691127 - Letter to Pradyumna written from London

Letters by Date, 1969

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
CENTER: 7, Bury Place
London, WC 1
ENGLAND

DATE .....November..27,..........19.69

My Dear Pradyumna,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 20, 1969 and I have noted the contents. Prior to this I received one letter from Arundhuti explaining why things were delayed, and you have also kindly explained it. So everything by Krishna's Grace is all right. Regarding your dismissal from the job, I think it is Krishna's indication that you are not meant for such kind of service. Now you can freely and completely engage yourself in Krishna's service as He has very kindly allotted to you in the matter of editing, transliterating and helping your wife in composing. This is sufficient engagement for you. Besides that, as you have now improved in speaking you can do nice preaching work. I think you must have improved in that way because you are going through so many transcendental literatures, so you must have your ideas and philosophical notions in the matter of Krishna Consciousness. So it will be a great advantage if you get occasion speaking engagements in various schools, colleges and universities, provided they pay for it. In your country, if somebody accepts a service free of charges or at lower rates, he is considered to be third class. So although we are prepared to render our services free of charges, still, for the prestige of the society we must charge. And if you get some scholarship stipend from the foundations, that will be a great achievement. Not for the money, but the foundations will gradually recognize what valuable service we are rendering to the human society.

The next point is centralization of our publication department in one place. Krishna has given us now a nice press in Boston, and you are now free from your job, so it will be very nice if you and your wife move to Boston conveniently. As you have written that Brahmananda has almost agreed to pay for the machine, so you have no anxiety. We have already discussed about purchasing another machine. So far as Shama Dasi is concerned, I do not know how it will be possible for her to live alone without her husband. I think her husband also requires her help in so many ways. So I am not very much sure about Shama Dasi's moving to Boston. But you and Arundhati can do it immediately. I am also going there, so we shall sit down together and call also Hayagriva and Shama Dasi to hold a nice meeting of all the editors, printers, etc. We will chalk out a nice program so that our work may go on very smoothly without any impediments, and surely Krishna will help us. So far as I am concerned, I would have been very glad to stay with all the editors and press workers in my presence, but the only consideration is the climatic influence.

Now so far as your composition work is concerned, it is very, very nicely done, save and except there are some typographical misplacements of letters. I see there are some marginal marks, and I think these are marking the mistakes. Anyway, the composing is first class, and the transliteration is also very nice. If you can maintain this standard of composing and transliteration, that will be quite sufficient for my satisfaction. I see that your letter was posted sometimes on the 20th November, and you sent it by Special Delivery air mail. But unfortunately I received it only today and the envelope was torn out. Anyway, although it was delayed I have got it now, and I shall go through it critically and let you know in my next letter about my criticism on it.

Thank you very much for your letter and be blessed by Krishna. Offer my blessings to Srimati Arundhuti. She is a very nice girl, sincere servant of Krishna, and I shall always pray for her advancement in Krishna Consciousness. I hope this will meet both of you in good health.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami