751218 - Letter to Tulsi written from Bombay

Letters by Date, 1975

December 18, 1975
Hare Krishna Land,
Juhu Rd. Juhu 400 054,
Bombay, India

My Dear Tulsi Das,

Please accept my blessings. Thank you very much for your nice letter. I can understand from your letter that you are very intelligent. Generally India people are not taking up this movement, although it is their original culture, they are now in favor of economic development and technological advancement which can never do any good to the people in general, neither material nor spiritual. After all a living being lives by the grace of God. We cannot eat nuts and bolts, however nicely they may be manufactured. We live by food grains, vegetables and milk products as it is stated in the Bhagavad gita "All living bodies subsist on food grains which are due to rains come by proper proformance of sacrifice" Human life is meant for sacrifice to please Vishnu. Bhoktaram yajna-tapasam, sarva-loka-mahesvaram (BG 5.29), "The sages knowing me to be the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices, the Supreme Lord of all planets, and the well wishing friend of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries"

So if we want to be happy in this life and the next we have to worship Vishnu. What Gandhi did to satisfy Vishnu? He was trying to satisfy his country, and his country killed him. He manufactured so many things which were never found in Bhagavad-gita. Throughout the Bhagavad-gita Krishna is encouraging Arjuna to fight, and Gandhi manufactured non-violence from Bhagavad-gita. Everyone in India knows the Mahabharata, the great battle of Kurukshetra, 640,000,000 soldiers gave up their life in that battle, and Krishna was personally instructing Arjuna to fight, and Gandhi took Bhagavad-gita and preached non-violence. So what was his understanding. At the end of his life he frankly said, "I don't believe there was ever such a historical person as Krishna". So what did Gandhi know about Bhagavad-gita?

My only credit is that I have presented Bhagavad-gita as it is, without any speculation, or interpretation, therefore for the first time in the history of the world people are accepting it and living practically according to the principles of Bhagavad-gita.

I understand that you are translating Bhagavad-gita as it is into Malayalam language. Hansadutta has spoken to me about you. Please send me a sample, and we will see about it's publication and distribution in India. Maybe in the future you will like to come to India and help preach this message to your countrymen.

[text missing]

I hope this letter meets you well.

Your ever well wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Taunus, West Germany