700203 - Letter to Mandali Bhadra written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1970

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

February 3, 70

My Dear Mandali Bhadra,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 27 January, 1970. When you write to say that things are going well, it gives me immense pleasure. I am opening so many branches depending on you all my sincere students. I am also glad to learn that you are moving to the Temple, dedicating all your time to Temple activities and translation work.
I understand that your wife is not very much interested in our movement and I understand the cause you have written to say. Anyway, we will pray to Krishna to save her; that is our duty.
Yes. The boy, Mayurdhvaj, is a very nice Krishna Conscious child. Why his mother is checking him? Although in the beginning she was so enthusiastic? This is called in Vedic language sva karma bhuk, one is destined to undergo reaction of one's past life. This reaction can only be checked by Krishna Consciousness. So our duty is heavy, to induce persons to come to this platform of consciousness; and if we can save even a single soul from the clutches of Maya, the value of such act is millions of times better than fruitive actions or any kind of altruistic and philanthropic activities.
Trivikram is a very nice boy, sincere to Krishna Consciousness activities. In a previous letter, Krishna das asked me if Hansadutta and Himavati can go there. So I think this pair will be very much helpful in our German centers. Hansadutta is born in Germany but he came here in childhood, and Himavati is born in Germany although she is Russian originally. She knows how to speak in Russian language. So I have asked them to go there to help you in Samkirtan Movement and other Temple activities. Both of them are experienced in the Samkirtan Movement especially.
Our responsibility is to Krishna. If we think ourselves always in that position, then in any status of life we will be guided by the Supreme Lord.
I am very satisfied that another German scholar has joined our activities. She will be a great help to you. Yes. I sometimes think of your mother. She is a nice lady and has good potency for improving in Krishna Consciousness. From the child's mentality the mother's mentality is judged and vice-versa. Please keep in touch with your mother and it is your duty also to try to bring her into Krishna Consciousness when she is already inclined. I am glad that she is chanting sixteen rounds and observing the rules and regulations. That will surely help her. If possible, we can open a center in Berlin at the care of your mother.
I do not understand what was Mr. Lennon's article that was refused. Lennon and Ginsberg are helpful friends, but actually they do not understand our philosophy. So far Ginsberg is concerned, he promised before me that everywhere he would chant Hare Krishna Mantra, and actually he is doing it everywhere. So Ginsberg may sometimes be able to understand our philosophy in the future. We are trying to give them all facilities to understand this philosophy and it will take some time on account of their not following rigidly the rules.
BTG articles are generally seen by the editors, and it is better that we stress on our own philosophy than to indulge in some hodge-podge philosophy which is basically unauthorized. In our present BTG publication we are trying to follow this policy.
Upendra is already advanced for going to Australia, and in his place Hansadutta and Himavati, in my opinion, will be a nice replacement.
I have asked Devananda to give you a Deity worship chart because he is actually doing the job. I am so pleased to learn that you are trying to make Hamburg center as important as L.A. This center three years before, when I first visited, was in very poor condition but for the last year, since we are regularly sending Samkirtan Parties, the situation has improved with great speed. Now we are negotiating for a property which has got a big church as well as a residential house attached, and let us see if Krishna will help us.
Our simple process of chanting and distributing Prasadam and selling BTG will surely make our Movement successfully advance.
In India, especially in Bengal and Orissa, there are millions of followers of Lord Chaitanya. In Maharastra a saint of the name Saint Tukaram was also follower of Lord Chaitanya and he has overflooded the whole Western India with Samkirtan Movement. So Sankirtan Movement in India in all the provinces is very much popular and anyone who is taking part in Samkirtan Movement is specifically devotee of Lord Krishna or Lord Rama. There is not a single Hindu in India who is not more or less Krishna Conscious. So far descendants are concerned, material nature is so strong that she does not allow anything to go on steadily. But sometimes we find that the descendant of Hiranyakasipu is Prahlada Maharaj and the second generation descendant of Prahlada Maharaj is Banasura.
So actually Krishna Consciousness is personal. Anyone who understands the philosophy is benefited. It does not mean that a Krishna Conscious person has to leave a legacy for his descendants. We must try our best to give this legacy as far as possible, but at the end it depends on a particular person's fortune to accept it or reject it. The point is very delicate. The example is given in the Upanisad just like manipulating a sharpened razor; if one is careful in playing the razor on the cheek there is clean shaving, but a little inattention makes the same cheek a bloody affair. So we have to remain very much careful in Krishna Consciousness and the method is also very simple—to chant regularly the beads and follow the rules and regulations.
I am asking Hayagriva to send you the MS for Bhagavad Gita, and you can also write him directly to send a copy. Krishna's causeless Mercy is always there. If we take up that causeless Mercy a little seriously than further causeless Mercies are bestowed one after another unceasingly. Krishna is more anxious to bestow His benediction upon us than we are ready to take it. If we therefore sincerely engage our selves in Krishna Consciousness activities, certainly we will advance more and more by the causeless Mercy of the Lord. So by the Grace of the Lord you have got a very nice engagement. Try to execute this with all attention and then certainly you will feel transcendental bliss and your life will be successful without waiting for the next.
Hope this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS:db

Sriman Mandali Bhadra das Adhikary
Internationale Geselschaft fur
Krishna Bewusstsein
2 Hamburg 19
Bartelsstrasse 65
West Germany