Letters to the editor

HpS - ASA --- Thank you so, so much Srima ART Das! We have read and made little corrections to the English version of this dialog.

It seems to me that we can move ahead to the next object of discussion: Srimad Bhagavatam, https://vedabase.io/es/library/sb/1/9/ Verses 25-29. Maybe Anandamaya Das can give a summary of who is Bhisma deva for Hector??!

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ART Das - Although the communication by phone was choppy, here is a summary of the dialogue:

At the beginning of the dialogue, Hanumat Presaka Swami gave a brief historical summary of the Gaudiya Vaisnavism and the Acintya-bheda-abheda-tattva philosophy (simultaneous and different identities). Then he explained who Srila Prabhupada was and introduced him as the author of the 'Srimad Bhagavatam’s' Preface, written in India in 1962. That is to say, 3 years before his arrival to America.

At the end of this first intervention, Hanumat Presaka Swami also talked about Bismarck, the Ottoman Empire, Alexander the Great and Arnold Toynbee. (Gurudeva, do you remember the reason? I think it was about the strategy about how to do things).

HpS - It could have been. We certainly want to take advantage of the lessons of history in trying to communicate the message of Krsna and the Bhagavata.

In turn, Héctor started his participation by mentioning that the author uses the human society category at the beginning of the Preface. This is important because the term human society refers not only to people but also to their communication systems, languages, gestures, etc. He mentioned that the human being is the most communicative of all animals in the world and that in order to understand and improve the world, it is correct to speak about human society so that we can be able to understand the reason why a person in the Amazon forest laughs or cries and the reason why another one in London does same.

Then he explained that it is Srila Prabhupada’s success to use the term spiritual brotherhood and to pose the ideal of a common cause. Hector Bejar criticized the Christian and Muslim churches since they assume that their religion is the only true one and that the others are false, so they divide people into 2 groups: The faithful and unfaithful ones: The selected ones -superior beings- and the rest -the inferior beings-.

For him it is correct to talk about spiritual brotherhood, that is to say that this process is for the whole humanity, for the whole spiritual brotherhood without any exception.

The second part of the dialogue was taken up by Héctor Bejar. He mentioned that Srila Prabhupada proposed in this Preface, the re-spiritualization of all humanity, and that in order to do this, we must understand that re-spiritualizing means returning to the spiritual, to include everything that communicates a universal message. Then professor Behar criticized the current society that privileges the material aspects, in a way that for this society, commerce is the most important thing. This is the reason why something is judged to be qualified as good for its possibility to be sold. That material kind of mentality in which the more goods you have the more you are valuable is widely spread in all the media (TV, movies, newspapers, radios, etc.) This mentality generates a society depending on many unnecessary things.

Héctor ended by stating that the spiritual aspect is an inner wealth that we all have.

On his second intervention, Hanumat Presaka Swami mentioned that A.C. Bhaktivendanta Swami was a person who came from a spiritual culture. Then he explained how the universal language is the way to re-spiritualize the whole humanity by sacred dancing and chanting. 

The sound was not good during the conversation, so the dialogue ended. Afterwards, I spoke to Héctor Bejar and he manifested agree to discuss about Bhismadeva's instructions next time.

Thank you very much Gurudeva for building bridges to connect to academic people so that through dialogue they can be able to reconnect to the spiritual life.. 

Hare Krishna GURUDEVA, your insignificant servant, Abhiram Thakur das

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Dialogo entre SS Hanumatpresaka Swami y el Profesor Hévtor Béjar

Aunque la comunicacion por telefono fue entrecortada, a continuación, un resumen del dialogo.

Iniciando el diálogo el profesor Hanumatpresaka Swami hizo un breve resumen histórico del Gaudiya vaisnavismo y de la filosofía acintya-bheda-abheda-tattva (identidad y diferencia simultáneas) luego explicó quién es Srila Prabhupada, que el prefacio del Srimad Bhagavatam lo escribió en la India el año 1962, 3 años antes de venir a América, al final de esta primera intervención también hablo de Bismark, el imperio otomano, Alejandro el magno y Arnold Toynbee, Gurudeva recuerda el motivo? Creo que era sobre la estrategia de como hacer las cosas

A su turno Héctor comenzó su participación mencionando que el autor al inicio del prefacio emplea la categoría sociedad humana esto es importante porque sociedad humana no sólo se refiere a las personas sino también a los sistemas de comunicación, a los idiomas, a los gestos,… el mencionó que el ser humano es el más comunicativo de todos los animales de este mundo y que para poder entender y mejorar el mundo es correcto hablar de sociedad humana y así entender porque ríe o llora una persona en el Amazonas o porque ríe y llora una persona en Londres. Seguidamente mencionó qué es un acierto (de Srila Prabhupada) emplear el termino hermandad espiritual para luego plantear el ideal de una causa común, Héctor crítico a las iglesias cristianas y a musulmanas ya que asumen que su religión es la única verdadera y que las otras son falsas entonces separan a las personas entre fieles e infieles, entre los elegidos o seres superiores y el resto, los seres inferiores entonces a él le parece correcto hablar de hermandad espiritual, es decir que este proceso es para toda la humanidad, para toda la hermandad espiritual sin excepciones.

La segunda parte del dialogo la retomo Héctor, él menciono que en el prefacio se plantea la reespiritualización de toda la humanidad entonces dijo que para hacer esto debemos entender que reespiritualizar significa retornar a lo espiritual, es decir retomar todo lo que comunica un mensaje universal. Luego critico a la sociedad actual que privilegia lo material por eso para esta sociedad lo principal es el comercio, por eso, se califica que algo es bueno cuando se vende más, esa mentalidad de “más cosas tienes” “más vales” se difunde en todos los medios (Tv, cine, periódicos, radios,…) esto genera una sociedad con muchas necesidades innecesarias. Héctor termino manifestando que lo espiritual es una riqueza interior que todos tenemos.

En su segunda intervención el profesor Hanumatpresaka Swami comenzó mencionando que A.C. Bhaktivendanta Swami está presentando que él es una persona que proviene de una cultura espiritual. Luego menciono que el lenguaje universal para reespiritualizar a toda la humanidad es el canto y la danza espiritual.

Como durante toda la conversación el sonido estuvo entrecortado ahí termino este dialogo, luego hable con Héctor y manifestó su deseo de seguir dialogando esta vez sobre las instrucciones de Bhismadeva.

Muchas gracias Gurudeva por tender puentes con los académicos para que a través del dialogo se reconecten a la vida espiritual.

Hare Krishna GURUDEVA, su insignificante sirviente, Abhiram Thakur das

Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja,

PAMHO. AGTSP.

As you know, our son is going to start University in Crimea and we will have to move with him.

Just got confirmation from my upper management that they can let me work remotely from Crimea for two years. I may need to come back to Botswania for a week or two, once or twice a year. I also have an offer from Titan Insurance company in Crimea. Financially they are looking same but with 3M, Botswania, I get to save travel time and still join our SB classes. In CRM I have to drive for an hour to work to Titan Insurance.

I am leaning to stick with Mac and pass the opportunity from TI. Does this seem OK to you Maharaja?

ASA - AGTSP paoho.

1. There are no perfect situations in the material world. Even MPariksit was disturbed, by Krsna, so he would not get attached.
2. Seems good to us from what I know of your family, travel at this time would be good. See things from a different perspective.
3. Chanakya Pandita says, "Victory comes from good advice, and good advice comes from many counselors", so you've asked us and we have given our, broad perspective and our intuitive opinion, but then talk with as many others as necessary to get a good perspective and you will win. Eg. others who have done the same with 3M.

O.K?

Hare Krishna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Haribol in the light of what’s happening around US, is it possible for the ISKCON primary school to have classes for students to understand what is racism and how to avoid becoming one. When we teach from youth they’ll grow up with better characteristics. Please consider having this if it’s not already openly discussed.

ASA - This reminds us of two devotees in the Berkeley Temple, Gohita Das and Ajamaila Das, who used to joke about racism all the time. Gohita was from low class white family, some brothers in prison. Ajamila was a black bodied devotee. He had been a trainer for elite military commandos in the the US Army. As solid as a rock.

They would make all kinds of clever racial jokes to each other. Eg.

G: "Hey Buddy, what you doin here. This is the white man's Hare Krsna, Temple. The Black Hare Krsna Temple is down the street".

A:"Oh, thank you, I didn't know. I'll take a quick bath and get right over there".

Even more intense: I was returning from the Saturday Pre-Rathayatra Festival in Vancouver with Jaya-govinda, Temple President, driving, Prthu Das (German) in seat next to him, myself and Bhir-krsna Das (Jewish) and one more Senior devotee in the back.

Prthu and Bir-krsna were carrying on a kind of joking banter of racial/ethnic superiority that had been obviously going on for a few days before.

Then Prhu Das with a completely smug, nose in the air attitude arrogant German attitude said, "Well I don't care what you say, I never met a Jew who wasn't a pig!".

Bhir-krsna Das broke into paroxysms of laughter and Prthu was struggling, struggling, struggling not to break character and start laughing. The rest of us were amazed at the level of play and eyes turning wet with the humor.

Devotees can be deeply involved in understanding these race, gender, age, wealth etc differences and removing the poison while finding the truth, no?

Big topic.

Maybe only topic un K.C.

Querido Gurumaharaja

Por favor acepte mis respetuosas reverencias. 

Todas las glorias a Srila Prabhupada! 

Primeramente agradecerle por su infinita paciencia y disculpe por favor los errores tecnológicos y de nuestra parte.

Tengo un mensaje de un vaisnava que conocemos, el estuvo en la trasmisión de la clase de ISKCON México, discipulo de SS. Guruprasad Swami. 

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Estimado Maharaja Hanumatpresaka Swami .

Acepte mis reverencias por favor. 

Sé que desea publicar algunos libros de su autoría. Yo soy editor profesional, y elaboro libros conforme a estándares ortotipográficos internacionales; me ofrezco con mucho gusto a colaborar si es posible para elaborarlos.

Sé elaborar libros multilingües (hebreo, griego, lenguas modernas) y con transliteraciones, con referencias cruzadas, párrafos numerados si es necesario (como en ediciones críticas de los Diálogos de Platón), notas marginales y a pie de página, bibliografías en formatos académico como APA y conozco los tamaños y formatos adecuados para imprimir. 

Ahora estoy por terminar un libro de un teólogo católico. Hace poco imprimí también mi primer libro. Participé en la edición del Bhagavatam que imprimió prabhu Aravinda. Pero me gustaría poder servir en la obra de Maharaja, estoy dispuesto y disponible. 

Quedo a sus órdenes

Su servidor Gopaswami das 

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Dear Maharaja Hanumatpresaka Swami.

Please accept my obeisances.

I know you want to publish some of your books. I am a professional editor, and I produce books according to international orthographic standards; I gladly offer to collaborate if possible to elaborate them.

I can produce multilingual books (Hebrew, Greek, modern languages) and with transliterations, with cross references, numbered paragraphs if necessary (as in critical editions of Plato's Dialogues), marginal and footnotes, bibliographies in academic formats such as APA and I know the right sizes and formats for printing.

Now I am about to finish a book by a Catholic theologian. I recently also printed my first book. I participated in the edition of the Bhagavatam that prabhu Aravinda printed. But I wish I could serve in Maharaja's work, I am willing and available.

I remain at your service

Your server Gopaswami das

ASA - HpS --- Thank you!!! We are developing this Journal, 'Solaris', for our educational corporation, NIOS, from Peru, with Prof. Miguel Polo and Abhirama-thakura Das. We will tell them to look at this letter and then they can get in touch with you through The Asta Sakhi Devi Dasi! Thank you! You know the analogy, all of our abilities are a long string of zeros until we put a one in front of them by using them for Krsna.

con't from here:

https://monkeywarrior.com/detail/11187/

~~~

Please, can you provide an e-mail where I can send the editable file. Thank you.

ASA - The good gorilla -- [email protected]

AgtSP!!! Paoho..... 🙏 Talking with Radha-krsna Das, Sriman Gopinatha Das . . . we have the same perspective. In more detail, personally we think that this Karuna-virus is God's end to the Industrial Revolution.

"O.K. the Vedas have been dispersed all over the world again, and you people are about to destroy your selves and the planet we live in, so I (God) am pulling the plug on celestial powers, flying around in the sky and whizzing across the Earth like demigods."

When we (NIOS) organized the "Symposium on the Contribution of Ancient India Toward Making a Better World" with Justices of the Supreme Courts of India, Governors of West Bengal et al, et al, under the Direction of our NIOS's Principal Advisor, Dr. Prof. Samaresh Bandyopadhyay, the result kept coming back in again and again, the same way. God has designed the world to work where almost everyone lives in a Vedic village.

Of course, you have contact with your local town and then with your Big City, and the whole world is actually running under one government, but your life, medicine, education, culture, art, clothes, architecture, music, drama, government is all local.

We see this in South America, Chile, Peru and when we were in Russia with Visistha Das, Jitakrodha Das and the devotees. We finished a surrealistic preaching tour of the Golden Ring cities around Moscow and then we stayed in a village outside of Nizni-nagar or some such city in a log house owned by devotees.

It was a normal Russian village but for us it was like going back in time.

There were maybe 25-houses in the village. One was the old house of the Rich-man, another was a new but simple house of the Poor-man. There was a 300-year old church falling down and being pushed back up. Grave stones.

There are two winters in Russia. The White Winter and the Green Winter. We were there at the beginning of the Green Winter, May, and Nature knew that she had like four months or so to do everything, sprout, blossom, impregnate and fructify. It was like Nature, the dense forest, just exploded out at us.

Then we would go for a walk on the narrow little dirt road from North to South,coming out of the forest at both ends of the village, and Grannys, Babushkas, with their scarves tied over their heads, sitting outside of the house, shucking peas, surrounded by a few goats, toddler and chickens, would wave to use and smile and say, "Dosh vidonya", and we would smile and wave back and say "Hare Krsna" and I suspect all the news about us had reached the other end of the village before we had even walked there.

THE THREE FASTEST FORMS OF COMMUNICATION:

1. Telephone.
2. Telegraph
3. Tell a Woman

We would look at the Tombstones, the Rich and Poor man's houses, and the green fields cleared from the forest and say, "Dostoyesvski was not a great writer! Even an idiot with half a brain could write great storys in this atmosphere." We could just see the Archetypes: The Poor-man's son falls in love with the Rich-man's daughter... There was life everywhere, physical, biological, cultural.

Ahhhh! Take a deep breath and live!

The young Ayurvedic doctor in the village goes to his grand-father and say, "Poppa, I cannot cure Mr. So-in-so. He has these symptoms," and Poppa says, "Oh, yes that family has had that agitation of 'pitta' for as long as we know. You know that herb -blah, blah, blah- that grows down by the old mill stream? That will works for them".

Local pharmacology, generations living together. Bicycle distance through the forest to the next village if you don't have Ayurvedic doctor in your village and then...

... A narrow, paved road, going East from the village that makes 12-minute walk to the road where buses are passing every twenty minutes to take you to the city to have tea with your nephew and Aunt and maybe Uncle, and buy needle and thread etc.

Krsna has designed the world for us to live in the village. Go to the city for big politics. See the Count (of the County) in his Seat and come home.

Not primitive. Access to the sophisticated electronic technology if you need it, but who needs it!?! Local puppet shows will knock your socks off. Two or three dozen television sets for the whole world? Develop 'mystic' powers? Simple living and high thinking.

The only thing that can stop a pandemic is isolation, no? Bubonic plague, Spanish flu, controlled by isolation. Need Achintay-bheda-abheda-tattva. Each family, village, independent but integrated.

"Hey, County, we got some plague infection. We're keeping it in our village. Let people know. Send some help!"

"O.K. Little Village. Help is on the way. Same thing happening in the Other Little Village. We got it controlled".

This is a summary of what we think will happen.

We've tried the modern science look, understand everything as a centralized machine, and it won't work for everything. God's sending viruses to bring us back to reality. So, so, so much about how to live a natural life in Srila Prabhupada's books.

Sankirtan.

Everyone build your community based upon Sankirtan. Start to develop orchards, they don't require such intense surrender as cows right away, and they give good results right away for kids to adults.

Adjust this life in this Reform School so it can do its job. Reform your sub-conscious.

Not everyone will join. It is voluntary. Some countries will be Govinda's and some will Maya's.

Yes, there will be air travel, but you will have to put on a HazMat suit before boarding and be sprayed with disinfectant after your arrive, but why go anyway? Your grand-kids can travel on flying carpets and can communicate by radio waves through the piezoeletric crystals that are growing in their pineal glands.