Letters to the editor

Hare Krishna Gurumaharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

H. G. Maniradha Devi Dasi left her body on the morning of the auspicious day of Balarama Purnima (8/31/2023) in India. I just saw your message and wanted to send you this before I go to make offering to Nila Madhava.

Your insignificant servant

Srinivasacarya dasa

HpS - Mataji was mother of Sundara radhika Devi Dasi, wife of Srinivasa Das. She was initiated at very advanced age, but took to chanting with seriousness. In last few years she was disable even in recognizing people, but this will happen to all of us at the time of death anyway, no? It is the change of heart that is important.

Please chant Maha-mantra for her while keeping auspicious attention on here picture.

Thank you!

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna . . .

HK Dear Maharaja, TgaSSGN . TGASP.

I share the moment that I have to live

Living in the material world

Like a crazy person

I accept the fate that I meet at every step

Trying to conquer the mind in elation or facing “misfortune” HK-HR

My head may be separated from my body at any time.

Or that this body of a donkey lying on an operating room stretcher perishes.

Or that my approval rejoices my senses while dreaming at night I see myself flying like a bird that overcomes the gravity of the atmosphere with its effort.

We know thanks to SP (all glories at his lotus feet) that:

Bg. 9.31

kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā

śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati

kaunteya pratijānīhi

na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati

- He soon becomes virtuous and achieves lasting peace. O son of Kuntī, boldly declare that My devotee never perishes. –

Dear Lord… I beg you to accept me as Your devotee.

And may this heart of stone turn to sand and melt like transparent glass free from all malice.

My cowardice is great and my fear is like an unforeseen arrow that crosses this capricious mind and poisons it.

May my desire to serve you be sincere in the perfectible transit of this human life.

And may my memory never forget the words of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura who describes surrender to the Supreme Lord as follows:

mārabi rākhabi — I icchā tohārā

nitya-dāsa-prati tuyā adhikārā

«My Lord, now I have given myself to You. I am Your eternal servant; if you want, you can kill me, and if you want, you can protect me. In any case, I am fully delivered to You».

Dear Majaraja Thank you for this space that you so kindly give us.

His mercy should have no limit. Because otherwise we wouldn't be so lucky.

All glories to you.

HpS / ASA - I am sorry that I don't speak Spanish well enough to contemplate your words even more deeply.

They are very inspiring for me.

Maybe we will meet in Sankirtan dreams with Srila Prabhupada.

I'm sure everyone would like to hear more of your ideas as you see fit.

Thank you!!!

HK Querido Maharaja, TgaSSGN . TGASP.

Comparto el instante que me toca vivir

Viviendo en el mundo material

Como un loco

Acepto el destino que encuentro a cada paso

Tratando de conquistar la mente ante el júbilo o enfrentando la “desdicha” HK-HR

Puede que mi cabeza sea separada de mi cuerpo en cualquier momento.

O que perezca este cuerpo de burro tendido en la camilla de un quirófano.

O que mi beneplácito regocije mis sentidos mientras soñando por la noche me vea volando como un pájaro que vence con su esfuerzo la gravedad de la atmósfera.

Sabemos gracias a SP (todas las glorias a sus pies de loto) que:

Bg. 9.31

kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā

śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati

kaunteya pratijānīhi

na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati

- Prontamente él se vuelve virtuoso y consigue una paz perdurable. ¡Oh, hijo de Kuntī!, declara osadamente que Mi devoto nunca perece. –

Querido Señor… te ruego que me aceptes como Tu devoto.

Y que este corazón de piedra se vuelva arena y se derrita como el cristal transparente libre de toda malicia.

Mi cobardía es grande y mi temor es como una flecha imprevista que atraviesa esta mente caprichosa y la envenena.

Que mi deseo por servirte sea sincero en el transito perfectible de esta vida humana.

Y que nunca mi memoria olvide las palabras de  Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura que describe la entrega al Señor Supremo de la siguiente manera:

mārabi rākhabi — yo icchā tohārā

nitya-dāsa-prati tuyā adhikārā

«Mi Señor, ahora me he entregado a Ti. Soy Tu sirviente eterno; si quieres, puedes matarme, y si quieres, puedes protegerme. En cualquier caso, estoy plenamente entregado a Ti».

Querido Majaraja Gracias por este espacio que tan amablemente nos brindas.

Su misericordia no ha de tener límite. Porque de otro modo no seríamos tan afortunados.

Todas las glorias a ti.

ENC das

Dear / respected Hanumat Preshak Swami

my obeisances ,

all glories to His Divine Grace

We are happy to receive your mail. Apologies for delay in reply. We are not using SIM cards so our access to internet is only when we have WI FI.

We noticed that nothing is really so urgent.

We were back and forth from City to the farm that is on the hills where there are lots of rain, so internet by the grace of Indra deva doesn't work regularly.

We noticed we are more personal to each other and others when we are not connected 24/7.

HpS/ASA - AgtSP! ... One of our very good friends, Prof. Hector Behar, very prominent social scientist and former political revolutionary commented that these are not "social media" they are "anti-social media".

🤔

In regards to some suggestions from the first hand about possible improvements in the service of my esteemed wife, Bht.Wang Pan, there are few things that I can mention.

Overall, for the stage and her previous upbringing she is more than average in contribution and personal development.

Seeing that there is community and individual in the community there are few aspects that we have to consider.

Personal development does depend on personal introspection and practice, as well as harmonizing with community of devotees and managerial side.

Often there could be some differences between this currents but it is only external.

Her personal sadhana is externally good.

Attitude is also good , but as the master Vaisesika Prabhu says, ABS, always better service, we can always review our attitudes.

Tom Brown🐵 - What is the biggest room in the world?

Buck White🐷 - ???

TB - "The room for self improvement!"

Places to improve could be more cultivating variety of relationships with devotees.

Here is little limping.

Could be due to being in a foreign land and could be Chinese politeness that we westerners interpret as impersonalism.

However we are here to transcend/overcome our conditioning for the pleasure of the Lord.

As Prabhupada says it takes a village to rise a child.

I would personally encourage her to more interact with devotes in variety of service for better grow and appreciation of others and their services.

In the lines of Prabhupada statement , we need a father, mother, friend, uncle, brother,neighbour etc...to be more settled.

Its good that she is dependent on me, but being overly dependent is not good.

Just like there are liberals and orthodox.

Both are fine if there is not extreme.

As soon as one goes into extreme, there will immediately be disbalance and our services to Prabhupada internally and externally checked.

HpS - Avadhutas and Smarta. Nityananda and Adwaita!

In the same lines, to be to dependent or too independent is in general not proving good.

That's what comes to my mind at the moment.

As we know formations in the battlefield of Kuruksetra were daily different, we have to expect that as we progress in spiritual life there will be constant need of modification and working on different fields.

As Srila Prabhupada letters always ended encouraging to follow regulative principles and chant 16 rounds and as you always add , chanting them early in the morning, we belive that whatever happens whether externally good or bad is always for our ultimate good. So,we are marching forward in unison.

In regards to initiation there is a confusion about when, where and how.Could you please helps solve this mystery Maharaja.

HpS - Formally if the candidate has been chanting 16-nice rounds daily and following 4 principles strictly for one hear, has passed the disciple course, has a letter of recommendation from Temple President or such authority, and has been in contact with an ISKCON Diksa guru (like us) for six months to consider what Diksa means etc.

Then... candidate can be initiated.

I think Mataji has done all these things, no?

I remember once one of my gurus once put me on "pause" for my overly "creative idea" for months. Means he was not talking to me as usual. It was actually mercy because I kept on thinking and rethinking about my idea and that purified me nicely.

Again and again , we are blessed by somehow cross your path and we feel refreshed in that state.

Yours in the service of Guru and Gouranga

Narayan pandit das & Bht.Wang

HpS/ASA - Thank you for your very frank thoughts. I hope that your good wife does not feel a little shy at such considerations, but that is the characteristic of one advancing in KC that they are getting detached from praise and blame of their ego, and only want to hear good reflection on their character for self improvment.

If you send an email address we can also converse particular points in KC as you like. Of course, we won't publish it.

Thank you!

We hope we can relate our iconic Sun Wu Kong with the Bhava of Lord Chaitanya

Hare Krsna, Gurudev.

Please receive my most humble and respectful obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada and to you.

I hope you are well in every way 🙏

Thank you for everything you do for Krsna, Srila Prabhupada, your godbrothers, your disciples and for humanity 🙏

ASA/HpS - We are like little babys taking first steps, no? Whatever progress we make is because our father is holding our hand.

AgtSP!!!

16 and 4 okay.

Gurudev, I have a question and a need... How can we surrender, be submissive, humble?

HpS - The question is like, "How can I build a vast economic empire that spans the world, and occupies my efforts for the next 14-lives". 🙂

Yet, the basic answer is the Bhakti-yoga that SP has given us.

Just do it then. . . SB 5.18.12.

Yet, Krsna, Advaita Acharya, is sending lessons in humility all the time, no? Our job is to accept them, learn from them. Then we can become BIG humble guys! 😄

Jaya!

Jaya ananda Das said that humility does not mean to just avoid being artificially large. it also means to avoid becoming artificially small.

humility is self realization.

"I am the 25th best book distributor in argentina. o.k. i will get better at that. follow those ahead of me, teach those behind me of me!".

In the sense that everything that happens to us in life is our responsibility, and no one (not even Krsna) is to blame for what we conceive as our frustrations, failures and misfortunes....

How can we accept?

Surrender, resign ourselves, sink... how is it done?

HpS - Answer above, but Krsna/Radha, et al, are responsible in at least one sense. they are causelessly merciful. prabhupada said that his karma was to be a rich dude, but KRSNA and guru saw that is would not be good for his spiritual life, so they frustrated him again and again

Maybe someone can be very productive in Sannyasa ashrama as civil Widow, so Radha Krsna arrange a quick marriage experience that shows them what the situation actually is.

There is pretty well documented quote from Edison, who said that before he found out how to make an electric light bulb he had 1,000 failed attempts.

So, we might need to make 1,000 failed attempts to get to pure devotional service, so start making failures [and learn A LOT from each one].

thank you for everything Gurudev and for accepting me despite my lack of qualification.

Your would-be servant DevaVrata das

..........................

Hare Krsna, Gurudev.

Reciba mis más humildes y respetuosas reverencias.

Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada y a ti.

Espero que te encuentres bien en todo sentido 🙏

Gracias por todo lo que haces por Krsna, Srila Prabhupada, tus hermanos espirituales, tus discipulos y por la humanidad 🙏

16 y 4 ok. 

Gurudev, tengo una pregunta y una necesidad...

¿Cómo podemos rendirnos, ser sumisos, humildes? 

En el sentido de que todo lo que nos pasa en la vida es nuestra responsabilidad y nadie (ni Krsna) tiene la culpa de lo que nosotros concebimos como nuestras frustraciones, fracasos y desdichas.... 

¿Cómo podemos aceptar? Rendirnos, resignarnos, sumirnos... 

¿cómo se hace?

gracias por todo Gurudev y por aceptarme a pesar de mi falta de cualificación.

Tu aspirante a sirviente DevaVrata das

Hare Krsna Gurudeva, AGTSP, PAMHO

Can you kindly describe/elaborate on ability of swan to separate milk from water?

What can we learn and implement from it?

Devotees are like swan or bees, or both?

Connection with you is the only hope.

HpS - If that is the case, you in a lot of trouble Bobba!

🙂

Take advantage of the books that Srila Prabhupada has given us through ISKCON, use us in our capacity. God is in your heart.

He is controlling your life in detail.

🌷

We cannot get much detail on these analogies. Guess mechanically it is like us filtering liquid from beans through our teeth!! ?

In general the analogy seems to be the same, yes:

Swami takes only the milk from the lotus.

Bees look only for the honey from the flower.

Smart guy accepts good lady for wife from low class family.

Nectar from poison.

Gold from stool.

Education from low class teacher!

Harsh pradhan

[Haya griva Avatara Das???]

I knew a Harsh pradhana, but he died!

Hope he has not become a Zombi.

7.02Pm we must go for a walk or die!

Thank you so much. Hari bolo! Hari bolo!

asa[e] - vad; sannyasa; in iskcon

Please accept my humble obeisances, Guru Maharaja.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Regarding your question about taking Sannyasa, this is a very important question, because it is you who is asking it.

For the moment, I must say that I am not prepared (although it feels difficult and lacking to say No to one's own Guru).

At the same time, I will explain myself and seek your understanding.

I am about to turn 40 years old. My mind and nature are solitary and content, and in a few years, they will mature further in that direction.

I have many desires to read and study various things, both in spirituality and material pursuits, achieving a certain balance and realization.

Personally, I enjoy speaking and assisting devotees when they ask questions, or nurturing ideas so that they don't lose their enthusiasm or faith, or both.

Due to my passionate nature, there is always something new to investigate or learn, and the Vedic worldview does not allow for giving up.

However, it is difficult for me to be in a position (sannyasa) that sets me apart from others, especially within an institution with a lot of diplomacy (bureaucracy), which I find exhausting. One knows oneself in their heart; I try to be a simple servant, making an effort to rise above the modes of passion and ignorance.

HpS - 😁 This is almost exactly my answer to Hansadutta (and then B. S. Damodara, Trivikrama, Ramesvara and Tripurari Swamis and Atreya rsi Prabhu) when they pushed us to take Sannyasa.

"The purpose of Sannyasa seems to be to get free from respect and worship, but it seems to be the exact opposite."

Srila Prabhupada quotes a V. Puja offering from Sril Bh. Siddhanta S. P. where is he says that Majaprabhu preaches Trnad Api Sahisuna, but here I (Bh. Siddhanta) am sitting like a big arrogant beast up on an elevated seat above everyone else.

The conclusion is that in most cases it is the best thing to do.

We have to show people an example of what they should do.

It is like having a public wedding ceremony. You and your "novia" are fully committed to living a chaste Vedic life together, but the ritual is not without meaning.

It has an effect.

It makes you humble, "Why are all these people offering obeisances, donations to me???"

"Because they see Krsna and Prabhupada acting through me."

Unless you realize that you are the mailman and not the sender of the letter, then you will fall down.

I follow the regulative principles and chant the 16 rounds. I understand the advantages this has in life. Brahma Muhurta is crucial in the equation, as are Ekadasis. Reading and memorizing are enjoyable and uplifting.

I spend 4 days a week in Govardhan (MDP), attending 4 Mangalartiks, sometimes 3. 3 days in Mar del Plata at a devotee's house, studying welding and electricity from 2:00 PM to 9:30 PM on Mondays and Tuesdays, and electricity from 6:40 PM to 9:30 PM on Wednesdays. I return to Govardhan on Thursday morning.

I cook most of the food I offer, although there are some items that I don't cook and it shows; this should improve over time, I believe.

I associate only with married devotees or those who intend to marry (good devotees). Nevertheless, I interact with others as needed (since it happens naturally). I have a strong sense of my purpose, and my nature doesn't lend itself to much socializing.

Enthusiasm: reading, Mangala Japa, and Ekadasis; I also watch Mayapur TV. I also engage in Prajalpa, watch some movies or series, but I recognize that these are temporary pleasures, and there's some inertia from this life.

I still discuss worldly topics, perhaps in this lifetime we will reach a point where we only speak Krishna Katha.

HpS - Or see how everything is related to Krsna in a fascinating, practical way.

I have distanced myself from senior devotees who visit. I try to be respectful and maintain a distance, as otherwise, it might not be good for my enthusiasm.

The plan is to continue studying electricity and other trades this year and the next, while also studying the Srimad Bhagavatam, slokas, fire sacrifices, etc. I am laying the groundwork for the future. My parents are now 74 and 70, and my plan is to spend a few months with them in 2025 and then return to Govardhan. This is what I can project.

Looking at this panorama, I don't see myself ready for renunciation, nor do I understand it in the way I currently perceive it. Being a public figure is also a significant obstacle.

Thank you for accepting me as your disciple, despite my circumstances, and for being an example. Please forgive me for talking so much about myself.

At your service,

Adi Yajña Das

HpS - Jaya! Super. Personally I think you are excellent candidate for Sannyasa. You can show everyone how even the greatest idiot in ISKCON must become Goswami and if in a male body try to take Sannyasa formally as a declaration of becoming exclusively a maidservant of the Gopis in their service to Krsna.

The GBC rules, as we remember, are that you mist be 50-years old except for special adjustments.

So, your plan seems good, but it seems that you and most others as discussed should take Sannyasa. Seems we may formally be gone from this gross atmosphere ten years from now. Maybe we will take birth in New Govardhana. 🙂 😼😼😼

but Yadunandana Swami seems like someone who would be a deligtful Sannysa Guru.

Thank you.