690831 - Letter to Syamasundara written from Hamburg

Letters by Date, 1969

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
INTERNATIONALE GESSELSCHAFT FUR KRISHNA BEWUSSTSEIN
2 Hamburg 19, Eppendorfer Weg 11
West Germany

August 31, 1969

My Dear Shyamasundar,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated August 27th, 1969, and I have noted the contents with great joy. You are improving in every respect of our London Yatra program, and I think your labor to make friends with the Beatles has been successful in the matter of pressing the Hare Krishna record. I hope by this means many thousands of pounds will flow into Krishna's treasury. We are very poor financially, but by Krishna's Grace we are getting help undoubtedly. That is nice. I came here without any money, singlehanded, and Krishna is sending me so many nice assistants and the required money whenever it is necessary. We should be satisfied with such Grace of Krishna. We do not want any extra money for sense gratification, but Krishna is so kind He is supplying the necessary amount. You will be glad to know that Satsvarupa in Boston has purchased property worth 70,000 dollars. The immediate down payment is 6,000 dollars and monthly payment is 1,000 dollars. So he has taken the courage with my permission, and by Krishna's Grace everything is being arranged. Similarly, in other centers also, including your center, Krishna is sending us all necessary help. I am very glad to know that Sriman George Harrison is nicely cooperating with your endeavors, and this action of him will not go in vain. Any little bit of service rendered to Krishna does not go in vain, so I am sure George will be benefited in the matter of Krishna Consciousness without doubt. Please convey my thanks to him for his willing cooperation with our men.

I could not clearly understand what is the reason that you have left the temple to live in a country house 40 miles away from London. I understand that by October 1st everything should be settled, and you may invite me to visit at that time. This morning I had been in the Hamburg Port and Krishnadas informed me there is a passenger ship which carries people overnight to London. So I have asked him to inquire what is the real situation. I think we can go to London by that shipping carrier. In October I have no program here, so there will be no difficulty to visit your place at that time.

In your last letter you informed me that George Harrison may be interested to publish my book, Krishna, so I am carrying with me the manuscript. I want to print this book with many pictures, and the pictures are also ready in Los Angeles and Boston. So if possible, you can talk further with him about this publication, and if he does so, it will be very nice for him as well as for us. I am also very glad to learn that you are meeting Mr. Harrison for negotiating with the Archbishop for the church. That will be very, very nice. Please try for it very seriously.

On the whole, your sincere endeavor for serving Krishna is gradually being accepted by the Lord, and the more you endeavor for such service, the more you'll feel sublime in existence in direct contact with Krishna day after day. I am also very glad to learn that you have already prepared a groundwork in England of the Krishna Consciousness Movement, and if I go there I shall take the opportunity to convince the people in general, philosophers and religionists of London about the importance of the Krishna Consciousness Movement. Sometime back I sent one letter addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, supposed to be presented through Mr. George Harrison, and I shall be glad to know what happened to that letter. If it was not presented before, it may be done so when George Harrison meets the Archbishop for the church. Actually our Krishna Conscious movement is genuine Christian movement. Christ means Krishna, love of Godhead, Who has His face annointed with tilak. There is a word Kristos in the Greek dictionary, and this word is supposed to be borrowed from the Sanskrit word "Krishna," and Christ is derived from Kristos. I find these things in a book known as Aquarian Gospel of Lord Jesus the Christ . Anyway, any genuine Christian will find our movement nice and perfect. We simply want their cooperation in this matter that they allow us to use their many vacant churches in the Western countries for rejuvenation of spiritual life in this part of the world. So if the Archbishop kindly gives us a church through the intervention of Mr. Harrison, it will be a great success for our movement. So try your best for this achievement.

Please offer my blessings to all others and especially to your daughter, who I think is growing nicely in Krishna Consciousness.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami