Letters to the editor

                HARE KRSNA DEAR GURUDEVA,

                PAMHO,AGTSP!!

               YES CLAUDIO NARANJO IS AN INTERESTING PERSON, WE TRIED TO CONTACT HIM BY

               VRSABHANU´S MERCY LIKE QUITE A LOT OF OTHER THINGS.

               WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE AN INTERVIEW ON SKYPE? I THING IT WILL BE EASIER AS

               HE ALSO TRAVELS A LOT. I KNOW YOU ARE VERY BUSY NOW... MAYBE LATER?

               THIS IS YOUR ANSWER TO LAST E-MAIL, I WISH TO UNDERSTAND WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "PRACTICAL

               RELATIONS" PLEASE.

HpS - ASA --- AGTSP paoho. Thank you so much for all your's and Bhadrasena Das' association while we were in Spain. I hope you have practical relations with the Madrid ISKCON center and thank you very much for starting the transcription. We would even publish this transcrption by itself to get critical reviews as soon as you are done.

          HOPING TO PLEASE SRILA PRABHUPADA, RADHA & KRSNA AND YOU.

                 BHADRA VD AND SANANDA DD

HpS - AGTSP paoho. I don't know Sr. Claudio and don't know what we would talk about now, but if there is some good discussion we would be happy to talk with him. Maybe involve him in the Peru work.

"Practical relations" - How can we work together to help Srila Prabhupada's Sankirtan movement. How we can participate in the Sankirtan activities, or generate them, with our local Temple. Not necessarily very intimate but at least civil and looking for some way to make them more and more intimate.

O.K?

Todas las glorias a srila Prebhupada
Todas las glorias a S.S Hanumatpresaka swami
 
Reciba mis mas humildes y respetuosas reverencias guru maharaj postrado a sus pies de loto

asa - agtsp, pies de loko.

... me atrevo a pedirle que derrame un poco de su misericordia para su humilde sirviente.

asa-$6/minuto. -[;o)/\__

Desde hace aproccimadamente 4 años que llevo practicando mis 4 principios  y desde este diciembre subí mi canto del santo nombre a 16 rondas denuevo, dos años y medio practicando mi sadhana 
En los últimos tres años y medio estado en el servicio de obras de teatro que se realizan en cada festividad de Nueva Nilacala Mandhir, como le había informado anteriormente.
He participado por gracia de Krisna de dos  Ratra Yatra en la realización de la obra de teatro que se presentan en el festival, actualmente le pedí al encargado del templo Govinda Carana Das que me diera otro servicio mas , el cual es limpiar el templo los viernes , preparar la parafernalia de Srila Prabhupa para su vyasa puja , la madre Deivi Rhada Devi Das me a estado enseñando como ofrecer los diversos elementos a Srila Prabhupada en sus nombres en sánscrito , asi como el orden que deben de llevar a colocarlos en la charola. 
 
He entendido que cantar mis rondas, seguir los 4 principios y hacer servicio, son la base de una relación sana y progresiva con Krisna y la bendición del Guru, pero también entiendo que es necesario refugiare en un maestro espiritual genuino , en el cual uno tenga un sentimiento de inspiración en conciencia de krsna, por lo anterior y con mucho respeto me atrevo a pedirle y me gustaría mucho que usted me de iniciación he intrusión para seguir caminando en conciencia de Krisna  ,hablé de esto con la madre Radhika Devi Das, que es mi autoridad  y con el encargado del templo Prabhu Govinda Carana Das y también con la madre Asta Sakhi de México les pedí orientación y están enterados de mi deseo de tomar refugio en usted  , me pidieron  que le informará de este deseo y que esperará su respuesta ¿cuándo viene a Guadalajara?
 
Se despide de usted su eterno sirviente el mas pequeño baktha miguel ignacion Valenzuela

asa - vamos a guadalajara???  we did not know.   posible no mas en esta vida. nuestra cambio de cuerpo es pronto.  por favor, favor, favor lea http://www.jayarama.us/peru/archivos/guru-tattva-es.txt

para entender nuestra comprehension de Guru-tattva y escribir su comentario aqui!   Aparece todo muy bien!

To HPS, et. al.:

Hare Krishna!

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

Here's a quick version of my story: My wife and I only recently started our journey with Krishna Consciousness 2 months ago, after spending a weekend at New Raman Reti/Alachua Hare Krishna Temple in Florida.  We had started out at Himalayan Academy, essentially learning Saivism, for about a year prior, but we were feeling drawn to Vaisnavism, particularly as we both felt that Hanuman was closest to our hearts.  We stumbled into a weekly "Hanuman Chalisa" bhajan-fest that occurs every Tuesday at our local Hindu temple a year ago, and we have been going regularly ever since.  I had developed a somewhat "negative" opinion of ISKCON from Internet gossip, but I kept having dreams about visiting Krishna temples, and Vishnu appearing as a huge wave, and just everything seemed to be pushing us towards Vaisnavism.  I was very reluctant to go to a HK temple, and arrived with a scowl and arms firmly folded, expecting to feel like I'd stepped into some kind of "cult" situation.  Obviously, I was pleasantly surprised, and by the second day, I was praying to Krishna to accept my surrender.  Since then, I've kept a daily diary, wherein I note when and where I do my 16 rounds, as well as keeping tabs on other significant issues.  We go to New Raman Reti as much as possible, but we have 8 children and it's 2 hours away, so that's not as often as we'd like.  My wife likes to read Srila Prabhupada's books to me, and we have been doing that on a regular basis as well for the past 2 months.  I'm a fairly well-educated person, (J.D., M.A. in Ancient History, etc.) so I likely find it easier to digest those books more quickly than the average neophyte.

Since we're only just over 2 months into Krishna Consciousness, we're not at the level required to be formally seeking shelter under a Guru, obviously, but when I was searching the list of different ISKCON Gurus, your name jumped out at me, given the association with Hanuman.  My wife and I watched some of your videos on YouTube, and instantly felt a connection.  However, due to our "newbie" status, we are trying to keep our minds open at the moment, and not get fixated too easily on the first Guru we come across.  I asked some of the people at New Raman Reti if they knew anything about you, and the people I spoke to were not particularly familiar with you.  One suggested that I write you with some of my questions, so I hope this is not an imposition.

Specifically, my questions are:

1. I see a lot of Hanuman-related symbolism on pages related to HPS.  Could you explain the significance of Hanuman to your Sadhana, and/or his place in ISKCON?

Hanumatpresaka Swami - Anjana Suta Academy --- Esteemed Lord Byron. Your letter is very interesting. We hope we can be of some little service to you. Srila Prabhupada always talks of Hanuman with great enthusiasm, but not very much detail. In Lord Caitanya's pastimes he has incarnated as Murari Gupta, a physician in Mayapura. As you read Prabhupada's books you will find Hanuman more and more. As for Sadhana, you can see him in the beginning of Nectar of Instruction as an example of how to control anger by using it for the Lord.
After we get a little fixed in our service based on rules, regulations, rituals and practices such as Japa, then we can start to try to follow the humor of an advanced devotees like Hanuman. Prabhupada gave us the name, Hanumatpresaka Das so we have always been enclined to hear about him and try to mold our life to some extent on the basis of this lila, Hanuman being sent by Lord Rama with a message.

2. Once we HAVE attained the necessary 6-month period of chanting/4 regs/etc., what would be our next steps if we decide to become disciples?  And will our location in Florida make this problematic?  (We do not see you as being scheduled to come anywhere near Florida.)

HpS - Please take a look at the file www.jayarama.us/kd/guru-tattva.txt. I think it is listed in the News-letter under the Guru Tattva section. It describes this iniation process as far as our comprehension goes. In the beginning it is so natural to develop our perspective on things from developing a relation ship with Srila Prabhupada. The Acharya for eveyone in ISKCON is Srila Prabhupada. Tell us what you think of the file listed above.
 

3. Is Anjana Suta Academy the path of discipleship for HPS disciples?  Or is it something wholly separate?  I admit to being a bit confused about it.

HpS - Understanding "Guru" means understanding Lord Balarama or Lord Nityananda. Krsna, Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Godhood) and His logos is Lord Balarama or Lord Nityananda. We might look at Jehovah as the Supreme Personality of Divinity and Lord Jesus Christ and the Logos, Guru.

So there are many kinds of Gurus. In some sense, Prabhupada says, it just means teacher. When we are ready to formally matriculate there is Diksa guru. He initiates accord to the rituals, but from beginning to end Siksa guru is there giving us advice how to advance at our level.
The Anjana Suta Academy is one Sankirtan party in ISKCON. You don't have to be initiated by us to join it. The two functions are separate, but of course, many people participating in the institute are initiated by us. Prabhupada says that the principal Siksa guru, instructing spiritual maste usually becomes the initiating Spiritual Master. Of course, this can apply to Prabhupada in his position also, no?

I'm sure there are a million questions that I will think of as soon as I hit the "send" button, but if you have the time to answer these 3 questions, then I will be most grateful.  Thank you.

P.S., I don't think this letter is particularly suitable for public consumption, but I will leave that to you.

Bryon

HpS - No, it is very wonderful for this Blog. These are very nice questions that we get from many people and by answering them many more people will get their questions answered also. Before we had this Blog we were answering 400-500 letters/month. Now it is about 150/month. Thank you for your excellent questions. I would suggest that you go on reading Prabhupada's books and then gradually all these Guru tattva things will become clear.

Dear Hanumatpresaka Swami,

Please accept my respectful obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I hope you feel better physically after your long European travel.
In the last minute our things changed and unfortunately we couldn't visit Spain.
That's why i sent you a parcel to Madrid what contained a letter (In that i informed you about our cancelled trip) and few Radha Gokulananda's mahaprasadam from Bhaktivedanta Manor. But it seems that the parcel lost or the Spanish postmen like the burfis :) Unfortunately the Madrid devotees don't know anything about the parcel.
Or maybe you received that?
Hopefully yes.

I wish you all the best!

Your servant,
Sri Radhe devi dasi

HpS - ASA ---  I think we got some Mahaprasadam from Radha Gokulananda, but I'm not sure. Everything went so, so fast.  All we got is Krsna in our heart and then our contact with the "puppet show" has to be just that, contact with a Puppet Show!!!

Hare Krisna por favor mi Querido Gurudeva espero que acepte mis humildes reverencias Todas las Glorias a Srla Prabhupada.

La conclusion es que de una manera u otra nos ponemos en conciencia de Krisna al cantar su Santo Nombre de Krisna uno gradualmente se libera de la enfermedad material. 

Su sirviente Jagamohan Das

HpS - AGTSP!      Paoho.   Si, y mas que podemos cantar siguendo el metodo del Acharya es mas rapido la curacion, no?????   Jaya!

Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja,

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

I hope you are well after your extensive traveling.

HpS - ASA --- We seem to be getting our energy and intelligence back.

I want to take the opportunity now to let you know that our baby boy has arrived :) He was born May 8th on the disappearance day of Ramananda Raya. We have named him Arindama, the subduer of the enemy. He has a very calm mood which is the total opposite of our daughter Audharya. But she likes him and is very helpful with his care. She will get along with him when they are both older. And Yogendra is busy taking care of all of us as we recuperate. Very big job he has. That is all I have time to write for now.

Your aspiring servant, 

Rasa-mandali dasi

HpS - ASA   ---- Thank you for the super, super, super news. Yes, these children are not ordinary people. Krsna does not send ordinary people to be children of devotees. We hope that you and Yogendra Das can offer super education to the Kids also.