Letters to the editor

Jai, Sri Krsna!

Esteemed Professor, Master Harsh et al,

Here we are still in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Our health is still very delicate with need to rest as much as 9-hours in a day now.  Our best medical advice is that we have to continue to adjust our work to live according to our Donkey's age.

In this regard we are basically working to develop a list of priorities and schedule that we can maintain personally and then responding from that perspective to the suggestions of others.

As of now this NIOS work is one of the very topmost priorities for us. We have had a series of discussions on maintaining the functioning of NIOS by shifting its operation to Texas and joining a broader educational corporation there, Goloka Education. This is taking time and energy and we shall be sending you particular notices on this.

Of course we have had our local work with Dr. Ravi and the big Celebrate Nashville Festival this weekend.

I received the final bill from Ma Saraadia press and now we only wait for the general accounting for this one project from your good self.

In this maze of NIOS work two projects seems prominent to us: Distribution of the books we have and the co-operation with the National Library of Peru on the annual journal, "Solaris", and an international conference on "Psychology of the Sacred". Both of these are moving along well with very, very senior scholars and editors. Particularly we have a meeting scheduled by phone tomorrow night with the Director of the Library, who has been beleaguered by hosting the International Monetary Fund, with Presidents and Representatives of 50-nations in Peru. He has written an EXCELLENT paper on the history of religion and psychology and at this point we are looking for someone who wants to go ahead very, very seriously in a dialog between Sri Caitanya's Bhagavata School and Occidental view of nature with this perspective of Jung. Unless we get this the journal and symposium will not have life. Can you help in this?
 

Besides NIOS and its administrative work, there is of course our personal Sadhana, without which we would be dead.  We keep that from 4.30-5.30AM On-Line and are committed to four classes on SB and BG weekly in Spanish and English.

These classes we feel should satisfy our very great debt to our ISKCON disciples and students.

Finally, we have our obligations as members of the Executive Committee of ISKCON'S Ministry of Education but we feel that those are being satisfied by their relationship with the aforementioned Sadhana Bhakti publication and education work.

Of course, there is more work to be done, structuring our strategy, but in-spite of all these challenges we are making tangible progress.

We will try to call both you are Harsh tomorrow and look for any mail from you as soon as possible.

We are anxious to hear about any work you are doing and if Pranava Das has contacted your good self.

HpSwami

NIOS - ASA

[3:21:50 AM] hp swami: Good morning Doctor. How are you? It is 3.15AM here in Tennessee. The last part of our journey back to USA was intense: Chosica, Lima, Mexico City, Houston, Nashville.

Our energy is still not recovered. Honestly speaking we don't know if we will live or die at this point. However, Seneca comments, "If my bark (boat) sinks, it is but to another sea".     In any case, shall we die discussing philosophy? 

We would certainly have the company of such immortal geniuses as Socrates, Descartes, Jung/Freud, Krsna.  We will send copy of this to our esteemed friend Professor Samaresh Bandyopadhyay former head of Ancient Indian History and Culture at the University of Calcutta.

Also, your good friend and our new acquaintance the Venerable Director of the Peruvian National Library might like to join the dialog at times, no?
 

[3:24:06 AM] hp swami: For us we can agree with Socrates in the Phaedo that these discussions about the ultimate nature of the self, its immortality, at this point, the cup of poison in front of us, are not idle speculations. Old or young man, we have to agree with Albert Camus about the primacy of death as an element in our philosophy of life.

Jaya Sri Krsna!

Esteemed Professor Samaresh Bandyopadhyay et al,

We just got back from the jungles of Peru. On the coast, where Lima is, the country is completely dust and desert except for the several rivers coming out of the Andes.

One of the most important aspects that we can see of global help is the development of more agrarian based communities. Tarapoto, where we went is the best option that we have seen so far in Peru area. It is over the Andes, on the skirts of the Amazon jungle, with agriculture of all kinds, a popular tourist spot with several very nice ISKCON devotees living there for many years. It was our first time there and a very rewarding experience. About 15-other devotees and friends also flew there to pass the six day visit with us. The internet connection was one small step above zero so a lot of our work got a little delayed, but it was very refreshing for our beleaguered body.

Now back in Lima we are in our last days here and also preparations for the Janmastami festival.

This afternoon we go from Chosica, about one hour drive, to Lima for a meeting with the heads of the Jungian and Freudian psychology societies, Miguel Polo, our friend from San Marcos University, and Oscar Natars and his wife Anna who are the internationally decorated cinema directors with whom we have been working.

We will camp overnight at our simple center in Lima and then give a morning Bhagavatam class and then visit Dr. Ramon Mujica, Director of the National Library, for breakfast. After that back to Chosica and almost non-stop programs for the Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada avir-bhava mahotsava on Sunday.

Monday off to Mexico for two nights, then one night in Houston, then two in Atlanta and then ... then ... then three months at our base in Tennessee with Dr. Ravi!

Our attitude toward these meetings with this wonderful Peruvian men is that we have reached the limit of our efforts. If they see any use for us then we can contribute but we have no more strength left to push any more programs. What we and they have been suggesting is a bigger program in 2016, inviting yourself and Mrs. Bandyopadhyay to come as guests of the National Library with very strong programs with different historical and cultural societies with adequate advertising to drawn participation from scholarly as well as student population as well as the Indian community and Ambassador here.

We can continue to give them more perspective on such themes as Jung and the Kundalini Lectures, but really within the perspective of our real expertise, the Gandharva Veda of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Rupa Goswami.

1. We sent the letter to Dr. Tapati Mukherjee finally with a copy to your good self. His address and phone number that we have are:

PROF. DR. TAPATI MUKHERJEE
DIRECTOR,RABINDRA BHAVAN, VISWA BHARATI
SHANTI NIKETAN, INDIA,  . . . .

2. We are attaching the link to the writing work that we have been doing. It is very much in the spirit of Prof. C. S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia" or "Peter Pan", juvenile fiction, that is also palatable for adults who have also disliked growing up. We really feel very motivated to write like this and any comments that you can make will certainly be extremely important for us. Jack London said that before we can write anything worth publishing we have to write 100,000 words of trash first, so start writing trash: www.jayarama.us/archives/tpp-cb21.docx

3. We tried to attach our 'Inauguration Address' for the Book Release Ceremony but the e-mail won't do it, so we put it on our web-site at: www.jayarama.us/archives/Book-release-hps-address.docx

4. I think we planned on trying to talk by phone on Sunday and it still seems the most possible. We will try by 9PM your hour at the latest.

5. We have not heard from the Mumbai, Pradhan. We hope that he has also been able to make some progress in assembling the list of possible consumers for Bharatiya-sanskriti and the wonderful Felicitations volume.

We are keeping good health for our age but of course our energy is a little fragile.

Thank you so, so, so much for your association and friendship.

HpSwami

AGTSP!
Paoho.

We just posted the latest and greatest NOI-afterwords at:
www.jayarama.us/archives/tpp-cb21.docx

Your comments and criticisms greatly appreciated.

Hare Krsna, Bwanas and Bwanis!
AGTSP!!!!!  Paoho...    Follows our letter to the Jung, Kundalini Yoga, Peru Symposium, circle:

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!

Esteemed Psychologists, Philosophers, Psychiatrists, Historians et al.
We salute you from Monterrey, Mexico. We came here for a traditional boat festival, Jala-yatra, and we are leaving for a mountain excursion with about 45-members in 1-1/2 hours. It is 6.310AM.

We were contemplating Dr. Eduardo's comments after the 1st Jung lecture, about the necessity of not dumping our human habits such as smoking and becoming too spiritual.

Then we did our regulated reading, this 2nd lecture on Kundalini Yoga, and it seems to address very much Dr. Eduardo's concern.

We have to translate some of the terms that Jung uses, such as impersonal consciousness, free from ego, to match our Bhagavata model, but he seems to be talking about the same levels of evolution of consciousness.

Earlier he was talking about sthula, suksma and para bodies, and said the sthula and suksma were understandable to him, but the para was a 'mist'. We would feel that by a little effort in this Bhagavata tradition, yoga, under able guidance we can have some experience of these higher chakras and the mist would begin to disappear. Of course this para plane can be experienced by so many methods.

Who agrees with Dr. Jung's realization of what is happening as described in the evolution of Kundalini to different levels?

As I said above, his realization seems to be pretty much direct experience of what he is describing so far if looked at from the Bhagavata description.

I would try to give a simple response to Dr. Eduardo's comments that seem to be discussed here by Dr. Jung's also, that we should not artificially try to jump up, but experience properly why we smoke at our level, but as we evolve, then the smoking is seen in it's subtle, more pure, more delightful, less contaminating form.

What are contaminations? The first I would say is death. Death is an unnatural thing for us. We should not lose consciousness when we are in the state between bodies, and in the next physical body we should have access to previous projects, knowledge, associates.

I would say that the Kundalini Yoga Sutras that Jung was dealing with, were probably not practical for Europeans at that time and neither now, but it is possible to develop a Yoga or Religion which would allow the Nation of Peru to progressively rise up, for the 'gods' to again become active.

Of course, we write this with a lot of smiles and hope for responses from a lot of people.

We are humbly including Prof. Dr. Samaresh Bandyopadhyay in this dialog. He is our old friend, adviser and very senior professor from Calcutta University. I would also suggest that at some point we can try to get in contact with Shonu Shyamdasani. He has such a ton of Jung's letters, writings etc. like these Kundalini lectures and related documents, that can each be researched and published. Specifically, for us Jung's trip to India seems of the most value for our efforts to create a bridge between the Orient and the Occident, and so I would hope to influence him to turn his considerable academic attention those days rather than many other topics.

Thank you.

See you in a few days.

Hare Krsna Gurudeva

Please, accept my humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

I hope you are in good health and that your proyects are going as expected.

HpS - ASA - So nice to hear from you. AGTSP. Please see the Kapi Dhvaja with answer to the above hopes.

We are very happy to have you for these weeks and more happy to serve you. Regarding this issue, we consult on your stay in Chosica. Prabhu Chaitanya Chandrodaya offers a space in his home. It is very comfortable and nice, but a bit further away from the temple. On the other hand, at Kanu Pandit Prabhu you can also stay, it is closer to the temple. Also, I live 80 feet away and that allows me to serve you in a better.You decide, please.

HpS - I think Kanu pandita's house is fine, no??

During the last week I was cooking for Bhakti Bhusana Swami Maharaj and was a wonderful experience to be close to Maharaja and able to talk with him and listen to his lectures and accompany him in his walks and other activities.Maharaja have much knowledge and is impeccable in his behavior. It has been a great lesson for me. I continue to study the Bhakti-Sastri, very impressed with the Bhagavad Gita. I read the text twice before studying it but this time I discover and understand some points that were missed before. The BG impresses me by its force. Possibly it lacks the philosophical depth of the SB but is like a handgun: short, precise, and is the Lord's spell. I don't leave my amazement. I have two questions for you, Gurumaharaja.

HpS - ASA --- It is interesting. Seems we have BG As It Is. This is different thatn BG. This is Srila Prabhpada's illumination which includes perspective from SB and even CC!

What is the difference between the pantheistic perception of Brahman and the omniscient perception of the Lord of a pure devotee?

HpS - ASA - As we know, Professor Alfred North Whitehead. Santana Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University said that there is no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate the present. We have remembered that when in great provblems. That is Sat and Cit, no? In Brahman we realize there is a reality. Then in Pantheism, Virat rupa, Paramatma we begin to see form of this eternal reality. For example we realize that our body, name, job are all Asat, Nir-brahman. They are not eternal, but Masculinity and Femenity are eternal. Siva Pravati, Laksmi Narayana, Radha Krsna are all eternal.

O.K?   A devotee see, "premanjan churita bhakti vilokayena..." he sees reality as the effulgence of Krsna. Presence of the King in the Kingdom. He sees the paramatama, hand of God, as Krsna's hand.

What is the difference between following the footsteps of a pure devotee and imitate him? Srila Prabhupada raises the importance of not confusing these concepts but sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference, at least in my level of progress.

HpS - Imitating Srila Prabhupada is trying to be the Acharya of our Sampradaya immediately. Sit on a big seat, receive big worship and gifts. Following in the footsteps is to follow the path that Srila Prabhupada took to get to the positon of Sampradaya Acharya. You act like he acted when he was in your level of existence. He set an example. Made a path.

Thank you in advance for your answers. See you soon Your servant

HpS - ASA --- Thank you.