770824 - Letter to Giriraja from Tamal Krsna

Vrndavana,

August 24, 1977

From: Tamal Krishna

Bombay

My dear Giriraj Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters dated 4th, 18th, 19th August, 1977, respectively. By the time you receive this letter Srila Prabhupada should have already left India. I could not inform you earlier of His Divine Grace’s plans, because Srila Prabhupada was thinking to go one day and the not to go the next. It was only three days ago that His Divine Grace actually decided definitely to leave India. His reason is that He feels the change will be good for His health, as will a cooler climate. But most of all He wants to be in His western temples with the western disciples because He feels that this will enthuse Him and give Him new life. Srila Prabhupada says that He wants to see our society a little stronger, and by His going around the world, even if He does not speak but is simply present, this will make our society stronger and it will thus endure permanently. So now once again you will have to serve His Divine Grace in separation. We have just received the copy of the bank advice debiting our Mayapur Vrndavana Fund account for Rs. 6,00,000/-. However there has been no advice sent to us regarding the transfer which must have been received by the bank in order for this money to be debited. Where is that advice? Also as you have written in your letter, the Fixed Deposit receipt for Rs. 18,932/75 has been deposited in the BBT account. But we have not received an advice from the bank in this regard. Could you please send a copy of this advice? Now that we are going to be outside of India, please continue to send these advices, as it is the only way we can keep the accounts up to date in our books. The matter of the transfers from Central Bank of India to Syndicate Bank of Vrndavana has now been cleared up. By our careful study we have found that Rs. 250 was not credited to our account by Syndicate Bank but instead they credited it to another one of their accounts about ten months ago. So they have now credited our account this amount plus interest. Thank you for your helping on your end.

Regarding the chant, you should chant Jaya sri krsna caitanya prabhu nityananda jayadvaita gadadhara srivasadi gour bhakta vrnda, or sri krsna caitanya prabhu nityananda sri advaitagadadhara srilvasadi gour bhakta vrnda. Either sri or jaya can be chanted, but not bhaja.

I read your letter dated 5th June, 1977, which you had begun writing to His Divine Grace, to Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada heard your unfinished letter, with full sympathy. When you inquired from Him whether the feelings which you are now experiencing are substantial or sentimental, Prabhupada said: “May Krishna bless you. These are all the blessings of Krishna. They are not ordinary.”

Regarding the balance Rs.10.00.000/- which was to be given in installments, I have just received a letter from Ramesvara Maharaja, a section of which is copied and enclosed herewith. As you can see from Ramesvara Maharaja’s letter, my original letter was quite accurate. Ramesvara Maharaja never promised Rs.42,00,000/-, but only promised to send $280,000. Furthermore he finds it quite impossible to start repaying any loans as there are so many expenses for printing, and besides this, he does not feel nor do the general devotees in America feel, that they want to donate any more money to Bombay. When Ramesvara Maharaja’s letter arrived, it was read to His Divine Grace, with Satsvarupa Maharaja, Balavanta Prabhu, Guru Krpa Maharaja, and myself all present. Srila Prabhupada agreed with Ramesvara Maharaja that no more money should be donated to Bombay from foreign sources beyond the’ payments which he has already committed. Srila Prabhupada said that this loan is not possible. This I had actually suspected from the beginning, that Ramesvara would not be able to repay this loan. So now it will be up to all of you to collect the money to complete the construction. As His Divine Grace will not be present at the opening ceremony, which must still go on as scheduled, then you can finish the construction after it opens. Now you will have to plan having Rs.16,00,000/- less to spend. I am enclosing a Loan Agreement* for the Rs.6,00,000/-, already loaned, which you will kindly sign and return to us. I know this must be a little depressing, but I do not think actually that it is unwarranted. This is the first project that has been totally built by foreign funds. Practically nothing has been collected locally, either to purchase the land or to build the temple or guesthouse. You are all in the richest city in India and one of the richest cities in the world, so for you to have to raise Rs. 16,00,000/- towards the construction is not at all improper. Actually I have to say as one of the three trustees of Bombay, that I think the money should be collected in Bombay (this Rs. 16,00,000/-.) There is no end to how much money you will want from foreign countries, as we have seen in the past, and Srila Prabhupada was very happy to receive this letter from Ramesvara Maharaja so that He could take the opportunity to say: No more funds. If you sell the rooms, that will be a good source of income for finishing the construction. And I am certain that there are other men who will also be able to donate towards this end. Srila Prabhupada always keeps you within His heart, and I know how much He appreciates hearing from you as often as you like to write. So while He is overseas I request that you write very often, as Prabhupada is always thinking of Bombay. The other day Srila Prabhupada said, “I was thinking why I have neglected the West for so long. It is because I had to persist in Bombay.” Actually for the last six or seven years Srila Prabhupada’s main work besides translating has been the Bombay temple. So you must keep Him continuously informed of all the advents and activities, with full descriptions, photographs, and anything else you can send which will allow Srila Prabhupada to see through your eyes.

I pray that this meets you in ever-increasing Krishna consciousness.

Your servant,

Tamal Krishna Gosvami

Secretary to Srila Prabhupada

P.S. I am sending the secretary’s desk key with Gopal Krishna as he wants to get some books to take to the Russian bookfare. After he gets what he needs, kindly take the key and keep it carefully locked in your safe. I am also sending some files of Srila Prabhupada’s correspondence to Aditya. Srila Prabhupada’s correspondence from previous months has been kept in one of the cabinets in the secretary’s library. That is one of the low wooden cabinets. So she should put these further correspondence in that cabinet, lock it up, and return the key to you. The key for all of these cabinets is kept in my desk drawer. So the key that you are getting is the desk draw key. After she uses the cabinets, and Gopal uses the cabinets to get his books, the keys to the cabinets should be put back in the secretary’s desk drawer, locked up, and the key for the drawer returned to you to be kept in the safe.

His Grace Giriraj das Brahmachary

c/o ISKCON Bombay

• sent separately (handwritten)