750205 - Letter to Dr. Channa Reddy written from Honolulu

Letters by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

February 05, 1975

Governor of Uttar Pradesh
Raj Bhavan, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
INDIA.

51 Coelho Way, Honolulu, Hawaii

Personal.

My dear Dr. Channa Reddy,

Please accept the blessings of Lord Krishna. In further reference to your letter dated Jan. 15th, 1975 (the copy of which I have just received yesterday along with the copy of the letter you have written to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra), I have noted the contents carefully. Thank you very much for all this trouble that you are so kindly taking for us. I am now in our Hawaii temple. The house here was given to us by one grandson of Henry Ford very recently. I have not yet received any report from my secretaries in Bombay as to whether they had any opportunity to meet the Chief Minister or not.

Regarding your desire to guide the idea of the Purana temple construction at Naimisharanya, it will be my duty to help you in all respects by my guidance and advice to give a shape to it. A long time ago, maybe in the year 1962 or 1963, there was a big meeting in Kanpur of the organization of Naradananda Swami. In this meeting, the Gov. of U.P., Visvanatha das, attended. I went to meet Visvanatha dasa at Lucknow and he also took me there in the meeting. It was a big meeting undoubtedly, attended by many men, but I could not find any substantial program. Anyway, Naimisharanya is the place where the Puranas were discussed. There are 18 Puranas meant to attract different persons under the influence of the 3 modes of material nature, sattva, raja, tama. The sages in Naimisharanya inquired from Srila Suta Goswami, the president of the Naimisharanya meeting as follows: krsne sva-dhamopagato dharma-jnanadibhih saha kalau nasta-drsam esa puranarka’dhunodita tatra kirtayato vipra viprarser bhuri-tejasah aham cadhyagamam tatra nivistas tad anugrahat so’ham vah sravayisyami yat adhitam yathamati. "This Bhagavat Purana is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of the Lord Krishna to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the age of Kali shall get light from this Purana. Oh learned brahmanas, when Sukadeva Gosvami recited Bhagavatam there (in the presence of Emperor Pariksit), by his mercy I hear this from that great and powerful sage with rapt attention. Now I shall try to make you hear the very same thing as I learned it from him and as I have realized it." (Bhagavatam 1.3.43 & 44)

Also in the Brahma Samhita (5.33) Purana Purusa is explained as being Govinda, Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead: advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam adyam purana-purusam nava-yavanam ca vedesu durlabham adurlabham atma-bhaktau govindam adi purusam tam aham bhajami. "I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda (Krishna) who is the original person absolute, infallible, without beginning, although expanded into unlimited forms, still the same original, the oldest, and the person always appearing as a fresh youth. Such eternal blissful, all-knowing forms of the Lord are usually not understood by the best Vedic scholars, but they are always manifest to pure unalloyed devotees."

So, if we strictly follow the sastric injunction, then the scheme will be successful. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said: yah sastra-vidhim utsrjya vartate kma-karatah na sa siddhim svapnoti na sukham na param gatim. (BG 16.23). "But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination."

India’s spiritual culture of knowledge is in great demand in the Western countries and we are trying to deliver the ideas, I am very glad that it is progressing satisfactorily. If the saintly persons in India co-operate with this movement, strictly according to the sastric injunction, this movement will be a great success throughout the whole world.

At present, as the Gov. of U.P., if you kindly give me a little facility in this connection, it will be a success, and I am always prepared to give my guidance in your scheme. I hope this meets you in good health.

With my best regards,

I beg to remain,
Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

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