690112 - Letter to Kirtanananda written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1969

Letter to Kirtanananda (Page 1 of 2)

Letter to Kirtanananda (Page 2 of 2)

Tridandi Goswami

AC Bhaktivedanta Swami
Acharya: International Society For Krishna Consciousness

CAMP: 4501/2 N. Hayworth Ave.
Los Angeles, Calif. 90048

DATED: January 12, 1969

My Dear Kirtanananda,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 31, 1968, and I thank you for your good wishes for the new year. Please accept the same from my side.

So far as we are concerned, our new year is every day because Krishna belongs to the nitya leela. Nitya leela means that all of His Pastimes are going on in either of the so many universes. It is just like the rising of the sun. In your country the sun is supposed to rise at 6:30 at the present moment, but at any time you can inquire in some part of the world and there it is the same 6:30 and sunrise. While you are in this meridian, in another country it may be 6:30 AM, and the sun is rising.

So you have now taken charge of the sunrise of New Vrindaban. Our program is there for constructing seven temples. One Rupanuga Vidyapitha—that is a school for educating brahmanas and Vaisnavas. We have enough of technological and other types of educational institutions, but perhaps there is none where actual brahmanas and Vaisnavas are produced. So we will have to establish an educational institution for that purpose.

A first examination will be held sometimes next January on Bhagavad Gita As It Is, and those passing will have the degree of Bhakti-sastri. Next year we will hold an examination on Srimad Bhagavatam, and the person who passes will have the title Bhaktivaibhava. And the next year we shall hold an examination on Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, Nectar of Devotion and Vedanta Sutra, and those who will successfully pass will be awarded with the title of Bhaktivedanta. By 1975, all of those who have passed all of the above examinations will be specifically empowered to initiate and increase the number of the Krishna Consciousness population.

Another important scheme is to start a nice press next spring. So these duties are there in New Vrindaban, and we shall have to live there self independently, simply by raising cows, grains, fruits, and flowers. I have already explained these things to Hayagriva, and he is now married and a responsible grihastha. You are of course sannyas. Your duties will be more to preach and supervise the activities there. But do everything jointly. Many grihasthas and brahmacaries will join you for full cooperation. Some of them have already prepared to go there immediately, and perhaps you have received some letters about this. So everything appears very bright in the future. We have to deal with things very sagaciously and success will surely be there. The immediate necessity is to construct some simple cottages for living purposes, and then everything will gradually come out, one after another. I hope that you are already in touch with Hayagriva, and he must have spoken to you about these ideas.

May Krishna bless you with long life in executing the idea of our New Vrindaban scheme. Thanking you once more.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami