Letters to the editor

Hare Krishna, dear Gurudeva, Pamho, AGTSP!

Tomorrow I'm traveling to Tarapoto (Peruvian jungle) to give for fifth time the disciple course. I'm really excited! I enjoy so much interacting with my students.

I need to impove a lot. That's why I'm very much decided to study my master degree next year. I was thinking of doing it in USA, but it'll demand a lot of financial means and besides my english is not that good, and I guess you need some level of proficency to study in collegue. So I'm investigating here in Peru. Universidad la Cantuta is really going through a very difficult time in politics (for a change) and the academic level is very low now.

I think I'll go for my old university. It's a catholic university. Still in one of the best in Education. Its philosophy and everything was always avant garde, constructivist, and everything that I like...so probably I'll go for that. 

Two years! But I think that besides my own progress, It'll be good for NIMSAR to become totally legal in Peru. A University needs people with degrees to lead.

Wish me luck. I'm always trying to do thing for me and the welfare of NIMSAR, ASA, and of course, Srila Prabhupada's mission.

Thanks a lot for your association, I'm very furtunate.

ysLAD

HpS - Jaya!    TlgaSP!     Paoho.   Thank you for all this news.    I'm sure it will help others in making their decisions.     Prabhupada pushed the academic degrees for some and told others it was worthless.  From what I know it seems like it can be very usefull for you.    If we consult many people then we will have good counsel and then we will have victory.
Of course, as you mentioned when we talked about this there is the advantage of being in the middle of the University and therefore able to present Krsna consciousness in many ways.   This then leads to being a part of the academic community in the professional perspective.   Radhika has this advantage. He is head of a Department of Relgious Studies and can introduce good ideas within that enviroment.

Send us news from Tarapoto.

Letter to Sriman Acarya-ratna Das, President, ISKCON, Kolkatta

Hare Krsna, Prabhu,

AGTSP!    Paoho.   We have not heard much from you for a long time, but of course you have also not heard much from us either.

Dr. Samaresh tried several times and ways to call the devotee whose phone number you gave us and it was always, "Out of Reach", even on the weekends.  Lamentably I could not follow up on that any more.

We really are hoping to get the association of all of you soon.

We have continued with this academic Sankirtan and by the unlimited mercy of Srila Prabhupada there have been amazing results. The last thing we did was a Symposium on Psychology and the Sacred in partnership with the National Library of Peru. This is one of the most prestigious and interesting in the world, with many ancient manuscripts and intense areas of artistic and scholarly investigation.

Please, go to youtube.com and use the keywords: psychology and the sacred 2016, to find a short and little longer, very illuminating, video extract of the event. The Ambassador of India, the scholars, everyone, wants to develop this more.

I hope very much that you and everyone can take leading effort in this Sankirtan, why else call your selves residents of Kolkatta, the City of Joy.

We got a Houston - Delhi - Houston ticket for only $785!    We will be in the glorious land of Bharata from 1st January to 15th February.  The beginning and end are tied down with 2-6 January and 7-10th in Tirupati and Madras with Radhika-raman and Krsna-ksetra for a Vaisnava-Christian Dialog and a Bhagavata Symposium, University of Madras.

Are you participating in these???

Then at the end like 10-14th February is the Guru, GBC, Sannyasi Sanga in Sri Sri Sri Dhama Maypura.

What shall we do in between. We have calls from Rama-giri-dhari Das and Goloka Education, Pune, and Manipur, but we are always very much at your service!!!

What city can be more enlivening than Kolkatta!

Letter to Prahlad-ananda Swami

Hare Krsna, Maharaja,

AGTSP paoho.

We hope this meets you in the best of Sankirtan spirits!    We have a ticket for India from 1st Jan to 15th Feb.

First is Vaisnava-Christian Dialog and then a Symposium on the Bhagavata that Radhika-ramana Das and Krsna-ksetra are organizing.

The conclusion is the GBC, Guru, Sannyasi Sanga in Mayapura.  I hope to sit with Braja-bihari Das in November and discuss the program, but I also wanted to discuss it with you.

I asked him if you were on the Organizing Committee but he said no, but you attended.  Why is that?   Hmmmm?       It seems as Minister of Sannyasa Services you should be intimately involved with the project.

We have some very poignant thoughts on this topic: GBC Sannyasa relations, that we really feel are essential at this point in ISKCON's development.

What about you?

What about Bhakti Purna Vidya Swami's ideas?

Maybe we could even write small paper and present some ideas at the Sanga.

Bhakti rasa amrta Swami made the point that in Buddhism there is the Sanga and the Sangha. The Sanga is the association of devotees and the Sangha is the organizational institution and the relation between these is clarified.

Thank you

HpS

We would like to circulate all these ideas amongst our little Sankirtan team.

Hare Krsna!  "Monkey", Bhakta Tom, asked us to post the following for comments:

VAISNAVI
We have been little confused by what seems to be the introduction of the term “Vaisnavi” into our ISKCON culture. We never heard it much and then it was becoming very prominent and a political slogan.

The position of women, the position of Sannyasis, the position of chocolate, in ISKCON are all topics that are important for creating the proper ambience for Bhagavata Dharma, sravanam, kirtanam et al and we are certainly willing to discuss our opinions on the topics as it is profitable.

Our primary discomfort with the term Vaisnavi has been that it seems to put a bodily conception on the Vaisnava. It seems to be degrading the Vaisnava from pure spirit soul using a material designation, to one actually determined by that designation. It is offensive to see the Spiritual Master, the Deity in the Temple or a Devotee from a materialistic point of view, no?

We have been sitting on these inquietudes with our tail tucked away for a long time trying to understand them, and have seen very exalted Matajis have the same comprehension that they also feel that the term puts a material conception on their right to be Vaisnavas, as if we would say Atma and Atmi.

Well, by golly, we looked up the term on Vedabase.com and it is cited variously in Prabhupada’s books, but the majority of cases it comes back as a name for goddess Durga.

There seem to be only three other cases where Prabhupada uses it: For the prostitute who tried to seduce Hari Dasa Thakura and then became a Vaisnavi, for Diti who tried to murder her sister’s babies and them became a Vaisnavi and Prabhupada’s own sister.

These are all elevated souls. We should be so lucky to achieve their positions, but is there some material conception still lingering in their realization? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Prabhupada appears to have unlimited affection for his very, very esteemed sister, but the general ambience is there that other family members still retained some flavor of material conception in their worship of Visnu, and therefore do we think of them as mildly materially tinged Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis such as Maitreya Muni before he met Krsna with Uddhava et al.

Well, we asked HpSwami to post this so that people could give us there opinions. There are like 9-more things that we could say about this but then we would not be able to get to Sannyasa and Chocolate, so we will stop here.

Hare Krsna, Gurudev

Dandavat pranam.

All glories to H.D.G.Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, param-gurudev.

All glories to you and your Sankirtan yagya .

Thank you so much for your mercy. The last 10 days were really nice. H.G. Mukunda Dutta prabhu is really helping me. My rounds have improved.

General sadhana for last 10 days ----16 rounds + more chanted....on 30th I missed few rounds but made it up on 31st. Mangal Aarti attended 7\10 days , 4 regulations followed. Getting my missed rounds done too. Deity worship classes are awesome. Mukunda Dutta prabhu is telling us so many wonderful Lila that is taking place Nitya in goloka Vrindavan and what should be our consciousness while we worship the deity. He said that in Srimad Bhagawatam it is said that Krsna told Uddhava that worship of his Deity in the form of puja (snana and giving vastra and other upacharas are most pleasing to Him) .

I am really grateful to Srila Prabhupada , previous acharyas , you gurudev , H.g.Mukunda Dutta prabhu, for giving me the opportunity to worship the deity. Its only brahmanas who get the chance to worship but all of u are extremely merciful so you are allowing me. 

Bhakti-sastri is ok. Now I am getting some taste again in reading. Will make my efforts stronger. Hope I learn something. You said the lesson maybe "dont stay too long in Vrindavan". Do you mean I should leave Vrindavan but I think I want to improve...what is your order gurudev?

HpS - As long as you can control senses stay there unless you leave for teaching.

You asked if I had any realisation...I think the only realisation that I have here is that Srimati Radharani's mercy is the most supreme. If I pray to her she will definitely protect me. Krsna might put many tests and may not help me progress many times but Radharani is most merciful. She will definitely help. Am I wrong?

HpS - She is Krsna's personal power. Good, bad or indiferent, all experiences in Vraja are eternal and give us a connection with Vraja mandala, that is the perfection of life, to be more and more and more, awake to our eternal connection with Braja. How long will you stay?

Thank you so much.

I think I will post my sadhana every 10 days so that I feel connected to u and I remain strict .

Hare krsna 

Thank you

Rituraj krsna das 

Vrindavan 

Report August

Please accept my respetuosas obeisances a your feet of loto.

HpS - Pies de loco.

Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada! Todas las Glorias al Sankirtan de Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu!

Espero haya pasado beautiful fiestas de Balarama Pournima! , Sri Krsna Janmastami!! And appearance of Srila Prabhupada!!

HpS - Si, los mejores en esta vida!

This month fue muy especial. Celebramos balaramastami [balarama-purnima, astami indica 8th dia la luna] en casa, muy sencillo pero lindo compartir. En Janmastami fui al centro de predica, hice dos danzas: Bhumi namaskar and Ganesha Puspanjali. Tambien programe 2 dances more: Govindam adi Purusam and Siksastaka. Entonces organizare mejor en otra oportunidad. 

El dia de la aparición de Srila Prabhupada nos visitaron dos devotos con los cuales compartimos lectura del nectar de Prabhupada y un poco de Su biografía. Compartimos lo que hubiera sido nuestra vida sin haber conocido un libro de El y tantos regalos recibidos por Su divina gracia en especial el maha mantra.

Una noticia mas que tengo para contarle es que me invitaron a bailar para un programa de TV. Asi que fuimos dos devotos y yo. El devoto mostro un poco de cocina India, la devota mostro maquillaje con henna y yo mostre algo de danza. Me hizo recordar los tiempos que hice practicas de Tv mientras estudiaba. Una de las chicas que trabaja alli muestra mucho interes por los devotos e incluso hizo un servicio de maquillaje para un Ratha Yatra.

Franco le envía sus reverencias. Me dice que su misión es ser feliz en conciencia de Krsna y criar a Gopalito para que él también lo sea.

Gracias por toda su inspiración Gurumaharaja.

Excuseme please alguna ofensa.

Intentando servirlo: Radha Japa Prati Jalpa dd.

HpS - Escriba cada dia las cosas que pasan, y entonces en fin de mes va a tener muco reportar, va a ser sorprendida!