691207 - Letter to Mr. Birla from Mukunda
London,
December 7, 1969
From: Mukunda - SL_691207_A2
[Handwritten at top of letter:] Letter Dictated By Srila Prabhupada
Dear Mr. Birla,
Please accept my greetings. Referring to your letter dated August 2nd, 1969, I beg to inform you that Our Spiritual Master and Acharya of the INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS presently visiting London on the occasion of the installation of the Radha-Krishna Deities in our temple at the above address. I beg to submit herewith our invitation card.
Our Spiritual Master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada started this INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS from America, and if actually any Hindu mission has been started in the Western countries, I think He has done it for the first time. He is establishing temples all over the Western World strictly on Vaishnava. Principles of the acharyas. His disciples, who are mostly Americans, Europeans, Japanese and Africans, are following these Vaishnava principles very strictly: no intoxication (including cigarettes, coffee and tea), no illicit sex-life, no meat-eating, and no gambling. In every city, groups of Samkirtan Parties are going into the most important sections and preaching the chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord, Hare Krishna. In this connection, I beg to draw your attention to the enclosed copy of the letter written by Mr. K. K. Birla, and addressed to Mr. J. Dalmia. This will give you some idea how our society is working. Besides that, I am subjoining an article which appeared in the Amritabazar Patrika (Sunday edition, September 21, 1969).
Because London is the most important metropolis in the world and it consists of all classes of people from all parts of the world, Swamiji desires that a very large temple of Krishna be constructed there, just like the one which is in New Delhi (the Birla temple) and the ones in South India, such as the Parthasarathi temple in Madras and the Sri Ranganath temple at Sri Rangam. If you construct a similar temple in London, Swamiji will be very much encouraged, and He can train up many people for further missionary activities.
Our present difficulties are that we have not got sufficient space to accommodate our devotees, and thus they are scattered in different places. Besides that, according to Swamiji's opinion, when we refer to something as being “Hindu”, this is unintelligent; neither is “Hindu” a Vedic word. Many small, sectarian religions have sprung up, diverting from the original Vedic principles. They are also going on as “Hindu”, but they are all started within countable years, not more than 1,000 years ago. Swamiji wants to preach the oldest of the Vedic scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita. If we present the Bhagavad Gita as it is, the people of the world will accept it. But if we.put something as “Hindu Mission”, others may not like it. Our society is now spreading all over, beginning from Hamburg to Tokyo and comprising a distance of 14,000 miles. Our devotees are preaching in far distant places like the Hawaiian Islands. We are planning to start our center in Australia also.
Swamiji’s opinion is that if He gets a large, spacious temple in London, it will facilitate this training of missionaries from here. In London, all Hindus, Europeans, Americans, etc. known about our activities. I think therefore, without diverting your attention to the contemplated Hindu Mission which is not functioning at all at the present moment, you should try to cooperate fully with our missionary works which are expanding daily and being appreciated by all sections of people. I shall await your reply with great interest.
Yours in the service of Lord Krishna,
Mukunda das Adhikary
Director
Enclosures: 3