Letters to the editor

Hare Krsna Gurudeva

Please, accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

I hope you are in good health and that your proyects are going as expected.

HpS - ASA - So nice to hear from you. AGTSP. Please see the Kapi Dhvaja with answer to the above hopes.

We are very happy to have you for these weeks and more happy to serve you. Regarding this issue, we consult on your stay in Chosica. Prabhu Chaitanya Chandrodaya offers a space in his home. It is very comfortable and nice, but a bit further away from the temple. On the other hand, at Kanu Pandit Prabhu you can also stay, it is closer to the temple. Also, I live 80 feet away and that allows me to serve you in a better.You decide, please.

HpS - I think Kanu pandita's house is fine, no??

During the last week I was cooking for Bhakti Bhusana Swami Maharaj and was a wonderful experience to be close to Maharaja and able to talk with him and listen to his lectures and accompany him in his walks and other activities.Maharaja have much knowledge and is impeccable in his behavior. It has been a great lesson for me. I continue to study the Bhakti-Sastri, very impressed with the Bhagavad Gita. I read the text twice before studying it but this time I discover and understand some points that were missed before. The BG impresses me by its force. Possibly it lacks the philosophical depth of the SB but is like a handgun: short, precise, and is the Lord's spell. I don't leave my amazement. I have two questions for you, Gurumaharaja.

HpS - ASA --- It is interesting. Seems we have BG As It Is. This is different thatn BG. This is Srila Prabhpada's illumination which includes perspective from SB and even CC!

What is the difference between the pantheistic perception of Brahman and the omniscient perception of the Lord of a pure devotee?

HpS - ASA - As we know, Professor Alfred North Whitehead. Santana Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University said that there is no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate the present. We have remembered that when in great provblems. That is Sat and Cit, no? In Brahman we realize there is a reality. Then in Pantheism, Virat rupa, Paramatma we begin to see form of this eternal reality. For example we realize that our body, name, job are all Asat, Nir-brahman. They are not eternal, but Masculinity and Femenity are eternal. Siva Pravati, Laksmi Narayana, Radha Krsna are all eternal.

O.K?   A devotee see, "premanjan churita bhakti vilokayena..." he sees reality as the effulgence of Krsna. Presence of the King in the Kingdom. He sees the paramatama, hand of God, as Krsna's hand.

What is the difference between following the footsteps of a pure devotee and imitate him? Srila Prabhupada raises the importance of not confusing these concepts but sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference, at least in my level of progress.

HpS - Imitating Srila Prabhupada is trying to be the Acharya of our Sampradaya immediately. Sit on a big seat, receive big worship and gifts. Following in the footsteps is to follow the path that Srila Prabhupada took to get to the positon of Sampradaya Acharya. You act like he acted when he was in your level of existence. He set an example. Made a path.

Thank you in advance for your answers. See you soon Your servant

HpS - ASA --- Thank you.

AGTSP Paoho

Follows letter from/to Raghava and Sananda who have transcribed two of the NOI lectures.

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From: Raghava Pandit Das (HPS) <[email protected]>

To: [email protected] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2015 1:52 AM
Subject: Transcript NOI 1.4

Dear Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Attached is the transcription of noi 1.4, which i earlier also dropped 
in a Skype message. I'm not sure if you received it there. If you have 
any more to transcribe, please let me know. It's a getting increasingly 
busy with my wife's delivery coming up, but since i use a transcribing 
tool, it goes pretty fast. Thank you, there were two points in this 
particular lecture that i took to heart; about the Mary See's sweet 
shops, which is recognizable, and about how no guilty conscience but see 
how Paramatma is correcting. Thank you very much.

Your servant,
Raghava Pandit das
 

=====

HpS - ASA --- Answer

AGTSP,

paoho

Thank you both so much for this work.

We will look at the transcriptions and then we can go ahead with more work if everything is in order.

There are 10s of thousands of books, but if we can illuminate Srila Prabhupada's books then the world will receive much needed illumination.

We were very, very satisfied to dictate the After-words. Let us see if they appear to have any value when we see them transcribed.

Hare Krishna respetado Maharaj

Soy un seguidor de sus conferences y predica en iskcon y bueno me da como indignacion ver como algunos de sus dicipulos le mienten o le ocultan cosas... me pensaba quedar callado pero ...ya lo hice con otros pero ya me indigne mucho.

su dicipulo [xyz] dice que esta siguiendo lso 4principios... pero hace muy poco se le ha visto con una mujer muchisimoooooo mayoir que el  son pareja ... y la [abc] dice que esta deprimida y por eso no va a los templso?? o esta ocultando su embarazo???

maharaj no es chisme espero ud pueda ayudarlos a que dejen de mentirse a ellos mismos

disculpe mis ofensas

BV

HpS - ASA --- TlgaSP. Gracias BV por su carta. Claro no soy el super alma. Tengo experiencia directo de discipulos mentirando con nosotros y despues admitando su falta. Claro, hay muchas diferentes razones por que esta mentirando. A veces es bueno. Krsna a veces haz mentiras, no?  Pero basicamente tratamos entender PARA LA BIENESTAR de todos cuando uno esta decepcionando nostros, y cuando estamos decepcionando nuestras minsmos, pero por nuestra experiencia, escriptura, todo, no debemos ser demasiado occupado en estas cosas. Krsna nos da inteligencia como actuar y El conoce lo que pasa.

Enfocando mas en las actualedades positivas.

Dear Hanumat Presaka Swami Maharaj,

Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada!

It was ecstatic to have your association last weekend, I appreciate your kindness and blessings. I've heard for low class persons, mercy comes in the form of danda, and so I was grateful to receive your danda upon my thick skull. I actually chanted fairly decent rounds the next morning, so thank you very much!

My apologies for my ill-conceived question on Sunday. My inquiry about cause and effect may be more intelligible in context. The new legislation on gay marriage has precipitated multifarious discussions which have led me into some perplexity about some of the principles involved here. For preaching, I'd appreciate some clarification.

My question is: if illicit sex is allowed for 1st initiated straight couples who are married (I.e. outside of procreation, which seems to be broadly accepted within ISKCON today), why is it so strongly condemned for gay couples?

ASA - Jaya. I don't remember any bad question. ISKCON has become very broad, but as soon as Srila Prabhupada established an ISKCON Life Member program is became broader than before, no? Life Members don't have to follow the four principles, but they are still member so of ISKCON. Of course, there is no guarantee you can take your membership priveleges to the next life time.

So, for initiated devotees the standard is always the same. There was a GBC clarification of this. Honestly I think that some of our ISKCON gurus may be approving as you say, but as far as I know they are in great illusion and we hope Krsna enlighten's them soon.

On the other hand, if we prohibit gay couples from having some sort of "marriage", or (at least 1st) initiation, on the basis of illicit sex, then why do we allow straight couples who are having illicit sex to be married and/or initiated? (I understand that in Vedic times sometimes sudras or outcastes would copulate outside of marriage etc, but they were also typically not given initiation.)

Gays argue that although procreation is the function of intercourse, (and even a sufficient criterion for marriage), it is not a necessary criterion due to the Problem of Induction. They would argue that, because there is no essential, metaphysical principle of marriage, but only diverse instances in various cultures, marriage is therefore a social construct. Are we forced to argue against this on the basis of deduction from scripture only? And if so, why must we justify our definition of marriage according to empirical (inductive) criteria such as procreation?

    HpS - What is marriage? Do dogs get "married" for life? Some do. I would say that the definition of marriage is quite clear in P'paada's books and a fair amount of flexibility. Look at SB 1.17.38 and get back to us.
Crazy pleasure. Sense gratification. Most intense bad Karma. Every bit of pleasure you or your partners experience will come back to you as a corresponding amount of pain, no?
 

Aside from that, I was wondering what steps I may take to proceed in taking shelter of your holiness? I have read your guru tattva paper a few times already, and compared it with H.G. Ravindra Svarupa prabhu's Founder Acarya book. It made sense, although I would like to reread it. Unfortunately I'm finding a lot of dead links in your archives lately, and I can't open the guru tattva file. 

Do you have any instructions or questions for me at this stage? Otherwise, my temple authorities are Svavasa Prabhu and Brghupati Prabhu mainly. H.G. Mukunda Datta prabhu has been my primary shiksa guru so far, and Vaisesika prabhu and Badrinarayan Swami also took my part in trying to convince Mukunda Datta prabhu to accept me. Feel free to contact any of them if you wish. I can privately send their contacts if required. I wish you safe travels.

Your aspiring servant,

Bhakta Eric

HpS - ASA[UG))) --- We just tried the http://jayarama.us/kd/guru-tattva.txt link and it opened O.K?   Please tell us if you have any problems. We think our GT matched the Disciple Course and Rabindra's article fine. We just made it simple and based it on NOI mostly.

If Mukunda Ji would like to make a comment on the GT file that would be nice, but with a Temple President's recommendation I think you can be an official Refugee and then we stay in touch for six months refining the ideas and then we act as diksa guru under Srila Prabhupada's authority. Our Parampara is mostly Siksa, no??? Everyone had a Diksa guru though.

Koi Prasna Hai??

Hare Krishna, Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

There are two questions on my mind that i would like to put forward.

First is about the equality of Man and God, such as Srila Prabhupada proposes when he compares a gold particle to the goldmine, or a drop of seawater to the sea. How does that go together with the 50 qualities the jiva has in comparison to the 64 of Lord Krishna?

HpS - ASA - Ahh!  Haww!  (Ray!).   We had the same question. I guess it would mean that we are like Krsna in small amount in the first 50 qualities.

Second is about verse 17.4. It mentions how men in the mode of ignorance worship spirits. Is there any relation here to the red indians, who were worshipping spirits,  or are those more spirits in name only, not really spirits such as disembodied beings but actually they are worshipping heavenly bodies, such as pantheists? I am reluctant to generally accept red indians as people in the mode of ignorance, but that could be a romantic idea because of how they are portrayed in literature.

HpS - ASA - There was one, "red indian" devotee who was my friend. I think his name was Nityanatha Das. He left his body a few years ago. He was describing some regular rituals, austerities, piercing the skin with sticks and hanging on ropes after fasting with drums and chants going on certain days to get a "spirit guide". It sounded, and he agreed that the "spirits" that adopted you may be of many, many different species:

apsaras, kinnaras, bhutas, pretas, kusmandas, viniyakas etc.  A kitten may be adopted by one of many different species of higher life e.g. a horse, cow, man, child.

Thank you for your reply. We like to read your updates on Monkeywarrior. We ourselves are back on the road in our company car, and it is inspiring our Krishna Consciousness, so we are happy with that.

Your insignificant servant,
Raghava Pandit das

HpS - Taxi wala???
We can get adopted by Srila Prabhupada or throug him, Rupa manjari.
 

Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada

Hare Krishna Gurudeva

PAMHO

Acá Bhakta Rodrigo Hernández Piceros de Santiago, Chile. Espero que usted se encuentre muy bien.

Por favor Gurudeva podría Usted darme su email, necesito hablar con usted de manera privada y confidencial

Desde hace un tiempo que en las noches en mi cuarto mientras trato de dormir y mientras duermo me atacan malos espíritus. Esto es grave y me preocupa mucho.

Yo estoy muy asustado y no sé porque pasa esto y qué debo hacer.

Para mí sería ideal hablar de esto por email de manera confidencial con usted. Por favor ayúdeme.

A sus pies de loto,

ss Bhakta Rodrigo

HpS - ASA - AGTSP. Paoho.    Puede intentar communicar por: [email protected]. Si ho hay respuesta comunicar otra vez aqui.