Letters to the editor

Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet [lettuce]. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to you Guru Maharaja. 

Guru Maharaja, I am reading Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita, just finished reading the pastimes of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada’s final moments on this earth (Part 4 – How Shall I Serve You). Soon after Srila Prabhupada received a reply letter in December 1936, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada passed away from this mortal world –

Quote from Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita – ending part of Part 4 – How Shall I Serve You 

Srila Prabhupada writes,

Dear Guru Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. You have got many disciples, and I am one of them, but they are doing direct service to you. Some of them are brahmacharis, some of them are sannyasis, but I am a householder. I cannot. Sometimes I give monetary help, while I cannot give you direct service. Is there any particular service I can do? 

Two weeks later, Abhay received a reply.

………………..............................…………

Abhay at once recognised this to be the same instruction he had received at their first meeting, in 1922. He took it as a confirmation. There was now no doubt as to the purpose of his life. What his spiritual master said in 1922 had not that been a chance meeting. The instruction was the same: “Turn yourself into a very good English preacher. This will do much good to yourself as well as your audience”. 

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta passed away from this mortal world on January 1, 1937. He had been spending his last days reading Caitanya-caritamrita and chanting on his beads.………….................…….

While reading this portion of Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita, I am strongly remembering you Guru Maharaja with a lot of anxiety thinking about the separation we have to feel later after you pass away from this mortal world.

Guru Maharaja, I feel very sad in seeing your health troubles. I don’t know what can I do for your good health. We, a team of devotees, are chanting extra rounds everyday, and we are sincerely praying to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Sri Radha Govindaji, for your long life and good health.

We are very immature. We need more of your association. Please live with us little more years Guru Maharaja, this is our humble request. 

In the past many years, because of my foolishness, I was neglecting the chances of having more of your associations in many ways. In the recent past of about 1 year, I have been regularly associating with you through vapu, mails, blog posts, classes, lectures, etc. and from the association, I am finding in myself a lot of positive changes. The sayings of yours for your winding up of the earthly pastimes makes me very upset. It is the saddest news I ever heard in my life. I am still longing for your vapu association for many more years. 

Guru Maharaja, please let me know which seva will make you most happy from this stupid servant of yours. What kind of seva is most satisfying and pleasing to you from a disciple? What are your projects, what is your mission – how can I take part in those sevas. How can I keep myself engaged in the service of you Guru Maharaj and Krishnachandra with full dedication, full enthusiasm and always nonstop. Please let me know and guide me on these confidential topics. And, please bless me so that I shall keep myself engaged in those sevas till my last breath. 

Guru Maharaja, I have started reading Tava Pache Pache. It’s very wonderful. I am continuing my book distribution seva also. 

Guru Maharaja, whatever offences I have committed to you, please kindly forgive and please guide me so that I become pure in this life time. 

Begging for your association as a disciple birth after birth,

Your humble disciple

Manjuali Devi Dasi

Kaptanpur, Silchar, Assam

HpS - Yes, the separation from our gurus, godbrothers, all vaisnava friends can make us very sad.

That will never, NEVER, N E V E R stop!

You think Radha doesn't feel separation from KRSNA?

🙂

Yet, it is not separation for Her.

It is like black pepper in the Kitri.

It is very nice. It must be in proportion.

We must act in this life so that when we meet again in our next life with Nimai in Nadia we will feel like we know each other.

We have met your family, no?

What other Vaisnavas do we know in Silchar community?

When did we visit there?

Hari Das Swami???

What you are doing now is best service to us. Don't change it. Grow it.

Hare Krishna Maharaj

Please accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

I am pranjal (brahmchari) from ISKCON NEWTOWN, Kolkata. I serve in ISKCON YOUTH FORUM at Bhaktivedanta Research Center and conduct sessions for youth in JADAVPUR UNIVERSTIY.

In weekends I am conducting Ramayana Course for children.

HpS/ASA - Making statues of Ravana and having them beat it with sticks!!! ???

I got your darshan when you visited here . Since then I am periodically following the blog and kapi dhwaj. I am deeply inspired by the content.

I intend to become regular reader Nectar of Instruction with help of TPP book. As advised in the book I aspire to complete the study each fortnight and in this way go through it around 25 times from this gaur purnima to next. I seek your blessings for fulfiling this aspiration.

Secondly In order to get access to your twitter post, I recently made an account there. My user id is titled sarisrip. Can you kindly grant me access

HpS/ASA - Awk! 💥

Gonk! 💥

💥

Brack! 🐵

We don't get notifications from Twitter [X] when there are applications. We dug them up and found six. We approved you are three more.

Didn't approve "Guam" or "Yuri".

Who is Yuri??? Write to us, Yuri.

thank you very much

your aspiring servant

Pranjal

HpS - It was so nice staying in BRC. Thank you. Send photo!!!

All glories to Sri Sri Guru And Gauranga!

PAMHO AGTSP!

Hare Krishna Maharaj:

How r u? I’ve been trying to recover my lost Twitter account in order to follow you there, but I wasn’t lucky so I will create a new one and check regularly your posts.

hps/asa 🐵

Although I’m watching your classes regularly. Usually I’m busy when you give live classes, so I search upon YouTube and check some old ones.

First of all I would like to thank you, it’s been 2 days since I don’t smoke. I’m still eating during night time so I’ll try to fix that in a near future, trying to make gradual changes.

My sadhana, luckily, in some ways is better than before, I’m performing a morning program with a short Kirtan, offering a fruit, water, flower petals and an incense to my deities, and chanting 10 rounds.

HpS/ASA - 👍

Also I’m taking more care of the house cleaning and order, and walking almost every day to complete the rounds during the late afternoon.

I’m about to restart English classes, so I’m quite happy about that and I keep attending to an English conversation club where I have some friends and acquaintances.

I’d been praying to Krishna for help to quit smoking, and now that I’ve been better I feel so grateful. Some lyrics of Christian songs came to my mind, in which the author said that He is faithful.

HpS - Prabhupada said the intoxication, like tobacco, marjuana, goes away as we learn to honor Prasadam properly.

Make progress.

I’ve been going through some other difficulties with the mother of my child, and we’re dealing the issue with lawyers. I don’t think might be useful to tell you the details, but summarizing she’s neglecting my daughter’s health and wellbeing, so I please request if you just could pray for a happy ending, that would be of so much help for me.

HpS/ASA - Hare Krsna. Hare Krsna. Krsna Krsna. Hare Hare. /// Hare Rama. Hare Rama. Rama Rama. Hare Hare.

Thank you infinitely once again Maharaj!

HK! Dandavats!

Federico

HpS - Thank you!!!

Hare Krsna, Beloved Gurudeva:

AGTSP, pamho.

I hope this meets you well.

HpS/ASA - Same to you, agtSP!!! Especially spiritually well!

There have been episodes in my life that astrology helped me understand.

HpS - Seems like same for me.

And it also serves to be prepared. I have been studying that during March there are important movements in the sky and that is why I wanted to share it on the Blog

From the 16th to the 30th there are accumulation of planets between Aquarius Pisces and Aries.

It means that there are lots of air, water and fire energy but lack of earth. So that there is an energy imbalance.

Mercury, the planet of communication, is in a bad position and this increases as we approach the date of the first eclipse of the year.

On March 25th there is going to be a partial lunar eclipse in Virgo at 11 degrees

Let's recall that Eclipses occur when the sun and moon align with rahu and ketu

The best shelter as always is the holy names, but if we can diminish our material activities on the day of the eclipse that will be superb.

HpS - Thank you! Any astrologers whom you take as teachers?

As devotees it seems that there is nothing inauspicious. We just have to learn how to use the lack of earth.

Dress according to our age.

Yet, if we cannot do this yet, we should avoid the demonic and grasp the daivic as you suggest!

Thank you.

CMDD's report: I work from Monday to Sunday but the good thing is that there are just 2 days that I have to commute to work the rest of the days I have virtual classes. Nevertheless, sometimes it is a little bit demanding

HpS - Very demanding!

I try to join the FMS most of the days, 16R and 4P are ok.

I go to the church every Sunday is right in front of my house. My sister joins me. I haven't gone to any temple recently. That is something that I miss a lot

Thanks Gurudeva hope to visit you soon

Trying to be your disciple

CMDD

HpS - Is your sister going to join us in Nabadvipa in her next birth??

Hare Krishna Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! 

Thank you so much for Vijaya Prabhu’s Treasures of the Brhat Mrdanga book and the prasadam. We are very inspired by the nice forward that Vaisesika Prabhu wrote. Hope to dive further in soon.

HpS - We, agtSP, were just looking up topics that we liked and reading clips from it!

The painting of Sri Advaitacarya that I sent was posted on Facebook by a devotee. On His appearance day I impulsively sent it to you. I really love the painting so I wanted you to see it in case you hadn’t seen it before. 

Maharaja, I want to apologize for my long letter I sent last month. At the time it seemed like the right thing to send but I can see now that a lot of it was unnecessary and maybe too personal and vulnerable and much too long. Been really struggling internally. 

Maharaja, I’ve heard you talk about becoming too institutionalized within ISKCON a few different times throughout the years and I’m just wondering how to understand this more.

And maybe it’s not something I can understand at this neophyte stage?

I’m just always dealing with this rugged individualism that I was brought up in and heavily conditioned by, so for me the institutional aspect of ISKCON seems to be something I need to lean into more?

I’ve had some very profound and instructive dreams recently where you had answered some questions I have really struggled with. 

Anyway, thinking about you being back in the Murfreesboro camp and hoping this finds you very well with no more mouth pain.

Maharaja, would you be able to visit us in Boise this year? 

Your aspiring servant, 

Nitisara das 

HpS - We, agtSP, are struggling to answer this Blog timely. We are lazy, and actually limited. This letter seems to have had a FMS/BPC but we missed it!!!

Noted all of your good concerns.

Becoming institutionalized would seem to relate to 'niyama agraja' as in NoI 2. We go through the institutions rituals because it accommodates our sense gratification, gives us friends and family etc.

Yet, the rituals, eg. Japa Vrata, pushes us to reflect, "Why am I doing this?". If we are sincere and take advantage of this natural push from the Sadhana, then we really ask the question and we can see for example how we joined ISKCON, took up some service, for a certain vision, but now we have lost that.

It has repeatedly happened to me and I guess of course others, even you!! Then I took a month off in Braja as it offered itself to get back on track.

It may take a month every now and then to adjust for six years of institutional conditioning.

Helps?

So, much more detail in Prabhupada's books.

It seems that we will be based in Nashville until mid-May unless we die during this breath. By then, any travel plans should become clearer, but really seems that we should stay anywhere we can prepare for a change of body, engage in strong Sankirtan with deep meaning.

🙂

Another letter!

Hare Krishna, Beloved Gurudeva,

Please accept our humble obeisances,

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada,

We were quite depressed, unmotivated. Your teeth problems, reminded us that you are leaving soon (according to your predictions, odana sasthi this year).

HpS/ASA - Well, yes, agtSP, it is a prediction, but it is like a scientific prediction, based upon available evidence, and a practical date for getting necessary things done.

We were PUSHED to consolidate our preaching efforts, and that resulted in the four movies.

You, so many devotees, should also do the same thing as you get older. Seems Prabhupada was considering what he had done and updating his consolidations in his Purports.

Around October we were certified 40% deaf, and eyes, mental faculties, about the same. Now our vehicle seems to be about 55%.

Only one out of the five movable windows on our Mercedes works.

Yet that is quite enough to good work.

On the other hand, what do any of us know. This might be our last breath or we live in this body until we are 86-years old?

So we started to think that we can no longer bother you with our issues, and that we really did nothing for you but bring problems.

HpS - Please engage us in your Sankirtan according to our utility!

The mind, friend or foe!! Glass, half empty or half full.

When we started to see everything black, we called His Holiness Bhakti Dhira Damodara Swami, asking for help.

Next day he called us, while he was at Mayapura.

That gesture touched us, we realized that Guru and Krishna are always with us.

After a week, we regained our practice, enthusiasm, the glass was half full.

Good japa, daily reading of Srimad Bhagavatam.

Then in FMS you quoted that letter from SP to Jaya Tirtha Prabhu: “You cannot survive without my mercy and I cannot survive without your mercy. This mutual respect. this mutual love, is Krishna Consciousness”. [We edited the previous a little to what we remember reading and repeating]

Touched our heart, gratitude!! We told maharaja about our recovery and quoted that letter to him. He replied: “ Hare Krishna Prabhu. I am always here for you”. We know It's the same with you, you are always there for us.

We hope we can serve you for the whole eternity.

Your aspiring disciple,

Nikunja bihari das.

Ps: We sent a present by post mail with Manu, our elder son, who is in the United States now.

HpS - We got it. A Russian copy of NoI. I have not integrated it with our museum of different language NoIs, but it is in the process. Then we hope to publish a report. Thank you!

Any more news about B. D. Damora Swami or others is certainly nice.

I keep thinking that we can all be together in the Nadiya in the universe where Lord Caitanya is personally present in our next lifetime. It makes me realize how much more purified I need to become.

Every day we learn some more about becoming stronger, more efficient devotees.

Expect some of our readers are doing the same, but even faster than we are.

Let us go to another letter and chant final 3-rounds to 16.