670609 - Letter to Mr. Taber written from New York

Letters by Date, 1967

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, INC.
TWENTY SIX-SECOND AVENUE NEW YORK N.Y.10003
Telephone:674-7428

ACHARYA:SWAMI A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA
TRUSTEES:
Larry Bogart
James S. Greene
Carl Yeargans
Raphael Balsam
Robert Lefkowitz
Raymond Marais
Stanley Mogkowitz
Michael Grant
Harvey Cohen

9 June 1967

My Dear Mr. Taber,
I thank you very much for your letter and I have noted the contents carefully. You will be glad to know that I am improving my health gradually and today I took a shower bath by myself here at the seashore in N.J. Probably I will have regained my strength sufficiently by the 25th of this month to come to San Francisco, but if I do not go at that time, then I shall advise you to come to New York.
So far as your distress is concerned, it is not new: it is the general condition of living entities who are distressed for want of sense gratification. Unless one is related with Sri Krishna, The Reservoir of All Pleasures, it is very difficult to have complete pleasures perception in this material world. You have read Bhagavad Gita and it is stated that ultimate happiness can be realized by transcendental senses only. Our movement for Krishna Consciousness is to turn the present polluted senses into its original pure form, just like when a man cannot see properly due to cataracts in the eyeball, similarly we cannot have real sense pleasure without being purified in Krishna Consciousness. This purification can be done only by engaging the senses for Krishna. Krishna is called Hrisikesh, or the Master of the Senses. His senses are omnipotent; therefore, when our senses will be engaged to satisfy the senses of Krishna, at that time we will have perfect sense gratification, and be free of all distressed condition.
A spirit soul is not impersonal, and because he is a person he has the latent desire for sense gratification; but in the material condition he does not know how to enjoy; therefore one should purify the senses being free of all material designation. In conditioned stage we are designated souls like "American, "Indian, "dog, "demigod, etc., but in pure consciousness or Krishna Consciousness, we are part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman. By Brahman realization, as you may have read in Bhagavad Gita: brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati. So in our pure stage when we understand that we are eternal servants of Krishna there is no more distress. Therefore the devotee prays: "My Lord, when shall I be freed from all material desires and be completely engaged in your transcendental loving service. At the present moment I am forlorn and nobody is my master. When shall I have You as my Supreme Master; then shall I joyfully wander over the whole universe knowing that You are my master." Please therefore try to be in Krishna Consciousness and there will be no distress. Gradually as you realize this, you will experience it also; but the process is the same, both at the beginning and at the end.
Hope you are well.

Your sincerely,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

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