Letters to the editor

All Glories to Sri Sri Goura Nitay
 All Glories to Srila Prabhupada
 All Glories to Hanumat Presaka Swami Maharaja

Hare Krishna Gurudeva, I´m Ignacio González from Viña del mar. I write on behalf of the spiritual brothers here in Valparaiso (3).

In the last letter you were asking about Carlos Bustamante, he works in Santa Maria University.  We were thinking that since we work last year with Carlos Bustamante in comparative literature (Hamlet v/s Arjuna) we can do something in the same line, which could be the “Aleph”. If you prefer we can prepare the full presentation of the Light of the Bhagavatam (Paintings, video and symposium) to do it in this university instead of the Aleph.

What did you think about the aleph? it`s a good material? If you liked we can prepare some first version of power point presentation that you can, later, improve. Good idea? If you like it we will work this year in Valparaiso with The Aleph and the Light of the Bhagavatam.

Keep following the 4 principles and chanting 16 lousy rounds
Trying to serve you!

Ignacio

HpS - AGTSP!    Paoho.   We read the Aleph.  It has very strong feel of Argentina and the time and place.   It is like celestial sense gratification of some painters we know.  BBT artists copy their work.  But the comparisan with the Virata rupa is not much.  The "Aleph" is like Virata Rupa Darshana but without service attitude it will have very little effect on the person.  Borges is like a like a Mayavadi, Brahmavadi, who may become a devotee (we have this contamination also), but he is attached to celestial sense gratification, and that is about all there is to say.  More productive might be the Phaedo and the Light of the Bhagavata!  Have you read it?  The St. Bernard's commentar on the Song of Solomon and the LOB.  Have read that...?

Hare Krishna Maharaj.

Please accept my humble obeisances at the dust of your lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

By Vasihnava and Krsna's mercy, I'm still continuing my sadhana, study of Bhakti Sastri. Continuing to have your association in the medium of your notes, through your disciple. Thank you so much Maharaj! In our BhaktiVriksha we are discussing NOI.  You're one of my most inspiring person in making me take up the Upadesamrta seriously.  Whenever I hear or read about you or your realizations, I know the path is far yet reachable if I follow the guru parampara. I'm fortunate to have your precious association in this life time. as the sastras say, lava matra sadhu sanga sarva siddhi hoy... that few little association with you in Boise has taken me long way in Krishna Consciousness. Still quite a far away from the Supreme Goal.

I'm trying and praying to Krsna to bring about the real change in heart.  Lots of impurities from many births and trying to japa more sincerely and attentively.  

We are eagerly waiting to see Chicago in your calendar. I constantly check your calendar to see if you're coming and have your association. 

Although insignificant, my sincere prayers to Nrsimha deva to protect you always Maharaj.

Your lowly servant

gayathri (chicago)

HpS - ASA   -   AGTSP.                Jaya!  So nice to hear from you, Mata Ji!    We are in Peru.   Hot semi-desert farm lands.  Mosquitos, canal water, rice, devotees!    We saw one Vice-Dean of Arquitecture in Chile. Born same year as us and we were so similar.   It was like Krsna was showing us what we would have beocme if we had not met Srila Prabhupada.   By SP's mercy we seem to be doing a little something.   We hope we can continue and become more pure.   What is the news from Chicago?  Kishor Kishori?   What are they doing???   Photos??

Dear Guru Maharaj,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I can't remember where you are now. South America perharps? You seem to be in many places at once.

HpS - ASA   -   AGTSP    paoho.   We are in Ferrenafe, Peru, with fan roaring and sill be bitten three diferent places by one determined mosquito.   Takes the blood. Shares with a female and produces more mosquitos!  Hare Krsna!!

In regards to your reply from last post, Yogendra and I started reading about Devahuti and Kardama muni. We found out some interesting things. In one of Prabhupada's purports, it is described what the roles of a husband and wife are. Something about one taking care of household affairs and another controlling some sense gratification. I have a difficult time remembering things I read. But we're slowly moving along with the pastime.

HpS - ASA - Jaya!   We remember things within the heart when we actually have to apply them!

Our Toronto Ratha Yatra is on the 14 and 15 of July. It would be so nice to have you here and all the devotees would appreciate your visit very much. 

ASA - Drat!   That is exactly in the middle of our visit to Houston.  Planned for two months now!!!

Also, Yogendra and I would like to ask for your blessings and your permission if we can get married in September. To be exact, the 15 of September. We have been taking some guidance and advice from Mother Praharana dd who is a god sister of yours and is part of the Grihastha vision team. She's very kind and super amazing. We trust her words and has experienced a lot in her life. You are invited to the wedding, of course!!

HpS - ASA  -   Jaya!   Please go ahead as necessary.  It is on our calendar!

I will keep this short. 17 rounds, 4 regs, some reading( I really need to regulate it), some sankirtan (althought any kind of preaching counts- as I have been told), temple seva.

Please forgive any offenses I have comitted.

Your aspiring servant,

Rasa-mandali dd

HpS - ASA --  Very nice...   Will you be doing puppet shows soon?

Su santidad gracias pero la verdad leer su humilde respuesta me ha hecho tener el  sentimiento de q realmente quiero q ud sea mi guru

no pense q fuera a sentir eso pero cuando lei lo de Tattua ( me imagino q es el peruano, hice sankirtan con el en la maraton de bolivia el año pasado y es un nectar )

me di cuenta q no seria igual si uds furan mi siksa, senti mucha tristeza, esto era lo q queria saber si en realidad me sintiera igual sirviendo a alguno de los dos, pero Su Santidad de corazon quiero servirlo, deme la oportunidad de ser su discipulo;

HpS - ASA -  Jaya!  TlgaSP!!!      Senor, Brian, muy bien oir de Vd otra vez!    Es hecho que soy aun luchando con la modalidad de ignorancia.  Dormiendo mas que es 100% necesario.   Pelicula de pequeno Krsna etc.   Entre Narottama Das Thakura y Visvanatha Cakravarti hay, como yo entiendo, tres generaciones de Diksa gurus, pero ninguna fue un "Sampradaya Acharya".  No es decir no fueron bueno devotos, pero no fueron peronsas en el nivel de Srila Prabhupada. Muy bien yo, Jayapataka Maharaja, Prahladananda Swami, muchos, puede ser al minimo buen enlace con Vd y Srila Prabhupada. Puede ser Siksa gurus a limite de su comprehension.
Primero iniciacion es primero incicaion.  Despues 2nd, 3rd, 4th . . . .
Somos listos servir como podemos.
Basicamente si esta cantando 16-rondas entusiastas, siguiendo estrictamente 4 principios, manteniendo programa por la manana y tarde y bien integrado con la Sankirtana de ISKCON puede tomar 1st initiation.

Jayapataca fuera mi siksa [guru] pero la verdad es q le escribi varias veces a su correo al grupo de face al correo de discipulos y no he resivido respuesta... asi q bueno Krsna controla.

su santidad de gustaria q me explicaran mas un poco acerca de q RADHARANI Y KRSNA buscan lo q es BALARAMA  incluso BALARAMA  mismo no entiendo disculpe mi constante ignorancia.

HpS - ASA - En el libro KRSNA podemos encontrar que los Vrijabasis son listos entrar en la Yamuna para salvar a Krsna de Kaliya, pero Balarama esta parando ellos, por qu El conoce el poder de Krsna.  No esutvo abajo de Yoga maya, pensando que Krsna es un muchacho pequeno.  Sacrifica Sus ecstacies para entender Krsna como El Todo Podero para tomar papel de Guru para los Vrijabasis.  En el CC dice que Krsna, el devoto de Krsna y servicio devocional, los tres, juntan y bailan y nadie puede entender perfectamente quien es encarga! La potencia de entender y la potencia de hacer cosas maravillosos de Krsna siempre esta competiendo.  Krsna conoce Sus glories y la proxima momento estan expandiendo y El tiene que entender de nuevo!

HARE KRSNA

[Bh. Brian]

All glories to Sri Sri Radha Krishna

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Dear Guru Maharaja, please accept our respectuful obeisances at your feet.

We hope you are in good health, we know you are in Chiclayo with Patraka and Candra Mukhi.

 It's been difficult for us to use the computer, we are not allow to use it if we are with baby Madhu, and that's all the time! Our life it's pretty much the same. We are waking up earlier, to be able to do things while the children sleep. Grihastha life it's a nice way for learning that we are not the star of this movie and to learn that we are not the doer. Life in Vrindavan is hard and so beautiful, so full with wonderful contradictions.  The lord keeps us busy, other wise our mind will explode. we are still very much in the mood of passion. We try to help devotees in all the ways we can, we have taken that service, we are thinking in opening an information center/travel agency. at least we have 3 visits a day of devotees that need seva. We are talking with some devotees to see if we can organize festivals at the temple and start a theater group. there should be so nice plays in Vrindavan!

ASA - AgtSP!        Also puppet shows are nice!   Even simple "stick-puppets" but with nice dialog from behind the curtain!

We want to do Chinese shadow puppets.

ASA - Oh!    We did those.   Can be sophisticated to make the puppets.  Require special light.

We are expecting a new baby, we are almost 4 months. We are going to Chile next month for 3 months to visit family and friends. our mother wants to retire and leave her busines to us. so we will see how that goes. We want to start a reading group. Guru Maharaja, for us will be very important to be able to participate from the skype programs.  We are always asking to the Lord so all is good. Thank you for taking time to write to all of us.

We will never give up, we are very stubborn, one day we will grab Radharani's feet and we will never let go,  We will chant one day and have the taste for it. we beg for it.

Trying to clean our heart, Cakori Radha Devi dasi.

p.s: Our husband made in China a series of Gongbi paintings of the Light of Bhagavata inside glass bottles by a nice artist he knows. He was telling me we could make a special edition of The Light of Bhagavata with hand painted pictures is best quality paper. it would be expensive i told him. do you think someone could be interested on it?  We where thinking to send it to colleges and institutes.

 HpS - ASA  --   Would be very difficult to work with the BBT to get the copy rights etc.   Also, you mean each edition has it's own hand-painted pictures?     Might make selected paintings with few words and distribute in connection with the BBT book???

So you will return to Vrndavana when you are 7 months pregnant?   P'pada said that Mother should not travel after like 4th month I heard!

Thank you for your news.   Association!    We are in Delhi 9th May, Glory of India Temple, intiation etc!  Next day we go to Kolkata, Manipur.

AGTSP

Please accept my humble obeissances

Thanks and more thanks for trusting your poetry to us.  

Our present schedule has been shaken by the loss of laptop.  No more jobs to do.  Or novel writing to follow.   I presently have no desire to go back to mundane job life.  So the loss is working for dharma I believe but still figuring that one out.   Tryng to keep our mind quiet and centered. reading a lot, listening to music a lot, (lots George Harrison)  Celibate for almost three years so I perfectly understand your comment on leaving the itching genitals behind,  it seriously keeps the "mosquitoes"  away and also opens new paths of consciousness. No alcohol or drugs, coffe etc.  No partying.  No credit card, cable tv, internet at home, etc  It Feels like  vanaprastam sometimes but know it is just a fraction of that, a tiny one. We meet with devotees on saturday for musical group and honor prasadam. When chance comes we join the sankirtan with Vijay Prabhu (singing vaisnava teacher) and devotees in Temple.  We`re reading the Teachings of Lord Caitanya and re-reading Upadesamrita, Gita, Isopanishad and others.   Trying hard to keep a strict vegetarian diet but due to health problems (transplanted kidney in `07)  need some protein from chiken or fish, but never ever ever touch anything else. Honor Cows.  (I`ll talk to the dietician of hospital to ask for possible 100% veggi diet)

ASA - HpS = AGTSP    Devotee here in Peru has had first transplant, lasted much longer than normal, now on second and has been strict vegetarian.   While he was between transplants was on dialysis and always many times cleaner blood that normal or others.  Doctors, nurses always asking about his life style.  Plenty of energy!    Maybe he is readin this?

We sleep late due to feeling of loneliness and feel confort in movies so therefore we wake up late.   We feel more and more detached from life in city and dream of peaceful abode somewhere in the woods, mountains or desert. But difficult to accomplish.  Not chanting rounds and still feel that  "I am-I do"  and Cartesian trick  very present. Imprints from years gone and past lifes still around (like rock music) but with a stronger hint of fading away.  Only possible thanks the mercy of the Lord and Vaisnavas.

Hare Krishna  Maharaj     We don`t understand much how this works but intellect not important in such matters. Only a tool given by the energy of the Lord for present life.  We are receiving lots of mercy from siksa Guru and vaisnavas. And mosquitoes have less power over us. 

We wish you a very pleasant and transcendental stay in Peru !  
The fallen jiva with the greatest luck on earth
Raul

 HpS - ASA --   There is no fixed program for anyone, no?    We are all different. Srila Prabhupada took several years to become and inititated devotee after he met and accepted Srila Bh. Siddhanta S. in his heart. In NOD is suggestion of Rupa G. / Srila P'pada to consider carefully with the intelligence what we can do and then take a vow of a fixed number of rounds of Japa and do it.   Eg. "I will chant 4-rounds/day from this Ekadasi until the next". By that proccess he says we can advance!