710430 - Letter to Nayanabhirama written from Bombay

Letters by Date, 1971

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

CAMP: ISKCON; P.O.Box No.387; Fort, Bombay-1; INDIA
30th April,1971

My Dear Nayana Bhiram,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 20th April, 1971 with enclosed clippings as well as your check for $15.00 for my maintenance fund. Thank you very much.
Cleansing oneself as well as teaching others to be clean; these two things must be there simultaneously. None of us have perfect desires but we are trying to be perfect and teach others to be perfect as far as possible. They cannot be separated but must go together as parallel lines. Siksha and diksha. Siksha means learning. Diksha, or initiation, means the beginning of spiritual realization. So every disciple must make his own spiritual progress positively and help others to do so.
You can correspond with the inmates of the prison, but why become involved with the prisoner's rights council? That is not our business, so you should withdraw immediately. Prisoners are dependent on the government. So you should not interfere; it will only complicate things. Also, there is no need of studying Manu. Don't divert your attention in that way. We have got so many books. Those you should study. You may write of our principles to the U.S. Attorney General. Of that I have no objection.
Your newspaper and magazine clippings are very nice. They arrived on a day when our life members were meeting and they were appreciated by all. Your ideas for new dramas sound nice, so you can put them into action. And Princeton sounds like an ideal place for our temple, so why not open it immediately?
So far as the Finnish film student arranging for engagements, etc. in Helsinki, you may inform her that by the end of June I may very well be in London, so she can contact me there. And all your parents are becoming members. That is very encouraging. That means that they are appreciating their sons' career as spiritual students.
Please offer my blessings to the other boys and girls there. Hoping this will meet you in good health.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS/adb

Sriman Nayana Bhiram Das Adhikary
641 H. Cheltan Ave.
Philadelphia, Pa. 19144