Letters to the editor

Hare Krishna,

All glories to Sri Prabhupada,

All glories to Hanumetpresaka swami and Gauranga

I've had the good fortune to be witness you're Vyasapuja in Houston.

Wonderful on how well the devotees are helping support you in your good health.

I've been traveling since November 11th of last year. Was able to go down under to New Zealand and Australia.

In New Zealand they found out you were my Guru and they were able have you're assocation in Rhada Kune and were vary enthusiastic about praising your knowledge and how saintly you are

Every time the temple president saw me he insisted I invite you to come to New Zealand.

I tried to explain that your travel is limited but wouldn't hear 🙉 of it. you are cherished by the devotees there and Melbourne, the standard in Melbourne is one of the highest outstanding of India.

You can't even light the stove unless you have braman thread

I'm still maintaining a ashram in SD in a small studio with devotees

I have a invite to shelter in ISV and other places but see where I can do the greatness good for the most number of people.

Hopefully I can send some pics

Thanks for your valuable time,by your good grace I'm the most fortunate

Your aspiring servant Mani das

HpS - Thank you, thank you!!!

Rotten as an apple this body rots and fades.

Thank you, Thank you!!!

We look at three Annual Reports now and go to sleep. To get up for Japa at 1.30AM to dye and happy death.

Dear Siksha Guru Maharaja, Srila Hanumat Presak Swami Maharaja, please kindly accept my most humble obeisances; all glories to his divine grace, Srila Prabhupada; all glories to your good self, his surrendered and sincere disciple; all glories to all the devotees of Lord Chaitanya.

As a follow-up to my last letter and any concerns that others may have, with regard to my behavior and thoughts, I would like to mention that I have never had any hatred for the devotees here in Boise, or anywhere else. That would not only be counter-productive to my efforts to engage in devotional service, but it would be brazen Vaishnava aparadha.

When I was in Houston to celebrate your Vyasapuja in 2024, I mentioned at one time to Sriman Niti Sara prabhu in confidence that I did not hate him, but still had all hope for him and his wife: and I still do. However, I did also mention that I was sorely hurt and upset. They are very nice devotees; and it has always been my understanding that a devotee is very dear to Krishna: so much so that even with all his faults, he is worth an unlimited number of non-devotees.

If hatred was an aspect of my response to things here, I don't believe that I would be able to maintain any measure of sadhana even in my own home. Neither would I be able to visit the temple on the most rare occasions, when nobody is there except for the pujari during the evening arotik. There is one conversation between Srila Prabhupada and one Christian clergyman, in which the question was raised "Is it possible for the devotee to hate the Deity?" Srila Prabhupada replied "How can the devotee serve the Deity if he hates the Deity?" And I feel within me that this same principle is essential between devotees: it is not possible to be a devotee and to hate devotees at the same time.

About the discussion between the GBC and myself on the ride to the airport, his holiness, Badrinarayana Maharaja, expressed to me that "he hopes that he and I could still be good friends in spite of this unpleasant turn of events." He embraced me out of his kindness, thus assuring me of his blessings and understanding. Even now, I still remember his comments very clearly, "These devotees are young and naive, and they wish to manage and preach in their own way; and I have to learn to tolerate them." I took that to mean that I am somehow seen as a threat to this community, and therefore I am in their way. That's why I lost it emotionally. I still feel the pain of it all, almost 2 years later.

I feel better, having finally revealed my pains to you in my last letter. Know for certain that even now "Not a day goes by when I don't think about the temple, and the painful moments that had transpired." I still ask myself "How did it come to this?" I think of all the devotees who used to live here; who sympathized and supported me in my struggles with this temple over the years. I reflect on how they were cent-per-cent committed to serving here for life. Instead, they all ended up leaving. This could've easily been a thriving community by now, with more than a two dozen well qualified brahmanas, not including myself: and now they're all gone.

I wish my wife and I were blessed with such intelligence and good fortune to move, confident that what happened to us here Boise, ID would not repeat itself somewhere else. I will close here, hoping to be worthy of your causeless mercy: Hare Krishna.

Your lowly servant,

Balabhadra dasa🙏

HpS - Personally, I think everyone goes through these crises. Someone may feel they are giving their life, blood, to build a Temple, deal with all the diverse conflicts of the devotees, and people are just exploiting them in so many ways.

In a big temple, we may not feel pain and social conflict from the Temple as a whole, but then everyone belongs to a Department the size of a little Temple like in Boise such as the Deity Department, the Food for Life Department, the Sankirtan Department.... and within those they get all the immediate personal conflicts that one gets in a small Temple.

If something really hurts us, clings to us, as initiated devotees, then it seems it must be connected to some deep aspect of our perverted relationship with Krsna, and as we work through it we are working through very deep steps.

Maybe a ton of work will be done in this lifetime, but it will not manifest until our next birth in Nadia with Nimai?

Maybe we will be Chand Kazi, or a friend like Mukunda...

In general, we see that Temples that once had many devotees are now with only a few, but some are prospering.

I don't know why Krsna has kept us in the ISKCON Boise community.

Srila Prabhupada didn't know why Krsna brought him to Boston, no?

🙂

The fundamental principle is that we have chosen to worship a butter thief.

Thank you.

Mostly we are chanting, looking for any service to the Sankirtan movement and then watching for Krsna's indications.

Hare Krsna, Gurudeva

My respected Gurudeva, please accept my most humble and respectful obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Jaya Gurudeva, thank you very much for FMP AGTSP!

HpS - AgtSP. NoI. ISKCON Bhakta vrnda.

Rounds, principles, they are simple but sometimes difficult. They require great effort, but there we go. Doing them, I feel greater enjoyment, conscious, in these latter times.

I am still here, in the material world; now I am a curious old woman.

hps - it is easy or difficult depending on KRSNA, no? it is not just physical challenge like the gymnasium, but moral and spiritual. very personal dialog with KRSNA through Srila Prabhupada.

Gurudeva, perhaps reaching a higher level of consciousness, has to do with a "quantum leap."

HpS - quantum leap means it cannot go in infintesimal, continous steps. it was a debate about the orbital states of electrons, no?

yet, our progress can be one syllable at a time... haw ... ray ... krs ... na! its eternal.

Krsna is unlimited and magnanimous; He is the Supreme.

Does this great number of expansions or cows have to do with the idea of quantum physics of the "possibilities of existence that a thing has"?

hps - I studied quantum physics at U. C. Berkeley with good scores, and our professor commented that many times people use the example of billard balls to explain the action of atoms and molecules, but personally he had never seen a billard ball and his own knowledge of billard balls was from his knowledge of atoms and molecules!

So, I don't know too much of the philosophical ideas imbedded in quantum physics, but I have seen that some of them are very deep ideas about ontology. Wave or Particle is very much like achintya bheda a bheda tattva.

Does spiritual power allow one to see all possibilities?

HpS - Well, we do not become Paramatma, but we have all the power we need to understand things for our service.

Purity gives us access to the Absolute Truth, things as they are. The key to the Absolute Truth today is the Maha Mantra, right?

HpS - At the current moment chanting the Names of God is the best yajna. Maybe the only one.

Allah.

Jehovah.

God.

Krsna.

Narayana.

!

Perhaps a comic could be made with this; and "enjoying life."

Thank you very much for your attention Gurudeva, your time and mercy.

Your disciple

Rohini dd

HpS - What do you mean about "enjoying life"?

Sometimes Krsna shows marvelous things to the Brijavasis. Mother Yasoda saw all the universe, pastpresentfuture, when She looked into Krsna's little mouth. She thought she was having a psychotic break down.

Many big physicists had very philosophical questions, realizations.

Go ahead!

Next life you may be a powerful Brahmana in Nabadvipa!!??

In the attachment.

HpS/ASA - Nice poem.

Many nice realizations.

Seems like seeing Goloka through the moving branches of the forest trees.

The basis for exalted realization is being more and more fixed in Santa rasa, service to the lotus feet of Krsna, no?

Better rounds.

More fixed four principles.

(Too much sugar is also intoxication?) Snack life.

We 🐵 🐷 🌳 add a picture of Krsna!!!!

Hare Krishna

Querido y recordado Gurudeva

Por favor acepte mis respetuosas reverencias

TLGASP!

No se cómo explicar ni defender mi mal comportamiento, sólo quiero decirle que estoy tratando de salir adelante en mi vida espiritual, con muchos tropiezos, muchos anarthas, algunos pocos avances pero también retrocesos, esa es la verdad.

Actualmente mi servicio en el Templo de Arequipa es administrativo, y gracias a las madres y devotos que realizan su servicio devocional de forma satisfactoria, las actividades son relativamente buenas, ha crecido la comunidad de devotos, la prédica a los nuevos amigos de Krishna es diaria y constante; cada cierto tiempo salimos a las calles a hacer Harinam Sankirtan y Food For Life. La concurrencia del público al Templo es buena en las fiestas devocionales. Pensamos realizar un ratha yatra este año en el Corso de la Amistad por las principales calles de la ciudad, pero aun es solo un proyecto (seria el 15 de agosto 2025).

En lo personal, he vuelto nuevamente a estudiar el Srimad Bhagavatam todos los miércoles con el grupo de estudio de prabhu Laksman Agraja das. Eso ha despertado mucho entusiasmo en mi y también me sirve de repaso, como también la lectura del Bhagavad Gita y Néctar de la Instrucción entre otras obras.

Mi sadhana todavía es muy debil, a veces no llego a cantar todas mis rondas, con la promesa de recuperarlas al día siguiente, algo que no logro cumplir; pero aun así trato de seguir cantando como sea y donde pueda sin perder la atención en el canto. No logro despertarme más temprano de mi horario habitual, soy un tanto perezoso debo confesar. A pesar de ser vegetariano desde hace muchos años, no siempre me alimento de Krishna prasada. Por lo demás, sigo los 4 principios regulativos de manera formal.

Le debo confesar algo, si no le he escrito anteriormente es porque me he sentido avergonzado de no ser un buen discípulo, ni siquiera un candidato de discípulo para usted, a quien considero un fidedigno representante de Dios en la tierra. Pero le estoy profundamente agradecido por su infinita misericordia y por darme la oportunidad de poder mejorar y ser un digno representante del movimiento Hare Krishna de ISKCON.

Su insignificante seguidor,

Raya Ramananda das

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Hare Krishna,

Dear and remembered Gurudeva

Please accept my respectful obeisances.

TLGASP!

ASA - AGTSP!!!!!!!! !!!

I don't know how to explain or defend my bad behavior. I just want to tell you that I'm trying to move forward in my spiritual life, with many setbacks, many anarthas, some small advances, but also setbacks. That's the truth.

Currently, my service at the Arequipa Temple is administrative, and thanks to the mothers and devotees who perform their devotional service satisfactorily, the activities are relatively good.

The community of devotees has grown.

Sermons to new friends of Krishna are daily and constant.

Every so often, we go out into the streets to perform Harinam Sankirtan and Food for Life.

Public attendance at the Temple is good during devotional festivals. We plan to hold a ratha yatra this year on the Corso de la Amistad (Friendship Parade) through the main streets of the city, but it is still only a project (it would be on August 15, 2025).

HpS - Do it!!

Personally, I've returned to studying Srimad Bhagavatam every Wednesday with Prabhu Laksman Agraja das's study group. This has sparked a lot of enthusiasm in me and also serves as a review, as does reading the Bhagavad Gita and Nectar of Instruction, among other works.

My sadhana is still very weak; sometimes I don't manage to chant all my rounds, promising to make them up the next day, something I fail to do. But I still try to keep chanting however and wherever I can without losing my focus on the chanting.

I can't seem to wake up earlier than my usual schedule; I'm a bit lazy, I must confess. Despite being a vegetarian for many years, I don't always eat Krishna prasada. Otherwise, I follow the four regulative principles formally.

I must confess something: if I haven't written to you before, it's because I felt ashamed of not being a good disciple, or even a candidate for one, for you, whom I consider a true representative of God on earth. But I am deeply grateful for your infinite mercy and for giving me the opportunity to improve and become a worthy representative of ISKCON's Hare Krishna movement.

Your insignificant follower,

Raya Ramananda das

HpS/ASA - You, me, are better than some, worse than others.

NoD/Rupa Goswami, Srila Prabhupada, says that if we cannot chant our 16-rounds, then fix a number that we know we can chant for a fixed number of days eg. I know I can chant 9-rounds/day until the next Ekadasi.

Then don't accept excuses from your mind. Do it!

Then judge by the results and take the next vow of number and days.

It works, you will be fixed in doing it, because it works!!!

Thanks for your report.

Your association is always desireable.

So much respects to everyone in Hari Kripa.

Hope to see you soon.

All Glories To Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga!

PAMHO AGSTP!

HK MAHARAJ! how are you???

HpS / ASA - AgtSP. Died and gone back to heaven.

well in response to your letter I would really like to discuss with my new devotee friends topics related to digital marketing, advertising and ayurveda within ISKCON. Also would love to meet entrepreneurs if possible.

Maharaj I would like to please ask you about some other topic which is communism. I know Srila Prabhupada had a standpoint very against it (https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/adi/8/20), yet some devotees proclaim themselves as communists.

What is your opinion about this matter?

HpS - In my opinion he is against Materialistic Communism and in favor Spiritual Communism. To our mind it is not a very well defined terms and people use it in very different ways.

Prof. Hector Behar has commented that as far as he knows there is not a major political movement in the world today that declares itself Marxist which Marx himself would accept as Marist!

Thank you once again :))

please accept my obeisances,

Federico Molnár

HpS - Hari bol from Heaven!

Join us in next letter.