Letters to the editor

Todas las glorias a nuestro Fundador Acarya A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda! 

Querido Gurumaharaja

Por favor acepte nuestras respetuosas reverencias. 

Orando y agradeciendo al Señor Nrisimhadeva para que siempre proteja su energía consagrada al sankirtana eterno de Śrīla Prabhupāda y porsupuesto para que proteja mi contaminado corazón de nuestro enemigo más grande: la lujuria.

Prontamente se celebrará Janmastami, por la bendición de Śrīla Prabhupāda desde el corazón purificado podemos saber que existe una atmósfera de paz y prosperidad en todas partes y en todas las direcciones pero quizás nuestros ojos materiales no pueden ver, sin embargo las estrellan brillarán en su máximo esplendor por el nacimiento del Señor Krishna.

Estamos leyendo los libros de Śrīla Prabhupāda y escuchando algunas clases regularmente, tenemos algunas preguntas.

De acuerdo a Srila Jiva Goswami el paribhasa sutra del Srimad Bhagavatam es el 1.3.28 , nos gustaría saber por favor si es correcto que el paribhasa sutra del BG es el 18.65 ? 

Atma Tattva 

•BG. 2.24

El alma está en todas partes y es inmóvil..

Cómo entendemos está aparente contradicción? 

También queremos aprovechar la oportunidad para solicitar por favor su ofrenda para el Vyasapuja 2023 de Śrīla Prabhupāda para poder leer en el templo.

Muchas gracias por su misericordiosa atención.

Disculpe por favor nuestras ofensas. 

Vuestra eterna aspirante a sirviente

Asta Sakhi dd

Prabhu Manash Ranjan le ofrece sus respetuosas reverencias. 

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All glories to our Founder Acarya A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda!

Dear Gurumaharaja

Please accept our respectful obeisances.

Praying and thanking Lord Nrisimhadeva to always protect his energy consecrated to Śrīla Prabhupāda's eternal sankirtana and of course to protect my polluted heart from our greatest enemy: lust.

HpS/ASA - AgtSP. . . . ! . We wonder how we can continue in devotional service, since we are very insincere, but maybe it is because of the best wishes of other devotees!

Janmastami will soon be celebrated, by the blessing of Śrīla Prabhupāda from the purified heart we can know that there is an atmosphere of peace and prosperity everywhere and in all directions but perhaps our material eyes cannot see, however the stars will shine at their maximum splendor by the birth of Lord Krishna.

We are reading Śrīla Prabhupāda's books and listening to some classes regularly, we have some questions:

According to Srila Jiva Goswami the paribhasa sutra of Srimad Bhagavatam is 1.3.28, we would like to know if it is correct that the paribhasa sutra of BG is 18.65?

HpS/ASA - As we remember, we have read from devotees that the most cited verse by Srila Prabhupada is BG 18.66. Yet, we remember one comment by Srila Narayana Maharaja that BG 18.65 was the essence of BG.

That is all I know.

It seems to me that Srila Bhakti siddhanta might have comment that it is the PBS.

Certainly very important verse, often emphasized and used by Srila Prabhupada, no?

Atma Tattva

•BG. 2.24

The soul is everywhere and it is immobile.

How do we understand this apparent contradiction?

HpS/ASA - In the Purport Srila Prabhupada makes some comment on this: https://vedabase.io/es/library/bg/2/24/#bb572.

The souls collectively are distributed everywhere.

🐒 Bh. Tom suggests it is like saying that in Mexico Tamales are everywhere and immobile.

Also, we remember that SP comments the soul is sarva-gataḥ (omnipresente) means within the entire body... by its consciousness.

We also want to take the opportunity to please request your offering for Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vyasapuja 2023 so that we can read in the temple.

ASA - We searched our files on our computer and letters in our E-mail account and cannot find it.

🤔

We will compose a little offering in another Blog Post!

Thank you very much for his merciful attention.

Please excuse our offenses.

Your eternal would-be servant

asta sakhi dd

Prabhu Manash Ranjan offers his respectful obeisances.

HpS - Thank you! What will be our next ASA service assignment from Srila Prabhupada! Will he give us one??!1

Thank you.

Respond to other posts.

Come with us?

W/A

AGTSP

PAMHO

Jay Gurumaharaja, we have already booked a house 20 mins away. With 3 bedrooms and full kitchen we can organize a small program there also , we may cook some pizza for you as well as anything else, we were wishing to be calm and close to you mainly, so I think it worked out perfect. Thank you

HpS/ASA

Very nice. Srila Prabhupada mercy.

What is the location?

How do you find Krsna Consciousness?

🐒🐒🐒🦍

asa[e] - ISKCON; Stay away! ISKCON Will Break Your Heart

WhatsApp from Carudesna Das (Name Changed to Protect the Innocent):

Hare Krishna, Maharaja, please kindly accept my most humble obeisances; all glories to Srila Prabhupada.  I hope that all is going well for you in your devotional service. 🙏 

I feel very embarrassed and afraid to share with you the following information.  There was some kind of discussion that took place with the GBC and the leaders of this community.  As a result of that discussion, I was so hurt by what our GBC shared with me that I have decided to stay away from the temple indefinitely.

I only know what the GBC shared with me in our drive back to the airport and nothing more.  I don't wish to burden you with my grief, but because you have always been so kind and merciful to me in the past, I have this great responsibility to let you know well in advance what has transpired and why I will be absent during your visit. 

Our GBC and I are good friends. I hold no blame, no ill thoughts or feelings towards him for anything.  By Krishna's grace I have been spared such foolish tendencies.🙏🏻

He actually gave a genuinely warm and compassionate hug when I dropped him off at the airport.  So, I feel very confident of his support. 🙏🏻

Please forgive me for my offenses. You are still a siksha guru in my life. 🙏🏻😞🙏🏻

HpS/ASA - AgtSP! AgtSP's ISKCON. We have discussed so many times that there are three ISKCON"s. The institution. The circle of friends and finally our individual, directly experienced relationship with Srila Prabhupada FAOI.

Jaya.

I have hellish, HELLISH, H-E-L-L-I-S-H experiences in ISKCON, usually in management relations eg. Temple Presidents, GBC. B. S. Damodara Swami expressed the same to me. Three other GBCs I know express the hell of being involved with the situation.

Even today, I wrote we write notes in our Diary of how to deal with these things:

Devotees in the institution who are causing intense pain to others may be doing it because of the hell they personally, confidentially, are experiencing. They torment others, even to such a degree that they hope others will react with physical violence and kill them. (Direct admission of the tormenters revealed to us).

O.K, we have to avoid, mentally, socially, physically this problem and keep ourselves in a situation where we can give as much help to them as possible.

Of course, this may be Hanuman "helping" the Raksasa army that Ravana sent to the Asokavan when he was talking to Sita. He snuffed them all. (To help them 👍) but he left Ravana for Rama to chastise!

In general, in our association with your self, we never see that you act in such a way as to cause anything other than a desire for your association! We want it!

Maybe... some misunderstanding??

Maybe GBC miscommunicated something??? Possible??? Go to the source and ask them politely if this is true.

Thank you Mataji,

AgtSP.

Paoho.

We sent a personal note to your WhatsApp number. Did you get it?

Please send your whatsapp number if you did not and we can send again.

We won't publish that number.

Thank you so much for all the news.

Dear gurudeva

please accept my obeisances

I share my husband's email XXX.com and send a copy of this letter to him too.

I am writing to you from project in Brazil. I have many things to tell you, but I have a

special topic that I am going to share with you.

Before your visit to Spain, something happened that has not been easy for me to describe,

but I have seen in recent months that by opening your heart and asking for

help, everything can improve and your false ego decreases. I also want you to

know a little more about me and be more transparent with you.

In December of last year, Narada (my eldest son) had very strange behaviors and outside of his

usual behavior, I was very anxious. Something inside of me, he told me, maybe

he was doing drugs. He began to be somewhat aggressive, telling lies, coming

home late, having bad company and what is common in those cases. I desperately

asked Prabhu Ananda to change schools, maybe move to the city, but he didn't

see it as a problem and we still didn't know what was happening. Some time

passed and he confessed that he had used a few drugs at one time. For me it was

a shock, news that I never expected. It was a very hard blow and I felt

devastated. I felt as if he had plunged me into such a deep pit, there would be

no way I could get out of it. I thought at times that it would be nice if

Krishna made some arrangement that would allow me and my son to die, before

seeing him plunged into drugs. I asked my family, friends, therapist for help,

I didn't know what to do. With this came a whole process of picking up things

from the past, all my mistakes. I understood that I was guilty for being

negligent with him, for being a bad mother, wife and devotee. For not being

patient and loving with him and especially for the countless fights I had with Ananda

since he was very little. I don't know, it could be so many things, but I took

my responsibility (gurudeva, you could not post the topic of Narada and drugs,

I still don't feel ready to share with someone else, maybe you could post some

abstracts of the letter that you think of help to others 🙏).

Prabhu Ananda and I had continuous strong quarrels and repeatedly thought of separating.

Since you are a sannyasi, I will not go into details about it, but I will only comment

on some points that may help someone else or just so that you know the

dimension of my situation and why I feel so grateful to you.

I was very discouraged with the devotees. Feminism, knowing about so much abuse,

information that was totally new to me, criticism and analyzing my marriage,

was too much and very very overwhelming. I was very immersed in mundane

activities at the time, so; the Narada event was like the result of many

activities that did not benefit anyone much.

We decided that we would give full attention to caring for our children and less to work, even

though that meant adjusting expenses, living with less, and prioritizing

spiritual development. When one goes through these situations, what matters

least is money and so many things in which one wastes valuable time. It all

seems so insignificant, because it really is and you just wish you had spent

more time doing activities to strengthen your spirit.

I immediately resigned from my last job in a Montessori school and despite the fact that I

was very bad inside, I sought more serious association with devotees and

searched everywhere for information on how to help my children, myself and get

ahead. . In reality, I did not know what to do, I had many opinions and I tried

to do everything, I even went to therapy that helped me a lot to understand

that humility is required to recognize that we are wrong and need help.

A week later we received an invitation to visit the temple in Malaga, so; we traveled and

stayed for a couple of days. I heard a lecture from H. H. Yadunandana Swami on

the importance of seeking the association of the pure devotee and how valuable

it is to be with devotees. It is as if you are dragged into doing things for

your benefit that seem impossible to do. So, I decided that I had to go looking

for you and that's how I got to Madrid.

So all those things happened before I met you.

And after all this, here I am. Everything started to happen as Krishna knows what is best for

us, it has always been like that, but I had not been so aware of that. I can

tell you that now I feel happy and satisfied. Cows, devotees, Prabhupada, pink

lotuses, beautiful flowers, incense, Krishna, cooking for Krishna, books,

classes, kirtana, everything Prabhupada has given us is so beautiful. Narada

and Rama are happy and healthy, the devotees and the cows have achieved so much

with them, they feel loved, protected, taken into account and little by little

they are liking more Krishna conscious activities. Narada feeds the minor cows

daily, cleans the gosala, always his clothes and body smell like cow dung and

milk 🐄.

I am learning from my easy or difficult situations, but with peace of mind knowing that I

have always had available an effective way to solve problems, to move on and

change your person completely: sadhu sanga and the holy name.

I don't know what will happen to Narada and Rama in the future, but I know that Krishna is

good and always grateful. So, I just have to pray for them and do my best to

provide them with necessary tools to serve them in their adulthood and see what

they themselves can achieve with the help of Krishna and his devotees.

I think that I have not had a successful marriage materially speaking, in fact, it has been

very disastrous, but without a doubt it has brought me closer to Krishna in an

amazing and successful way. Every situation, every problem, every difficulty

has led me to where I am now and I'm so happy about it. I am thankful for

everything I have experienced, but I think that maybe knowing some things

before getting married and having children could help to have a more stable

family without so many setbacks. We have made so many mistakes and I would like

to say that I won't make any more, but my reality is that it is a constant

trial and error.

I would like to share that when you are a mother and trying to be CK it can become very

difficult if you are NOT emotionally stable, it can be hell for you and your

children. So, the best thing is to acknowledge it and ask for help, but even

that is difficult because there may be a lot of ego in the heart, and the shame

or the feeling of wanting to appear normal or dedicated, is an obstacle. There

are many details that may be involved, but if we think that there will be no

consequences in the future with our children with what we are giving them

during their childhood, we are wrong. It is in adolescence where all the good

and bad that you could have taught them comes out; Of course, there is

individual karma, but I think it's better if you spend more love, time and care

during their childhood.

Gurudeva please forgive me for so much negligence and offenses. For so much wasted time.

 I especially want to thank you because because of you I am now here alive and

with a purpose. Every morning I am happy to know that I am a FREE being to

serve Krishna, which is the only thing that gives happiness.

Sorry for such a long letter.

He prayed to Krishna that the effort you make to listen and help us may be rewarded and you

may always be happy in your service to others.

Lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada.

Jay Srila Prabhupada!!

Your servant Havisara D. D.

HpS - Thank you for this very nice letter.

We are all violent, egoistic beast, pigs, in Kali yuga.

Look at the good side. You did not kill and eat your husband and children.

We are joking a little, but by contrast we should see that we have done many things right. We have note separated. We have taken care of our children, see that they get food, shelter.

We have not set and example of drug addicts etc for them.

O.K.

Here we are.

Next step.

Of course, send more news to the Blog.

You don't have to write confidential details, but the general principles will help everyone.

More news.

Thank you for all the hard work that you and your husband, and children, have done for this movement.

Hare Krsna, Srila Gurudev

Koti Dandavat at your lotus feet.

HpS - AgtSP. We are just his stupid messengers, functionairies, lettuce feet.

Sadhana has improved by your mercy. Chanting my rounds before Mangal Aarti and then following Mangal Aarti reading Bhagawatam with a devotee friend over Google live. This program is helping me a lot. I am praying that somehow I can maintain this.

HpS - Super, super, super!!! Whatever we learn about vaidhi bhakti is eternal knowledge.

So many attempts I have done over the course of last 7 years but every time I keep falling back to bad habits, sometimes intentionally and others by illusion.

HpS - I have had the same experience. I guess all of our readers have had it, no? You have heard the same thing from other's no????

Maharaja Bharata fell down from Bhava-bhakti. Lord Caitanya chastised Mukunda for keeping bad association.

Yet, whatever sincere effort I make, has an eternal result!

There will always be devotees more advanced than us and others less advanced.

How are we improving our service to Radha and Shyama?

Even in Goloka we will discover newer and newer, unique, abilities that we have.

This time I want to continue without failing, as my donkey is going to be 32 years old in few days and death is becoming a fast reality with my situation.

HpS - 👍

Current problem is the day time drowsiness that I get. But I hope over next few days this will fix itself.

Gurudev your wrote " We will start a series of Blog posts under Category B called "ISKCON WW-9 (Iskcon Warp World Nine)" for Tom Brown's ASA Encyclopedia if... if... if... you agree to collect them that include problems to correct in ISKCON with solutions.

hO.K. Health Care Provider?"

Yes Srila Gurudev I hope to do the service .

The purport 6.6 is perfect for my situation. Root cause of all my problems are uncontrolled mind. So this time effort is to control the mind and then realization of Paramatma will come, I pray.

Question I had regarding Mantra Japa and kirtan.

1) When I do my Japa . I hear the words and then at same time mentally try to visualize the words " Hare Krsna in my mind closed eye or try to see the letters Hare krsna in air "

Will this process be effective ?

HpS - Hmmm. Everyone is different. I am very inclined to draw, write, so I have developed and abbreviated way to write the words and mantra, and then I do it in artistic ways in my Diary. I have seen others doing this.

I think it is fine.

Of course, chanting in front of the Deities of Radha and Krsna is very great, approved, method.

2) In vrindavan, when I was doing japa. You once told me to smile while chanting. If the mood is of prayer, how to externally smile.

HpS - There are five primary rasas, and seven secondary. In Raganuga bhakti we can try to chant with these feelings. It is O.K.

Chanting thinking of Radha and Krsna as your little children.

😃 - happy.

😠 - angry.

😲 - fear.

😨 - wonder.

Gurudev , please keep me in your prayers. And kindly forgive the offenses that I have committed at your lotus feet over last few years, due to my immaturity of your position.

Trying to be a disciple.

Rturaj Krsna Das

Puducherry, India

HpS - Trying to be your counselor! Send another report after two weeks!

Who is your partner?