Srila Prabhupada's letters

[CCC]

 

Evidence, these Prabhupada letters were never treated like that those devotees who got a letter from Prabhupada were told to hire a safe and lock it up there so that nobody else could read. Prabhupada surely never demanded that the recipients of his letters have to hide that letter from others but it was rather like receiving nectar one wants at one point to share and discuss with others. At the same time letters were mainly written because someone had a question to be answered by Prabhupada for his/her own very specific individual situation. However, Prabhupada always answered in such a way like he answered questions after a lecture. And that's the reason why almost all these letters became public, these devotees felt that the content would also benefit others. Just like when you write a letter to the editor of a magazine, your letter and written reply are published to benefit others. That's how Prabhupada saw it, coz sometimes there were letters also published in Back to Godhead magizines. If you get a letter with a very personal/confidential content you naturally wouldn't show it to others, but it was contrawise, recipients of a letter coming from Prabhupada always felt like they have to share this knowledge with others, nectar of spiritual wisdom inspiring the disciples to advance their service for their spiritual master. If you read a letter and feel that this doesnt give your situation anything, you naturally don't get into reading more distinct. But this was not the case, everybody reading the letter addressed to another devotee felt, that this is also benefits him.

 

I agree with you,

 

btw where is the webpage with the letters of Srila Prabhupada?

[suchandra]

 

I agree with you,

 

btw where is the webpage with the letters of Srila Prabhupada?

 

http://sangalog3.blogspot.com/

[cbrahma]

Srila Prabhupada's Letter to Visvakarma, November 09, 1975

"Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated September 3, 1975 with the enclosed statement about Van Maharaja. So I have now issued orders that all my disciples should avoid all of my godbrothers. THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY DEALINGS WITH THEM NOR EVEN CORRESPONDENCE, NOR SHOULD THEY GIVE THEM ANY OF MY BOOKS OR SHOULD THEY PURCHASE ANY OF THEIR BOOKS, NEITHER SHOULD YOU VISIT ANY OF THEIR TEMPLES. PLEASE AVOID THEM."

 

There are room conversations and tapes...one can pull that post date this. But letters take precedence right?

[Guruvani]

 

Srila Prabhupada's Letter to Visvakarma, November 09, 1975

"Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated September 3, 1975 with the enclosed statement about Van Maharaja. So I have now issued orders that all my disciples should avoid all of my godbrothers. THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY DEALINGS WITH THEM NOR EVEN CORRESPONDENCE, NOR SHOULD THEY GIVE THEM ANY OF MY BOOKS OR SHOULD THEY PURCHASE ANY OF THEIR BOOKS, NEITHER SHOULD YOU VISIT ANY OF THEIR TEMPLES. PLEASE AVOID THEM."

 

There are room conversations and tapes...one can pull that post date this. But letters take precedence right?

Those were temporary orders that do not hold up forever.

There is also a letter where Srila Prabhupada took away the authority of the GBC.

We could also use that to say that the GBC has been suspended.

Such orders of the acharya are liable for revision and correction.

The final orders of Srila Prabhupada revoked the ban on Srila Sridhar Maharaja.

 

You must be careful to follow the chronological sequence of the instructions of the acharya or you could end up committing serious offenses by not paying attention.

 

If you disregard recent instructions of Srila Prabhupada by dragging up old letters then you are in fact disobeying the spiritual master.

 

The shastra has very strict rules about offending Vaishnavas.

Srila Prabhupada took a great risk by making such statements.

Unfortunately, however, it appears that his followers did not keep up with his final wishes and as such a large section of devotees now think that Vaishnava aparadha is acceptable and quite ok.

It's not.

 

Now, these offenders of Vaishnavas who use the orders of Srila Prabhupada to offend Vaishnavas are making Srila Prabhupada culpable for such offenses that are the most harmful poison to the devotional creeeper.

 

These people would do better to try and protect Prabhupada from being liable for Vaishnava aparadha by being behaved and giving up their conduct of Vaishnava aparadha which is forbidden in shastra.

 

Letters of Srila Prabhupada are not eternal laws.

They sometimes contained emergency instructions that can only be valid during an emergency.

 

The attempt to make Vaishnava aparadha acceptable by quoting letters of Srila Prabhupada is only going to destroy the spiritual advancement of those who promote such offenses and give Srila Prabhupada a bad name that history will not forgive.

 

No acharya has the right to forbid a Vaishnava from respecting and honoring a senior Vaishnava.

These kinds of things violate the Vaishnava code of conduct.

[cbrahma]

 

Those were temporary orders that do not hold up forever.

.

Wow you have gift for rationalization.

One minute it's the date stamp the next minute it's an extemporaneous

essay on the temporary nature of the guru instruction.

I suspect if the letter justified association with Sridhara and company it would be clung to like an eternal edit from Krsna Himself.

To quote a line from "Amadeus" -- you do not persuade.

[Beggar]

 

Wow you have gift for rationalization.

One minute it's the date stamp the next minute it's an extemporaneous

essay on the temporary nature of the guru instruction.

I suspect if the letter justified association with Sridhara and company it would be clung to like an eternal edit from Krsna Himself.

To quote a line from "Amadeus" -- you do not persuade.

We are dealing with the land of faith. Ultimately persuasion will have no real influence there for persuasion is based on logic and reason. Bhakti is beyond logic and reason and must be revealed by the infinite to the finite. Persuasion can only give some hint to the person who has adequate sukrti (sukrti-van).

[Guruvani]

 

Wow you have gift for rationalization.

One minute it's the date stamp the next minute it's an extemporaneous

essay on the temporary nature of the guru instruction.

I suspect if the letter justified association with Sridhara and company it would be clung to like an eternal edit from Krsna Himself.

To quote a line from "Amadeus" -- you do not persuade.

If you don't pay attention to the chronological sequence of the instructions of Srila Prabhupada you will become victim of Vaishnava aparadha and your spiritual life will be ruined.

If instructions have dates on them, then you have to adjust your thinking according to the timeline.

Letters are dated.

Ignoring the dates and timeline of instructions is a political ploy used by insincere people with a political agenda of selfish ambition.

 

Following these old letters by ignoring recent instructions is an offense to Srila Prabhupada.

That is not guru seva.

It is guru aparadha.

 

Most often such tactics are used by ambitious men in ISKCON who are protecting their positions or used by their disciples who cannot accept the fact that their guru is a neophyte who flagrantly commits Vaishnava aparadha for political reasons.

[cbrahma]

 

If you don't pay attention to the chronological sequence of the instructions of Srila Prabhupada you will become victim of Vaishnava aparadha and your spiritual life will be ruined.

If instructions have dates on them, then you have to adjust your thinking according to the timeline.

Letters are dated.

Ignoring the dates and timeline of instructions is a political ploy used by insincere people with a political agenda of selfish ambition.

 

Following these old letters by ignoring recent instructions is an offense to Srila Prabhupada.

That is not guru seva.

It is guru aparadha.

 

Most often such tactics are used by ambitious men in ISKCON who are protecting their positions or used by their disciples who cannot accept the fact that their guru is a neophyte who flagrantly commits Vaishnava aparadha for political reasons.

Don't threaten me with spiritual ruin. Quoting the spiritual master from whatever source is apharada? LOL

There is no sequence problem with the quote I gave. It is a letter, not a conversation.

It is clear and stated with absolute authority. One could just as easily accuse you of apharada.

[Guruvani]

 

Don't threaten me with spiritual ruin. Quoting the spiritual master from whatever source is apharada? LOL

There is no sequence problem with the quote I gave. It is a letter, not a conversation.

It is clear and stated with absolute authority. One could just as easily accuse you of apharada.

 

You are trying to follow an order that Srila Prabhupada negated by recent instructions.

In other words, it is as if the order never existed.

 

Neglecting the most recent instructions of Srila Prabhupada by claiming loyalty based on outdated instructions is the business of pseudo-disciples who don't pay proper attention to the actual instructions of Srila Prabhupada.

 

These people aren't following Srila Prabhupada.

They are following an agenda of personal gain in the name of ISKCON and offending thousands of Vaishnavas in the process.

[cbrahma]

 

You are trying to follow an order that Srila Prabhupada negated by recent instructions.

In other words, it is as if the order never existed.

 

Neglecting the most recent instructions of Srila Prabhupada by claiming loyalty based on outdated instructions is the business of pseudo-disciples who don't pay proper attention to the actual instructions of Srila Prabhupada.

 

These people aren't following Srila Prabhupada.

They are following an agenda of personal gain in the name of ISKCON and offending thousands of Vaishnavas in the process.

Recent? News flash. Prabhupada left the planet decades ago.

What is your time line?

And what are your data points, you desperate thing you.

[Beggar]

 

Don't threaten me with spiritual ruin. Quoting the spiritual master from whatever source is apharada? LOL

There is no sequence problem with the quote I gave. It is a letter, not a conversation.

It is clear and stated with absolute authority. One could just as easily accuse you of apharada.

Sometimes a debate over who is the aparadhi creates a fog where we don't even know what is the condition of our own faith. Is there something Guruvani is writing that is challenging your deepest faith? If so you better look and see if that faith is resting on a firm foundation. That's really what these siddhanta debates really come down to. If our faith is based on a thought system that has too many elements of our own personal concoctions then it will be like a house of cards.

[Guruvani]

 

Recent? News flash. Prabhupada left the planet decades ago.

What is your time line?

And what are your data points, you desperate thing you.

 

Enter the smoke and mirrors.

When the truth is unacceptable - resort to the smokescreen.

[cbrahma]

 

Enter the smoke and mirrors.

When the truth is unacceptable - resort to the smokescreen.

Your hot air indicts nothing except the mouth it comes out of.

[Guruvani]

 

you desperate thing you.

 

Desperate?

I don't depend on ISKCON or any institution for anything.

I am not desperate.

I am a neutral observer simply looking at the sitution impartially based upon facts.

 

I am not a party to any camp.

I live alone with my children like I have for the last 20 years.

 

I am partial only to the truth.

I have no camp other than that.

[cbrahma]

 

Desperate?

I don't depend on ISKCON or any institution for anything.

I am not desperate.

I am a neutral observer simply looking at the sitution impartially based upon facts.

 

I am not a party to any camp.

I live alone with my children like I have for the last 20 years.

 

I am partial only to the truth.

I have no camp other than that.

Your ad hoc shuffling and rationalizations all dismissed under the rubric of 'time and circumstance' speaks of desparation. ISKCON has nothing to do with it. I trust the MATH in equal proportion.

[Guruvani]

 

What is your time line?

And what are your data points,

I already posted a very informative topic that shows that in 1977 Srila Prabhupada took some disciples and went to Srila Sridhar Maharaja's Math and reconciled the situation with Sridhar Maharaja.

Obviously, you don't pay attention.

It's obvious that you don't pay attention to the sequence of Srila Prabhupada's instruction and just randomly, willy-nilly jump around old letters in a very misguided search for truth.

 

http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/spiritual-discussions/445028-srila-prabhupada-srila-sridhar-maharaja-relationship.html

[cbrahma]

 

I already posted a very informative topic that shows that in 1977 Srila Prabhupada took some disciples and went to Srila Sridhar Maharaja's Math and reconciled the situation with Sridhar Maharaja.

Obviously, you don't pay attention.

It's obvious that you don't pay attention to the sequence of Srila Prabhupada's instruction and just randomly, willy-nilly jump around old letters in a very misguided search for truth.

 

http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/spiritual-discussions/445028-srila-prabhupada-srila-sridhar-maharaja-relationship.html

I am quite aware of your gambit. It was for help in building the Vedic planeterium. Hardly a reconciliation. Besides it was conversation. Not a letter. I can show you conversations that contradict that.

Anyway, I am bored with these petty politics. Rant on...

[Guruvani]

 

I can show you conversations that contradict that.

 

not anything that post-dates the last meeting of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Sridhar Maharaja.

all you can dig up is some old, outdated letters from the dustbin of history that have since been nullified.

 

those letters should have been buried along with the body of Srila Prabhupada.

they have no life anymore.

 

 

Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami: This is my earnest desire. Since you could not go around the world and preach, at least stay there and people will come to you. I shall make that arrangement. If you stay, then it will be helpful to me also. Sometimes I need to consult with someone but there is no one. There is no one that I can consult. I feel this deficiency very greatly.

Devotee: If he stays in Mayapur, then, all kinds of people will get to hear from him.

Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami: Yes, that's right.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Yes, people from all kinds of cultural backgrounds will come there.

Bhaktivedanta Swami: Yes, and they are already coming. And in that house I will make arrangements for an elevator so that you won't have to go through the difficulty of walking up and down the stairs. You won't even have to move a step yourself. I'll make arrangements for a car and a lift. My disciples are telling me that they will build a house for me. So, both of us will stay in that house. Most of the time I am travelling around, so if you are there, then they can get some guidance. So, Maharaj, please, give me the order and I will make all the arrangements for you. That Planetarium [The "Temple of Understanding"] also will be built under your direction. My idea is to combine the Indian culture and the American money -- the lame man and the blind man policy. I tell them also that this will be very beneficial for the world.

[Guruvani]

 

Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami: This is my earnest desire. Since you could not go around the world and preach, at least stay there and people will come to you. I shall make that arrangement. If you stay, then it will be helpful to me also. Sometimes I need to consult with someone but there is no one. There is no one that I can consult. I feel this deficiency very greatly.

It appears that some so-called devotees could give a rat's ass about the EARNEST DESIRE of Srila Prabhupada.

 

 

 

 

 

<embed style="margin-bottom: 4px;" src="http://img.tfd.com/play.swf" flashvars="soundpath=http://img.tfd.com/hm/mp3/E0005900" menu="false" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="13" width="10">ear·nest¹

 

 

 

<embed style="margin-bottom: 4px;" src="http://img.tfd.com/play.swf" flashvars="soundpath=http://img.tfd.com/hm/mp3/E0005900" menu="false" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="13" width="10"> (ûrnst)adj.1. Marked by or showing deep sincerity or seriousness: an earnest gesture of goodwill.

2. Of an important or weighty nature; grave. See Synonyms at serious.

 

 

[suchandra]

 

Not a letter. I can show you conversations that contradict that.

Anyway, I am bored with these petty politics. Rant on...

 

Letter of the day, how to get intelligence from within.

Hope it passes the jury to be approved/helpful and not assigned to the category of counterproductive/misleading.

 

9 December, 1971 Delhi

 

My dear Jayatirtha,

 

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter and posters dated October 14, 1971, and I am very pleased by the posters.

 

I am very very pleased by your diligent and careful management of our Spiritual Sky business. Your success is a good sign that you are completely surrendered to satisfying Krishna and that there is no material motive in your endeavors, that is why Krishna is rewarding you so nicely. I can understand from your work that you are first-class devotee. I fully approve of your program for distributing the posters and utilizing the profits to print more books.

 

I understand from Karandhara that you will be setting up another ISKCON Press in Los Angeles to engage our New York Press in transcendental competition for printing my books. Competition and profiteering spirit are always there in the living entity. It is not that they can be artificially removed in some manner. Factually we saw in Russia that by removing competition and profit calculation from society the people were not at all happy, and still these things are going on. So we shall not expect that we are any different.

 

Only difference is, that our profit is for Krishna's pleasure, and our competition is how to please Krishna more than someone else. Even amongst the Gopis there is competition to please Krishna, and there is envy also. But this envy is not material, it is transcendental. They are thinking, Oh, she has done something more wonderful than me, that is very nice, but now let me do something even more wonderful, like that.

 

So I am pleased that you desire for competition with your godbrothers to spread Krishna Consciousness Movement all over the world by printing our books there. Why not use the poster profits to print books in L.A.? When I shall come there, perhaps by late Spring, my translation work will be greatly accelerated if you provide me such facilities. I want that our literatures be profusely distributed, so if you can assist me in this way by your Spiritual Sky business, I am greatly satisfied.

 

Karandhara and you are sincere workers, so Krishna will give you intelligence. So go on with your program nicely. In every case always remember Krishna so intelligence will come from within. I am very glad the deity worship is going so nicely. They look very glowing, and that is very satisfying to me. When I shall go to Los Angeles very soon, I shall take transcendental pleasure in offering my obeisances to Them.

 

I have asked my secretary, Syamasundara, to add a note to each letter I dictate informing that party that now we have got nice posters in Los Angeles and that they may order as many as possible from you and Karandhara.

 

I hope this will meet you in good health and pleasant mood,

 

Your ever well-wisher,

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

 

ACBS/sda

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

One could just as easily accuse you of apharada.

 

What the heck is "apharada"???

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Hear!! Hear!!!!

 

 

Sometimes a debate over who is the aparadhi creates a fog where we don't even know what is the condition of our own faith. Is there something Guruvani is writing that is challenging your deepest faith? If so you better look and see if that faith is resting on a firm foundation. That's really what these siddhanta debates really come down to. If our faith is based on a thought system that has too many elements of our own personal concoctions then it will be like a house of cards.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

Your success is a good sign that you are completely surrendered to satisfying Krishna and that there is no material motive in your endeavors, that is why Krishna is rewarding you so nicely. I can understand from your work that you are first-class devotee.

 

This is *very* instructive, isn't it?

[mahak]

Maybe cbrahma is a bit burned out. Anyone who would deride the 1973 vyasapuja address, Srila Prabhupadas wonderful and emotional discussion of his relationship with his guru maharaja, call it advertizement for some phony religion, well, hes not hearing.

 

The contributors to this thread are spreading nectar, but sweet is bitter to the jaundiced.

[CCC]

Really I dont know why some people doens't accept Srila Prabhupada's letters, because this is the basic plataform between the guru and disciple relationship. The disciple ask intelligent question and the Guru response them, this is the essencial part of this relationship. I don't agree with `people who say that the disciple is not qualified to hear the truth so Sp gives him a fairytale o whatever you want to call it.