720118 - Letter to Hayagriva written from Bombay

Letters by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

January 18, 1972

ISKCON Bombay

My Dear Hayagriva,

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter of January 5, 1972, along with Outline and Introduction to your proposed book. I don't think this will be a very good proposal for book. Our process is not mechanical, so that anyone, simply by following 108 steps can attain Absolute Pleasure. It is not like that. One only has to surrender to Krishna, a very simple one-step matter. Why confuse and complicate. Krishna Consciousness process is not to be presented in this way as mechanical achievement, at least we find no evidence from previous scriptures to support such technique. So I do not approve of this book. So far your question, how it is possible to write of the Supreme Pleasure when we are still on the material platform, you must keep exactly on the line of the acharyas, then you will be successful to present the real picture of Krishna Consciousness. As soon as we adulterate or add something of our own manufacture, the whole thing is spoiled.

But I am very pleased that you are writing constantly, so I would recommend that you write different essays on our philosophy. Our Krishna philosophy is so luxurious that you can explain the same idea from many many angles of vision and thus relish the Truth in this way and help others to increase their understanding. So try in this way, following the example I have set for writing, and that standard as laid down by the Goswamins and all big big acharyas in our line, and that way you will be sure to do very nicely. You may also edit and compile my early 1966 lectures into a book. That is very nice proposal.

I am going to Africa on 24th instant, and as it appears that everything is very favorable there for preaching then I may stay for some time and not come back to India. Today I have met with the Queen Mother of Jaipur and she has proposed to give us a nice house adjacent to the palace grounds for our center.

I hope this will meet you and your good wife Shama dasi, and your son, in strong health and happy mood.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS/sda