Letters to the editor

 Hare Krishna Dear Gurudev, Please Acept my obeisances .
Jay Srila Prabhupada !!!

I beg your pardon since I've been busy/struggling to write this letter and forgetful too...
I move out the temple to a Preaching space,or Ashrama in the core of the city, which is more engaging, fun, and familiar, unlike my sit at the temple(was alone most of the time and bored not much association). At the ashram, there's a chance to study outside and practice KC with ease, which is also another reason why I moved out here.
since then everything has improved, my chanting, Preaching through harinam or evening programs, more inspire to read, and I feel more happy  in general, waiting for the S.B. that's being retained in the S.American aduana , let's see when they can ship it to sydney,just eager to have it and read it .

we visit Radha gopinath at least every sunday morning for G. puja ,the lecture, and prasadam, we're going to mangalarati now on sundays :)
we're Having 3 weekly programs which are based on kirtan+prasadam, and on THRsdays some workshop of B.G. or for expamle the current one now is how to control the mind+ helping at govindas resto too.
 
if you like, I'd love to gather with you Maharaja, and devotees in India next year, so was wondering if there's a chance to know the agenda for that trip.

HpS - AGTSP!    Very nice to hear from you. Do not have the ticket yet but rough plan is Feb, Mar, Apr in Bharatavarsa, then really retire to more introspective mode, then leave body November 2024.    \'9'/

I hope your health is OK Gurudev, my best wishes for you !

ASA - 67 year old American Ass!  Vision, hearing, memory, teeth are going. But heart fine and respiration pretty good. How is the Gopinatha Pujari, Madhu manjari Devi Dasi et al?

trying to serve you. 
camilo.

Pamo,

Agtsp.

Hare Krsna Beloved Gurudeva:

AGTSP ¡¡ PAMHO

I hope this meets U in good health 

HpS - ASA ---- AGTSP paoho.  Ooooooof!      We are about to die.   100-degrees Farenheit. Can hardly breath the air. Then lots of work for many agencies who sometimes criticize us for being lazy.  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!      Sound like your life!

I do not know if U remember Jagadish Krsna das prabhu he was pujari for years. He knows that we meet U everydady at startmeeting and due to he can not communicate with his GM HH JPS. He asked me a favor if U can suggest a name for his deities ¡¡ He gives charity to the temple but due to his work he can't go so often so he is worshiping Radha Krsna at home as a service for his Gurudeva.

So the favor is that if U kindly may suggest a name for his Radha Krsna deities. I am attaching a photo of Them 

Thank U all so much in advance

Trying to serve other vaisnavas and not myself

CMDD

ASA - Radha - Gopinatha !     But They can have other Names also.

Hare Krsna Maharaja! AGTSP! How're you? Im happy to know that your India-Europe tour was successful!! Responding your last question... this week i note that my passport is expired so i already do an appointment for this Wednesday. I stop seeing tickets cost because of this, but next week im gonna check all that and write on the blog again. And then the trip to Monterrey im going to travel with some matajis. (: Hare Krsna Maharaja thanks for your atention (((: oh and thank for be at start meeting daily thats nectar jeje (: Your aspiring servant Bhaktin Fernanda.

HpS - ASA - AGTSP paohhhhhho.    O.K.  We could not do the Start Meeting Full Evening Program today because it was too, too hot. Almost deadly. We had to hide under the fan at 4.30PM and just survive.

                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.