Letters to the editor

Hare Krishna, Beloved Gurudeva:

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

We are sharing with you the educational proposal we are working on, with the intention of starting the first cohort next year. We would very much like to know your opinion; any reflection, criticism, or advice would be most welcome.

We also extend this invitation to the rest of the devotees, so they may give us their feedback and help me improve each stage of the educational proposal.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kpgddXI4eV-L8Nm46s5jXWNecUou3w4nf19gGVgPSDo/edit?usp=sharing

Your foolish servant,

Nikunja Bihari das.

HpS - O.K. It 🌞 is at 3.55PM. Fasting for Janmastami. We will look at the google doc above, but also do some more letters to the Blog.

Amado Gurudeva:

Por favor, acepte mis humildes reverencias. Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada.

Comparto con usted la propuesta educativa en la que estoy trabajando, con la intención de comenzar la prHare Krishna, imera cohorte el próximo año. Me gustaría mucho conocer su opinión; cualquier reflexión, crítica o consejo será siempre bienvenido.

También extiendo esta invitación al resto de los devotos para que me den su retroalimentación y así poder mejorar cada etapa de la propuesta educativa.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kpgddXI4eV-L8Nm46s5jXWNecUou3w4nf19gGVgPSDo/edit?usp=sharing

Su tonto sirviente,

Nikunja Bihari das.

Hare Krishna, Dear Gurudeva,

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

By the mercy of Abhiram Thakur Prabhu, who encouraged donations for your hearing aids, we sent a message to the group of our spiritual brothers in Argentina. We sent $750 to the devotee Devendra Prabhu, who was in charge of the collection. Of this amount, $720 was a donation from Deva Vrata Prabhu, and the remaining $30 was from me.

HpS - AgtSP! We feel so guilty that we invested so much money in the apparatus, but several senior medical people here all agreed on it and the ASA Board voted 5 to 2 to invest.

They do work well, and we even suspect they will be in use after we leave this body. Thank you all!

We are personally working on an educational proposal, a kind of gurukula, which we are offering to you and to Prabhupada, who wanted to promote this kind of project. We will tell you more details about this in another letter. We want to invest our capital in that project, as we feel that is our dakṣinā to you.

HpS - One letter we remember Srila Prabhupada said to Grhastha that the Gurukula was his first responsibility and the temple his second.

Our discernment tells us that, due to your current service, focusing our energy and investment on this project might be a better service to you than giving you money personally. However, we would like to ask you if this is the right thing to do or if, on the contrary, we should make an annual donation, as we have always done.

HpS - Your choice and Deva vrata Das' both seem fine!

Thank you very much, Gurudev, for everything you do for us and for the embodied souls in this material world.

Your foolish servant,

Nikunja Bihari das.

HpS - Thank you. Hoping you can meet with Ananta isvara Das, ayurvedic doctor here!

Thanks to everyone.

Hare Krishna, Amado Gurudeva:

Por favor, acepte nuestras humildes reverencias. Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada.

Por la misericordia de Abhiram Thakur Prabhu, quien impulsó las donaciones para sus audífonos, envié un mensaje al grupo de mis hermanos espirituales de Argentina. Le envié al devoto Devendra Prabhu, encargado de la colecta, $750 dólares. De esta cantidad, $720, fueron donación de Deva Vrata Prabhu, y los $30 restantes fueron míos.

Personalmente, estoy armando una propuesta educativa, una especie de gurukula, la cual hago como una ofrenda a usted y a Prabhupada, quien quería impulsar este proyecto. En otra carta le contaré más detalles sobre esto. Quiero invertir mi capital en ese proyecto, ya que siento que esa es mi daksina para usted.

Mi discernimiento me dice que, debido a su servicio actual, enfocar mi energía e inversión en este proyecto podría ser un mejor servicio para usted que darle dinero personalmente. Sin embargo, quisiera preguntarle si esto es lo correcto o si, por el contrario, debería hacerle una donación anual, como siempre lo he hecho.

Muchas gracias, Gurudev, por todo lo que hace por nosotros y por las almas encarnadas en este mundo material.

Su tonto sirviente,

Nikunja Bihari das.

asa[e] free will. cutting tree; deity worship, practical standard

Hare Krishna Guru Maharaj,

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

We just came back from India last week.

HpS/ASA - AgtSP! Paoho. We were contemplating your travels and your return. Of course, we had some news.

The birthday celebrations of both children - Dhaasharathi and Chandranana went really well. (HPS Blog). The ayushomam ceremony also went well with around 200 - 300 friends and relatives attending.

One of our friends gifted us a baby Radha Rani. We already have a Gopal deity (Vishaka's from before our wedding, worshipped as Radha Raman) which we were worshipping. Now we are worshipping them together. We are doing daily abishek with water and dressing them. We are also doing full morning program. We also have Paramananda Gaura Nitai (You named them Guru Maharaj). Is this enough or do we have to do something more for the Radha Krishna deities Guru Maharaj? Please guide us on what to do.

HpS - Sounds great to us. We remember a very ancient deity worship workshop that jananivasa das or panchanghri das did in mayapura with about 10 or us. he said that mother yasoda is taking care of most of the deity worship. we are helping.

he said that these are the prioritie:

1. love
2. cleanliness
3. punctuality
4. rituals and paraphernalia

From what we have heard from Prabhupada, bathing the deity can be very simple: two hands and one mouth. ring the bell with one hand, chant, govinda jaya jaya, and hare krsna with the mouth and pour the water with your other hand.

incense, lamp, flower, fragrnce/oil, bhoga!!

😃

We are reading the 10th canto during our FMP and are currently in chapter 41. I had a question from chapter 37, Guru Maharaj. In this chapter, Narada Muni lists all the things that are going to happen in the future including the Mahabharata war. How can Narada muni know whats going to happen in the future? Does this mean the people engaged in these predictions dont have free will? How can we understand this, Guru Maharaj?

HpS - A man is walking down the road and he sees a simple fellow sitting on a dead branch of a tall tree cutting off the branch for fire wood. unfortunately the cutter is about 15 feet up and sitting with the cutting work going on the part of the branch between him and the tree.

the man on the ground says, "Hey, be careful, you are going to fall down and hurt youself!". The cutter says leave me alone, go to MacDonalds and throughs some wood at him". The passer by says, "O.K. do what you want to do!". and walks off.

the cutter continues and the branch breaks {picture attached}, falls down cracks his head, comes back to consciousness five minutes later with a big headaches and says, "That man was a great mystic. he could see the future!"

some times we can see that things are very fixed.

other times we can see that they at 50% fixed.

O.K.??? 🙂

We are planning to visit Murfreesboro while you are visiting Guru Maharaj. We will probably come for Radhastami since that is on a Sunday. We are also visiting ISV from September 12th to 21st for the Vyasa Puja of HG Vaisesika Maharaj. Vishaka has taken shelter from Maharaj and is awaiting initiation. Please bless her Guru Maharaj to serve Prabhupada's mission to the best of her abilities.

HPS - Hare Krsna! Please stay in touch to coordinate your visit!!! I took first initiation in the same letter from Srila Prabhupada as Vaisesika Das took second.

Many years of friendship and common work.

I think Srinath told you about this Guru Maharaj, but we are currently working on building the ASA Archive/Encyclopedia website and it's coming along nicely. We will update you and give you a demo once its a bit further along Guru Maharaj.

HpS/ASA - Tom Brown's encyclopedia view of life.

Your humble servant

Sri Rama Krishna Das

HpS - Our full respects to family and Yatra. Thank you always for the cellular.

Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja!

Please accept these respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I'm still processing our week with you in Boise and my time with you in Houston. Intense purification and Fun.

Thank you for this perspective on the Trnvarta pastime song. Indeed the traveling minstrel, the observer is the perfect and natural archetype to merge into for singing these folk songs...And so fascinating, the aesthetic difference between Dvaraka /Mathura and Vraja. I’ve always loved simple folk music(American and Peruvian). But also have some appreciation for the sophistication of orchestra music and the English gardens. Being in Radha Nilamadhava Dham was refreshing and deeply inspiring.

While I was there I had a really nice conversation about temple presidency with Saranga Thakur Prabhu after the boat ceremony. He said 50 percent of the job is knowing how to take criticism and then he said Jaya Krishna Prabhu after so many years of this service said it’s actually more like 75 percent of the job.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about what is criticism. Of course we should be focusing on our own shortcomings and how to improve, more than on others. But then if you are in a managerial position it seems like that has to intensify(fixing yourself up) and so this is why the purificatory process speeds up? Extra mercy may be given? And can a neophyte devotee give auspicious criticism (three fold) according to Bhativinoda Thakur’s definition of that term?

One little/big improvement: We are finally starting to play nice mellow kirtan/bajans on our speakers at the perfect volume during the Sunday Feast while devotees take Prasadam. After wanting to do this for so long and hearing it from you so many times..something finally clicked. Little steps in the right direction but seeing big improvements and nice steady momentum in New Biharvan Dham.

Slowly but surely my service here is feeling like a personal project. Thinking of it like this is helpful, Maharaja. Like a song or a play..I’m wrapping my head around your instruction and wanting to take it to heart. Personal projects can be collaborative. The rugged individualist and isolationist in me kicks and screams sometimes but I may have him under control. He’s a lonely simple guy that is ultimately looking for something more. Not satisfied.

HpS/ASA - AgtSP. Achintya bheda abheda tattva, dictates that as we develop our own unique character, we realize how it is properly, proportionally, and eternally connected to our society.

you have to play your instrument in the band, but you realize so much of it in terms of the performance of the whole band.

Maharaja, can gandharva’s or angels help with management just like they help with creative projects?

HpS - I guess, so? I think Krsna takes more responsibility in inspiration for management.

Relationships between devotees doing service at the temple are getting stronger/deeper. It seems like Radha Bankibihari are in control. Supreme disrupters and mischief makers, always looking for a good time at any cost.

Carl Jung’s ideas on the psychology of addiction has been such a helpful barometer and jumping off point when talking with new comers and in our own self analysis. And I keep thinking it is by your mercy that we have this wonderful bridge. And specifically a great connection to NOI.

More news to share soon. Until then we will be chanting japa with you, for you and because of you..and taking part in the morning Houston SB classes on YouTube in addition to our own KRSNA Book reading..

All the very best with your Janmashtami celebration! Thank you, Gurumaharaja.

your aspiring servant,

Nitisara das

HpS - We take criticism in terms of NOI 4, 5 and 6.

Then we ask ourselves if it is really letting us see things that we need to improve?

Maybe we are not even the target. Maybe the people crticizing us are just projecting there enemies of torture victims on us because of our social role or other things. then we see their emotional, psychological and spiritual problems as we avoid the assault and take helping them as our service.

Hmmm! 🙂

Thank you for our association!!!!!!

We hope Boise becomes very ISKCON conscious.

Gracias a usted conocí a Carl Jung. Gracias

HpS/ASA - 99.999% of our knowledge of Carl Jung has been motivated and illuminated by Srila Prabhupada's direct comments in Spiritual Dialecticism and his teaching in general!

Build a bridge between Jung and Bhakti siddhanta.

Hare Krsna, Dandavat Pranam HpS Guru Maharaj.

Please accept my humble obeisance unto Guruji's padmacharan that I am trying to answer the question of the difference between Gayatri Mantra and Kama Gayatri.

There is no difference between Gayatri Mantra and Kama Gayatri but omitted kling in the Gayatri Mantra.

We should chant Kama Gayatri Mantra before chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra. There is no difference among mantras, names, rupa, guna, Murti and Swarupa.

Your fallen servant,

Yamunesvara Das

HpS - AgtSP! To our understanding, what is commonly called the Gayatri Mantra is, "om bhur bhuvah....". Many groups chant it. Some as Kirtan, although we only do it as Gayatri and men with the sacred thread.

Look at: https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/8/138/

Srila Prabhupada gives Himalaya mountain explanation of all these things following Krsna Das Kaviraja!

O.K.?

We chant all the Gayatri Mantras on our sacred thread at dawn, noon, and dusk, daily. No formal relation to when we chant the Mahamantra eg. chanting before we do Maha mantra Japa.

Thank you!