761201 - Letter to Ramesvara from Jagadisha written from Delhi
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
1st December, 1976
From: Jagadisha, Hansadutta, Gopal Krishna, Bali Mardan, Garamuni
New Delhi
21A Feroz Gandhi Road
Lajpatnagar III
New Delhi1 10024
December 1, 1976
Dear Ramesvara Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Srila Prabhupada told me to write you regarding the Yanoff case. When Prabhupada wrote to all the temples about this some time ago He actually thought that we did not know where the boy and mother were. In fact most of the leaders of the movement thought the same thing. Those of us who did know the whole story were told by you that Srila Prabhupada’s letter was just a show of innocence to get Yanoff off our back. However, this is not the case. Srila Prabhupada actually wanted the situation resolved. Now He has said that the whole matter should be resolved legally. Why should we jeopardize the reputation of our movement for one boy? His mother could go away at any time. And it is also costing so much money in legal fees (In Chicago they have to fight a decision by the city council to evict us which was clearly a result of Yanoff’s lobbying), and loss of sankirtan collections (Uttamasloka estimates that $25,000 was lost in November due to harassment by Yanoff and friends at O’Hare).
Uttamasloka claims that Yanoff has indicated that if he gets his son back he will drop the whole matter. Srila Prabhupada has suggested that we try to get some legal agreement with Yanoff to return his son in exchange for the cessation of harassment of any kind. You will have to see whether or not that would be possible. Anyway, something should be done right away to carry out this direction from Prabhupada. We are meeting with so much opposition anyway, there is no point in creating more unnecessarily. Please remedy this situation immediately.
Your servant,
[ALSO SIGNED BY:] Jagadisha das Hansadutta Swami Gopal Krishna Das Adhikary Bali Mardan das Garamuni Swami approved: ACBS cc: Tamal Krsna, Satsvarupa, Kirtanananda, Rupanuga, Balavanta P.S.Bali Mardan has been appointed acting GBC for Aust & NZ