711208 - Letter to Locanananda written from Delhi

Letters by Date, 1971

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

December 08, 1971

My dear Locanananda,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 29, 1971, and I am very pleased upon you that you have opened Geneva, Switzerland, center for pushing on the revolutionary Movement of Lord Caitanya. Our Movement is now growing like anything all over the world, and practically it is being recognized as the best solution for the general world crisis. One Japanese speaker speaking in Gujarat State, India, predicted that in 5 years time this Krishna Consciousness Movement would be the world religion, as was reported in the newspaper here. So now your responsibility has become very great. Practically, it is in your hands now to manage things, so I can translate and write books. So Krishna has given you good brain, good body, good education—everything—so you may use it in the best way for spreading knowledge about Him. He shows His special favor by making you a big officer because now you must become very responsible and serious to organize and administrate things, and as leader you must set the highest KC example, so in this way Krishna is forcing you to advance in spiritual life. Now just do all our routine work nicely. This routine program is the backbone of our Movement, and we stand solid on such program such as chanting, speaking, arati, reading scriptures, prasadam, like that. These things are sufficient for us. Any sane man will be attracted to such program. And if we perform everything nicely and always seize every opportunity to preach about Krishna, that is our formula for success. Of course management must be there, but if preaching work is strong, management will automatically be strong. So in all cases, become a very good preacher, and this will please me very much.

As preachers, we do not require elaborate temples for our work. No, we are content to live under a tree. So, as long as your preaching work is going on, never mind there is no temple. of course, in your western countries people must have a comfortable place to sit down or they will not come for chanting. So as soon as possible you may get a nice place and invite the general public by making it very attractive.

If Madama Vauthier is coming to India, I have no objection to seeing her if she wants to meet me.

SKP means preaching, so if your street SKP has been stopped temporarily by the police, never mind, as long as you are preaching, that is SKP.

Upon your recommendation, I am very glad to accept our devotee, George, as my duly initiated disciple. I shall be sending his beads, duly chanted, under separate post. I have given him the new spiritual name: GURUGAURANGA DAS.

So far your questions: No one can be avatara. unless he is authorized in the scriptures. We have no such record of avatara. in the present age, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam. Real God means he accepts a spiritual master, even He is God Himself. Like Krishna, His Spiritual Master was Sandipani Muni. And Krishna confirms in Bhagavad-gita, IV, that the supreme science is only received in disciplic succession, so where is the question of receiving this knowledge in nay other way? Are these people greater authority than Krishna? As for the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, his idea is not correct. Just like the whole material universe is the creation of the sunshine, so to go to the sunshine does not mean to sit down in the shade of a tree. If somebody argues that this tree is also a creation of the sun so why not sit under the shadow of a tree, this philosophy is not practical and is not accepted in BG. Krishna states that everything is resting in His impersonal feature, but that He is not there. Just like the cloud is sustained in the air, but that does not mean that cloud and air are the same thing. Why worship atom? If in deity there are so many atoms, is it not better to worship combination of atoms in nice form? This sort of philosophy is very misleading and damaging to people who become befooled by it. Try to defeat them, but if you cannot, don't mix with them. Or learn very nicely and argue with them strongly. All great acaryas worship deity, so why should we listen to some small man—Is Aurobindo greater than Krishna?

If you can arrange for the translating of my books, that is most pleasing to me. I hope this meets you in good health.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami