690802 - Letter to Gaurasundara written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1969

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
CENTER: 1975 So. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, California

DATE: August 2, 1969

My Dear Gourasundar,

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 30 July, 1969, and I have noted the contents carefully. I am always encouraged to learn of the nice activities of our Hawaii Iskcon as they go on under your direction. These concerts which you are attending will not go in vain, because all of these people who are now hearing these vibrations of Hare Krishna Mantra will be gradually coming to our camp of Krishna Consciousness. This is the Vedic process that simply by sound vibrations there will be the reaction of spiritual benefit. And for all of these people who are joining you in chanting and helping you in your various activities, for them Krishna has shown His Special Mercy, and it is to be understood that Krishna will guide them more and more to return to Him again in His Spiritual Abode, Goloka Vrindaban.

Regarding the difficulties you are having because of the police stopping your chanting in the streets, when Subala was arrested in Philadelphia for this same reason the judge declared him as "not guilty" when he learned of the nature of our movement and the purpose of our collecting. Subal has testimonial of this "not guilty" verdict as declared by the judge, so if you think it will be of help to you in getting permission from the police for chanting on the streets, then you may write to Subal for a xerox copy of this testimonial. Regarding your order of BTG, on such matters you should negotiate with Tamal Krishna. But one thing is that we are now stepping up publication from 20,000 to 25,000 per month, so we must likewise step up our sales on Sankirtan Party. In Philadelphia, Subal has reported that simply by standing on the street corners wearing our robes, automatically many, many people come up to inquire and purchase BTG from them, and they are selling about 80 copies per day. My Guru Maharaj always stressed the importance of distributing this Krishna Consciousness literature, so try to do it as far as possible. Regarding your obtaining a new temple, and your idea for yourself, Govinda Dasi, Balabhadra and Turya dasa to go to Tokyo in December, on such matters you may consult with Tamal Krishna in Los Angeles, because he has agreed to take charge of organizing this aspect of our movement. But I do not know how you are planning that the Hawaii branch will be maintained if so many important members leave for Tokyo. Just today I learned that in about one month Sudama and Bali Mardan will be leaving to begin this Japanese center, and Sudama has already arranged for free tickets for them both. So you may open correspondence to discuss this with Tamal Krishna. My idea is that you may not divert your attention to Tokyo at this time. Your responsibility in Hawaii is very great, so make it well-established first of all. Then you may try for another center. For your selling BTGs there is no reason for you to be strained. Whatever you can do conveniently is all right. I have received information from the United Shipping Corporation that the Murtis are coming from Calcutta to Honolulu.[Handwritten]

I am glad to learn that you have performed the Guru Purnima Ceremony by Kirtan; that is all right. But this Guru Purnima is generally performed by the Mayavadi sects. The idea of Guru Purnima is to offer gratitude to the Spiritual Master by the disciple once in a year. That is called Guru Purnima. So far as we are concerned, Gaudiya Vaisnavas, we offer all our gratefulness to the Spiritual Master on His Appearance Day Ceremony, called Vyasa Puja. So kirtan is our daily function; whatever you have done is all right, but actual worship of the Spiritual Master will be done by all of my disciples on the fifth day of September, just one day after Janmastami.

I am pleased to note that you have performed at certain "yoga" groups in the area, and already you are making a nice dent in their Maya, as they are now preferring the Maha Mantra to the chanting of Om. Actually, this chanting of Om is also a bonafide form of meditation, but as we learn from Vedic literature and from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the chanting of Hare Krishna is the prime benediction for this age, and it is the authoritatively recommended means of God-realization. Also, I am very encouraged to learn that you have your own radio show for one hour every Sunday morning. Here in Los Angeles I have so many tapes of my singing prayers, chanting new tunes of Hare Krishna, playing mridanga, and purports to prayers. So if you think that some of these tapes will be nice for your program, I will have copies made of some of them and have them sent to you.

Please convey my blessings to Heroine Govinda Dasi. Yes, it is nice if she can draw pictures for BTG covers. She may ask Brahmananda what pictures will be required for upcoming covers. But as she is still sometimes feeling weak, she should not tire herself out in this connection. Please convey my blessings to all of the others. I hope this will meet you in good health.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami