721023 - Letter to Saucarya written from Vrndavana

Letters by Date, 1972

Letter to Soucharya devi

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness

ISKCON VRINDABAN
October 23, 1972


My Dear Soucharya devi,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 8, 1972 and I have noted the contents carefully. You are feeling some discomfort in your life in Krishna Consciousness, but I can assure you that this is only temporary condition of little importance, because main thing is that somehow or other you have got a little attraction for Krishna and you have become His devotee and this is the highest platform of development of life. So you should always feel yourself very much blessed by Krishna that you have come to this point after so much long struggling, so if there is from time to time little discomfort, do not pay it any attention. Now you have got the formula how to achieve very quickly the supreme perfectional stage, and it is up to you if you will practice it seriously or not. If you chant daily 16 rounds and read at least one hour daily Srimad Bhagwatam, plus your other prescribed duties, never mind this or that, you will feel yourself becoming happy more and more and these practices will protect you from maya or hazy consciousness without any doubt. Of course, it is very much favorable to our advancement in spiritual life if we are engaged in some service for Krishna which is also pleasing to us to perform. So if you have got some special talent or experience you may discuss with Jagadish how to engage yourself in that way. That is his duty as leader, to give you good engagement.
Another item is, you are married wife, so in that position you should serve your husband nicely always, being attentive to his needs, and in this way, because he is always absorbed in serving Krishna, by serving your husband you will also get Krishna, through him. He is your spiritual master, but he must be responsible for giving you all spiritual help, teaching you as he advances his own knowledge and realization. That is the vedic system: The wife becomes a devotee of her husband, the husband becomes a devotee of Krishna; the wife serves her husband faithfully, the husband protects his wife by giving her spiritual guidance. So you should simply do whatever your husband instructs you to do, however he may require your assistance. Of course, the nature of woman is to be attached to her husband and family, so our system is to minimize this attachment by making the ultimate goal of our activity the pleasure of Krishna. Just try to please Krishna always, and no material circumstances will be able to cause you any discomfort.
Hoping this meets you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami