750930 - Letter to Arvind Shah written from Bombay
September 30, 1975
Arvind Shah (Mathiawala)
166 Parkview Ext.
Athens, Georgia 30601
My Dear Arvind Shah:
Please accept my best wishes. I am in due receipt of your letter dated September 12, 1975 and have noted the contents. I cannot quote immediately from shastra, but psychologically we can understand that there is no such things as Hindu religion, but according to the Vedic shastra there is varna-ashrama, the religion of varna and ashrama. The whole varna-ashrama system discourages sex life. Circumcision is a facility for sex life. So in other systems of religion or throughout the whole universe the tendency is to enjoy sex life, whereas the varna-ashrama system discourages sex life. Sex life is the cause of bondage of the conditioned soul to remain in the material world. If one can conquer over the sex impulses voluntarily, he conquers over the influence of material nature. So the ideals being different, I think in the Vedic system such circumcision is prohibited.
I hope this meets you in good health.
Yours sincerely,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS/bs
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