720915 - Letter to Gurudasa written from Los Angeles

Letters by Date, 1972

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Date: September 15, 1972
Camp: Los Angeles ISKCON

My dear Gurudas,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge your letter from Vrndavana dated September 3, 1972, with the letter from Mr. Suri's firm in New Delhi, and I have noted the contents carefully. The first thing is to develop our own place. There we must immediately build a temple. I wanted a temple like Govindaji's, is it so difficult that for the last six months you have consulted so many engineers? Any ordinary engineer can draw up the plans and get it passed. There has been so much unnecessary correspondence. We have sent two sets of plans, how is it that all the plans are being lost and you have not received them? So we cannot divert our attention further, but if they donate then we can spend very elaborately to renovate those temple. As for purchasing Kesighat Temple, we can see later on, we have to see to our own plot first. One thing is, are there any tenants in these temples? If so there is no question of purchase as there will be long process of litigation to remove them.

King should donate to brāhmanas. We are a society of brāhmanas, therefore the king should donate us those temples and we shall keep them in his name, and we shall renovate them and make them very gorgeous for the foreign tourists. And they will appreciate the contribution of the king of Bharatpur and will perpetuate his memory. If the 25 lacs which the king proposes is spent for renovation and making the places very nice, that is better. We will spend at least 10 lacs for renovating all these places up to date. We shall everywhere advertise that it is the king of Bharatpur. We are prepared to make a formal agreement that we shall spend a minimum of 10 lacs for renovating, if he will donate. And if we get that land, we can cultivate agriculture. So approach him yourself immediately and ask him to donate. We will occupy immediately and renovate and fill the places with foreign tourists.

I shall be coming to Vrndavana by 15 October so let me know what are the arrangements in Vrndavana and also at Delhi festival. I have written to Tejiyas one letter, and you may see it, regarding the proposal for Delhi Pandal. Many other of my disciples from U.S.A. will be coming to Vrndavana also, so you may expect to accommodate many devotees there in Radha-Damodara Temple and if there is not sufficient room then you should find other accommodations also. Kindly keep me informed regularly.

Hoping this meets you in good health,

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Gurudas Adhikary, ISKCON Vrndavana