710925 - Letter to GBC Godbrothers from Shyamasundara

9/25/71

From: Shyamasundara

My Dear GBC Godbrothers,

Please accept my humble obeisances. Since arriving on the Dark Continent the pace has been lightening-fast and His Divine Grace is opening up yet another vast theater of operations, having recovered fully from His London illness (which was not a serious heart-attack as supposed by many, but was simply a case of diabetes and cold combined.) The field for Africa is immense – “These African are raw – simply give them chanting and they will come.” The people are thronging with curiosity and serious questions, and our Samkirtan Party has attracted several “devotees” already; Srila Prabhupada speaks with them personally every evening and we are recording these “First African Lectures” as the perfect set of instructions for opening preaching work in new areas. (“First convince them that they are not their bodies.”) In addition we started a nice program in London: every morning I prepare a synopsis of a major Western philosophy and engage in a one or two hour dialogue with Prabhupada, wherein He refutes, corroborates or elucidates all points. Starting with Socrates, we have proceeded through them chronologically and this morning we finished Spinoza. This invaluable critique of Western philosophers is being taped and I am editing it for a book. We will go right up through Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Wittgenstein and the contemporaries like Tillich and Ayer. Incidentally, in London, Prabhupada met with and engaged in debate with the founding-president and the secretary of the Mensa Society (only those with super-genius, near 200 IQ’s can belong). Of course He defeated them (all taped) and after several days of returning again and again, the Secretary (a stuffy middle-aged British rationalist who owns a major firm) surrendered at Prabhupada’s feet and begged to become His disciple. It was astounding with shades of Prakasananda Saraswati…Prabhupada, after finishing one late-night marathon session, asked for food and remarked, “You see, I am hungry – keep me talking, that is my life – don’t let me stop talking.” So these philosophy sessions in the early morning and preaching to African devotees at night are sharpening His Divine Grace’s attack to a razor’s edge, and there is no philosophy in the world which can stand up to His. He is reaching a depth and clarity of thought which He has never before disclosed, and we are catching it all on tape for everyone . He is becoming increasingly insistent that our Movement is the only answer to the world dilemma, as He sees no one else – so-called philosophers, scientists, scholars – no one can provide any sound philosophy; so He keeps saying over and over: “You must become convinced of this.You must be able to defeat any philosophy – so if someone approaches, ask him “What is your philosophy” and then defeat him – if he has no philosophy then what is the use of his knowledge,” and “If someone speaks one thing nonsense, his whole philosophy is nonsense, so you must be very careful.” His Divine Grace says that we are kings, in the most exalted position, that we should never feel ourselves poor in anyone’s presence. “If you are a king, and want to rule like a king, you must act like a king. I act like a king because no one can defeat me; similarly, you must become convinced and fixed in this perfect philosophy.” (Although He says we must approach everyone with a very humble attitude.) The devotee is very concerned with the world’s fallen situation and desires with all his strength to rectify it by Krishna Consciousness.“ Krishna comes to save the world. I am here, Krishna’s representative, you are also Krishna’s representatives, just help me – Krishna has come again to save the world.” The point is: To be a devotee of Krishna is a very exalted position, the most exalted position, so we must begin now, armed with Krishna’s philosophy, to take a more active part in world affairs. The following is a precis of our latest conversation:

“Krishna came to kill the miscreants. We are Krishna’s representatives. We must now begin to interfere, because nothing is going right in the world affairs. There is no philosophy to guide men. We will act just like Marx – he did not fight himself, he created Lenin to fight. Just see what I have done in five years. Now we are 500 and we have 50 years each – think what we can do. If good arguments fail we shall begin to fight, enter politics. So just approach the leaders very seriously – you must all become so dedicated, just like I am. We are Krishna’s party. Just like in Tanzania (adjacent to Kenya), there is a law that any property over ten years old becomes the property of the state and the owner is entitled to only 10% reimbursement. Just like that, the state passed a law – no philosophy, just whim – this is not the real benefit of the people. The purpose of the state is to protect the people. When King Benu began to misrule, the sages in the forest became very disturbed. Why? It is the duty of the sadhus to make sure the king rules nicely. First they tried to instruct King Benu, then they killed him. Now we see things are going wrong, so we must interfere. First of all we use our philosophy. Learn it thoroughly. Challenge any philosophy, meet any leader and challenge him, defeat his philosophy. Sometimes Vaisnavas are criticized for doing nothing. But Arjuna and Hanuman were fighting Vaisnavas. When the high-court judges wear tilak, then we are successful – my Guru Maharaj said that. My God brothers were for getting temples, some rice, eating, a little chanting. For us, first we work, then Samadhi…”