730105 - Letter to Bhagavan from Shyamasundara

[NOTE; ON 730105 SP LTR TO BHAGAWAT MAHARAJJI. ORIGINAL IN FILE IS A TISSUE CARBON WITH SHYAM’S HANDWRITING ALL OVER IT, VERY HARD TO READ. USING THE RE-TYPE VERSION ALSO IN FILE.]

Bhavananda: Prabhupad wants you to go & try to get them to stock our books for selling. What about two further air tickets? P.T.O. Also, I wanted to buy those 4 drums Achyutananda bought & ship off to London right away—Is that all right? I’ll pay you whatever they’re worth when we come there, but I need your written go-ahead to get them from Achyutananda after the Cross-Maidan pandal is over…

Also, Ravi Shankar is in Calcutta until the 12th. He’s Prabhupad’s very very good friend, my good friend, George’s, etc. and I think it would be very good if you (only) (he’s nervous as a deer; gets turned-off if more than one come) alone go to see him (not telling anyone else where, why you’re going) and just chat, give him a new Gita, etc. He’s a Bengali native, so if he sees how nicely we’re doing in Calcutta/Mayapur he’ll be happy—the whole point is this: I want him to meet Prabhupad again here in Bombay when he returns on 12th (I’ve written to him to this effect) (the last time they met was in London in August), and ask him to be Chief Guest for one night of Bombay pandal in Cross Maidan. Now PLEASE whatever you do don’t let on about being Guest of anything—just say how much Prabhupada wants to see him in Bombay, how thankful you & all of us are for the help he’s given our movement (factually, he has helped a lot, especially by convincing George to become a devotee!), in other words—DON’T ask him for anything!! (so far, everywhere he goes, he gets accosted by the devotees—“Give me this, give us that”and he’s really turned-off to that approach) – just GIVE him things (prasadam, books, etc.) and be happy as you usually are –– Let me know what happens, please!

Address: RAVI SHANKAR

c/o Aala Shridhai

20 BALLYGUNJ PARK ROAD

CALCUTTA – 19

(near your place)

Jai!

Shyamasundar das