Letters to the editor

In continuation from here
http://hps.monkeywarrior.com/node/7109

HpS - We also remember where Prabhupada was talking about Narayani Devi Dasi and said, "Mother Narayani".   We feel it is just as respectable a title as Maharaja for a Sannyasi.  Of course, there is not restriction to say, Narayani Mataji, Prabhu, no?

~

Yes Guru Maharaja.

My humble understanding is that it is always nice and safe to address a person in female body as mataji, mother. Term mataji is particularly proper to use when addressing a lady who is unknown to us.

I have slight memory hearing that Srila Prabhupada sometimes happened to call his female disciples as prabhu (for example : “Malati prabhu”) . Is that right? If yes, would that mean we can also address ladies as 'prabhu' ? I heard about term 'prabhvi'. Is that OK to use?

Term 'vaisnavi' is also proper to use.

Your servant Namacarya das

HpS - ASA -  Oink!   Oink!   Whoop!     WHoop!    Tom Brown is doing his PhD thesis with some relation to this topic. PhD - Doctor of Phalocracia.    Yes, Prabhu is perfectly appropriate for any devotee, no? Even letter from Prabhupada we saw that it was appropriate title for Bhaktas following the full program.

HpS - ASA ---- Aaaaa!   We didn't send this before!   Here it is.

Hare Krsna Beloved Gurudeva

AGTSP AGTU

PAMHO

Gurudeva the last saturdays I could not join BV classes because I had workshops and classes. I remember that U record the classes. So my question is where I can find the recordings? I have the SM password where can I find the recordings with that....

Thank U all so much

ys

Cmdd

ASA - Go to the "Wall" asked at the bottom there is a trash for Recordings. If you have problems write again. I forgot to record one class recently. Thank you.

Hare Krsna,

AGTSP

Paoho

Braja-bihari Das told us that Jaga-jivana Das has left his body and gone to Goloka or at least en route to Goloka.  It twists our heart to hear this and the more it sinks in the more we feel tortured. We were alone in our trip to India in 1978. Alone in traveling to Jaipur to try and arrange transport of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai from Kalakendra Murti Walla to Berkeley.

Fever, everything.

Then we saw an ISKCON devotee, Sannyasi passing on the road in a rickshaw. We hailed each other in the traffic and then talked and spent time together during the next few days. That was our first encounter with Prabhuji.

Later we began to know him during our work in South America. It seemed that he had left his Ashrama as Sannyasa, and also been removed, and moved out of GBC positions, but was still the Temple President in the little country of Uraguay. We heard that he had some problems with controling anger and had been involved in a few marriage relations, but had strong character in his preaching and administration of his Yatra.

He was an advocate for his national and other ideas on a global level with the GBC. We visited Uraguay and were with him in the programs there. We had a friendly, funny relation.

Later, Prabhuji becamed involved in Peru, and Regional Secretary for Peru and so forth, Member of the Latin American GBC Regional Council etc.

He was always a strong self-reliant person. He married a very nice, Russian devotee and visited the Peru yatra at great personal sacrifice and expense, working on the business and political level, and personal level. His good wife appeared to us to be a greatly stabalizing factor is life and service.

It also seems to us that he was able to re-establish his reputability at the GBC level by this hard and practical work and then was honored to develop a program for educating devotees world-wide in how ISKCON Law works.

Then this heart problem became very bad. He hospitalized and has now left his body.

He was a good man. We are honored that we knew him and hope that this is just one more step in his journey forward for himself and his friends.

HpSwami 2017 Nov 11

Dear Maharaja,

PAMHO  All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

My dear friend, it sounds like your Chicago visit went very well even though it was so cold.  Sounds like the Chicago devotees are doing a lot of great activities.  Our little center is struggling right now and we may be out in the cold.  The owner of the Yoga studio who generously allows us to use her facility once a week for a very low fee has moved.  She purchased and remodeled a new facility which is not working out as well as before.  We failed to keep control of the children the first night there and she is very protective of her brand new studios.  She actually saw the children acting up with her new security cameras!  So we are on a short leash.  But the rooms are smaller and I don't think the shiny new facilities are a good fit for us.  In her old rented studios she didn't care much when the children broke something.  Where ever we go it will be conciderably more expensive so we are up in the air right now.

I watched a good on line talk by Dr. B. Alan Wallace on the brain, mind, and intellegence.  Much of it was over my head.  Some things he discussed were about scientific and medical studies.  Most researchers believe the mind and the brain are the same thing (which he does not).  Many believe the only way to explore the mind is with medical instruments like brain scanners.  The extreme ones believe there is no such thing a consciousness and self examination is impossible.  I loved one of his arguments.  He said if the brain is just an amoral body organ like the liver or gallbladder than we are not responsible for our actions.  How can the scientists respond to that?

Praying Krishna continues to bless you, Dave

HpS - So nice to hear from you.  If you have to meet in people's homes or wherever it will be O.K?  No, just go on with the essence which is to get together and Kirtan, Lecture, Kirtan, Prasad more and more!!

We will look for the B. Alan Wallace lecture.   Yes, it is a very good point, no?  Once it was thought that the liver was the seat of consciousness, no?
The SB gives nice details of how the Atma contacts the visually experienced body by going through different levels.   We are going right now for "Psychology and the Sacred" at Virginia Commonwealth University. We hope to distribute a lot of  Nectar of Instructions, and then engage people in following the advice therein!

Writing anything?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._Alan_Wallace

We will read more about him and hope to contact him!  Our video clip on the Youtube is our best propaganda now!

Dear Gurumaharaj.
Please accept my most humble obeisances All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
First I wanted to apologize for not writing all this time.

HpS - ASA -  No, excuse. You must pay a penalty of one Laddu to three Brahmanas to be free from the guilt of your crime.

All goes well, from this month im combining the university (Master in  Sciences of religions, you asked me in the last letter if i can give classes i think also i can give classes in school but its more focus for people that want to investigate in academic way or do PhD, very good profesors its the 3(rd) best university in Spain, the person that is guiding me in my final work is expert in sanscrit, the title of my final work will be "Bhakti: origin and first interpretations of the concept of devotion in the hinduism ) with my service in the temple. My routine is very complete: spiritual program, service, university, pujari, etc ...

I feel these past months have been very difficult situations  in many ways but I think that gradually everything returns to a natural position.
I'm trying to have every day a little more faith in Krishna I try to protect my little devotion ... it is a fact that I am in the early stages of bhakti yoga.
I try to put in the center of my life the spiritual program, chanting my rounds and spending time with devotees. I think that this is the most important thing I do in my life. All other things around us social, personal, economics, friendships, families are like pieces in a theater that we should know how to use to promote our attraction and the rest of people to Krishna.
I am calm and happy, but I see that the service on the administrative council of the temple is not so natural and attractive as other services, but I will try to continue, I have faith in our team.

Looking ahead I think I'm in a year of transition and I feel that when I finish the university I'm going to take some time to reflect on my life and see where I want to address. Of course, the materials plans are completely fallible but I also like to have a projection of life in the medium term.

During these three years I have been very protected in the temple and now I return to interact daily with people who don’t do spiritual life I'm realizing how important it is to chant rounds and have a strict sadhana. Always remember Krishna and never forget him.
 

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sorry this time i used google translator, maybe you find some fails...

Mantri Rama Das

Do you like taoism?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM6kdJ6xq2A

ASA - Sun Wu Kong. Taoism. Ahuri Mazda... So much very nice perspective in this world. So many fresh things that teach us to apreciate the present moment. Then we can begin to appreciate Paramatma and then Bhagavan. Until we are accomplished in Brahma-bhuta, Tao, Upanisad, then we cannot appreciate Krsna in truth. Yes, some light of his smile, but it comes through many filters.

So, nice to get advantage of the Taste of Water. the Fragrance of the Earth, the majesty of a 747-taking off, but if we have any service that we can appreciate by the mercy of Sri Gauranga, then let us do that first, then all the knowledge of the Tao, Upanisad, the Dharma will increase auto matically. Watching some Taoism can very much be Hari Kirtan.

Have you seen this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRVnIwcJj6M

Your letter and attitude seem very nice!!  Our respects to everyone. We hope to get to Spain very, very soon.  Krsna will arrange it, no?

Guru-Lila-Part 7

Monday 21^st March 2016-in Pune-------We went to the Mangal Arti with Guruji and it was very fired-up, so many devotees and especially, so many Bramhacharis.  Here in Brisbane-Australia, there is no Bramhachari, though we see some visiting Bramhachari devotees from other temples, sometimes.  I was dancing, because all other devotees were dancing and one feels inspired to dance, having seen them dancing ecstatically.  After Mangal Arti, someone requested Guruji to give a short talk about Chanting during Japa period, and guruji did deliver an inspiring talk about chanting for a short while 2-3 minutes.  After some time, we came back and got ready to go to the older temple.

And now we are on the way to the old ISKCON temple in Pune, though they have very magnificent, grand new temple, but they are still maintaining old temple, so many devotees are living there, again many bramhacharis, beautiful Radha-Krishna deities are there namely Radha-Kunjabihari and whole atmosphere is like typical ISKCON temple.  When we reached there, we saw devotees welcoming Guruji by offering very sweet kirtan and then, escorting him to the temple.  We all are there with guruji; our host Ajita Nitai Prabhu from Pune, Harsh Prabhu and Girivardhari-Gopal Prabhu and myself, you would see all these things in the attached video clip, HARE KRISHNA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h--EsaJVnCc

Photo-Guruji is watching Lord Tirupati Balaji's Picture and is reading the prayer, do not wonder, Guruji knows how to read Devnagri script and even can understand it, if it is not too comlicated.

HpS - ASA --- A flasch back in time to our last visit to India. We feel strange being called "Guru Ji". Interesting title, "Maharaja" might be something we can aspire for more practically. We are lucky if we can aspire to be Goswamis in the dust of our ISKCON Guru, Srila Prabhupada.

We are planning for visit to India again, now. We have to taste Krsna consciousness then we have something to distribute, become electric cables for God, no?

We hope Raktaka Das is getting ready for Vanaprastha and Sannyasa.  Raktaka Das, please send us a spiritual clip of your good family members, each one.