710104 - Letter to Upendra written from Bombay

Letters by Date, 1971

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

CAMP: c/o Kailash Seksaria; 74 Marine Drive; Bombay-20, India
January 4th, 1971

My Dear Upendra,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 29th, 1970, along with enclosures of flyer and news clipping. I am so much glad to know that you are working on both you and your wife with great enthusiasm to preach the message of Lord Caitanya to the fallen souls of this age. My Guru Maharaj has declared that the real life of a man is preaching. If one has at all got any life in him then he will preach. So I am very, very pleased by your constant efforts to enliven the people in general even in far off lands by the simple methods of direct devotional service to the Lord by chanting His Holy Names.
We have recently been preaching and holding Samkirtans in some small villages and the result is very good. The simple villagers are very much attracted by this Samkirtan process and they join with us very nicely and listen attentively. So I am glad that you are also preaching in the outlands. That is very nice. Lord Caitanya wanted that His Movement should be spread everywhere, to every village and city and now by your kind cooperation His Holy Desire is being fulfilled.
Regarding your tendency to become angry in public, that is alright provided there is positive reaction. Otherwise we do not wish to create any unnecessary enemies and you should curb your anger by your advanced intelligence in Krishna Consciousness. We have to better correct the faulty habits of the conditioned souls by persuasive authoritative preaching and personal example without stop. The mantra to Ganapati is not bonafide. That is another nonsense. Your worship of Guru-Gouranga and Nrsimhadeva is very nice. Please make it as attractive and gorgeous as possible though simple. The leaves and flowers of Tulasi may be offered to the devotees of the Lord for offering to the Lotus Feet of the Lord Krsna, not even Srimati Radharani. It appears that Fiji is very nice place for Krsna consciousness from the appearance of such nice flowers and Tulasi for the worship of Krsna there.
Please offer my blessings to your good wife. Hope this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami