and have noted with pleasure that you have paid DNP Dollars 100,000.00 since September last. Here in Bombay only Dollars 86,500.00 approximately has been received, so I am enquiring from Ramesvara.
Letter to Sadajeewatlalji -- Bombay 20 November, 1974:
It will be my great pleasure to give you guidance from the Bhagavad-gita As It Is in your this great enterprise. You are free to consult me at any time. If you follow actually the principles of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, there it is said if one does not follow the principles of sastra then he does not get happiness neither any good result of his fruitive activities.
Letter to Hamsaduta -- Bombay 1 December, 1974:
So concentrate on publishing books as far as possible, and sell, and spend the money accordingly. In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated: sa gunam samatityaitan/ brahma-bhuyaya kalpate (BG 14.26) The devotee is transcendental to the material modes. On the whole I am very much pleased with your publishing extensively in the German language. It has given me great pleasure. One thing, for our books the words "Bhaktivedanta Book Trust" must appear on the spine of the jacket. Formally it was being done, and now it has been stopped. These things should always be there. I have seen it on the latest Bhagavatams.
Letter to Hrdayananda -- Bombay 21 December, 1974:
If you can finish Bhagavad-gita As It Is in Spanish and show me at the Mayapur festival that will be very sublime. Please print as many books as possible, this is my real pleasure. By printing these books of our Krsna Conscious philosophy in so many different languages we can actually inject our movement into the masses of persons all over the world, especially there in the western countries and we can literally turn whole nations into Krsna Conscious nations. Thank you for representing me there in LSS by stressing the importance of attendance to the morning and evening programs and following all of the spiritual practices. This is wanted. Without these things there is no devotional life. And by your example many others will also become strong.
Letter to Ramesvara -- Bombay 21 December, 1974:
Distribution definitely doubling in USA, Hare Krsna, Ramesvara" This kind of wonderful news is very pleasing to my heart and I thank you all again and again. I think this is the first time in history that ever before so many religious books have sold so popularly. Four thousand books in one day is a very unique figure. Keep distributing as many as possible in huge quantities. This is my pleasure. We must make a large propoganda program for Krsna Consciousness by distributing these books everywhere, all over the world. Just like the communists they are very expert in distributing their literature, their propoganda. At the present moment they are distributing their literature here in India in nine different languages and it is quite effective.
Letter to Yadubara -- Bombay 25 December, 1974:
My idea is that you can use the original capital that BBT gave you. You don't have to pay that back. You can somehow or another, by business tactics increase that capital and employ it again to make a new film. Then again use the capital from that film or use the profit from that film to create another film, etc. In this way you can make many films. But I do not think that BBT should finance it. These films are very nice and they can be effectively used for our preacing work. Generally people enjoy seeing any film. But when a film has something substantial such as our Krsna Conscious philosophy to offer then it becomes a real pleasure. Therefore our films should be the most popular films ever produced.
1975 Correspondence
Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 19 January, 1975:
Everyone should feel proud of his particular type of devotional service, but that does not mean that other types of service are inferior. Everyone should feel proud of becoming sincere servant of Krishna, but the pure devotee never minimizes the importance of other devotees. Krishna is the enjoyer of varieties of service. It is not stuck up with any particular type of service. Krishna takes pleasure with devotees even by fighting service. When Grandfather Bhisma was trying to injure the body of Krishna by sharpened arrows, in full devotion in the mellow of chivalry, Krishna was feeling the piercing of the arrows as good as worshiping him with soft rose flowers. The conclusion is that everyone should be very very sincere. There is no more the question of inferior or superior.
Letter to Sridhara Maharaja -- Mexico City 14 February, 1975:
I thank you very much for your kind letter dated 1-1-1975 and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. I left India on the 26th January from Bombay and I went to Hong Kong and Tokyo. Then I went to Hawaii and I received your letter there. Then I went to Los Angeles. Now I am staying at our Mexico City temple at the address below. Here the Mexicans are taking part in sankirtana and Deity worship very nicely. They have become very good devotees. In the neighboring countries like Venezuela, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Trinidad and the Dominican Republic we have also got our temples. So, I am touring in these temples to see how things are going on, and by the grace of Krishna, everyone is becoming Krishna Conscious.
Letter to Doctor Currier -- 15 February, 1975 Mexico City, Mexico:
In brief, I have always instructed my disciples to eat only healthy foodstuffs which will be beneficial for the body and mind. Not only that, but I have also instructed that whatever they eat must be first offered to the Supreme Lord Krishna for His pleasure and then they can take the remnants which are called Prasadam or mercy of the Lord. We are very practical. Whatever is necessary for the maintenance of the body and mind, we will accept.
Letter to Joy Deb Mullick -- New Delhi 15 April, 1975:
I have duly received your card sent through my devotees and I am so glad to hear from you after so long a time. I am sending herein an invitation card for our Vrndavana festival from the 20th through the 26th of April. And it will be my great pleasure if you attend the ceremony along with your mother. I hope this will meet you in good health along with your brothers and other family members.
Letter to Radheswaranand Goswami -- Perth, Australia 10 May, 1975:
Regarding opening a center in Saurastra, it will be my pleasure to do it immediately if the local important men like you will co-operate with me. I wish to open centers in the villages. The mass problem at the present moment in India is actually a food problem. I have therefore decided to start some village organization program—namely, people should be invited to live in the village, produce their own foodstuff (grains, fruits, and vegetables), maintain a sufficient number of cows to get a large quantity of milk, produce their own cloth, eat sumptuously for keeping fit in health, and then they can regularly sit down and chant Hare Krishna Maha-mantra.
Letter to Mooljibhai Patel -- Honolulu 8 June, 1975:
I understood also that the Gujarati Vaisnavas there are not happy on account of the temple being moved to Berkeley. The San Francisco temple, not being situated in a nice quarter, they are trying to remove to somewhere else. Now they have got a Berkeley temple. It is not my policy to close any temple, but if there is inconvenience, we change the place. If we can get another nice house in San Francisco in good quarters, we can immediately re-open another temple in San Francisco. Sriman Citsukhananda das Adhikari is also enthusiastic in this connection, therefore, if your good self along with other Hindu Vaisnavas help us in this connection, it will be my pleasure to get another temple in San Francisco as soon as possible.
Letter to Mr. Ogata -- Honolulu 13 June, 1975:
Here in Hawaii, many Japanese gentlemen, they purchase Srimad-bhagavatam simply by hearing the name, but they have got the language difficulty—they don't know English. So, if our books were translated into Japanese language, it will be a great help to us and to you also because it will be another opportunity for printing books. So, why not give us a good translator who can regularly translate all our books into Japanese? This will be another enterprise for printing in your press. So, if you can arrange for this with a Japanese scholar, or if you take this responsibility, then it will give me great pleasure.
Letter to Satcitananda -- Los Angeles 25 July, 1975:
I am in due receipt of your letter from Vrindaban and am very engladdened to hear of your report how things are going on. You have given me great pleasure and I thank you for your attempt to please me.
Letter to Bon Maharaja -- Indre, France 11 August, 1975:
I am coming here via Toronto and Montreal, and it was a great pleasure for me to know that you saw our temples there. Next time if you kindly come either to Europe or America please visit all our temples, especially I will request you to visit our temples in Los Angeles, Detroit, London, and Paris (Lucay-le-Male.)
Letter to Abhinanda, Gopesvara -- Bombay 17 August, 1975:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 25, 1975 and have noted the contents. Your success of book distribution to the libraries has given me great pleasure. Gopala Krishna has discussed with me the problem of selling books imported under the present CCP. We are planning to import books for sale to libraries through an importer of books in Delhi. The arrangements will be finalized in about two weeks, and then we will be able to supply you with all the books you need for libraries.
Letter to Sri Rameshji Mahalingam -- Vrindaban 31 August, 1975:
The only fault on the part of the devotee is that he could not present the things very politely. So you know the nature of the Western young men, so toleration is needed by you considering the position of the other party. Anyway I beg to apologize on behalf of my student, and shall solicit the pleasure of your goodness to visit our temple regularly. One should not be angry and eat his meals on the floor just because someone has stolen his plates. This is a Bengali saying. The logic is that if one's plates are stolen by a thief, we should not become angry and decide not to purchase new plates and eat on the floor.
Letter to Kurusrestha -- Ahmedabad 26 September, 1975:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated September 13, 1975 and have noted the contents with pleasure. The District Court has given us the permission "for as long as the country lasts." Were these exact words used in the judgement? This is very funny. The judge is a very funny man. He should be sent a congratulation letter. This should be quoted. Actually any gentleman should be a little humorous.
Letter to District Judge of Agra, Mr. S.D. Kulshrestha -- Nairobi 29 October, 1975:
I am very sorry to learn that Judge Saheb was sick and we could not meet. Anyway I am returning to India on November 2nd and afterwards I have to go to Vrindaban. So if Judge Saheb makes any program for my going to Agra and to arrange for a meeting of the leading people of the city, it will be a great pleasure for me to meet them and present my appeal so that they may join this great movement.
Letter to Madhudvisa -- Bombay 4 November, 1975:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated October 21, 1975, and I thank you very much for it. Now I am getting old, so if you can do things without me, that will be a great pleasure for me. You are an experienced devotee and know how to manage things, and you have good men there to help you so I am sure that you can carry on things nicely. Still if I get the chance, I will come for the Ratha Yatra festival.
Letter to Gurudasa -- Bombay 12 November, 1975:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated October 21, 1975 and have noted the contents with much pleasure. So I thank you very much because I see you are doing very good. Now you are doing something. So you should continue in this way. Do practical solid work. This is required. You are an old experienced devotee and I have personally trained you in so many things, so now it is your responsibility to train others otherwise what is the meaning of my training you? So do it with sincerity and know that Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He will give you all facility and you will be a success.
Letter to Tamala Krsna -- Bombay 18 December, 1975:
Thank you for your letter dated December 4, 1975 I have noted the contents with great pleasure. Your letter is very very encouraging to me. I do not know how you are selling so many books. There is no instance in history where religious books were sold with such enthusiasm and success. Is there any such history? The Christians have spread their teachings all over the world, and they have only one book, so we have got already 40, Big books published in English, therefore if we distribute, as you are distributing we cannot even imagine the result. Your program is very nice, please continue more and more.
1976 Correspondence
Letter to Sir -- Mayapur 22 January, 1976:
It is understood from His Holiness Babaji Advaitanandan das Bhaktibhusan that some respectable gentlemen, headed by your Honor, have selected me as the President of Sri Krishna Caitanya Sangeet College, Bhaktivedyalaya Bisramtala, at Serampur. I wish to speak in detail about this institution. For this purpose I should like to invite you on Sunday, 1st February, 1976, or if this is not convenient, then on such day as is convenient to you. I am here in Mayapur and it will be a great pleasure for me to see you along with your associates. I invite you also to respect noon-day Prasadam with me. Please confirm through Babaji and we shall arrange to receive you.
Letter to Sri M. N. Chandhuri -- Mayapur 26 January, 1976:
I beg to thank you for kindly accepting my invitation. It will be our great pleasure to receive you this coming Sunday, the 1st of February, at I hope you are well.
Letter to Sri Ajita Kumar Chatterjee -- Mayapur 27 January, 1976:
I beg to thank you for your letter dated January 23rd, 1976. Please come with your articles and see me at Mayapur, we shall discuss on the articles and if they are correct, then we shall publish them. It will be our great pleasure. But first I must see how they are written. We have got sufficient place so you can stay here and we shall read them together.
Letter to Ratan Mala -- Mayapur 7 February, 1976:
I shall remain in Mayapur up to the Gaura Purnima festival in April. Then I shall go to Delhi for our festival there. It will be a great pleasure for me to see you, your daughter and your new son in law at that time.
Letter to Prthu Putra -- Mayapur 13 February, 1976:
I have received your letter dated 5/1/76 from Kanpur and I have noted the contents with pleasure. The private programs you held in homes in Allahabad were very nice. I would also like you to arrange a suitable place for us to have a tent at the Kumba Mela. We shall go there and have a nice festival.
Letter to Hamsaduta -- Mayapur 16 February, 1976:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February 7, 1976. Yes, with great pleasure I will accompany and we shall go village to village. I have seen the pictures and the buses look very nice. They appear costly. Regarding London, what I can advise. We must have a city centre. You do the needful, whatever is practical.* I hope this meets you well.
Letter to Giridharilal -- Mayapur 11 March, 1976:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your kind letter dated March 8, 1976 and I have noted the contents very carefully. It will be a great pleasure for me to meet with you either at Delhi or Vrindaban when I return the 26th of March, this month, to Delhi. More when we meet. In the meantime, I hope this meets you in good health.
Letter to Sri S. R. Acarya -- Delhi 24 March, 1976:
I shall be in Vrindaban up until the 10th April after which time I shall be going out of India. You can come to our Vrindaban Temple. You have got enough scope for engaging yourself in journalism and peaceful living. If you are in difficulty then by showing this letter you can take a railroad ticket from our Abhirama das Adhikari, the president of our Calcutta temple located at 3 Albert Road, Calcutta-17, near Camac Street and, Theater Road. It will be a great pleasure to talk with you when we meet.
Letter to Mr. Dhawan -- Vrindaban 2 April, 1976:
I thank you once more for your invitation and I regret very much that I will not be able to attend but it will be a great pleasure for me if the leaders of the conference will like to correspond with me regarding our conclusions as above mentioned.
Letter to Ramesvara , Ranadira -- Melbourne 23 April, 1976:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated April 19, 1976, and I have noted the contents with care. Firstly, there is no need to print the Reservoir of Pleasure as if it were an excerpt from Dr. Judah's book. Furthermore, we can use some book review when it is favorable, otherwise reject it. Why should we print the Reservoir of Pleasure as if it were Dr. Judah's writing? Furthermore, you should not distribute Dr. Judah's book. We should not distribute anyone else's book except our own.
Letter to Mahabuddhi, Library Party -- Honolulu 11 May, 1976:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 8, 1976, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure. Continue with this program of standing orders. It is very important preaching work. At least if they read our books they will not speak nonsense that kirtana is nuisance. I have asked Gopala Krsna and Tejyas das to keep sufficient stock of all of our books so that we can supply the standing orders immediately. They very much appreciate the fine printing and color illustrations which are not available in other Indian publications. So somehow or other introduce these books into the universities and libraries like that.
Letter to Lokanatha -- Detroit 12 June, 1976:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 2, 1976 and I have noted the contents with pleasure. I am very glad to see that you are enthusiastically pushing forward with this preaching work and the young Indians are coming forward to join our sankirtana party. It is very encouraging to me. Anyone who has life he can preach, so go on very enthusiastically and there will be all facility given by Lord Krishna.
Letter to Sri Modi -- New Vrindaban 24 June, 1976:
It would give me great pleasure if we could meet together when I am next in London. I am scheduled to be in London from July 20th up to July 26th, 1976. You can contact my secretary, Sriman Jayatirtha das Adhikari at the Bhaktivedanta Manor for details. Looking forward to seeing you then.
Letter to Hrdayananda:
I am in due receipt of the new KRSNA books and your letter dated July 24, 1976 and with great pleasure I thank you for them. Please offer all the devotees my blessings. Their enthusiasm for distributing my books will please me very much. Not only will I be pleased, but my guru maharaja will also be pleased and they will all be blessed. This is very good news, prithivite ache yato nagaradi grama sarvatra pracara hoibe mora nama, this is the way of preaching, to spread the news of Krsna in every town and village all over the world. Thank you very much.
Letter to Rucira -- Paris 31 July, 1976:
This process of offering whatever one has in one's possession for the pleasure of the spiritual master or Krsna is recommended in the Bhagavad gita by the Lord Himself when he says, "yat karosi yad asnasi yat karosi dadasi yat... (BG 9.27)." and "tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya. . . (BG 4.34)". This process of offering everything in one's possession or ability is the recommended means for losing all attachment to material things and all attachment to material sense gratification. When one has become purified by this process of offering everything back to the Supreme he becomes simply attached to pleasing the Supreme Lord.
Letter to Ambarisa -- Bombay 15 August, 1976:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated August 2, 1976 and have noted the contents with pleasure. Your idea of opening up an account, depositing in it, and sending me the monthly statements is very nice. I approve of your idea cent per cent. You have voluntarily put yourself under my control. Thank you very much.
Letter to Brahmananda -- New Delhi 26 August, 1976:
I have read your Vyasa Puja offering, so it will be a great pleasure to know whether Vyasa Puja was officially held in Nairobi. I am always anxious to know about Nairobi affairs. If you kindly send a report at least once a month, that will be appreciated.
Letter to Sri Kuwar Candra Prakash -- New Delhi 26 August, 1976:
It will be a great pleasure for me to see you personally and if possible we may talk about a program how you may be engaged in the service of Krishna Balarama. You are a very qualified person and can render many valuable services to the Lord.
Letter to Dixit -- Vrindaban 8 September, 1976:
Thank you very much for offering your services at the new university, but first let us get the opportunity and as soon as we start the establishment it will be a great pleasure.
Letter to Dvarakesa, Prabhujaka -- Vrindaban 12 September, 1976:
I have noted your letter of August 23, 1976 addressed to Harikesa Swami and have noted the contents with pleasure. Please continue your program of preaching in Eastern Europe for this program is very pleasing to me. You should be supplied all funds for this program by the local GBC men there in Europe. This program is very important.
Letter to Gurudasa -- Vrindaban 12 September, 1976:
I am in due receipt of your letter dated August 24, 1976 and have noted the contents with pleasure. As far as your danda goes if it is too troublesome to carry there is no need for it. Lord Caitanya's danda was broken by Nityananda Prabhu and He never carried it again. But if you want you can make another although for preaching purposes it may be dropped.
Letter to Dr. Dave -- Vrindaban 1 October, 1976:
"Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues." (Bhagavad-gita, 3.21) It is the Vedic system that after 50 years of life one has to take to Vanaprastha, then take to Sannyasa. It will be a great pleasure to meet you again, and if possible please join us as soon as possible.
Letter to Dr. R.M. Dave -- Chandigarh 15 October, 1976:
I am returning to Vrindaban on 20th October and shall be there until end of November. I will be glad to meet you there anytime convenient for you. It will be a great pleasure to meet you, you are always welcome.
Letter to Dr. Mohan Singh -- Chandigarh 16 October, 1976:
It was a great pleasure to meet you this evening. You are a devotee of Krishna and a learned scholar. Meditation is meant for yogis, it is said in the Vedic literature, Dhyanavasthita-tad-gatena manasa pasyanti yam yoginah (SB 12.13.1) a yogi is one who always meditates on the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who meditates on Krishna is the topmost yogi of all.
Letter to Bala Krsna -- Vrindaban 23 October, 1976:
Please go on increasing more and more. Yes, you should become the topmost temple for distributing my books. This is a very good proposal. That is the only way to please me. Distribute my books profusely. That is real preaching. The girl who has got health problems must learn to be tolerant. As long as the material body will be there, there will only be pain. Pleasure is a misconception.
Letter to Whom it may concern -- Vrindaban 25 October, 1976:
It is a great pleasure for me that Dr. S.R. Chakravarti has sung some important verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam, now made into a record album. I have heard these songs and am confident that anyone who will listen to these nice songs will be inclined to read my complete translation of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, now available in English (60 volumes), which has been published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in Los Angeles, U.S.A.
Letter to Krsna Vilasini -- Vrindaban 25 October, 1976:
As long as the body will be there, there will only be pain. Pleasure is only a misconception. Do not be sorry if you are in an "unfortunate" situation. It can also be fortunate if you take advantage by becoming serious to become Krsna consciousness. Follow the regulative principles, chant 16 rounds and as far as possible render service and study my books. Success is sure.
Letter to Kirtanananda -- Vrindaban 6 November, 1976:
It is very nice. I have read with great pleasure the article about the construction of my palace. When is it going to be finished? When it is finished I will be anxious to come there to stay.
Letter to S. N. Sharma -- Vrindaban 17 November, 1976:
I am here at least for another fortnight, so if you can come immediately it will be very kind of you. We have good accommodation and good prasadam for you. You can just bring your clothing and personal needs. It will be a great pleasure for me to talk to you on the various topics you are interested in. It will be best if you can come immediately upon receipt of this letter.
1977 Correspondence
Letter to Mrs. Perlmutter -- Bhuvanesvara 23 January, 1977:
I have received your letter dated January 7th, and have noted the contents with pleasure. Yes, our Society is depending on love and respect; we are bound by love. You have thought exactly like an affectionate mother. Every mother should think like you for the benefit of her son. Our endeavor is to save human society from the danger of animalism.
Letter to Harikesa -- Bhuvanesvara 1 February, 1977:
Our movement is an epidemic. It will devour the whole of Europe and America. As for the newspapers giving bad reports, they simply take some opportunity for selling their newspaper; it has no lasting value. These countries are faced with difficulty but it is nature's law. They will be without food, water and they will be heavily taxed. There will be revolution. How long can they keep the people terrorized? It will burst. I can't imagine how people are living in such a rotten state. There is nothing like pleasure; all is morose. Only we are benedicting the fallen souls all over the world, so go on with your enthusiastic preaching and try to do good to others with Krsna Consciousness. Hope this meets you in good health.
Letter to Vegavan -- West Bengal 13 February, 1977:
I have received your letter of 19 January and examined the contents. It gives me great pleasure to hear that the Bhagavad-gita As It Is will soon be published in the Swedish language.
Letter to Srila Prabhupada -- Unknown Place 13 March, 1977:
Let me first offer my fallen head under the petal-soft soles of your lotus feet, where I hope it will eternally remain. Out of pure causeless mercy and kindness you have given this coarse, gross materialist a taste of real pleasure derived from the ocean of devotional service to the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna and His eternal consort, Srimati Radharani. For that extraordinary gift I shall always be grateful and I beg you for the benediction that I shall never leave the service of your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace, the all-blissful Personality of servitor Godhead, and all glories to those most fortunate souls who are engaged by you in their real business of devotional service. I roll in the dust of their lotus feet!
Letter to Gurukrpa -- Vrndavana, 18 May, 1977:
I am so much grateful to you and to all of your men how much you are sacrificing for spreading the movement of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I have heard with great pleasure how in only one month's time you have distributed 50,000 Bhagavad gita As It Is in the Japanese language. Param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam! I think there has never been a case in history when so many religious books were distributed in such a short time. Now that our books have been taken by the people it is only a question of time until our movement is well accepted in Japan.
| Page Title: | Pleasure (Letters, 1971 - 1977) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Gopinath |
| Created: | 02 of Jul, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=202 |
| No. of Quotes: | 202 |