700409 - Letter to Pradyumna written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1970

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society For Krishna Consciousness Inc.
CENTER: 3764 Watseka Avenue
Los Angeles, Cal. 90034

DATE .....9th.April...............19.70

My Dear Pradyumna,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your special delivery letter dated 6th April, 1970.
Regarding the prayer verses, I have sent you immediately the Bengali prayer book and you will find all the prayers of Acaryas' there. I have also sent you one copy of Panjika which will help you to find out the list of names of Acaryas' Appearance and Disappearance Days. If you can, you can prepare conveniently the Panjika or ISKCON Almanac for next year, but not now, you have got many engagements, this is for leisure hours.
Regarding the new prayer addition "Namaste sarasvate devau. . .", I think you can change the word "devau" into "deve" to make it compatible with sarasvate. Sarasvate is locative, so you can change the word to "deve" to make it fit, or it can be made "devam". "Devam" is the accusative singular and "deve" is the locative singular, so both can be used, but I think "deve" will be most fitting word.
Regarding your tenth point, the word 'Radharamanahari' is one word compound, therefore it is correct. Regarding your 9th point, the exact verse is as follows:
samasrita ye padapallavamplavam
mahatpadam punyayaso murareh
bhavambudhir vatsapadam param padam
padam padam yat vipadam ne tesam (Bh. 10/14/58)
meaning a person who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Murari (Krsna), which are the shelter of all great souls and are famous for being the reservoir of all piety, this great ocean of material existence shortens like the pit-hole created by the foot of a calf and for him the supreme abode of the Lord is quite fit place for living, but not this miserable material world where there is nothing but danger in every step.
Regarding your 11th point, the line should read
jagannatha-svami nyayana pathagami bhavatu me.
Yes, it is just a line for repetition of a great verse prayer for Jagannatha-svami, but I do not remember the whole verses just now, neither do I remember immediately where it can be found. For the present you be satisfied with this one line. Regarding [unclear] tipadika sabda, I consulted grammar and it is correct to mention the first case ending or nominative case. The authorized injunction in this connection is as follows:
abhidheyamartre prathama
pratipadikartha langa parinama
vacana matre pratama
Translation: The sound which indicates a particular subject or word should be the first case ending or nominative case.
So in your last correction of Krsna tape number 27, on page 11 you have mentioned 'Sannyasin', 'Gosvamin', 'Mayavadin', 'tridandins', 'svamins', etc. They should be corrected without "n"s like 'Sannyasi', 'Gosvami', 'Mayavadi','tridandis', etc. So in future, only the first case endings should be used, not the sound, that is the rule.
Regarding your other arrangement, I have already replied you in my last letter, and as you are trying your best to make our preaching propaganda as most authoritative on the Vedic culture, Krsna will certainly help you. I think the book which I have sent you will help and the balance Krsna will teach you. We should always remember at the same time that we want to understand our business only and not try to become very scholarly because time is very short. But some of us, as you are trying may proceed on as far as possible on the scholastic way.
I think the scheme of publishing Srimad Bhagavatam chapter-wise decently is good, so that it will keep all of you engaged and the press going on. When all the chapters of the canto are printed, they can be assorted in one book form for hard bound publication. The size of the book must be symmetrical of my present Bhagavat editions--that is to say 6 1/2 inches by 9 1/2 inches. I think the present composition of the NOD is not to my standard; so whatever is done is done, but the Srimad Bhagavatam must be to the standard size. If the books are printed in standard size (6 1/2 x 9 1/2), then the chapter pamphlets may be easily bound into a hard cover when all the chapters of the canto have been printed.
Regarding your 8th point, I am enclosing a corrected xerox copy of the text for aratrika prayer by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, please find.
Hope this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS:db

Encl. 1

Sriman Pradyumna Das Adhikary
ISKCON emple
38 North Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02134