760413 - Letter to Ramesvara from Pusta Krsna

Bombay,

April 13, 1976

From: Pusta Krishna

Los Angeles

My dear Ramesvara Maharaj,

Please accept my humble obeisances. Prabhupada is leaving the 18th April for Melbourne, then the 23rd April to New Zealand for a short stop-over, then on to Fiji on the 25th April where His Divine Grace will lay the foundation stone of the new Krishna Kalia Temple. Afterwards Srila Prabhupada will go to Hawaii where it is hoped that He will do much translating. I asked Srila Prabhupada that if the situation were good, would He translate during the day as well as the morning hours. He replied yes. Also, he went on how this visiting is not so important. I am simply trying to see that the framework which I have laid is developing nicely. [Handwritten note:] (Don’t mention in BBT newsletter!) He said that money is no problem because we can sell our books. Management is the problem. So, with that he went on to explain how Aurobindo only saw visitors once a day on his birthday and otherwise he was writing. Srila Prabhupada expressed his desire to complete the Srimad Bhagavatam. He is also having Pradyumna travel with him also to translate the tikas into English so that Prabhupada can translate more quickly. Pradyumna is going to meet us in Hawaii direct from Bombay because there is no Australian embassy anymore here in Bombay to get his visa. His Divine Grace further said that of anyplace where he would like to settle down for some time to translate, Prabhupada said “new Vrindavan” however he said that is dangerous also with the people coming with their rifles. Anyway, Prabhupada will not go to all the Rathayatras this year as it is too strenuous, but he mentioned especially that he would attend the rathayatra in N.Y., and then go to New Vrindavan.

[Handwritten note:] (4 tickets) You can shortly arrange airtickets for our party to Los Angeles from Hawaii. The names are: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (first class), D. Harrison (first class), P. Dossick (economy) and P. Sherbow (economy). I trust that you will make the arrangements soon so that the tickets are awaiting us when we likely arrive in Hawaii about May first week. Tentatively Prabhupada should go to New Vrindavan about the end of July so that he can stay about one month. Hyderabad is supposed to have opening in Janmastami in August 18, 1976 and Prabhupada will go back to India for that. So the N.Y. Rathayatra should hopefully be in mid-July. Some of the points in the beginning of this letter are not meant for mass distribution to the devotees, so kindly do not write a newsletter with these points. However, we must see that all great saintly persons have retired at the end of their lives to chanting and hearing without other social obligations, or traveling. Prabhupada is hinting at this this morning but he said that first the construction has to be completed.

I think that you have seen how nicely S. African yatra has been collecting. They are very dedicated. Now, they surely have the books in stock over their debt to BBT and they will try to pay off the debt as soon as possible but they are also opening a new center, and they will require funds for that. Prabhupada said they should order more books now that they are selling so nicely. So give all facility to then there and don’t pressure then to pay too quickly, although, they are doing it, so that they can simultaneously open up the Durban Temple. They also have made some new devotees. I have instructed Dhiranga das Adhikari to be Temple President and also the main BBT trustee in South Africa. I have created a system of BBT, much like in Australia, where the books will belong to S.A. BBT and the individual temples will order from the BBT at slightly higher cost so that there is no separatism or squabbling in management. Dhiranga will be in charge of that. So address all correspondence to Dhiranga in South Africa. I think you will have to make the S.A. yatra the small temple of the year this year without doubt. They are tremendous devotees, and now Devananda and Antaratma, and Jagat Guru Swami are going there with Riddha so lets see what they can do.

I hope to hear from you in Melbourne, and send the tickets to Honolulu promptly.

Your servant,

Pusta krishna Swami

ACBS/pks

[Handwritten note:] Pan Am has daily flights from Honolulu to L.A. leaves 9:15 am arrives 16:25. That’s O.K. Send tickets to Pan Am Honolulu.