750704 - Letter to Giriraja written from Chicago

Letters by Date, 1975

1014 Emerson St.

Evanston, Ill.

July 4, 1975
Sriman Giriraj das Brahmachary
Hare Krishna Land
Juhu, Bombay 400 054 India

My Dear Giriraj das:
Please accept my blessings. I have received your report via telephone and it is a very good news that you have received the NOC for the construction of the temple. So, you begin the work, and money will come to you by the grace of [unclear], just finish the buildings as soon as possible and somehow or other money will come. In Bombay you collect as much as you can, and the balance money will be sent rest assured. I am instructing Ramesvar to send Guru Kripa's collection to Bombay. So you just finish all the buildings as soon as possible. You must also keep proper account. Not a single farthing should be wasted. I will see the accounts personally when I return to Bombay.
Regarding the money you are taking for the rooms, this must be carefully done. As soon as you take money and allow a person to stay in your place, then the money can be considered by him as rent. The Rent Act is so subtle in India. If you have to call the police to eject a man, the police will not do it. They will see that the man is living there only, but they will not ask how he got there. That is a matter for the courts to settle. And in India court business is very troublesome. Practically it is useless because you have to bribe. This is Kali Yuga; you have to pay money to get justice. Neither will it be sufficient for you to print on the registration form that the visitor signs that you have some right to [unclear] entrance. Making your own law on the registration form has no value. You know of that Mr. Mukherjee who refuse to leave our place even when you called the police.
In Tirupati they have a nice system. You have to see how the hotels and dharamshalas are doing it. What laws there are to protect them. People are very cunning nowadays, and we have to be careful. You should manage the whole thing very nicely, just like in Tirupati they are managing so many buildings very carefully.
I hope [unclear] India to organize large scale book distribution. He can help Yashomatinandana Prabhu. Yashomatinandana is sincere but not business minded. But, if sincerity is there, other things will come.
I hope this meets you in good health.

Your ever well wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS/bs

........2 Giriraj das July 4, 1975

N.B. All money sent to Bombay from L.A. is BBT money and must be paid back by you to the BBT account in Bombay. The money sent to you is on loan basis and must be paid back. You can pay back conveniently. We shall help you, but you must pay back.

Also One of the rooftop blocks may be dedicated for stocking books as go down. You may select the largest one available. If you fit it with book shelves that are away from the wall and not touching one another; i.e. the shelves should be wide enough to accommodate only one row of books and each shelf should be separated by a space wide enough for a man to pass; then you will not have the rat problem.

The Chand Society flat may not be sold. It can used as office and residence of Vaikunthnath and Yashomatinandana. Two rooms used as residence and one room office and stock. The BBT should provide facilities for offices and stock go down. BBT should pay for the rooftop go down. By my calculation you should be able to sell in India at least four lakhs of Rupees worth of books per month. You simply have to organize it.

What is the report of Hyderabad?
ACBS