690612 - Letter to R. Chalson written from New Vrindaban, USA

Letters by Date, 1969

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
CENTER: NEW VRINDABAN
RD 3
Moundsville, West Virginia
DATE......June..12,..........................1969

My Dear R. Chalson,

I beg to thank you very much for your kind letter dated June 8, 1969, addressed to our New York temple and forwarded to me. I am very pleased to read the contents. My Spiritual Master, Om Vishnupada Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaj Prabhupad, sometimes used to say that if after selling all of my property I can convert one person to Krishna Consciousness factually, then I shall think my mission is successful. Similarly, I am also thinking like that after reading your letter that if I could induce even one person to Krishna Consciousness through my publication, Bhagavad Gita As It Is, then I shall think my labor is successful. So I am very much encouraged to read your letter, and I have received many such letters from others also, so I am very hopeful.

I am sorry that many of the important verses in Bhagavad Gita As It Is were left without purport explanations, but the MacMillan Company wanted to minimize the volume of the book. I am not satisfied with this, so my next attempt will be to publish the same with explanations for all the verses without any exception. Actually, our Krishna Consciousness Movement means to propagate in the human society the transcendental understanding of Krishna. In the Bhagavad Gita it is said that out of many men, only one is interested in self-realization, and out of many thousands of self-realized persons, only one may understand Krishna. But if one understands Krishna as to what He is, what are His transcendental activities, then such person immediately is eligible to enter into the Kingdom of God, and not to come again in this miserable world. People in general do not even understand that this world is miserable for the conditioned soul. Neither are they very interested in the Kingdom of God. They want to make this miserable world as the Kingdom of God without God. So there is a great necessity of propagating the Krishna Consciousness Movement. As you appear to be very intelligent and interested in this connection, I shall request you to help this movement as far as possible.

Thank you again for your kind letter.

Sincerely yours,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami