701117 - Letter to Satsvarupa from Aravinda

November 17th, 1970

CAMP: c/o Kailash Seksaria; 74 Marine Drive; Bombay-20, India

From: Aravinda

My Dear Satsvarupa Prabhu,

Please accept my most humble obeisances at your feet. Hoping you received my last letter dated around the 10th of November. Srila Prabhupada has again asked me to write of press matters and again I will take the opportunity to pass on a few drops of nectar from the ocean at His Divine Lotus Feet. Srila Prabhupada requests that you immediately (compose) and print Bhagavad Gita As It Is, full edition, unabridged, - immediately. There are no Bhagavad Gitas here in India and so Srila Prabhupada wants that you print 5,000 to 10,000 copies and send them here as soon as possible. No less than 5,000 He said. And because the book will undoubtedly be very long and His Divine Grace wants that it be one volume only, you will have to print it on bible paper. It can be folded and bound here in India, as was explained in my last letter. Just print it up and send the signatures here.

Tamal Prabhu has asked that I take more thorough notes on Srila Prabhupada’s talks and that in the future I dispatch such notes to you so that you can in turn dispatch them to the GBC members and perhaps temple presidents. My sense of hearing and my memory are both 5th class, but I will do my best and you will receive some semblance of what Srila Prabhupada has said. (I’ll do my best to quote His Divine Grace exactly).

Here goes!

Srila Prabhupada now wants to establish a seat of Krishna Consciousness at the Gorakhpur University in Gorakhpur. It is a very formidable university and Dr. Rao (Ramananda) and Kirtanananda Maharaj and others are presently there trying to establish such a program. The idea is that students may come there to receive their PhD in Krishna Consciousness and then go out and teach in colleges, schools and temples all over the world. His Divine Grace is very enthusiastic about this program; if the program was recognized by the U.S. colleges, millions could take to Krishna Consciousness as their major! One boy has joined our camp here in Bombay at the request of His Divine Grace. His name is Sagar Maharaj, a disciple of an elder God-brother of Srila Prabhupada who is now following His Divine Grace faithfully. He is a very wonderful devotee and has [page missing]

Example of what it is to preach by His Divine Grace. We have never known really what preaching is until now that we have seen Srila Prabhupada in action in India. We thought preaching meant quote a few lines from Gita and explain them, but we are seeing in Srila Prabhupada that a real Krishna Conscious preacher must be ready to preach under any circumstances to everyone he meets. We are seeing Srila Prabhupada deal with the most pious and the most treacherous persons and in every case, without exception, He has succeeded in engaging them in Krishna’s service. We are becoming weak, exhausted, trying to keep up with the pace of His Divine Grace, but that is not possible. We have seen the biggest men in India bow to Srila Prabhupada and express their gratitude and appreciation for His unparalleled work. At this moment, Srila Prabhupada is the most important and sought after sanyasi in of India, and He is conquering wherever He goes. By the sheer amount of accomplishment He has achieved in the last five years, everyone is willing to accept Him as the authority on Krishna Consciousness. There are many men who are envious here but their barking is like the jackals compared to the roaring of lion-like Srila Prabhupada. Like a general on the battlefield He has sent His forces in different directions to conquer; Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Vrndaban. He is planning the capture of an entire country with unwavering determination and enthusiasm. I can only bow down at His Lotus Feet and Hope that I may not be a disturbance to His Divine Grace and to His mission.

Hope this will meet you in good health.

Eternally your servant,

Aravinda Das

p.s. Please offer my most humble obeisances to all the fixed-up Prabhus there. May they become ever stronger in Srila Prabhupada’s service.

p.p.s. Srila Prabhupada has just informed me that all books sent here to India for folding and binding are meant just for India, since to dispatch the finished books again to the U.S. would be difficult.

His Divine Grace also requests that along with full ‘Gita’, if second Canto is ready, that can be printed and sent.

All glories to His Divine Grace!!!

encl: & some maha.

Ppps: Satsvarupa Prabhu, please send me copies of my fist two letters, if possible, for Tamal Krishna’s files.