680600 - Letter to Ved Prakash ji written from Montreal

Letters by Date

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Unknown Date

My dear Ved Prakash ji,

On Sunday morning 29/6/68, when you were speaking I was very glad to note that you have studied the whole question of social and spiritual upliftment of mankind in a very broader sense. I was also glad to note that your study is deeper than many of the so-called Sannyasis who take the shelter of yellow robe for solving the question of bread problem. And because you are a critical student of everything, I am sure that you will appreciate the teaching of Lord Caitanya when you hear them patiently and scrutinize the same by all practical tests.

Lord Caitanyas presentation of facts is that you cannot kill the human propensities, but they can be changed for higher purposes. You said of annihilation of desire orVasana. But you can think on it very wisely ofVasanacan be stopped at all. No; vasana can never be stopped. The Vasana is an eternal function of the soul and as the soul is eternal or "Sanatana" souls so also is the Vasana Therefore Vasana can be changed only from one object to another. The mind is always a thinking and feeling organ. It does not matter what does it think but it is a fact that it thinks. I am sure that you cannot probably put the mind completely at rest without thinking something. So the quality of thinking feeling and willing has to be changed but we may not attempt to kill the mind altogether. That is an impossible fact because the mind acts even after the so-called death or after the annihilation of the material body.

So far "Paropakara", which you have very nicely explained, is concerned—it is the only function of every living being. But what is the standard of "Paropakara" that should be known. On that way we must know the actual position of the entity entitled to received benefit. A patient suffering from a chronic disease may have many kinds of painful symptoms. The physician does not give much attention to the various symptoms of the disease but wants treat with the root cause. Therefore when we wish to render 'paropakara' we must know the actual cause of the miserable conditions. You cannot do any benefit to a fish on the land by any amount of earthly comfort. The fish must be allowed to go down to the water where every comfort is there for it. Therefore we have to take account of the living being and its real nature. The living being is an eternal spiritual fragment of the whole spirit A living being is called Sanatana or eternal whereas the absolute whole is also called Sanatana. And the Sanatana activities of the combination of the whole and the part are also Sanatana. These are the informations from all reliable sources of Vedic knowledge.

Lord Caitanya's teachings are based on the above facts. If you give it patient hearing you will know how he wants to solve the whole problem. He is as much Vedic as anyone can claim but he is more than any Vedic scholar with limited qualification.

Lord Caitanya's movement still awaits for being preached all over the world. And to broadcast anything all over the world—English language is the only medium of circulation. I shall be very much pleased if you kindly cooperate with this world movement very intelligently and be knowing it with all your reasoning powers. More when we meet on Sunday next at 10 am.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Yours Sincerely.