721213 - Letter to Candravali written from Ahmedabad

Letters by Date, 1972

Letter to Candrabali

December 13,............72


My dear Chandrabali,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 4, 1972; and I have noted the contents with great care. I have received also one letter from your good husband Chitsukhananda and he is going to Caracas, South America, for opening our ISKCON Branch there. I am very much pleased upon him for his doing such prominent work in spreading this Krishna consciousness movement to that part. Especially I was happy to see your nice temple in Mexico City, and I am always thinking of that place and all the nice devotees there. I am happy to note also that you have given birth to a daughter. You may call her [text missing] Nalinayateksanah DASI, which means eyes like the spreading petals of lotus. Raise your family to be exemplary Vaishnavas by yourself following the regulative principles and rigidly chanting Hare Krishna mantra, and without any doubt they and yourself will become all of you firmly situated on the path back to home, back to Godhead.
Regarding your questions, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur never took formal sannyas. He was babaji, living in seclusion away from wife and family as Paramahamsa. One can have as many children as Bhaktivinode Thakur as long a one is as good as Bhaktivinode Thakur. Vishnupriya, wife of Lord Chaitanya, was young woman of 16 years old when her husband took sannyas, leaving her without any children, but she always remembered Him, so in that way she was always serving Him and she was never separated from Him. Regarding your husband taking sannyas, you should not worry as we shall see to the matter later, not now, and I promise you he will certainly fulfill his family obligations in Krishna Consciousness.
Hoping this meets you in good health.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Chandrabali devi dasi,
ISKCON Mexico City.

ACBS/sda

cc Chitsukhananda