700324 - Letter to Mukunda 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 ...March.21............19.70

My Dear Mukunda,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 17 March, 1970, with enclosure, and it is very satisfying that you have introduced Samkirtan Party procession in the public streets and parks on the occasion of Lord Chaitanya's Birthday.
It is a good addition to my missionary activities, and I thank you very much. In the London streets, introduction of Rathayatra procession, as well as Lord Chaitanya's Birthday ceremony procession, and in the most important part of the city, a Radha Krsna Temple--all these things are great achievement of your London Yatra party, and personally I feel a great credit for me because by such activities my Guru Maharaj is certainly very pleased upon us. So whatever progress we are making by the grace of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj, we must stick to them and make further progress. I am enclosing herewith two pictures of our new church buildings, which we are going to purchase at the cost of $225,000; down payment, $50,000. The whole debt has to be cleared off by twelve years. So the management here has taken a great burden upon themselves, and similarly I am awaiting the days when London Yatra party, headed by you, will have a similar achievement in London.
What happened to that application you submitted for the old Oxford church? I think these Christian people do not like our advancement in the preaching work. Never mind, we shall depend upon Krsna and march on progressively.
I have received word that English citizens can fly to Australia as immigrants, and the cost is only $20 per person. So under the circumstances, you can send some Brahmacaries to help out our new center in Sydney. This will be best because the British government will bear the expense of their transportation. Also, you can help them out by sending them the papers of ISKCON, Ltd. from London, so they can immediately incorporate as a Commonwealth branch. The Sydney address is as follows: ISKCON Temple, 26 Horderns Place, Potts Point, N.S.W. 2011.
Regarding the manjiras, I am surprised that the custom duty is cent percent. I do not know what does it mean. The whole consignment is worth £50, and they want to impose the similar amount as custom duty. In India, although our country is advertised to be very poor, the custom duty is not more than 30% on such articles. I think there is some misinformation about this consignment. Please inquire scrutinizingly.
Hope this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

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