690118 - Letter to Sri Balmukundji written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1969

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

January 18, 1969

My Dear Sri Balmukundji,

Please accept my greetings. I beg to thank you very much for your kind letter of January 14, 1969. There is a verse in Srimad-Bhagavatam which says:

yasya asti bhakti bhagavati akincana
sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah
harav abhaktasya kuto mahata gunah
manorathena asato dhavato bahih
(SB 5.18.12)

The purport is that if somebody acquires Krishna Consciousness, then all of the good qualities of the demigods develop in his person. On the other hand, what is the value of all kinds of material qualifications for a person who is not in Krishna Consciousness? His only business is to hover on the mental speculative plane, and he is sure to come back down to the platform of the material external energy.

So I am very glad and proud that you have so much appreciated the character, discipline and devotional service to the Lord of my six young disciples who are working there with faith and confidence. You will be pleased to know that all of my disciples are trained from the beginning to build up character, and such character is built up by following the restrictions of no illicit sexual connections, no meat-eating, no intoxication, and no gambling. So this Krishna Consciousness movement is meant for a complete overhauling of the whole social, political, religious, moral, educational, and hygienic principles. Human society without following these principles cannot rise to the spiritual platform.

As an Indian, Hindu, educated gentleman, it is not unknown to you how these principles were active in India even 50 years ago. Gradually things are deteriorating, and the cause of all unhappiness in the modern human society is this lack of Krishna Consciousness. By the Grace of Krishna there is no scarcity of anything in this world, but there is a scarcity of Krishna Consciousness. Therefore there is a great necessity of spreading this transcendental message all over the world. It is very encouraging to me that you are now in London as a retired gentleman and your cooperation in this movement will be highly effective. I hope that by this time you have already secured my book, Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and there are other books also. If you will kindly join our movement it will surely be a great stride.

My students there are awaiting the opportunity when I shall be coming to London. In the meantime, please try to help them in establishing a temple for Radha-Krishna. They are already advanced in this attempt, and try to coordinate the members of all other Hindu centers in this great attempt.

In vanaprastha life, one can live with his wife without any sexual connection, and the most important factor in all orders of life—brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa—is to chant the Hare Krishna Mantra. This is the basic principle, and for more detailed information please keep in touch with me, and I shall be glad to serve you to my best capacity. Thank

[PAGE MISSING]