Letters to the editor

Dear Guru Maharaja/ Dear Hanumat Preshak Maharaja

Please accept our humble obeisances

All glories to His Divine Grace!

On this auspicious day of appearance day of Lord Nrisimha we again can reflect how many blessings we received in this wonderful movement.

It takes a village to rise a child.

It takes innumerable incarnations and devotees kindness to keep us alive with their constant remembrance via occasions such as Nrisimha caturdashi.

We hope He will keep on glancing on us all and give us qualities to move forward.

In scriptures we find that

Sudarshan appeared as Varahas tusks,

Parasuram axe and Nrisimha nails.

Lord is everywhere!

Traps of His mercy are everywhere!

While writing this we are in the train back to our new "permanent" place that somehow appeared recently and took our time/attention past two months.

Due to the modes of nature and other ingredients I had to leave China and put all the deities to sleep.

Quite uncomfortable experience.

Today coincidentally happen that we are taking last 3 sets of Nrisimha deities to their home on 2000 km train journey.

The others are in Vrindavan.

China was basically paralysed due to covid 3 years and that move couldn't happen before.

My Guru Maharaja refused me 4 times in regards to green light for puja.

Took me 13 years to get the green light.

It was a nice time, time of growing desire for arcana seva.

His reasons are more and more proving right.

We tend to desire at the moment without being aware of circumstances that life brings and interfere with our regularity about seva.

Although I received a green light, it happened that still I had to go through lessons about deity worship and its importance.

Original altar was spread in 3 places and that made my mind 3 times more distracted.

Thanks to Lord Nrisimha and Prabhupadas mercy that we survived after giving the Lord this inconvenience.

Our "permanent" place is southern most part of China, just next to the border of Laos.

Its 2000m above see level and only place where there are some sort of hippy community.

It's ancient architecture towns with big lake in the middle.

Setting up a book table here is allowed (not in any other place in china).

In fact people standing on the street corners and doing some performance is encouraged and that is what makes this place famous in China.

A free zone!

People here wear traditional clothes and all do some sort of puja.

We collect water from the source as it is practice of people.

Tree of a picture-attached is one of 600 Peepal trees in the town.

Locals worship it for good fortune.

When we come to fetch water we do arati, poor water and circumabulate the tree.

Every village around the lake have people/families with particular skills.

Some are into cloth production, some have cows, tea, fish, stone or wood designing, etc....Hills are full of Buddhist temples and one can get some idea of their mood while being in those deep mountain forest doing their sadhana.

They are having large agricultural land and producing their own food.

Very well organised.

They have restaurants all around and if food is not free, then the fee is just very little.

Tibet is close by so strictness in their practice is higher than other parts of China. Proximity to Laos and construction of high speed railway that will open soon from the town to Vientiane, capital of Laos, is raising ideas of Krsna conscious expansion.

Young people speak English there and religious freedom reigns. It's a heaven that somehow has not yet been blessed by Srila Prabhupada and his troops.

We hope Nrisimha enlightens and guides us what is to be done and when. We may venture there in the future.

Anjana Ma has received nectar "from the sky". Your Anjana, whatever cooks is nectar. I am gaining some weight because of that, but I don't complain. 

Maharaja, it's nice to have your association/presence in our life. We hope we can please you and imbibe your good qualities so that we can continue the legacy of His Divine Grace. 

Yours in service of Hari ,Guru and Vaishnava 

Vanara-rani Anjana and Narayan pandit das

HpS - Super. Why not ask Buddha to come and tell people about the absolute truth and its manifestations for them.

THank you so much.

Now we run to Temple.

Thank you so so much!!!

Each word was nectar.

All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga!

PAMHO. AGTSP!

HK Maharaj! How r u?

HpS - Same, agtSP, as you and everyone else in the material world, but some mercy is squeezing through by Srila Prabhupada's mercy.... ! ! ! ......

Well, I’ve been living in Cordoba city for 3 years, and thanks to Krishna’s mercy I get to visit ISKCON Buenos Aires once a month,

I’ve many friends there and a lot of acquaintances,

it’s a joy for me going being there since I feel so much happiness during the Kirtana, bhajans,

there are excellent devotees there who perform both extatic bhajans and Kirtana, and usually the classes are really good.

There’s a brahmacari there, Gopal Govinda Prabhu, who preaches like heaven, makes you laugh, chill and get really excited.

I’ve been attending to that temple for the past 20 years, and it was there where I had the opportunity to meet you, and a lot of other great Gurus.

Well, the trial went more or less fine, the judge said that, since I had enrolled my daughter in a Kindergarden in the mother’s town, I was like agreeing she moved there, so he decided she must stay there, but I’ve got so many new rights in regard my daughter, now I have like 1 month and a half of vacations with her, and she comes to my city on weekends, I travel to pick her up, and the mother comes to take her away.

You know I’ve been dealing with some serious attachment issues with my child’s mother.

Well. she tried to blackmail asking for favor in return of the chance of me taking vacations with my daughter, and always used my daughter’s maintenance money for her own favour, and many other mean things, and sometimes it’s like I really forget about all of that and invite her out to have lunch or something, trying to fix the relation, when it’s unfixable I see,

and even I always get really depressed after those encounters,

I always retry seeing her.

What piece of advice would you give me in order to quit that addiction?

HpS - Keep deities of Radha and Krsna on you altar and bath them and feed them and live a nice life for them, and develop relations with devotees, some may be like mother, sister etc.

I have another philosophical question, well, we’ve all heard that Krishna’s the supreme controller, and I was wondering, if he doesn’t interfere with our free will, our decision on who to serve, isn’t that like a contradiction? I mean, sounds like that is something he cannot control, in spite He being the supreme controller.

HpS - He choses not to control it. Your daughter is making a bad choice bay buying into Barbi dolls rather than worshipping her own Jagannatha deities, but you realize that she needs to experience the situation herself. You are the ultimate controller, she is the efficient controller and the dolls are the material controllers.

Hmm? Chant, read, associate, serve and you will begin to see how it works in a very practical sense.

And please another question, regarding the Jiva status quo, I understood what you taught me about the Jiva eternal decision on who to serve, whether it’s Maya or Krishna, but I feel a little bit contradicted internally since Prabhupada states several times in the Bhagavata things like “to reach the spiritual platform and never return” well even Krishna says in a BG verse that the transcendentalist who reaches the spiritual realm never goes back, does that have something to do with what you said about that we should never look “back” or “down” in the spiritual process.

HpS - Memory or understanding of the last phrase.

Revatinandana Swami said that he specifically asked Prabhupada about the places in the BG where it says, 'they never come back' and Srila Prabhupada laughed and said that it means almost never.

If a poor man wins the lottery he will never go hungry ever again, right. 🙂

well thank you always for being there, I really appreciate your mail’s responses and you point of view.

hope you are always well.

HK!

Federico Molnár

HpS - Thank you. Hare Krsna!!! Thank you for the news and I hope several others had the same questions. We just give our answers, ideas, citations, but reading Srila Prabhupada directly is so powerful.

Hare Krishna Gurudeva

Please accept my obeisance

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

While we were traveling back to La Perla from Chosica you gave me one of your most beautiful instructions: “compose songs based on the songs of the Acaryas.” You said that this instruction was the instruction that Srila Prabhupada gave to George Harrison. Later in the Blog you guided me more on how to carry out this activity.

The detail you gave me is that you can change things like “a lotus flower” to “a rose” and not omit the details.

I shared with you two songs that I had created, but neither convinces me in terms of the type of music I compose. I also feel that for it to be musically attractive enough, it would need help from other musicians.

I feel that there are many things that people will not understand and on the other hand several poems are long and it is difficult to maintain that length for a pop song that is around 2 to 3 minutes, generally in a song like this the lyrics are short and a lot of repetition.

I honestly think it would be more attractive to take the essence of the poems and then adapt it into a song that is attractive to many people, both musically and poetically.

HpS-ASA = AgtSP!.... Seems that shorter songs with repetition of basic phrases is also something that the Acharay's do, no? Some of their songs are long Ballads eg. https://kksongs.org/songs/y/yaditeharipada.html

The shorter songs can fit together as a cycle, that deal with the different aspects of the same idea gradually. SB does that in 18,000 verses and many stories, no?

It is difficult to generate rhymes having already created lyrics. I think that if I compose a poem based on the poem and the Vedic conclusions it would be more effective, parts would be omitted but the central idea would be preserved.

ASA - Yes.

The core concepts are maintained, but it is presented in a way that is easy for most people to understand.

I know that this is distorting the instruction, but I have composed in this more simplified way that I propose and I consider that it can have a better effect for the preaching.

But to follow your instruction, I can do a side project in which I translate the songs in a literal, but musically attractive way with the help of other people.

Your servant

Piyari Mohan das

ASA - Hear their songs then write your own song. Of course, KRSNA is very involved with everybodies songs.

How are your relations with everyone in the Temple and community in terms of the violence and chaos that your mind created a few months ago???

Hare Krsna Beloved Gurudeva:

AGTSP, PAMHO

I have been under a lot of pressure and tension because of work. Being responsible in my work gives me more classrooms and brought me to the point of being on the verge of surmenage.

I'm waiting for June to end so I can free myself from the workload for the second half of the year.

Despite Prabhu Baladeva's visit, the situation in the administration in Peru is the same. That doesn't motivate me at all. And since I work weekends I can't go to the temple. I'm going to mass every Sunday. I just have to cross the street.

4P / 16R ok

I maintain an association with Palika dd

I promise to be more present in the morning programs. 

I treasure every moment in association with you and the good devotees that is what keeps me still in iskcon

Your eternal Servant

CMDD

HpS/ASA - Thank you for your lucid comments. AgtSP. Paoho.

Do other people in your position have to work so much?

One basic analysis is that 10-hours/week is all we need to keep body and soul together for helping Lord Caitanya's mission.

Thank you again.

Any comments on ASA publications?

Hare Krishna Maharaja, please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to Jayananda Prabhu! All glories to you! 

Thank you so much for all of the links to the songs and the lyrics. It’s been a great source of inspiration and study. Deeper perspective and illuminations on songs I already knew(or thought I knew) and then songs I hadn’t heard before like PPM’s hymn and PS’s wedding song!!

Susan Boyle (bolo) was a real shocker and very inspired by her down to earth/realness and sincerity, particularly in that TV show setting. Reminds me that amazing artists and musicians are everywhere and connected to the source(Krsna). Also, you have inspired me to dive deeper into Phil Ochs. He definitely takes the observer roll in his writing to great heights and has so much sincerity/depth. 

Also, really appreciated the It’s a Beautiful Day song you played in class yesterday about Time. It was an exciting answer to prabhu’s question. Relating all of these songs to our teachings is very enlivening for us because I always knew there was something there in them before meeting devotees and now I am beginning to see more of the full picture as a listener but also as a writer my self.

Music and writing has always been a call and response type of thing for me. Hearing fully with one pointed attention then responding. Responding like it could be my last breath informed by the mood of the call. Kirtan. This is what I love and have always loved and you are helping me understand more and more. Got a long row to hoe though!

Maharaja, here is a link to a music video and song I wrote. It’s pretty silly but has some meaning perhaps. There is some really nice puppetry we got from Lokantha Prabhu that is featured. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IAsqxkXCz9I&pp=ygULbmljayBkZWxmZnM%3D

hps/asa - great/ like 7.5/10! hard to hear the lyrics. instru. loud for us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U93NR-t9ZH4&t=5s

abraham lincoln on power.

https://www.acton.org/research/lord-acton-quote-archive

lord acton.

run the quotes as visuals??

Actually Maharaja, this whole album that’s coming out in July is dedicated to you and is my offering to you. The music and the album art. Sound and form. But I would say it’s only 20 percent Krishna conscious maybe (lyrically and also Maha manta and Nitai Gauranga made it into a few songs).

60 percent spiritual preservative and maybe 20 percent just karmi music lol. Any amount of the depth in it is because of you and Parampara. I’m pretty happy with how it all came together.

About 4 years of writing, producing and praying to God to allow it to happen and that it may have some worth. Always a little nervous that it was “over-endeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain”.

Lastly, morning program is going very well.

Sometimes it’s just me and Madhava Prabhu but later in the week and weekends we’ve been having a couple new devotees and the new devotees who live here now. Dina Tarani and Dayalu Prabhus. They are in their early 20s but have so many talents and strengths to offer our community. Kalakantha Prabhu and Radhika Ramana Prabhu have both had instructed me to mentor Dayalu prabhu. It’s very challenging and purifying but have been having really good classes and discussions in the mornings. Class every morning! With rotating schedule thanks to Anadi TP. Also, I have been taking more and more guidance from Madhava Prabhu here(our head Pujari). That relationship is expanding with the help of your last letter guiding me to NOI text 5.

Thank you Maharaja, I could write you a novel but am trying to keep it short and more frequent. It’s so wonderful to hear your classes everyday (past and present). Thank you. 

Please pray that Aja doesn’t forget about Krishna in the onslaught of teenage years. He’s having a very rough time to say the least.

HpS - Canakhya Pandita writes like, every young man's years from 18-25 are his greatest battle with his senses, but whatever he can win from the war are his greatest assets for the rest of his life. 😄

Best wishes to him and hope we can even be of some inspiration.



All the best with your travels to Huston and celebrations of Jayananda Prabhu and Lord Nrsingha Dev installation !! 

Your aspiring servant, 

Nitisara das 

P.S. There will be vinyl records, tapes and CDs made and it will be available on all streaming platforms. When I get the physical copies we will be doing more of a formal offering to our deities, Prabhupada and you. In the liner note credits it is dedicated to you and an old songwriting friend that left his body last year. Here is the album art: 

asa- good art. a picture of you after biting a lemon?



Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to you!

I hope you were able to leave Houston before the Thunderstorms came in.

The day after Sadhu Sanga, we had a very bad thunderstorm in Dallas and 80 mph winds.. About 1 million ppl lost power and it is still being restored. Thankfully we were not affected by the power outage.

Radhanath Maharaja was here for a few days after Sadhu Sanga and I was able to present him with a copy of TPP. Maharaja wanted me to convey his gratitude to you. This Sunday, we will have Candramouli Maharaja give the Sunday feast and I'll try to give him a copy too.

Should I ship a few copies to Srirama so that he can distribute it when you are in Atlanta?

HpS/ASA - Let us ask him when we talk.

We went for Mataji's check up today and everything looks ok. The baby is not in any worry for now. Four more weeks before birthday.

HpS-ASA - Hare Krsna.

Srinivasa Das says he can be agent for Amazon NIOS.

Maybe talk with him before he leaves on Sunday.

Thank you... all.