671028 - Letter to Aatie written from Navadvipa

Letters by Date, 1967

Letter to Aatie

Oct. 28, 1967

My Dear Aatie,
Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letter dated Oct. 19 & I am so happy that a boy of 17 years can feel so nicely about Krishna Consciousness. I am so happy that the Krishna Consciousness movement is attracting young innocent hearts of America. From this I can think that the future of this movement is very hopeful. I was very glad to learn that you are following our four principle rules, therefore your picking up of the process of acquiring spiritual knowledge from Bhagavad Gita is very nice. In the Bhagavad Gita it is said that one should "prostrate oneself at the feet of the wise, rendering him all forms of service & question him with a guileless heart again & again", is the only means to attain spiritual knowledge. The process of speculation without approaching the bon-a-fide spiritual master is simply a waste of time. In the Chaitanya Charitamrta, Lord Chaitanya affirms this principle, when he says that a fortunate living being while wandering in different species of life gets the chance of meeting a bona fide spiritual master by the causeless mercy of Krishna. In the Vedic literature there is a nice story about Dhruva. This Dhruva understood from his mother when he was only five, that God can be found in person in the forest. Dhruva went to the forest in search of God. The Lord Narayana in heaven or in the heart of Dhruva understood the sincerity of Dhruva's purpose & sent Narada, His great disciple to initiate Dhruva in the matter of Krishna Consciousness. This incident confirms that by the grace of Krishna, Dhruva was able to get the help of Narada as his spiritual master. Therefore, Krishna Consciousness is a parallel process in worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead & the Spiritual master simultaneously. Your desire to become the servant of the servant of Krishna is very pious. Lord Chaitanya desired the same thing in order to set an example, though he was Krishna Himself The Bhagavad Gita confirms this. I am so pleased to learn that you are all living in the Brahmacary house with Jayananda & Upendra & I am more pleased that you are all working. Everyone can achieve the highest perfection of life by working in his specific capacity. Hope you are well.

Your ever well-wisher

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami