Hare Krishna From Down Under
Dear Your Holiness Hanumat Presaka Swami Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obeisances (PAMHO).
All glories to Srila Prabhupada (AGTSP).
I’m writing to thank you because I now know who created those acronyms (pamho & agtsp) and that the word “acronym” is itself in fact an acronym.
I have listened to a few of your classes in the past, mainly in person when we’ve seen you in Vrindavan, Mayapur and Australia and of course been impressed with your humility, devotion, compassion and wit but I’m starting to realise now that my lack of qualification has only let me scratch the surface in understanding your position. I once visited a top university in Melbourne with you and you spoke to the professors and heads of faculty about sankhya philosophy (I think that was the topic), but myself, at the time not even having an academic education above 10th grade, could not see how much you understand these people. I could not appreciate your depth of knowledge from the academic world and therefor I could not appreciate the effort you have gone to in order to offer Krishna to them. Now that I have had some little university education for the past few years I have been moved to a whole new level by your knowledge, realisation and ability to connect dots for Krishna.
My little study of the sciences and philosophy over the past 3 years, through course work and hobby, has exposed me more and more to the ideas developed in the West since the time of the Greeks until now. Growing up in ISKCON has given me a rather backward or even top down progression. I was exposed to, and studied, a little of the Vedic view first (through Gurukula in early years and then temple ashram as a young adult) and then developed a curiosity in the Western view later. Any devotee who learns from mainstream institutions will know that there is a major neglect and even “un-coolness” to considering anything that’s not empirical and therefore the wisdom from the East remains hidden to most people. Also, as you mention in your talks, theology is the only field that a scholar is not respected for if he actually practices his particular “expertise”. Unfortunately, with the wisdom of the East kept in quarantine by subtle forces of Maya, any theistically inclined persons looking for a formal education must first “run the gauntlet” of pop-science-gladiators, with their goal of bashing you into capitalistic conformity. And, if they do make it through with their faith in tact, they must hide it or they will risk losing facilities. At times faith can be challenged in these environments, especially with little vaisnava association. Different complex forms of illusion creep in. Even if faith is not challenged, a devotee with academic propensities can still get caught up in the pursuit of economic development, which can be detrimental to the engagement in sankirtan and thereby generates the risk of making less spiritual advancement in this life then he would if these propensities were addressed in a devotional education and social setting. I hear you inviting people into this devotional education and social setting in your talks.
Some devotees choose to just preach their knowledge of Bhagavata philosophy and don’t concern themselves with any other ideas or views and that is fine and effective in some circles but you Sir (Maharaja) have an uncanny ability to align various concepts with the teachings of Krishna, even those seemingly very distant from Bhagavata philosophy. I started on Soundcloud, working through your “ISKCON Education” type talks and “Psychology and the Sacred”, then the whole Sri Isopanisad seminars from Mayapur Institute and once I could not find anymore on Soundcloud I moved onto the ISKCON Desire Tree stock of your lectures and have worked my way through at least 15 lectures and this is all in the past two weeks! I just can’t get enough. I was fortunate enough to get the job of painting one house of a vaisnava and Krishna’s timing is perfect as I’ve already booked tickets to India for my family. The great thing about house painting is one can spend the day listening to whatever he pleases.
ASA - And breathing toxic paint fumes too, no!?
Your talks are so satisfying and have such a profound awakening affect on me that I can now hardly bare listening to mainstream podcasts on science and philosophy while I’m working. It is all available in your talks! You have this incredible ability to lift the curtain on both the philosophies of the Bhagavata and the West to reveal Krishna in a way that invites the audience to understand that ultimately everything is Krishna, that we are the best at a unique service to Krishna and Krishna needs to receive it from us, and that Krishna Consciousness truly is a choice with growth sanctioned by mercy.
We are very grateful for your ongoing service to Srila Prabhupada as it pulls us closer to Krishna and we are very much looking forward to seeing you in India Jan-Feb 2017.
Aspiring to be your shiksha disciple,
Dhruvananda Das
Disciple of HH Devamrita Swami
Son of Atul Krishna Prabhu
Husband of your disciple Dhanesvari Devi Dasi
Father of Suryani Dayalu O’Shea
HpS - Eiii, Mate, 'aven't you got a dog too yet!? [eg. Master of Bowser, the Dog]. We are a little doubtful about the full perfection of our Science and the Vedas work, but certainly hope that Dudes like you can give us some perspective on the topic. The presentation we just did in Chennai and the Oxford Center program was a big challenge. We learned a lot and got some very good feedback. We hope to see you soon.
Our India number is +91 96 4343 1330 !!