681227 - Letter to Satyabhama written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1968

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

December 27, 1968

My Dear Satyabhama,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your very nice and encouraging letter dated December 20, 1968, and I have noted the contents with great pleasure.

There is a statement of Sri Naradaji, the exact sanskrit words are:

satdharmasya ababadhaya yenam nirbandhini matih
achirat eva sarbarthah siddhati esam akhipasitan

The purport is that anyone desiring to raise the people's standard of advancement in spiritual life, will have their noble desire very soon successful by the Grace of the Lord. So I am very glad to see your enthusiasm in the matter of starting a Krishna Consciousness primary school in New Vrindaban and it will be just befitting that you become the head-mistress of the school. I have shown your letter to Prof. Howard Wheeler (Hayagriva das Adhikari)—he was just married the day before yesterday with Syama Dasi, a very nice girl like you. I am also enclosing Hayagriva's letter to you along with this. Now you can do the needful and make arrangements to start the school immediately. If you take charge of the children of our devotees and give them nice education strictly on Krishna Consciousness principles, it will be a great help to the preachers, just like our six students, husbands and wives, who are preaching in London. One of them has got a child and as soon as she is at least two years old, she may be sent under your care. New Vrindaban is just the suitable place for keeping cows and children. It will be an ideal residential quarter, completely for spiritual life and I hope for the future the Americans must evaluate this enterprise as very very valuable.

If you want to write books for children, story books about Krishna's Pastimes, I shall give you nice hints and Hamsaduta and Himavati can help you with nice pictures. I shall give you some facts about Lord Jagannatha also. I am very glad to learn the practical result of deity worship in your behavior. I am so glad to learn that you are feeling development of a bit of affection for Jagannatha by personal taking care, and that is the way of increasing our love of Godhead. Deity worship is the practical demonstration and hearing from the Spiritual Master is the nourishment of the idea. Krishna Consciousness is so nice that anyone who has a little taste of it must feel a distinction between his past and present life. It is not only the case with you but it is the case for everyone who has the fortunate opportunity for coming into contact with Krishna.

I thank you very much for your taking my time in this way. May Krishna be pleased upon you; both you and your good husband will be more and more spiritually happy by your nice service attitude in Krishna Consciousness.

Actually, I have no desire to start the school in any city. City life, especially in this age of kali yuga, is very much polluted. Poet Cowper stated that the city is made by man and the village is made by God. So in the village there is a natural tendency for Krishna Consciousness, so we want to develop such atmosphere in New Vrindaban. Your cooperation in this matter will very much encourage me. Thank you once more for your letter.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami