700203 - Letter to Jayagovinda written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1970

1975 So La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, Cal. 90034

February 3,............1970

My Dear Jaya Govinda,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 27 January, 1970. I have received a separate letter from Mandali Bhadra and the reply is also enclosed within this envelope.
Krishna has sent one nice German scholar, . Please give her satisfactory care, especially in the beginning because she is new and not accustomed to our Temple habits. I am also glad to learn that Suridas is also going to join you. Most probably Hansadutta with his wife also will go there. Krishnadas in his previous letter wrote me that there are good possibilities for opening various centers in Germany, and Hansadutta is experienced in organizing Samkirtan Party.
Please be in correspondence about German BTG publishing with Brahmananda. He is now staying in Boston and coming to New York every weekend.
Yes. We must have close cooperation between America and Germany for the successful publication of our BTG regularly in French, German and English languages. So now you are collecting a staff of translators in Hamburg and they are all very qualified to do the work. Please organize everything nicely so that the French and German editions may be prepared for printing at the same time as the English edition. But you must see that all work is thoroughly correct by mutual checking so that errors of spelling and grammar will not appear in the printing. I do not know the technical details, but I think your idea on standardized columns is very nice.
You said that your job is maya, but you must know that maya is illusion. As soon as there is absence of Krishna Consciousness--that is maya. But you are working just to help and push Krishna's interest; therefore, it is not maya. In the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu, Rupa Goswami Prabhupad has recommended anything dovetailed in Krishna Consciousness is real renouncement. The Mayavadis' renouncement with an ambition of becoming one with the Supreme is called false renunciation. They renounce the world for a greater sense gratification. To maintain an ambition of becoming one with the Supreme is the top rank sense gratification; where as a person in all kinds of apparently material works, but ultimately the beneficiary is Krishna, is in a greater position of renunciation than the Mayavadis. So do not forget Krishna in any circumstance of life and Krishna will save you from all pitfalls of material existence.

At least one hour daily you must fix separately for exclusive chanting. In our previous correspondence we discussed about your marriage, so I told you that there is no objection. If you are feeling too much disturbance, why not marry some German girl who may be greatly helpful to your Krishna Conscious activities. I recommend this for you. Last Saturday we had three marriages performed here in L.A.
The Nitai-Gour emblem is nice. Our first obeisances are to Guru and Gouranga; then we approach Radha Krishna. Perhaps while you were in India you have heard that we glorify in the following way: Guru Gouranga Chandarbika Giridhari. Four "G"s. So Guru-Gouranga you understand, and Chandarbika-Giridhari means Radha and Krishna. So you can make your emblem suitably according to space and convenience.
Hope this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS:db

Sriman Jaya Govinda das Brahmachary
Internationale Geselschaft fur
Krishna Bewusstsein
2 Hamburg 6
Bartelsstrasse 65
West Germany