690731 - Letter to Kulasekhara, Digvijaya and Tirthapada written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1969

A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS
1975 South La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, California 90034

July 31, 1969

My Dear Kulasekhara das (Colin Jury), Digvijaya das (Dick Withey), and Tirthapada das (Tim Austin),

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letters, sent along with your beads, and I have noted the contents carefully. This initiation ceremony is a Vedic principle to lead a conditioned soul to the higher level of transcendental life. In the Chaitanya Charitamrita you will find the instruction as we have given it in our book, Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, that after many, many births through approximately 8,400,000 species of life, a living entity gets this human form of life, which is a chance to get freedom from the material condition. When a child is born it is the responsibility of the state, of the father, of the mother, of the relatives, and of the teachers just to raise the child to the standard of Krishna Consciousness so that the child may not have any more to repeat the process of birth and death, but being fully situated in Krishna Consciousness he may be transferred to the spiritual world and situated in one of the Vaikuntha planets. The most important of the Vaikuntha planets is called Krishna Loka, or Goloka Vrindaban. In these days the propagation for landing on the moon planet is very encouraging to the common man, but so far as a Krishna Conscious person is concerned, he is not at all interested in any of the material planets. His target is to be transferred to the topmost spiritual planet, namely Krishna Loka.

So this initiation means the preliminary chance for preparing oneself to achieve this highest perfection. I am very glad that you are already interested in the Krishna Consciousness Movement, and you will please chant at least 16 rounds daily, observing the rules and regulations. The four principle rules is that you will refrain from 1) meat-eating or partaking of fish or eggs, 2) illicit sexual connections, 3) intoxication (including cigarettes, coffee and tea) and 4) gambling. In addition to these rules there are ten offenses to chanting the Maha Mantra which should be avoided. These rules are as follows: 1) blaspheming the Lord's devotee. 2) Considering the Lord and the demi-gods on the same level. 3) Neglecting the orders of the spiritual master. 4) Minimizing the authority of the Scriptures. 5) Interpreting the Holy Name of God. 6) Committing sin on the strength of chanting. 7) Instructing the glories of the Lord's Name to the unfaithful. 8) Comparing the Holy Name with material piety. 9) Inattention while chanting the Holy Name. 10) Attachment to material things while engaged in the practice of chanting.

So follow faithfully the above rules and regulations, help your god-brothers and sisters in London to propagate Krishna Consciousness, and there is no question that you will all come out successful. I hope this will find you well.

Your ever well-wisher,