Letters to the editor

Gurudeva,

I write from sunny, sweltering San Diego.

I would like to offer my apologies for being so terrible at maintaining contact. I try to minimise my use of the internet as I spend so much of my life in front of the keyboard for school that sitting down in front of one for anything else can feel like a great austerity and as recreational use of the computer causes me to misuse time on so much nonsense, I forget the great association that can also be found and I never feel that I have anything that is worthy requesting your time.

I must also apologise for the rudeness with which I answered the phone. Due to my recently broken finger, I was awaiting a call from a doctor to tell me whether or not I would need surgery for nerve damage so mind mind was very much in the material modes when I received your call.

HpS - Honestly, AGTSP, paoho, I did not notice anything. Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  Maybe you are just generally a nasty rude person (with a heart of gold).  I enjoyed the talk.

Your merciful phone call however, reminded me of how recalcitrant I have been.

Spiritually I am staying afloat . Japa is being chanted and the regulative principles are being followed, though due to my schedule, I occasionally have to go chant a lone round in a quiet classroom between courses to keep up instead of chanting them all at once.

HpS - You are a hero, hero, hero!!    The witch hates you!!

I am also not getting much association as getting to the temple can be hard, though, admittedly, if I made it a higher priority I could go more regularly.

Materialy, as I mentioned when you called, I am beginning a masters program in Linguistics, and hope to write my thesis on the language of the devotees and hope to one day turn that into a doctoral dissertation on how the mood of Prabhupada and his mission are transmitted to new devotees via the language that is used to discuss those things that we value and those things that we do not.

Gurudeva, should you have the time, I do have a question for you. I have recently received word that my maternal grandfather is preparing to leave his body. Being cold hearted and far from equipoised, I have no great affection for him, yet his imminent passing has my mother who, while far from being a devotee, has been greatly supportive of me in both my spiritual and material pursuits. I am unsure what is appropriate behavior in this situation as an aspiring Vaisnava and as someone who still has strong familial ties. Is there anything that I can do for my grandfather as he passes or afterwards and is there anything that I can do, spiritually or practically, to help my mother through this?

HpS - All I can say is just listen to them. As a 'pure devotee' by chanting your rounds etc. you have a good heart and just listen. Then you will know naturally what you can do.  Formally, about ten days after he departs you can have his picture in the Temple and offer Mahaprasada to him and talk about him a little and sponsor a Sunday Feast or Kirtan.  The devotees will think of him and that will influence his subtle atmosphere. Ask the Pujari about the Sraddha Ceremony.

Thank you once again for your boundless mercy.

Nityananda-rama dasa

HpS - AGTSP.   One of Krsna's qualties is that He is expert in all languages. Can you talk to cats. I get along a little bit.

Hare Krsna Beloved and respected Gurudeva:

AGTSP 

PAMHO

I hope U are always fine and joyfull as I always see U in your tweets, SM, etc... we are listening to the audios that u share on twitter .. thank U all so much¡¡¡

News: I have my job back.... now I am going to teach in the Pyschologist faculty and also in communications... 

I am taking yoga and pyshoterapy.. (by the way I have to change the physchologist...He was a man and his treatment towards me started to be improper.). I am kind of intelligent and I am not going to try to cover some emptyness or problems that I have with anyone  that is just nonesense... 

My physchology now is a lady one of my sister's colleagues.. she is nice she has 2 nice children... I love to be around them

I am doing yoga also really nice..

I started to think about one conversation that Madhumanjari dd had with me long time ago regarding too much exposure.. so I resigned my facebook account and also I am not joining SM due to I want some time of introspection.. not too much contact with the internet world I have encountered many things that are just fake...with all my imperfections and failures and pride i just try to convey that so I trust... but now I want some introspection... 

Gurudeva i just want to thank U for all your support, and all the things that U do in order to contact us with the sankirtan movement... we are waiting for U... I hope that U gave me all the forces that I need due to U are a transparent media through Srila Prabhupada so then we can reach Lord Krsna...

See U pretty soon at the airport¡¡¡¡ We are making all the arrengments with Gandharva prabhu..junta etc..

My deities are eating now....

Thank U thank U Thank U

Your eternal insignificant servant

Candramukhi dd

HpS - AGTSP   ----  Krsna is waiting so much for us to just sit with Him! That may lead to a quick death, but that is good!

Hare Krishna beloved and esteemed Gurudev,

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All glories to Srila Prabhupada,

Gurudeva, thank you so much for being a living representation of Srila Prabhupada's teachings, for your clear example, for extracting the most precious nectar from this refined philosophy. For giving us so much association through blog, SM, tweeter, Kdh, etc.

You are an ocean of good qualities gurudev, i can not take everything you have to give, in fact i take so little, what a fool i am.

4 principles ok, 16 rounds ok (although i have a recorded debt that im cancelling little by little).

I'm alive in the sankirtan movement, many things are going on here in mardel.

I listened to the audios you post on tweeter, today i listened to HH HDG presentation about the need of establishing a philosophical committee in ISKCON. I feel his an your preaching are so much avant garde, is like you are ten years in advance.

This is the big question, what do we need to cease to be a small cluster of people living a parallel reality to become leaders who influence the global status quo?

I face often with clever educated people who leaves our center El Loft because they feel that devotees dont practice what they preach or because they see different kinds of faults in devotees. What can i do for this persons, to help them discover how much nectar there is within ISKCON? 

I was away one week on vacations with formidables Manu and Benja, had very good time many adventures. I feel they are coping great with the fact that their parents are divorced.

Their psychologist told me that they see their parents as good friends.

I'm also doing  psychotherapy. Is really helping me a lot. 

I feel that very little by little I'm making advancement, tiny but important realizations!!

JAYARAMA!! Gurudev!!

Latin America needs your wisdom!!

I'm sure you will impact so many people.

Sadhu sanga, and Krishna Katha!!

Harer nama eva kevalam,

At your divine and sweet soft lotus feet!!

Nikunja Bihari das. 

AGTSP. Paoho. Thank you for you letter. I don't know how to save the wise men who leave the Loft. If they are sincere they will learn how to separate the garbage from the gold in ISKCON. Krsna will push them.

We will be in Peru soon and talk with all your associates there also!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Dear Gurudeva, please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.

ASA - AGTSP... Lettuce feet.

I am sorry for not reporting on the last months but I did not want to bother you with my problems. I was serving Sri Sri Radha Madana Gopal for several months and in the meaning some things happened and I decided to wait to tell you.

One year ago aproximately I began a relationship with Bhadrasena das, Harikesa Swami's disciple. After some months I decided to go out the temple to . . . and to know him better.  Since one month we decided to live together in his parent's house and to test to live together. We are aware that it is not the Vaishnav protocol. Now we are expecting a baby and we are going to formalize our relationship as soon as possible. To avoid some criticism in the temple, only a few devotees know it. We are expecting some advise from you if you want to. I beg for you pardon for my offenses to you. I trying to chant my rounds and I hope in some moment recover the service at your lotus feet.

Would you please to change the names?  We don´t want any one to know by now.

HpS - ASA -  Names changed, but you said some people already know.

Your hopeful servants:
Tulasi devi dasi
Bhadrasena das.

HpS - ASA - Everyone in the village probably knows about your relationship. Krsna knows. If you were living together in his parents house that means they approve the relationship and basically you are married.

Be an upright lady. A lady only has children by her husband. This is not an "experiment". An experiment has to be carried out according to certain procedure. So, as a result you probably did not get much information from this irregular experiment.

When you took initiation you knew that 16-rounds and 4-principles were essential for human life. O.K. Were your stupid actions (basically all of us are doing greatly stupid things, like this, or smaller stupid things) done after full effort to act properly? Has this been an accidental falldown, or an intentional falldown?

In any case take a vow of a certain number of rounds that you KNOW you can do daily until Janmastami and then do them for your babies welfare that he will be a devotee of Krsna. Then tell us the result.

​Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada y a su sankirtana eterno.
Hare krsna querido Guru Maharaja, por favor reciba mis humildes reverencias a sus pies de" LOTO" los cuales espero con ansias poder tener la misiricordia de ver ,si es que la salud me lo permite y el laksmi tambien....
​BUENO GURUDEVA NOTICIAS EN REALIDAD Nada IMPORTANTES ,ESTE CUERPO CADA VEZ SIEN MAS Y MAS Y MAS Y MUCHO MAS. DOLOR ME OPERE DOS VECES DEL ESOFAGO, SALIO BIEN TODO POR DECIR SIEMPRE LO. BUENO,UN PEDAZO.DEL.CALCINOMA ESTA EN UNA ZONA QUE NO SE PUEDE SACAR,, PRABHU AMALA MI ESPOSO SE DESVIVE TRABAJA MUCHO EN DOS EMPRESAS. YO LE.DIJE PARA PONER UN RESTAURANTE PORQUE BUENO DISTRIBUCION DE PRASSADAN Y YO.SOY MUY OPTIMISTA,HE BAJADO MUCHISIMO DE PESO (YA HACIA FALTA)SE ME CAYO EL CABELLO LO QUE ERA DE ESPERARSE ,SABE GURUDEVA USTED EN EL. AEROPUERTO ME DIJO "QUE TODO VA ESTAR BIEN ,QUE TODO. SALDRIA BIEN,QUE ESTABA BIEN QUE NOS CASEMOS,UNO AYUDA AL OTRO" .......el a mi me Ayuda muchisimo ,en cambio siento que a el solo.le doy problemas y mas problemas y le perjudique ,al casarse con una mujer enferma.,con hijos ,cuando se pudo ir a Mathura que era su deseo, SABE COMETI EL.PEOR ERROR QUE UNA MUJER PUEDE HACER Y FUE DECIR UNS MENTIRA ,TALVEZ BLANCA AUNQUE NO EXISTEN LAS ME   ...

ASA - HpS - Hare Krsna. En esta punto estamos perdiendo comprehension de la carta!  No hablamos Espanol bien. Es bastante larga!...    Eso no es bueno para Blog, chat. Bien es puntos cortas, simples a la comenza. Diagolo.
Todo el mundo va a pasar por estas sufrimientos. La muerte es la suma total de todos los experencias. Tiene que prepara para viajar en el ocean sin cuerpo burdo. Vd. y Krsna.   Boooop!   Prepararse ir a Goloka!!!

Otro carta, corta!!  Diagolo...

NTIRAS BLANCAS AHORA SABE GURUDEVA PRABHU AMALA ME DICE QUE YA NO QUIERE ESTAR CONMIGO ,QUE NO DESEA UNA VIDA CONMIGO QUENME VA A ODIAR SE QUE FUE POR LA MENTIRA QUE LE.DIJE QUE TAMPOCO.ES GRAVE ES EL.HECHO DE LA MENTIRA ,GURUDEVA NONSE SINSEA POR EL.ESTRES QUENTRAE DEL.LAKSMI QUE SE.NECESITA PARA MI OPERACION ,POR LAMDECEPCION QUE LE CAUSO LONQUENHICE ,PERO SABE QUE YO ME SIENTO INDEFENSA Y SIN SABER QUE HACER ,DEJE MI TRABAJO Y LA.VIDA QUE VIVIA EN LIMA ,DEJE MIS COSAS LAS REGALE LAS VENDI Y ME VINE ,TRAYENDO A MIS HIJOS PEQUEÑOS CONMIGO,AHORA NO TRABAJO PORQUE ESTOY ENFERMA Y ESO ME CAUSA MAS ANGUSTIA Y DESESPERACION,PORQUE ACA NO TENGO FAMILIA TODA MI.FAMILIA.ERA.Y ES MI.ESPOSO,ONCLUSO EN CASA CUANDO VENIA PARA ACA LAMFAMILIA.ME CERRO A MI LAS PUERTAS POR RELIGION Y TODO ESO ,.......DEJO TODO EN MANOS DE.KRSHNA Y SIGO CON LAS 24 RONDAS Y LOS 4 PRINCIPIOS ESTRICTOS ,SE QUE UN CONSEJO NO ME.DARA PERO SI LAS PALABRAS PARA GUIARME Y SABER QUE HACER

LE CUENTO MI DESEO ES APRENDER INGLES BIEN E IRNOS A VRINDAVANA COMO PROFESORA YO Y QUE MI PEQUEÑO ESTUDIE AHY Y QUE PARBHU AMALA QUISIERA LO MISMO TALVES NO SER PROFESOR PERO SI COCINERO ETC ,ES MI DESEO EL MAS GRANDE QUE TENGO......GRACIAS GURU MAHARAJA POR ESTAR SIEMPRE AHY ,GRACIAS POR ESCICHARME Y LEERME ESPERO VERLO PRONTO USTED ES MI GUIA MI PADRE Y MI MADRE GRACIAS POR TODOS SUS SABIOS CONSEJOS......ALGUIEN QUE ASPIRA SER SU SIRVIENTE AMPARO HERNANDEZ

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Dear Hanumat Presaka Swami Maharaj,

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

Sorry for the delayed reply. In regards to my question about gay marriage, I appreciated very much your reference to SB 1.17.38. Some points that stuck out to me here were "One man's food is another man's poison", and that in some cases, "regulation of adharma is necessary to bring people to the path of dharma."

I had a long conversation about this recently with my old Bhakta leader, and he was saying that the reason for my confusion here was because I was equating two different vows. In others words, marriage is a vow of monogamy, but it doesn't necessarily require 4 regs. As you pointed out, in some cases even animals mate for life. Omkara prabhu said that to ban people from marriage because they don't follow garbadhana samskara would diminish protection of women and other virtues, and would be like "throwing the baby out with the bathwater?" Would gay marriage also fall into the category of adharma which may help vikarmis approach dharma through pravrtti marga? I suppose the key point here is that initiation vows are the same for everybody.

Certainly this is not the highest topic, but I only ask because I feel like I should be competent to give scientific answers on sankirtana. To feel inspired, it's important to me to be able to picture people in Krsna consciousness.

HpS - AGTSP.   Seems like a very broad topic to us. In India for example there has been a class of eunichs that were placed in a certain social situation. Traditionally India, Bharata varsa seems broad enough to fit everyone. In SB 1.9.26-28 Prabhupada gives a fantastic summary of our political science. He recomends Parasara dharma sastra. Researching it we found that Parasara gives details fo what is Adharma and what is Adharma. This is like saying what are the laws of gravity or optics. He gives details of differences of adharma in Kali yuga and says that Kali yuga is so confused that he can't possibly give rules for everything so you can ask one sadhaka totally dedicated to spiritual life for instructions about specific situations, eg. Gay marriage. If you haven't access to such a person then he says a synod of six brahmanas can arrive at the same insight.

So about things that are not detailed in Prabhupada's books and other books, then ask six nice devotees.

In general us it seems that homosexual relations can be regulated on a level below the four principles, but why call it marriage. That seems strange to us. Use the word marriage for heterosexual relation in God's sight to get nice sons.

Rama and Sugriva made a vow of friendship that was just as binding as marriage, no? But it has a differnce name because it is a different relationship.

Hare Krsna!!  Jaya!

I was also wondering if there is some standard conduct for sannyasa? Bathing 3 times daily? Sleeping 3 hours? One meal? I'm curious because such practices may help me get a taste for devotional service sooner than otherwise, and may enable me to, at least, establish a deeper foundation for grhasta ashram if it doesn't allow me to circumvent grhasta life altogether.

HpS - BG 16.1-3... One Paragraph on the basics of sannyasa. Other instructions throughout Prabhupada's books. Associate with nice devotees. They may only be 80% perfect but use your intelligence to separate the wheat from the chaff and get to Prabhupada('s books) through them. Read his books directly.

I guess you should focus on the practices for 1st initation, 2nd initiation ... in order more, no? Of course, yes it is important to have a general view, view by mercy, all the way to Goloka, no.

I passed the initiation test since last we spoke, so you should be receiving my recommendation from Svavasa prabhu shortly. Mukunda Datta das Thakur has given his permission and blessings for me to become your disciple. I hope your travels are going nicely, Maharaj. Hare Krsna!

Your aspiring servant,

Bhakta Eric

AGTSP.  We have to run to the Temple!  More in the DTC. Thank you!