710422 - Letter to Karandhara written from Bombay

Letters by Date, 1971

Letter to Karandhar (Page 1 of 2)

Letter to Karandhar (Page 2 of 2)

Tridandi Goswami
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Founder-Acharya:
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
CENTER: P.O. Box 387
            Fort, Bombay-1 India
            (89, Warden Road, Akash Ganga,
            Bombay-26, India)
DATE......22nd.April................. 19.71.

My Dear Karandhar,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 15.4.71, and noted the contents carefully. I am very glad that things are going on nicely in our World Headquarters. I have received from Calcutta the bank receipt for $35,000 and I thank you very much. I am expecting that you will continue your payments promptly to eradicate the debts to my book fund account from loan to the purchase of the L.A. Temple, the $8,000 and the $20,000 loans to BTG account. It is good news that you have received the third edition of KRSNA I. All our books should be sent by Dai Nippon to L.A. and from L.A. you should distribute them all to Europe and America and collect the returns.
Another thing is that we are in correspondence with Dai Nippon; they are trying to mingle the BTG account with my "Bhaktivedanta Book Fund Deposit" (BBFD) account, making them one. So unless you hear from me, you do not send more than $3,986.56 to the BBFD with Dai Nippon, which is the balance due at this time. You can send the BTG payments to them as usual but not any money for my Book Fund. They thought that because I have given $20,000 on behalf of BTG, I should pay off the entire debt of BTG from my Book Fund. So don't send them money for Book Fund until I inform you otherwise. Also, the Gujarati Indian devotees in San Francisco wanted to pay $20,000 for the printing of Bhagavad Gita As It Is. I do not know what is their position now; please let me know about this.
Regarding the shipment of Deities to L.A. I am writing to Jayapataka Maharaj to find out the position. I am glad to see from the copy of Temple payment record that you are paying timely at the rate of $2,000 per month. We must always remember that we are debtor for this amount and debts should not be neglected. According to vedic instruction, fire, debt and disease should never be neglected. They must be extinguished by all means. Regarding proposal of $8,000 loan to BTG being repaid at the rate of $1,000 monthly, it was not being paid, so $1,000 per month is better than no payment. Yes you can send the building Fund monies spent to New Vrndavana for development of our community project there. This collection may be utilized in this way after consulting the G.B.C. whether New Vrindaban has been transferred to the Society? [handwritten]
So far taking sannyas is concerned, you are already more than Sannyasi because your life is dedicated to Krsna. Sannyas does not mean change of dress. That is stated in the fifth chapter of Bhagavad Gita: anyone who works for Krsna is a sannyasi and a yogi. Arjuna was an householder, but at the same time more than a sannyasi because he fought for Krsna. Our principle should be only to do something and everything for Krsna under the guidance of the Spiritual Master. Yes, for begetting children sex life is religion. That is stated by Krsna. But sex should not be for any other purpose. After all we are in the material existence which is a bad bargain, so we have to make the best of a bad bargain. Perfection, in our philosophy, is to act with unflinching faith in Krsna and Spiritual Master and that will save us from all opposing situations.
Regarding payments of Book Fund monies to ISKCON Press, that is alright. Either the books are printed in Japan or ISKCON Press, it does not matter as long as they are printed. However, you can regularly inform me, say at the end of each month, how much you have paid from the Book Fund for printing with ISKCON Press. You have not mentioned for what books this money was allocated to them. That should also be informed.
I beg to thank you for your kindly improving our mission in Western world by the hard work of all my students there, and for keeping my apartments and gardens nicely. Just as you are all feeling separation grief for me, similarly I am feeling for you.
Please offer my blessings to all the devotees and I hope this will meet you in very good health.
Your ever well-wisher,

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS:ds

Sriman Karandhar Das Adhikary
ISKCON Temple
3764 Watseka Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90034

U.S.A.

P.S. In regards to your letter dated 18th January, 1971, I remember that Tamal Krishna and I made some joint savings account some time ago. Tamal is in Calcutta and I am here in Bombay, but if you will let me know the number of the account, then we can jointly sign to transfer the money from that account.
     

A.C.B.S.