710804 - Letter B to Satsvarupa written from London
Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
CENTER: 7, Bury Place
London, W.C. 1; ENGLAND
DATE ......4th.August,..1971...19.....
My Dear Satsvarupa,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 28th July, 1971 and have noted the contents carefully. So far your question is concerned you should understand that a devotee is never under any karmic reaction. Whatever is happening is the mercy of Krishna. That should be the view point of the devotee.
Once surrendered to Krishna, karmic reaction is immediately gone, but if he acts again independently, then he is again in the clutches of maya. That marginal state is always there but for a pure devotee who has actually surrendered to Krishna, he has no karmic reaction. The same example of the fan switched off; it is still running some rounds, but that will be stopped very soon. That is his position. Therefore a pure devotee who is having some adverse reaction, he doesn't take ill of it. He knows that the karmic reaction is already stopped but what is happening is the residual turning of the fan, even after the switch is off. A pure devotee therefore takes it as the mercy of the Lord because the Lord is finishing his karmic reaction by summary punishment. Tat[unclear] ama. To the devotee such adverse condition is seen as the benediction of the Lord and more enthusiastically he engages himself in the Lord's transcendental service. He is never hampered by such reaction, neither his Krishna Consciousness is hampered by the least degree. In the presence of such adverse conditions of karmic reaction, the Lord advises to tolerate; tam titiksava bharata. My dear Arjuna, please tolerate these things without being perplexed. They come and go like seasonal changes of summer and winter. They have nothing to do with the pure soul engaged in devotional service. So the reaction is stopped, but the momentum is still there. Simply one has to tolerate.
Please offer my blessings to the other boys and girls there. Hoping this will meet you all in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS/adb
Satsvarupa Das Adhikary
c/o ISKCON Boston
encl: 2 poetry [handwritten]
- 1971 - Letters
- 1971 - Lectures, Conversations and Letters
- 1971-08 - Lectures, Conversations and Letters
- Letters Written from - Europe
- Letters Written from - Europe, England - London
- Lectures, Conversations and Letters - Europe
- Lectures, Conversations and Letters - Europe, England - London
- Satsvarupa - Letters
- 1971 - Letters with Scans of the Originals
- 1971 - Letters with Scans of the Originals - checked
- Letters - Signed, 1971
- Letters - With Added Handwriting