Srila Prabhupada: Respect your father as myself

[Guest guest]

My Dear Gargamuni,

 

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter

dated Nov. 20, 1968, and previous to this letter I received another letter

from you, dated Nov. 7, and instead of replying you directly I have said the

following words in a letters addressed to Brahmananda dated on Nov. 12, and

Nov. 16, that "If he feels too much inconvenience at the care of his father,

he may come back to you and help you in New York.'' I was very much

perturbed when I received your letter of Nov. 7, 1968, and I prayed to

Krishna that He may put His merciful glance upon you. So by Krishna's Grace,

I learned from Tamala Krishna that your father has already given you a nice

apartment. So it is a sort of tug-of-war between your material father and

spiritual father. And you are the rope in between. So in the first test I

think I have come out successful. But this is a sporting. I have already

told you that your father and mother are very good souls. They might be

under the illusion of maya but still I must say that they are good souls,

otherwise they could not have produced such nice children like Brahmananda

and Gargamuni. We are trying to educate our disciples to produce Krishna

Conscious children, but your father and mother, without being Krishna

Conscious, have produced such nice Krishna Conscious boys, so I am very much

obliged to them. The facilities which your father is giving you is going to

his credit in Krishna Consciousness. The more he gives you facility, the

more his balance in Krishna Consciousness. He does not know how his Krishna

Consciousness balance is increasing, but one day will come when you will see

that actually your father is a good soul. So you try to win the love and

affection of your father some way or other. You are very intelligent boy and

Krishna will also give you extra intelligence how to deal with your father.

But you must treat your father as respectful as myself; even if you are

sometimes ill-treated, you should tolerate. You should follow the example of

Prahlada Maharaja. His father continually tortured him in so many ways, but

he never protested against his father, but he never agreed with the opinion

of his father. That should be your policy also, that you will never agree to

your father's demoniac principles, but still you will try to serve him as

faithfully as a nice obedient son. I am sure your father will be responsive

and gradually our mission may be successful. I am always praying to Krishna

to protect you because I know purposefully I have sent you in a fiery

condition of maya. But our philosophy is different. We do not hate maya

because we know maya is also a faithful agent of Krishna, but her task is

very thankless. Our mission is to dovetail everything in the service of

Krishna because everything belongs to Krishna. Your father or any other

businessman may think it improperly that the business belongs to him, and he

is entitled to enjoy the profit, but we think everything belongs to Krishna,

and Krishna is entitled to enjoy the property. That is the version of

Bhagavad-gita. When the Lord says, I am the Supreme Enjoyer of all the

results of sacrifices, austerities, fruitive actions, etc. People try to be

a renouncer of this material world, but we do not see the material world in

that angle of vision. We see everything is the product of Krishna's energy

and how everything can be dovetailed for serving the purpose of Krishna.

Please try to follow this principle and always remember the vivid example of

Arjuna, how he utilized his special talent in the matter of warfare to serve

Krishna so lovingly. He sacrificed all his good sentiments for his kinsmen,

but he accepted the order of Krishna and thus he came out victorious in the

fight. We are therefore neither renouncer nor enjoyer, we are simply

servitor of Krishna. Please follow this principle and you will be never

disturbed in any frightened condition offered by the maya.

 

I am glad also to learn that your father has also increased your salary to

$100.00 per week. Chant Hare Krishna regularly and see the pictures of Lord

Caitanya and Krishna and you will be happy. Thanking you once more,

 

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

 

Letter to: Gargamuni

—

Los Angeles

22 November, 1968

68-11-22