Jaya Sri Krsna!
Esteemed Professor, Swami Harsh et al,
We are sitting in Ashrama of our disciple, Tandavika Das, in Franklin, Tennessee, after a long and arduous journey from Peru. It was about 22-hours with great physical and mental stress, but we are very happy and in pretty clear consciousness.
1. BOOK RELEASE IN PERU: We went to Ricardo Palma University to make the presentation of the Bharata Sanskriti volume to Prof. Dora Bazan and her husband Ruben Devoto. We were well received and asked to lecture to about 50-students of Ayur-veda officially inscribed in the study offered by Ruben and the University. They were enlightened people from 18 to 58 years old, students, and not only medical practitioners, but also directors of well known clinics.
Dora inaugurated the program and then went down to join the University Council meeting that was going on. Officially we were number 37 on the agenda and she would call us when it was time to present the volume before the Council and Rector.
The advanced copy itself had been done to the highest quality by Visual Service and I dare say that the finished publications will not surpass it. Ruben, Dora, everyone, were very, very, enthralled with the volume and kept looking through it again and again.
After about 20-minutes of lecture Dora returned and talked to Ruben with an anxious look on her face. He then approached us and asked if we could have a short break in the lecture with the students approval.
We stepped to the office next to the lecture hall and then he told as that although we were number 37 on the list there was one "small report" from the University Auditor's office as item 31.
When it came to the Auditor's report it turned out not to be a "small report" but and atomic bomb carefully covered so as to not alert suspicion.
The Auditor reported that after following small discrepancies and then make full research and documentation himself and with his Staff, he was now reporting that over $250,000 had been embezzled by members of the university academic and administrative staff, many of whom were members and present in the Council Meeting.
Basically, falsified funding notices had been given to the University treasurer who had released the funds. These then had been banked and loaned at 20% interest.
Of course at this point all pandemonium broke loose and every subsequent item on the agenda went under like a stone in the ocean. Dora is a Dean. She was not charged with embezzling funds but some of her secretaries were. She then took the volume with place markers and directly showed it to our Rector, Dr. Ivan Rodriguez, who in the middle of the chaos looked at it and told her to tell us that it was an amazing publication and it only confirmed his opinion of the work that NIOS has been doing with the university and in Peru, and after this chaos is dealt with he hopes to give proper respect to us and all facilitations to NIOS and their own IECOO to develop this kind of work.
2. NOW: We will call Dr. Sahaab and see if there is any special work for us. We still don't have the "Page Maker" files from Sanjaya which are at least as important as the hard-copies of the book, as these will be used to make the electronic copies of the book that will be marketed at Amazon.com and other places.
There is a lot of work for ISKCON Ministry of Education, Goloka Education and here in our home-town, but it all seems to be in good proportion and will yield up to a plan and calendar within the next few days. One of the most prominent tasks for us and NIOS seems to be seeing whether Dr. Eduardo Gostelumendi, whom we met at the last academic event in Lima, wants to co-author a "book" with us. He is a very respected, informed and intelligent Freudian psychiatrist in Peru and even internationally.
The idea would be that we would each write a little taking the dialog through different topics, including other people as appropriate and then publish the volume in July, organize a robust event at the Peruvian National Library in August with exhibitions in place for two weeks before, and a discussion of the contents of the book by the two principal editors and the other contributors.
Our hope is that by this NIOS might produce something as important as Hamlet, Don Quixote, Das Kapital, Mein Kampf or other publications that have been central in changing the world (for better).
Please give us you instructions and advice.
Thank you.
Rest a little now and honor some Prasada. Below freezing here.
