Letters to the editor

Hare Krsna dear Gurumaharaja

Please accept our sincere obeisances

Jay Srila Prabhupada!

After making some inquiries and consulting with my fellow representatives of the Ministry, some alternatives arose according to your guidelines:

• Your suggested speakers: SS Hanumatpresaka Swami, SS Yadunandana Swami, Radhika Ramana das, Subhra devi dasi.

Speakers and topics suggested by us:

• Dhanvantari Swami: I would be willing to give a talk about the Bhakti Sastri program offered at the Jaladuta institute.

• Prema Rupa das (Argentina): has a very successful online sastric program, especially aimed at grhasthas. Could contribute to this topic (DVAD). I spoke with him, very kind and willing to collaborate. Sends you his obeisances.

• Mitravinda devi dasi (Representative of the Ministry in Brazil) She directs the online educational program of the Jaladuta institute of Dhanvantari Swami. Very capable. She can emphasize this pedagogical format.

• Sarvabhauma das (Brazil) is operating a community and educational program for Vanaprasthas in his country. He wants to attract devotees to collaborate with him. (Needs a translator, but there are vailable)

• Harinam Gauranga das (Colombian and Representative of the Ministry in his country, Venezuela and Panama) He can explain the challenges and strategies that it means to start / formalize a pedagogical program where it does not exist (an authentic pioneer!).

• Param Padam das (Argentina and representative of the Ministry in his country, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) Proposes 2 workshops: 1) a teacher training seminar (accreditation processes and how to build your online course) / 2) a meeting-debate (on pedagogical methods and facilitation of tools for the presentation / teaching of controversial topics). In this case, it is about participatory programs, separately on two different days.

• Subhadra devi dasi (Brazil) is in charge of a very successful childhood education program for the children of devotees of different ages, she also directs the educational program for the National Board of Brazil. (Needs a translator, but there are vailable)

• Gandharva das (Peru and representative of the Ministry in his country, Ecuador and Bolivia) 'Pramanas and learning experiences', in which I propose learning strategies of contemporary education linked to Vedic epistemology.

• Laksmana-agraja das (Peru) Teaching-learning process in SB classes.

• We can also summon Aravinda das (Argentina / Mexico) and Karunya Nitai das (Ecuador), both renowned educators.

You can make a selection of those participants that seem most suitable for the event.

Ys

Gandharva das

HpS - Wow! AgtSP. Paoho.

Are you in contact with the ISKCON Ministry of Education? How often? Who? What Official positions?

We hear some real concern from Members of Peru Yatra management that they feel lack of communication. When we last time you were in contact with Director of Education for Peruvian National Council?

We are specifically asking ISKCON Chosika to be a co-sponsor of this December 15th to January 7th ASA Symposium on Education.

Then we hope to organize another in Houston March 7th-17th. Then.... others in USA, Spain July 15th to October 7th, India Kartika.

So, we can make a commitment take things slowly and progress.

With the proposed time we have, three weeks, we can accommodate so many people. We will want to consolidate things for our movie: DTC-UT.

Subra devi Das and Radhika ramana Das will be coming mid-December and 25th December so they can be focus for VAD education, Kinder to Kollege, but we need good work on general principles of education eg. What is the goal of education? What is an educated man?

O.K?

You will be staying with your in-laws for some of these days and be visiting regularly?

Please discuss all these things with Karuna krsna Prabhu and give us some news here.

Thank you so, so, so much. Your Monkeys are just as much alive our our dinning room table as the first day they came.

P.S. We forgot to add, Patraka Das, CMDD, Rohini Devi Dasi to the list!!

Dear Gurudeva:

All Glories to Sri Sri Radha Krishna

All Glories to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

Please accept my humble obeisances

Many changes have happened since my last letter, I am sorry I did not write sooner. This will be a small report with the news.

HpS/ASA - 🙂 🙏

I got married on November 5 and have been living in Switzerland for a month and a half. That day was Govardhan Puja, so after the wedding we went to the temple to celebrate.

Now that we got married i applied for residency. We are done with the procedures, now we just have to wait for permission to be granted.

HpS/ASA - All of us four Brahmacaris here salute you!!!! May you help your husband progress to complete Sannyasa and follow him in body, speech, and mind. Read the marriage of Kardama and Devahuti together, Canto Three?

Switzerland is different from Argentina in many ways, so I am still adjusting. I live in a small village called Wängi, in the countryside, there are many animals, mainly cows, there is a small forest where I go to chant rounds with my husband Philip.

He is a nurse, he works in a home for people with disabilities, taking care of them. The shifts are rotating, so it is somewhat difficult to have a routine when the schedules change every day. If his work allows us, on Sunday we go to the temple and cook for the festival, sometimes we go to other programs in the houses of devotees.

HpS - You are a very, very lucky girl!

It is not possible for me to connect regularly to gotomeeting due to the time difference, I think when I get used to these new schedules I will be able to connect more frequently.

Meanwhile I miss your association very much. Here the devotees are very friendly, I felt well received. The head pujari invited me to serve as a pujari, I would like to start next year, so I have a little more time to adapt to all the changes.

I am trying to be a good wife, I would like Philip to always feel inspired and happy in Krishna consciousness, if you could give me some advice on how to keep other devotees inspired or any other advice associated with my new situation I would really appreciate it.

HpS/ASA - We have no magic formulas. Just can remind you of what you already know. Please do the same for us. If you follow four principles strictly, chant 16-nice rounds daily, keep a full morning and evening program and see that anyone under your authority and you you inspire others to do it, you will have NO POROBLEMS. You will have effective preaching and preaching opportunities!!!! Details and options in the KRSNA book.

Thank you. Congratualtions.

Our best wishes to Nurse Phillip.

Your aspirant servant

Kirtida Devi Dasi

Querido Gurudev: Pamho. Toda gloria a Srila Prabhupada y sus seguidores fieles.

Espero que se encuentre animado cuando lea esta carta.

Seguimos su sankirtan a través del blog. Interesante. En mayor o menor grado solemos tener todos los mismos desafíos.

Lo mas sobresaliente de mi informe es, que después de conocer a Prabhupada a través de sus libros hace 38 años aún sigo apreciando cada vez mas su personalidad. También es resaltante que mi deseo de ser un buen devoto sigue intacto. Y no menos importante es que sigo identificándome con ISKCON, a pesar de las diferencias de criterio que tengo con el GBC.

En el plano interno estoy apreciando sinceramente la pureza de intenciones de los devotos en dos aspectos:

a) La intención de volverse devotos.

b) La intención de ayudar a otros a que se hagan devotos.

Hemos estado de vacaciones en el sur del pais, visitando a la familia y a los devotos en Málaga y es muy gratificante estar en sadhu sanga. Despues hemos estado en Santander con Jara Mara, Tirtha Kirti y otros; también muy bien. De Santander a NVM, donde hay un ambiente muy bueno y donde se estan haciendo cosas muy interesantes.

Despues de la partida de Avesa Rupa hemos decidido dejar el proyecto de Navalakunda. La propiedad la hemos donado a la Fundación Abhay (creada para gestionar las propiedades de ISKCON España). Hemos donado 3160 euros a ISKCON Tenerife, que han comprado el local donde tenían el Templo. La furgoneta de sankirtan la hemos donado a ISKCON Madrid y a Nueva Vrajamandala le hemos donado libros, parafernalia, etc y 100.000 euros en efectivo.

Ahora estoy centrado en el Sat Sanga de la Sierra de Guadarrama y Purnamasi en actividades con los niños.

No le ocupo mas tiempo y, espero que nos veamos de nuevo con estos viejo cuerpos.

Sin mas

su sirviente

Jayanta das

PD. - Esta carta es de hace varios meses, y la verdad es que es una carta irrelevante, escrita con la única intención de mantener la relación con el gurú y sus asociados. Me sorprende que las cartas que no lleven el CP pierdan su interés. Creo que es una medida algo exagerada. Cuando una carta lleva un tiempo razonable sin ser atendida pasa a ser prioritaria de forma automática. Por supuesto que respeto su criterio pero creo que de ese modo siempre estamos escuchando las opiniones de los mismos y parece que hay una escasez de críticos evidente y necesaria.

=-=-=-=

Dear Gurudev: Pamho. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and his faithful followers.

I hope he is encouraged when he reads this letter.

ASA/TB-BW - We also!

We follow his sankirtan through the blog. Interesting. To a greater or lesser degree we tend to have all the same challenges.

The highlight of my report is that after meeting Prabhupada through his books 38 years ago I still appreciate his personality more and more. It is also remarkable that my desire to be a good devotee is still intact. And no less important is that I continue to identify with ISKCON, despite the differences of opinion that I have with the GBC.

HpS - GBC is ultimate managing authority in ISKCON. Having disputes is guaranteed part of management, no? If everybody agrees on management work then it is very, very, very suspicious. Probably somebody is lying, plotting. 😎

Internally I am sincerely appreciating the purity of intentions of the devotees in two respects:

a) The intention to become devotees.

b) The intention of helping others to become devotees.

We have been on vacation in the south of the country, visiting family and devotees in Malaga and it is very gratifying to be in sadhu sanga. Later we have been in Santander with Jara Mara, Tirtha Kirti and others; also very well. From Santander to NVM, where there is a very good atmosphere and where very interesting things are being done.

After Avesa Rupa's departure we have decided to leave the Navalakunda project. We have donated the property to the Abhay Foundation (created to manage the properties of ISKCON Spain). We have donated 3,160 euros to ISKCON Tenerife, who have bought the place where they had the Temple. We have donated the sankirtan van to ISKCON Madrid and to Nueva Vrajamandala we have donated books, paraphernalia, etc. and 100,000 euros in cash.

HpS/ASA - 😮 We hope you prayed a lot about the decision and consulted with many nice people. devotees. Seems like B I G decisions, but can also be fantastic preaching. Thank you for all the effort.

We plan to visit Spain from like middle of July to first week in October. We want to come after the heat is a little lower and leave with everyone possible to got the India for Kartika.

What do you think?

Best dates?

We would probably just stay in NVM where people could visit us and you know the kind of work we are doing: Consolidating all the Sankirtan efforts.

Now I am focused on the Sat Sanga of the Sierra de Guadarrama and Purnamasi in activities with the children.

I don't take up any more time and, I hope we meet again with these old bodies.

No more

his servant

Jayanta das

asa[e] - Uncle Gismo, Information Management Science

P.S. -This letter is from several months ago, and the truth is that it is an irrelevant letter, written with the sole intention of maintaining the relationship with the guru and his associates. It surprises me that the letters that do not have the CP lose the interest of him. I think it is a somewhat exaggerated measure. When a letter has not been attended for a reasonable time, it automatically takes priority. Of course I respect their criteria but I think that in this way we are always listening to their opinions and it seems that there is an evident and necessary shortage of critics.

HpS - Thank you for your comments on this topic. It is very important. Before the Blof we were getting 400-500 letters a month! 90% had the same basic three questions:

1. Where are you?
2. How is your health?
3. What are you doing?

We tried, but we just could not answer so many letters. Then with the Blog many sincere devotees began to read the answers to question by others and did not have to ask the three basic questions above, nor ask the other more general questions such as:

1. Can I take initiation from you?
2. What is the relationship with family and Temple?
3. How can I control my mind?

Even the more specific questions about SB, BG, etc. Were answered for those who read the responses to others, so our letters dropped to 150/month.

With the Letter Types listed above, the work load decreased even more eg. I will tag this letter Calendar Development and Category B which means that we can start filtering it for devotees who are interested in the European ASA Calendar Development, and that it includes things, Letters to the Editor, that should go for permanent reference in the ASA-Encyclopedia.

Yet, even 150/month can be heavy load as our eyes become more week. You can see how many letters we have answered so far. You can see that we sent a basic report in the DTC before we started and now our eyes are strained. We will push it a little and probably cause a little permanent damage, but that's life. We are all going to die, so why not die for something eternal.

Also, a lot of the letters involve mental work, as opposed to sensual and intellectual work, so we get headaches after a certain number.

Please send us your thoughts!

! ! !

One immediate response is, you should get a secretary. Bonk. We have tried it. We will continue to try it. Has advantages and drawbacks.

Thank you.

Writing to you like this is very, nice. We remember your Ashrama, everything.

-0-0-0-

Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada

Todas las glorias a usted mi muy querido Gurumaharaja 

Por favor acepté mis mas humildes y respetuosas reverencias 

Querido Gurumaharaja disculpe por favor mis faltas , tengo mucho que contarle , resumiré un poco y escribiré más frecuentemente 

Seguimos 4 principios

16 no tan buenas rondas pero seguimos esforzándonos , siguimos su instrucción de 3 días por lo menos de servicio en el templo actualmente 5 días a la semana entre cocina , compra de bhoga y flores apoyamos lo mas que podemos en los festivales y el templo en general , pienso que mi vida material es un total fracaso sin embargo la asociación de sri krsna y sus devotos hacen que está vida valga la pena , por ahora tenemos mucha asociación con los devotos y eh tenido la oportunidad de acercarme a más devotos y los eh tratado de servir lo mejor posible ,  en tiempos de cuarentena me fui a refugiar al templo por 4 meses y apoyamos en lo que nos pedían por ahora solo me dedico a trabajar, al servicio devocional y poco estudio de la sastra 

Gurudeva disculpe mi atrevimiento no se si recuerde que en su última visita a México en ese entonces prabhu jamuna presidente del templo me recomendó para tomar segunda iniciación ahora las autoridades del templo me pidieron que le escribiera para pedirle su misericordia y poder tomar segunda iniciación , eh preguntado a 5 buenos brahmanas a discípulos de Srila Prabhupada y algunos devotos mayores y me animaron a escribirle a usted yo sé que me falta mucho camino por recorrer pero ahora estoy seguro que quiero morir en manos de sri krsna y no de mayadevi 

Siempre trato de recordarlo por lo menos tres veces al día , por su misericordia es que estoy tratando de poner un pequeño granito de arena a la mision de Srila Prabhupada y tratando de complacerlo a usted , por la mañana oró al señor nrisimha deva para que siga resguardando a iskcon y por las tardes le pido que por favor lo cuide a usted mi quiero Gurudeva 

Disculpe que casi no me conecte a sus programas de predica con el trabajo y servicio terminó algo cansado , asisto por lo menos dos días a la semana al programa matutino y vespertino por lo pronto es todo Gurudeva disculpe mis ofensas y por favor acepte mis mas sinceras y respetuosas reverencias 

Vande gurú sri caranaravinda 

Vande gurú sri caranaravinda

Si aspirante a sirviente Arya-srestha das 

-=-=-=-

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

All glories to you my very dear Gurumaharaja

Please accept my most humble and respectful obeisances

Dear Gurumaharaja please excuse my faults, I have a lot to tell you, I will summarize a little and write more frequently

We follow 4 principles

16 not so good rounds but we keep trying, we follow his instruction of at least 3 days of temple service currently 5 days a week between cooking, buying bhoga and flowers we support as much as we can at festivals and the temple in general.

I think that my material life is a total failure,

HpS - If we are chanting 16-rounds and following four principles as initiated devotees we do not have Material Lives, no? You "material life" is one aspect of your service. Maybe it is not so good. O.K. That means better 16/4. Better Karma/Bhakti yoga. Use your personal psycho/physical resources to do better Karma/Bhakti yoga for Krsna. Follow the example of Arjuna.

....however the association of Sri Krishna and his devotees make this life worthwhile, for now we have a lot of association with the devotees and I have had the opportunity to get closer to more devotees and I have tried them to serve the best possible, in times of quarantine I went to take refuge in the temple for 4 months and we supported what they asked of us for now I only dedicate myself to work, devotional service and little study of the sastra.

Gurudeva excuse my daring, I don't know if I remember that on his last visit to Mexico at that time, Prabhu Jamuna, President of the temple, recommended me to take a second initiation, now the temple authorities asked me to write to him to ask for his mercy and to be able to take a second initiation, eh I asked 5 good brahmanas disciples of Srila Prabhupada and some older devotees and they encouraged me to write to you I know that I have a long way to go but now I am sure that I want to die at the hands of Sri Krsna and not Mayadevi.

HpS - Considering all the aspects that I know, I think you are probably ready.

Have you taken the Disciple Course? Have to pass that.

Are you regular in your morning program, up by Brahma muhurta, Mangala arati, Kirtan, reading group for SB, S A N K I R T A N according to your nature and ability?

I always try to remember him at least three times a day, by his mercy I am trying to put a little grain of sand to Srila Prabhupada's mission and trying to please you, in the morning he prayed to Lord Nrisimha deva to continue protecting iskcon and in the afternoon I ask you to please take care of you my love Gurudeva

Excuse me that I almost did not connect to your preaching programs with work and service finished somewhat tired, I attend the morning and evening program at least two days a week for now it's all Gurudeva excuse my offenses and please accept my sincerest and respectful obeisances

Vande Guru Sri Caranaravinda

Vande Guru Sri Caranaravinda

If aspiring servant Arya-srestha das

HpS - Jaya! How is your father? He had construction company, no? Has more work during the pandemic?

Hare Krishna, dear gurudev.

Pamho, AGTSP!

Here, everything is going well in my service with Raman reti devi dasi. We are very fixated on our sadhana and attention to Gour nitay, Lord Nrsimhadeva, Srila Prabhupada in our altar.

We are doing, for now, our personalized preaching with our students. We have also been distributing Prasadam to my family on all Vaisnava holidays, birthdays, etc.

HpS/ASA --- 👍

We hope that very soon we can extend this beautiful service to many well-known people and then to the general public.

You are coming very soon and we plan to be very close to you, if Krishna allows it, the whole month of January that corresponds to our holidays from the courses, etc. I hope I am allowed to support something in your projects. I only await the invitation of the organizers.

HpS - Of course, we have come and had some nice contact. We are trying to visit the Temple in Chosika at least every two weeks. Then we want to have our ASA symposium on education from mid-December to first week in January. We hope that the Temple, Karuna-krsna Das, you-all, Gandharva Das, Yugala, CMDD, MvDD et al. Can participate, maybe visiting Sta. Eulalia daily.

Personally, I have not been invited to participate in the organizational meetings. In any case, I am very clear that my service to you for the moment is to try to be consistent with your instructions and to spread the ASA perspective in my regular and invited classes. Thank you, dear gurudev, for your teachings. At this point in my life I can boldly affirm that your instructions are my life and my soul. And for Raman reti also. Hope to see you very soon and do a little vapuh service for you. ssLAD

HpS - Thank you so much. We went though Chosika yesterday and ArtD pointed our your house.



¡Hare Krsna Guru Maharaja!

Por favor acepte mis rendidas reverencias.

Todas las Glorias sean a Srila Prabhupada y todas las glorias a Usted.

Deseo se encuentre en buena salud. Reenviamos esta carta, leímos que quizá monkey podría borrarla así que usamos el PCKD

Esperamos no ser una carga para usted.

Gurudeva, he leído sus recientes publicaciones sobre el divorcio y me sentí inspirada a compartir con usted y los lectores mi perspectiva. Hace más de año y medio que no le escribo sobre este tema, he trabajado con fuerza para aprender de la difícil experiencia. 

-Antecedentes-

Después de platicarlo con usted, en Diciembre de 2019 mi noble esposo y su sirviente decidimos separarnos definitivamente. Estuvimos casados por 10 años y antes de eso, fuimos “novios” por alrededor de 10 años. Nuestro matrimonio había pasado por serias dificultades durante más de 4 años.

Ambos hicimos todo lo que pudimos para estabilizarnos; incrementamos nuestros servicios juntos, mantuvimos nuestros votos de iniciación, canto de Japa… pero de algún modo los deberes materiales nos arrastraban con fuerza, parecía que una dificultad llamaba a otra. 

Cuando la situación era muy difícil pedí consejo y guía a usted, a algunas madres mayores en las que confío, a mi madre y a mi suegra… luego, realmente intente seguir sus consejos y creo que él también lo intento. Ambos nos esforzamos sinceramente… aún así, todo concluyó en nuestra separación definitiva. 

Mirando en retrospectiva creo que, aunque nos esforzamos, las “soluciones” que tomamos no fueron lo suficientemente profundas ni sostenibles, así que no pudimos obtener provecho de nuestras dificultades...

- Consejeros y Asram Guru - 

A) Aunque antes de casarnos recibimos guía pre-matrimonial. Me parece que nos confiamos y olvidamos continuar con ese apoyo para ajustarnos a nuevas circunstancias.  

B) Por otro lado quizá confundimos "Asram Guru" con "Consejeros". 

-Ahora me parece que el "Asram Guru" además de ser ejemplar en su Asram; tiene una relación profunda y constante de afecto y confianza, con la pareja a la que guía, así que, naturalmente, conocen la interacción de la pareja - ya sea con conflicto o sin él -. De esa manera pueden guiar de manera práctica al matrimonio joven, e incluso notar señales de alarma antes de que ocurra un "choque". 

-Mientras que los "consejeros", conocen solo la pequeña parte sobre la que se busca ayuda. Es decir, conocen solo el "problema", (que regularmente es apenas la punta del iceberg)... Así que frecuentemente están limitados a la información que la pareja en conflicto desee compartir y aunque intuyen el trasfondo, solo pueden hablarlo de manera indirecta. 

C) Creo que para mi matrimonio, la búsqueda de "Asram Guru" fue tardía; nos acercamos buscando instrucción detallada cuando el conflicto ya era serio, así que no podíamos ver, ni transmitir las cosas con claridad. "Necesitabamos una solución mágica a una catástrofe creada durante años"

D) ¿Por qué no buscamos ayuda de fondo? 

Usted me dijo "Consulte con 6 buenos brahmanas locales" y así lo hice. Sin embargo, quizá nos hizo falta revelar con mayor sinceridad o detalle nuestra situación a nuestros consejeros... Creo que (-basados en la experiencia-) nos detuvo el temor a que rompieran la confidencialidad y la vergüenza de ser "caídos"

(Aunque ahora que lo pienso, hubiera sido mejor correr ese riesgo - mejor arriesgar el orgullo que romper el matrimonio - ) 

Ahora me pregunto ¿Cómo podemos volvernos confiables para otros? Y después ¿Cómo podemos elegir apropiadamente en quien confiar? 

E) Por supuesto en mi caso, creo que mi esposo y yo tuvimos una visión muy pequeña para buscar "Asram-Guru"... ISKCON es muy grande y en distintas localidades, cuenta con varios devotos avanzados, experimentados y en muchos casos profesionales especializados que brindan apoyo y guía en el grihastha Ashram... tal vez pudimos "ir más allá de nuestro pequeño estanque".

Gurudeva, hasta ahora logró entrever la gran importancia de tener "Asram-Guru"... Parece que esta relación es casi tan profunda como Diksa Guru y Discípulo... Y también requiere de sinceridad, afecto, confianza y entrega por ambas partes y por supuesto demanda una gran inversión de tiempo...

Así que me he preguntado: ¿Cuántos Grihastas avanzados están dispuestos a tomar el rol de "Asram Guru", a involucrarse "más allá de un momento"? - En mi comunidad no conozco ningún Grihasta asi, -varios Grihastas exitosos, pero un poco distantes-... En el país donde resido, hay una pareja así, incluso se han preparado como consejeros profesionales... Aunque radican en otra comunidad, gracias al "Karuna Virus" se volvieron más accesibles a través de las telecomunicaciones. 

Por otra parte, ¿Cuántos matrimonios jóvenes hemos buscado, con sinceridad y sin prejuicios a un “Asram Guru”? ¿Cuántos nos hemos detenido, por temor a una indiscreción, o a ser juzgados o rechazados?

¿Cuántos comprendemos realmente la necesidad de tener un “Asram Guru”?... Es algo tan importante, pero tan subestimado… A pesar de que usted lo menciona regularmente ¡yo lo entendí hasta que mi matrimonio se destruyo por completo!

Pienso que si trabajamos sinceramente en esto, el beneficio a nuestro grihastha ashram también beneficiara a nuestra comunidad en general. (Ejemplo de ello son - ISKCON Chowpatty y Saranagati Village -) 

… Creo que estas, ¡son verdades evidentes!, pero en aquel momento yo no pude entenderlas. Ahora es tarde para mí, pero espero que mis errores ayuden a otros como señales de alarma.

Su sirviente

kintsukuroi

=-=-=-=

I think that if we work sincerely on this, the benefit to our grihastha ashram will also benefit our community in general. (Examples of this are - ISKCON Chowpatty and Saranagati Village -)

HpS/ASA - 👍

... I think these are obvious truths! But at that moment I couldn't understand them. It is too late for me now, but I hope my mistakes help others as red flags.

Your servant

kintsukuroi

ASA - We remember that Rama told Laksmana that there is no mistake you can make that you cannot correct.