Letters to the editor

Dear Guru Maharaja,

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

I hope you are in good health.

HpS - 70-years old the Donkey is failing, but quite good for the American standard!   AGTSP!

It has been a while since my last letter. I always have it in the back of my mind to write but time gets away from me and gets transferred to my kids. Funny because they seem like they are my deities that I worship everyday, just like Prabhupada  said. Our actual Gura-Nitai are just standing on our altar, kind of neglected. I keep suggesting putting them to sleep but my husband insists that they stay there. They are merciful Lords :)

So.... we have been working on settling down in Calgary, Canada. We live on our own in a small house, living simply. My husband graduated and got his B.Ed and is now teaching grade 2 students in a charter school. He's very busy. I stay at home with the kids. It's austere but I know that the children benefit from it!!!  And I guess it will be more busy around here with a new one on the  way! I guess I'm meant to be a mother :)

We have also started a little kirtan program once a month. We rent out a room in a community center for two hours and have some kirtan and prasadam. Very simple but effective. We feel it is necessary for Calgary since our temple does not cater too much for new comers. But anyways...

I don't want to say too much. I miss you and would like to visit you some time your are close to the west coast. By what our calendar says, you will be in the Seattle are next June. Maybe we will travel then. 

Your aspiring servant,

Rasa-mandali dasi

HpS - ASA -- No fotos of your kids and husband?  The news is great. How many people come to the program. What Prasadam do you serve? Is there an ISKCON temple in Kala-Giri?

Dear Guru Maharaj,

Sorry for taking so long to reply... as soon as I arrived back in LA I ran a shipment of books down to the tksp party in San Diego with the intention of helping out with the marathon, but then some unexpected things came up that I needed to look into right away and now I'm realizing that I'm going to have to really focus to get myself over the initial hump of starting an art "business."

Brghupati prabhu set me up with one devotee we both know to help me with finances, and while trying to help me rebuild my credit he discovered that I still have about 10k worth of student loans I had no idea about which are about to be due soon. (It looks like I may have been somewhat cheated by the debt consolidation agency I worked with last year.) If that wasn't bad enough, I somehow lost a bag with probably 40-50 of my best pieces from the last few months. 

It looks like a hard road ahead for me, but the silver lining is that I still have the very best pieces from my last exhibition which I can show to galleries, and I finished a page on Patreon a while back, where I'm basically raffling artworks in exchange for monthly donations. I hope this will help me attain some basic stability and also give me the ability to travel and support different preaching projects, like a book distribution fund. I thought it would be wise to start the first fundraiser project to help me visit the pipeline protest (since it's a cause a lot of people could get behind), but it doesn't look like I'll make enough to go personally. At least I can send some prasad and supplies. Anyhow, it looks like the protesters won for now, apparently Obama stepped in to halt construction. But they're still afraid to leave because the oil co. threatened to build without permission and just pay the fines. Such demons! Plus they say Trump might reverse everything when he gets in office (to protect his investment$$.)

At any rate, I've got my work cut out for me, but some opportunities came up as well. When I was in San Diego picking up wifi in a Starbucks, one scruffy fellow asked to sit by me. Eventually I struck up a conversation and when he found out I was an artist he put me in touch with a childhood friend who now curates galleries all over the west coast! She added me to a list of "open studios" she promotes throughout California so now all I have to do is set up a display on Sundays and people will come to me. How cool is that? I'm hoping I can set up near the temple and take visitors on a tour of the BG museum & Sunday feast!

One last thing... I'm sure you probably heard by now, but Bhakta Philip has tragically left this world. I don't know all the details about the circumstances, but it was a suicide. It's amazing to see how many people he affected in his lifetime as people come forward to offer their respects on the Facebook page Chandranjana mataji made for him. Despite the differences he had with you (and with many others in ISKCON) I still think of him as a senior godbrother. He was a huge inspiration for me and I regret that I wasn't able to get to know him better. I'm helping to organize a small memorial for Phil here in LA where we'll do Harinam sankirtan at the beach in his honor. Now he and Raktak are both gone away, but losing them has inspired me to not take people for granted. I'm trying to spend more time with Bharadraj prabhu, and I just reached out to Govinda Dasi the other day for advice. Another devotee Sri Kalachandji has also offered to collaborate with me on some art projects soon. If you like I can try to write you more often as well... I was just trying to limit my posts to once a month so as not to crowd your inbox. If you ever need to contact me you can reach me at 310.503.2989 or my primary email: [email protected]

Whatever Krishna steals away is replaced with something better: only sorrow is temporary; only joy, forever.

your servant,

Ekāśma Dāsa

HpS - Yes, we heard about Prahlada Nrsmha, Phillip. He has always lived with such a passionate character. I don't think we really had that many 'differences'. He seemed to be always misunderstanding what we were trying to say until it got so we had to include a judge in the conversations.   I hope his future is very, very progressive!!!

With all your debts and stuff just keep a strong morning program and regular consculation with good devotees then you can realize it is all service, no?  We are half out the door to Mexico and India!!

Look, look, look for meetings with remarkeable people!

Hare Krshna querido maharaja: 

Por Favor Acepte mis respetuosas reverencias!

Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada!

Discúlpeme por no haberle escrito antes, soy Rukmini, hija de madre Ramalila d.d. y prabhu Mahamantra d. de Arequipa-Perú, siempre quise comunicarme con usted pero no pude por razones que no lo justifican.

HpS - Yes, we recongnized your name and remembered you. Yes it has been a long time since we heard from you. Are you rich and famous? Do you have palaces on three continents? Do you regularly fly to the moon to give advice to the people there? ???  Let us read on!!

Maharaja usted sabe que desde muy pequeña he buscado el refugio en sus pies de loto pero siempre ha sido mi culpa el no lograrlo, hoy estoy decidida a luchar por ser su discípula,  canto mis rondas constantemente estoy tratando de culminar mi  curso de Bhaktiyoga con prabhu Laksmana Agraja de Lima quien me ha ayudado muchísimo con su paciencia y misericordia. Actualmente cumplo el servicio de asistente de pujari, soy Bachiller en Contabilidad y trabajo en una Constructora, tengo una pequeña niña de 3 años que se la presente alguna vez, su nombre es Ananda Shakti y mi esposo bhakta Gustavo aspirante de  Mahavisnu Maharaja.

Tambien le escribo para pedir sus bendiciones y consejos para mi matrinmonio que se llevara acabo el 31 de diciembre de este año.

Siempre orare al señor nrisimha  para que lo proteja y  pueda brindarnos su santa asociación.

A su servicio

Rukmini Devi

HpS - Casi tan rico.  Tiene bebe, esposo y ya matrimonio?  Confusion.  Pues claro es buen si puede ser casado con su esposo formalment.  We love your whole family very, very much. We wish that we could spend more time with you. I think that you and they must have gone through many challenges, but you all have been such good people, devotees, servants of Srila Prabhupada and Krsna that you will certainly at least get a little house in the pleasure groves of Vrndavana dhama for everyone if you just continue a little while longer on the same path.

Please send us more news and even photos of your wonderful marriage.

Hare Krishna Guru Maharaj

Todas las Glorias a Su Divina Gracias A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Acepte por favor mis reverencias

El día de su Vyasa Puja se encuentra cerca y eso me recuerda que hace 10 años su VP fue celebrado en el templo de Miraflores, ese día yo me atraje mucho a su personalidad debido al servicio que hacias predicando la Conciencia de Krishna en las Universidades. Son casi 10 años que llevo practicando Conciencia de Krishna de manera constante en ISKCON - Perú, y estoy muy agradecido a Usted por permitirme tener su asociación cada año, escuchando sus clases y otras veces con una entrevista personal.

Este 2016 estuve donando el 10% de mi sueldo mensual al templo de Chosica, adicionalmente apoyé programas de prédica en Lima y en Chosica. Por primera vez en mi vida realicé tantas obras de caridad para el Señor Krishna. También tuve el servicio de adorar a Gaura Nitay todos los sábados en Wilson y dar clases del Bhagavad gita una vez al mes.

Tengo el deseo que en los siguientes meses mi servicio continúe y poder algún día ser un discípulo ejemplar suyo

Muchas Gracias por su asociación

Jagat Pavitram Das

HpS -  Thank you so, so much for your letter and wonderful description of your service.  We are simply tryin to be of service to you and Srila Prabhupada. We hope you are more and more inspired by His Divine Grace and do wonderful things for him in Peru and the world.

Now we go to Mexico and in June Lima!    We will see you soon. Always write to us as you need to.

Hare Krsna Gurumaharaja
Please, accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

How are you, Gurudeva? How is your health? What new things does this Winter bring?

HpS - ASA -- I suspect we are about the same as you only in a little bit older body (buddy). Winter does not bring to much difference. Just very cold, now it is 7-degrees C, at 4PM. Makes it very hard to get out, but really our service is about the same.

I hope your sankirtana is developing as it should be.

HpS - ASA -- Me too!  And you!

I tell you that Indira Sakti and I are no longer in Chosica, I think a brother has already mentioned to you. It was a difficult decision. Part of me wanted to stay there, the atmosphere is very favorable for a serene and introspective devotional life, the daily association with devotees was invaluable too. But other part of my heart was a bit disappointed of the institutional experience. It is sometimes difficult to reconcile the teaching of Srila Prabhupada and the institution which, supposedly, preserves the legacy that he left us (my perception is restricted to this disfunctional yatra; I have no experience with others).

HpS - Yes, our spys tell us everything about Peru. Ha!   Ha!   Ha!    I personally heard from Srila Prabhupada's lips when one reporter asked him, "Swami Ji, are there problems in your Temples", and Srila Prabhupada answered, "This is the material world. There are problems everywhere."

Even when Krsna was personally present in Vrndavan there were demos coming, causing such distubances that the girls were having miscarriages!

You may have figured out now that Omkara Das is not Krsna, although he resembles him in some aspects. Chosica, a different kind of town, is not Vrndavana, and things aren't so bad there that girls are having spontaneous abortions.

If we are Krsna conscious we see all the problems as opportunitys, impetous, for service, no?

Sometime serving in Lima, sometime serving in Chosica. Sometimes serving in Mayapura - Vrndavana.

What I read in books, not always I see it reflected in the cotidaneity. Maybe, I lack the necessary vision to understand that this correspondence exists before my eyes, but my egoism prevents it from perceiving it.

The truth is that we have returned to Lima with the intention to resume some roads that were suspended some time ago. I have been offered the teaching of new courses for the next year, and this perspective excites me. I am preparing material related to the generation of ideas and its materialization in the visual languages. I am developing a course on Semiotic analysis of photography (which, strangely, has led me to wish to read Whitman...?). All this excites me because I am passionate about the genesis of a course, I am very pleased with research and pedagogical planning, in the end I am happy with the opportunities that are presented to me. Meanwhile, Indira Sakti is returning to school to finish her career and working free lance.

HpS - Very, very, nice, but beware the Mode of Goodness and Passion. It is much easier to dovetail with KC but it can also lead you to personal pride and vanity in personal accomplishment. Do it all for Krsna!!

The great question will always be how to reconcile what is important in life with devotion, which is essential.

HpS - You got it! You must have been a devotee in your last life also.

I want to believe that everything creative, any idea originated in intuition or in intellectual lucubration have origin in Krsna, source of all energy, I wish to believe that by awakening in my students a certain disagreement with the artificial face of the world, I direct them (in some way) to the search of the truth. Perhaps they are mere fantasies, I lack the intelligence that allows me to live in full surrender to God, while doing what I love so much. The mysteries of devotional service in professional life

HpS - Seems natural to us. After two years in Lima you may want to go back to Chosica but with much better perspective, or Rome.

We try to cling to the chanting of japa, the four principles, the reading of Srimad Bhagavatam and the eventual association with the few friends we have in ISKCON. We ask you to bless us, Gurudeva, in order to follow you.

We miss you, Gurumaharaja.

Your servant

Gandharva dasa

HpS - Keep sending us reports of your work to the Blog so that we can also take your course!

Have you got "The Media is the Massage" by Marshall McLuhan?

YkD - Espanol

Hare Krsna querido Gurudeva espero se encuentre bien de salud. Deseaba escribirle y contarle mil experiencias. Esta vez le escribo por dos razones. Una contarle de mi trabajo y de NIMSAR.

En mi trabajo que no se si finalmente se termina este año, he aprendido mucho, estoy cuidando 18 niños, algunos con problemas de lenguaje, uno hiperactivo me saca canas verdes, inquietos, maravillosos, hace poco uno gritaba, estaba muy irritado, mil estrategias para tranquilizarlo. Primera vez en mi vida que limpio trasero a niños (no tengo hijos) y ser profesora de estos pequeños ha sido un reto y un regalo de Krsna. Tengo mucho que aprender estamos en capacitación, cuanto deseaba aprender, y ahora por cambios en la educación peruana tengo la oportunidad de capacitarme, pues he sido una profesora empírica todo este tiempo.

No sabemos qué pasará el próximo año, no hay aun propuesta de trabajo, esperamos las sorpresas de Krsna.

Por otro lado tenemos un gran problema en NIMSAR de comunicación, Desde hace más de un mes estamos en restructuración, hasta que podamos conversar y que el equipo se comprometa a seguir el manual de normas y procedimientos, y así trabajar en armonía. El presidente P. Laksman dijo hace como un mes que secretaria no envíe informes, mientras, él informará oficialmente de todo lo concerniente en NIMSAR. Ese fue nuestro acuerdo.

Por lo pronto este domingo la escuela dominical Yachakuy Jambavanitos de NIMSAR lidera el programa de Gita Jayanti y para su Vyasa Puja  que no tiene aún fecha (locuras de cambiar fecha, loquerío en lima entre hermanos) NIMSAR, la escuela presentará una obra de teatro en su honor “La Lamentación del Rey Citraketu” con títeres, le enviaremos el video.

Espero se habrán nuevas posibilidades de predica para todos:

Su hija que lo adora:

Yugala Kishora Dasi

HpS - ASA -- HpS - ASA - Hare Krsna. Muchas gracias por su carta. Es muy preciso. Hablamos con Laksmana ... Das durante 1 hora 15 minutos hoy sobre todo. Básicamente, planeamos reunirnos con todos por internet el próximo viernes. Entonces ustedes puede tener una reunión personal. Entonces estamos proponiendo muy, muy firmemente que usted no tenga ninguna reunión de Nimsar a menos que haya un miembro del Consejo Nacional y otros presentes para participar.
Vamos a hacer nuestra presentación que Mathuresa Das debe ser Secretaria Regional de Perú, Bolivia, Ecuador. Si eso sucede entonces siento que tendremos una mejor atmósfera para estos programas de Nimsar.
Otros detalles, pero podemos hablar el viernes.
Creo que Krsna organizará una aventura maravillosa para ti este año.
Creo que hay maravillosas razones por las que Él ha tratado contigo como lo ha hecho con todos los años anteriores.

Super fotos!