Letters to the editor

Maha Mantra at Radha Nila Madhava Dahm Diwali 2023

https://youtu.be/y6g8umpMKJU?si=jkpljK2QHrtzFyec

ASA/UG -Hare Krsna! This link goes No Where??!

Hare Krsna, Dear Devotees,

PAMHO, AGTSP.

Steve Brown here, sub-divisional secretary of Tom Brown. 🐵

As you may have heard, Tom Brown, Hanumat Presaka Swami et al are replacing Twitter with a Whatsapp Community.

The Community name is anveSika - HPS Updates. There are a few Whatsapp Groups created that will be part of this anveSika - HPS Updates Community.

If you live in USA or Canada please join this Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/JjUV5GtZ1u6CkJ8hjzx37M

If you live in Latin America please join this Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/E1AhFXc1ZsWKyKWCP8RqiQ

If you live in Mexico please join this Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/CoX72drYK280CcN3k9pwZ2

If you live in India or Australia please join this Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/LtqCHz9QqXT99VSk9BxjGu

Spain or Europe this Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/EWkPLJEDdpFCJfJekfkTbe

Any other place on this planet or any of the planets mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana, please join this General group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/IFKaYDJvQhF4UxzYxSwm43

There is also a group for eccentric Academics which will be shared individually.

All of the above Groups are just to receive of announcements from the WhatsApp Community. No member chatting. Use the Blog.

The group admin, from the same region, can validate people requesting to join.

Admin will speak same language, be some one the requester may know.

Finally all test groups used so far will be removed from the community. So, please join one of the above groups to be part of these announcements.

Steve Brown

Hare Krsna! Muy querido Guru Maharaja, por favor acepte mis humildes reverencias 🌺

Todas las Glorias sean a Srila Prabhupada, y todas las Glorias a sus fieles seguidores 🙇🏻‍♀️

Orando siempre por su bienestar. Le agradezco de todo corazón, por llevarnos siempre con usted -en línea-. (Estos últimos meses yo he teniendo algunas dificultades, pero por su misericordia, seguimos vivos y en la lucha. En otra carta escribiré al respecto.🫡)

Leímos el Twitt: "Start using WhatsApp group for ASA Search Team immediate notices instead of Twitter?"...

Desde nuestra perspectiva; el grupo de WhatsApp puede aumentar la accesibilidad. La desventaja de los grupos es que frecuentemente se saturan de respuestas repetitivas de los miembros, por lo que quizá se pueda habilitar la función para que solo el administrador pueda enviar mensajes.

Cabe resaltar que Twitter nos ha parecido una buena vía de comunicación, pues:

*Almacena archivos, videos e imágenes sin necesidad de descargarlos en los dispositivos de los seguidores.

*Mantiene la privacidad de los miembros.

*Facilita la búsqueda organizada de publicaciones anteriores.

(Lo que es de gran ayuda al integrar los post asa-e)

*La única desventaja que, como ASA carnaval observamos en Twitter, es la dificultad para descargar los videos que usted comparte.

Hasta aquí nuestra limitada perspectiva, espero no importunar con nuestros pequeños comentarios.

Siempre a sus órdenes.

Karuna-Sakti Devi Dasi

HpSwami ASA - 🐒 TlgaSP.

Paoho.

Thank you many for this nice analysis!

We expect that you will be one of the eternal leaders of ASA 🐒 🐵 🙉 if such a thing exists.

Hope to see soon.

Listening to you, Srinivasa-acharya Das, Twitter survey et al, The Supreme Absolute Undifferentiated Commando (SABUNCO) of ASA has decided that we will use a WhatsApp Group to communicate immediate Sankirtan chatter to all search party members.

HpS and maybe five more devotees can be Administrators.

Only they will post.

Every person who uses WhatsApp's with a chosen name and phone number are public. So, joining the Group doesn't do much to compromise privacy, no?

Membership will be by Administrator approval only.

Maybe five ASA members can agree to become Administrators until Janmastami?? Then Regional Members can contact them if anything needs to be posted on the Whatsapp Group. Of course, in general it is just a broadcast for Tom Brown to notify Members of the different immediate events such as lectures etc.

O.K.?

In con’t from here https://monkeywarrior.com/detail/15490/

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Dear Guru Maharaja, Hare Krishna and thank you for your prompt reply! 

I’d like to make sure I understand you correctly. 

You heard Srila Prabhupada, either in a recorded or live lecture, make a statement that seemed to contradict something else he said—either within the same lecture or in another talk. Additionally, Srila Prabhupada mentioned that anything unclear now will eventually become clear through devotional service, most likely when performed without offenses. 

Do you know where I could listen to this lecture?

HpS - It was, agtSP, a lecture that was being broadcast over the public address system in the Berkeley Temple. I think it was a group class.

He said that one should only accept uttama adhikari as guru, and then later he said that he had never claimed to be an uttama adhikari. This was bemusing, bewildering to us, but then he said at the end that all these discrepancies would be resolved if we just engaged in devotional service.

As we remember, in the SB, the Professional Reciters are glorifying Prthu Maharaja for being great, an incarnation of God or such. He says, No, no, don't glorify me like that. The reciters look to the sages and they nod, keep on describing his glories, and in the purport srila Prabhupada comments like even if one is an incarnation of God he should not claim to be so, but the wise, scholarly, pure people will recognize him and properly glorify him.

Maybe you personally are feeling that you are becoming more and more fixed in devotional service and actually have some empowered abilities in this Sankirtan movement, but you may also feel that you are a hypocrite and a cheater.

So we see Prabhupada and Prthu Maharaja expressing such feelings, and as we personally engage in devotional service we experience it and Srila Prabhupada's words become deeper and deeper.

However…

Since Srila Prabhupada’s chief is known for stealing butter, I shouldn’t expect everything to always be entirely “honest and legal.” I looked up the phrase “on the up and up,” and Merriam-Webster defines it as such. Are you suggesting that in dealing with Krsna, certain things are not always straightforward or easy to understand with absolute precision? 

HpS - The progression of the loving affairs of Krsna with His devotees are crooked like the movement of a snake.

There is a delightful stimulating funny confusion that covers Krsna's pastimes in Goloka. It is Yoga maya.

Krsna is bent in three places. He seems to exist in a space higher than Euclidean Space, even higher than Hyperbolic Space etc.

That said, my core question remains: Why does Srila Prabhupada make seemingly contradictory statements, which can cause confusion for me and others? I understand that different statements may be intended for different situations and individuals. However, many devotees do not accept this nuance; instead, they insist on applying one statement universally and indefinitely.

HpS - Yet he explains repeatedly that different things are presented in different audiences, times, place and circumstances.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/17/38/#bb17250

Some purports see to be for reformed drug addicted hippies and others seem to be for the next Sampradaya, Nitya siddha, Ahcarya.

SB progresses to more and more confidential topics, no?

You also mentioned that service to guru and Bhagavan Sri Krsna comes first, and then answers will follow. 

HpS - yasya deve para bhaktir... no?

Since this material world is temporary, there is no need to expect permanent answers here. 

The material world is likened to a prison, where problems are inevitable. However, these difficulties serve to inspire a sincere prisoner to seek liberation. 

In conclusion, you’re suggesting that I choose one of the topics, and we could possibly discuss it further.

Have I understood you correctly? 

HpS - Seems pretty good to me. We are just donkeys being directed by and aristocrat, no? 🏇

Macbeth by William Shakespeare: Lay on Mc Duff and damn be him who first calls, Hold, enough!

Dear Guru Maharaja,

I have noticed what seem to be inconsistencies in statements made by our A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada on various topics, including:

- The nature and intelligence of women

- Appropriate clothing for devotees

- Hairstyles for devotees

- Whether a jivatma in a female body can serve as an initiating spiritual master

- The concept of falling from the spiritual world or leaving Krishna-lila

My intention is not to debate these topics here, but rather to understand why he made these

statements.

Of course, the best way to clarify this would be to ask him directly. However, do we have any

record of him being asked about these seemingly contradictory statements?

I see bhakti yoga and Krishna consciousness as not strictly black and white, but as a path that

includes both general principles and specific applications. General principles—such as chanting

the holy names and reading Srimad Bhagavatam — apply universally. Specific details, on the

other hand, may be meant for particular circumstances and may not always be applicable in other situations.

With that perspective in mind, I return to my original question: What might explain the

inconsistencies in his statements?

If possible, we could explore each of these topics in future letters, referencing specific sources for clarity.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Your servant,

Namacarya Das

HpS - Thank you.

I heard what seemed to be contradictions in one lecture and then Srila Prabhupada commented that if we engage in devotional service, all these things will be reconciled.

Of course, Srila Prabhupada's boss is a butter thief, so do not expect everything to be completely on the up and up!

First service for us, developing Kirtaniya sada Harih at Srila Prabhpada's lotus feet in the core of our heart.

Then many questions, eg. hair style, are like deciding if we should take an umbrella when we go out.

Pragmatic.

Don't expect permanent, omipresent, solutions in the temporary world.

Always problems in the prison. especially for the good prisoners. Keep us moving to get to real world.

We have our little place in the ISKCON, Braja forest, with our neighbors, today.

We have opinions and perspective about the above questions that we feel are suficient to orient us in doing our personal service to Srila Prabhupada which is really, really fun for us and everyone can do the same.

Pick one and maybe we can discuss it????

Hare Krishna Gurumajaraja

PAMHO

AGTSP

I have a question please:

As I told you Gurumajaraja I already have a plan for preaching, but I have a question:

1._ If I do this program of education in my apartment do I'm obligated to help organizing other preaching programs with the devotees? Or is it enought to Focus in doing this preaching program? Because its so stressfull for me to work with devotees.

Thank you very much for your answer.

Your servant.

Divya Dristi dd

🙏🙏🙏🙏

HpS // ASA - AgtSP! Thank you for this wonderful enquiry about your Sankirtan, personal Sadhana. As we understand we are not required to preach. We can just sit down peacefully and chant the Maha-mantras, but the result of chanting will probably be seeing Krsna as the father of all living beings and therefore, to relieve our Father's anxiety we will want to preach.

Also, preaching, Sankirtan and not just Kirtan, is the most purifying activity in Kali-yuga, no?

So, for our own bathing, we also adopt Sankirtan.

We learn NoI 4-6 and thus we can engage in preaching, Sankirtan, with healthy distance and proximity to devotees in terms of their purification.

Apply this and develop your own individual style of preaching.

Preach alone with the Super Alma or with variety of devotees.