720520 - Letter to Ravindra Swarup written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1972

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
CENTER: Los Angeles, ISKCON

DATE ...May..20.........................19..72.

My Dear Rabindra Swarup,

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 13th, 1972 and I have noted the contents. I am very much encouraged from you that all programs in Philadelphia center are going along very nicely under your supervision. Yes, the colleges and universities are the best fields for our Krishna Consciousness preaching work so I am very glad that you also are concentrating on this field. One thing, we cannot give instruction in other religions but we can very nicely explain the basic principles of religion. So if you take that job in teaching the basic principles of religion, that is very nice, but religion means to abide by the order of God. But if people are not knowing what is God or where He is or what [handwritten] are His activities then what will they do? So we are very much qualified to explain what are the orders of God so if you have the opportunity to do this you may do it but we shall not give any instruction in other religious faiths. Without these principles or orders of God religion is simply sentiment. You say you will discuss whether Absolute Truth is a person or something impersonal. Actually God is both otherwise He is not God. Just like the sun and the sunshine. The sunshine is the impersonal radiation of the sun disc but within the sun disc you will find the sun deity residing there. So the impersonal feature of God is the glowing effulgence of God. God is also existing in everyone’s heart and that is Paramatma. But God as He is is the Supreme Person. So in this way if you are able to convince people what is the real meaning of religion that basic religious thought that will be very nice.
Hoping this will meet you in good health.

Your ever well-wisher,