700129 - Letter to Ksirodakasayi written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1970

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
CENTER:1975 So. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, Cal. 90034

DATE .....January..29...........1970

My Dear Ksirodakasayee,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 23 January, 1970, and I have noted the contents carefully.
I am so glad to understand that you have decided to dedicate your life for Krishna Consciousness Movement, this is the right way of perfecting our mission of human life. Many men have dedicated their lives for many engagements in the name of philanthrophy, altruism, nationalism, humanitarianism and so on, but all of them will be finished along with the end of life of this body. Our dedication of life or Krishna-ism, on the other hand, will continue eternally and give us eternal life, bliss and knowledge. Try to follow these principles and preach the message to the suffering humanity. This is my request.
I am so glad to learn that you are in charge of kitchen and food supply which saves 25 to 30% on food. That is a great service. To be extravagant is not recommended by Krishna in the Bhagavat Gita. He says, "Yukta ahara bihara." We should indulge in regulated habits; that is nice.
I am so glad that you are also looking after the accounts department. The five point plan: do it by consulting amongst yourselves, and I have already written to Gurudas about this. Someway or other, if you can secure that building worth £ 80,000, that will be a crowned success. In my next letter to Tamal I will write to him about the building fund.
Preaching in Hindi may be accepted by mutual consultation, but the point is that our Radha Krishna Temple in London is specifically meant for English knowing persons and I think the Indians know sufficient English. If you speak in Hindi and sing in Hindi, the English speaking Europeans and Americans may not derive the benefit out of it because none of them understand Hindi; but if you speak in English, every one will derive benefit from it. Therefore, I think English speaking should be encouraged.
Everyone comes to the Temple for some spiritual enlightenment, so why should a section of the audience be denied the benediction? The same thing applies for Hindi songs also. Hare Krishna Mantra is understood both by Hindi knowing and English knowing persons; other Hindi songs may not be understood by the Europeans. I have no objection for Mirabai's songs, but I think Hare Krishna is the greatest common factor understandable by all people all over the world. The chanting is transcendental and quickly effective.
I am so glad to learn that you are feeling in the Temple that Radha Krishna is dancing and you are being inspired by His Lordship to preach this Krishna Consciousness Movement to everyone. Now you have got a very good chance, Sri Sri Radha Krishna is very pleased upon you.
You have been for the last fifteen years in London, and you were sincerely working for advancement of your spiritual life. Now Krishna has given you a good chance, a good opportunity for preaching Krishna Consciousness to all classes of men without any discrimination.
In our Temple all Europeans, Indians, Mohammedans, Christians, everyone is welcome. And our presentation is so nice that everyone will be attracted to accept it because we are preaching love of God. Love of God is the prime function of all living entities, without any sectarian understanding.
Regarding the Hindi letter, I could not follow the Hindi script handwriting. If you send me either a typewritten copy or the English translation of it, that will be nice. As far as I could read the letter here and there, I understand that it is written by some Radheshyam Banka. Sometime in the year 1961 I was guest in the Gita Bagicha. At that time one boy was taking care of me. I think he is Radheshyam Banka. Anyway, my relation with the Gita Press and Hanuman Prasad Poddar is very much friendly. So letters to them should not be written about myself which may influence our friendship.
I could not gather why the letter was sent to me, therefore, I request you to send me if possible a typed copy of English translation of it so that I can give you my proper reply to this. Keep good relations with Gita Press because they are good friends of ours. The preaching method of ourself is a little different only because we want to gather one's attention only to Krishna—that is recommended in the Srimad Bhagwatam and Bhagavat Gita.
In the Bhagavat Gita it is always stressed to Krishna by the words aham and mam. Similarly in the Srimad Bhagwatam the same stress is give from the very beginning -- Param satyam, the Supreme Truth. If we divert our attention to worship other demigods, then our faith in Krishna will be flickering. We Gaudiya Vaishnavas, under the guidance of Lord Chaitanya, want steady attention for Krishna, not flickering. Therefore, in our line of thoughts and action there is no scope for worshiping any other demigods.
At last, but not least, I would remind you as to how you are organizing the prospective tour in India with forty of our devotees next year in February, 1971. Please organize this party from now so that it can be completed in due time by the end of this year.
Thank you very much for your service. I am praying for your long life and prosperity in Krishna Consciousness.
Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

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