720402 - Letter to Gurudasa and Yamuna written from Sydney

Letters by Date, 1972

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
CENTER: 83 Hereford Street
Glebe, Sydney, Australia

DATE .............April..2,.........19..72

My dear Gurudas and Jamuna,

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letters dated March 22, 28, and 29, 1972, and I have carefully noted the contents. We are now in Australia and I am very glad to report to you that everything is going extremely well here, and I am much satisfied with the progress being made in western countries like Australia. Now in India you must develop things also very nicely, especially for attracting overseas visitors to come there and enjoy Indian special atmosphere of spiritual life. Our Indian boys and girls are not very much interested to become devotees, but I am seeing that these fair-skinned Americans and Europeans are like angels by coming to Krishna Consciousness increasingly more and more, and that very soon the whole world will become filled with such angels, and so I am very optimistic that if we continue in this way by sticking very tightly to our pure standards that the Lord Chaitanya's prediction will very soon be realised all over the world. So I am very much encouraged by our programme in Vrindaban, especially the plan to cooperate with Cox and King's and have guided tours for foreigners, to be led by you. The main point is to acquaint by explaining them about Krishna and trying to sell them Krishna Book. So receive them nicely, and do same work as the pandas do. We have got our panda there, so you can take help from him. You can take help from Purushottom Brahmachari also. Whenever you go out with the tourists, take one known panda with you. But sight-seeing is secondary. We may advertise sightseeing to attract them, but main thing is to give them nice prasadam and instruction, then try to sell them our Krishna book. Then you will be successful with this programme. We are now propagandising Krishna Consciousness, so that many here will be interested to come to Vrindaban. So just like there is Dalmia dharmshallah for foreigners, so we shall now have also such place, and we may eventually get bus and offer all facilities to them.
So I very much approve of your itinerary, and you may do whatever you think best in the matter.
So far the foodstuffs donated by your government, you must secure it and send to Mayapur and Bombay and we shall distribute widely to the poor. I am very much pleased by this programme, so kindly expedite.
Regarding the building work, I don't think Ksirodaksayee has got a very good idea for this building work, because he is quoting me fabulous sums. That barbed-wire fencing should not cost more than Rs. 1500. So I think he has got his advice from a contractor, therefore I have advised him don't go to the contractors, do everything personally in complete consultation with you. Also, he is asking me for photos. I have not got any inclination for more such business, so you kindly supply him all the photos he may require.
I am very much thankful for the letter of Jamuna. Now you two work cooperatively for making our Vrindaban a dazzling success, along with others you work nicely, and I think Ksirodaksayee may spend more time on laying-out the Hindi BTG and doing that printing and translating work and you take mostly charge of supervising building work. I have requested Sourabha, our new Holland devotee in Bombay, who is an excellent designer, to send you plans for the Vrindaban scheme, but meanwhile you should concentrate on collecting as much cement, sand, stone chips, and steel as possible and stockpile them, along with bricks, etc. Meanwhile Gargamuni is collecting very nicely in Bombay for Vrindaban scheme, so you have not to worry about money as he will be in charge of that department, so you may correspond with him frequently and work together all of you for making this Vrindaban project a heaven on earth.
Hoping this will find you both in good health.

Your ever well-wisher,

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Gurudas & Jamuna,
Radha-Damodar Temple,
Sewa Kunj, Vrindaban.

ACBS/sda