a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
|
|
| Prabhupada Letters :: 1967 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
|
|
30 Jan 2004 Monday, January 30, 1967 San Francisco, Calif. My dear Brahmananda, I am in due receipt of your letter of the 28th instant. I was very much eager to get the records but they are still delayed. Our yesterdays function was very successful. There were about 1500 or more audience and all of them chanted and danced continually for one hour and fifteen minutes. I came back at 11-30 at night. I think Sriman Haridasa Brahmacari (Harvey) will contribute $1000.00 towards the building fund at New York. I am sorry that the Lawyer of the owner is delaying the matter. Will the proprietor of the house be carried by the Lawyer? If it is so what is the use of wasting time in that way. If they are serious they must finish the business without delay. I wish that we must enter the house by the 1st of March 1967. Please try to secure a copy of each film so far taken of us while performing Kirtana. If required we may pay something for this; better they should contribute a film to the society as we have not charged anything. If we get the film we can then purchase a projector to show in different places. Please send the records as early as possible. There is possibility of selling a great number of records here. They are all purchasing cash. Please expedite the matter. One thing you may note also as a matter of etiquette. The Spiritual Master is addressed as His Divine Grace, a Godbrother is addressed as His Grace, and any Sannyasin is addressed as His Holiness. I am very much anxious to know about the progress of the house negotiation as well the records. Hope you are well. Yours ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 30.1.04 | Monday, January 30, 1967 San Francisco, Calif. My dear Rayarama, I am in due receipt of your letter of the 26th instant. The service proposal is very nice and I approve of your acceptance this job. Not only your income will be a great help to the society but also it will be a great opportunity for learning how to organize our magazine Back to Godhead. This Back to Godhead will always remain the backbone of the society because more the magazine is popular the more society becomes popular. So your ambition should always be how to improve the quality of the paper so that it may be read by all respectable persons. In future we may have one French edition of this paper. If our Back to Godhead goes on nicely then we can have our all publications without waiting for any other publishers. Regarding Srimad Bhagavad-gita I am now arranging to get it published independently and to print it in India because it will be cheaper. What we will spend for 2000 copies here will be sufficient for printing 5000 copies in India. And the abridged edition may be printed here through some publisher. I have asked Howard to edit it immediately. I am so much pleased to learn that everything is going on well at N.Y. centre. So long our kirtana is alright there is no difficulty at all. Hope you are well along with your other God brothers and sisters. Yours ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 30.1.04 | Monday, January 30, 1967 San Francisco, Calif. My dear Gargamuni, Since I have come here I did not hear from you. Hope you are doing well with full cooperation of your elderly God brothers. Did you go to your mother along with Brahmananda? I hope she is alright now. I have already transferred $5000.00 to the A.c of International Society for Krishna Consciousness Inc. Checks should be drawn with full deliverance. Have you transferred $200.00 to my account instead of sending the check to Mr. Altman? I have already sent you instructions in this connection. Shall be glad to hear from you. Hope you are well. Yours ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami N.B. Up to date I have only 5 tapes with me. Please let me know how many you counted altogether. letters | 30.1.04 | Monday, January 30, 1967 San Francisco, Calif. My dear Acyutananda, Please accept my blessings. Since Kirtanananda is absent certainly you are feeling some strain. But the more you serve Krishna the more you become stronger. I hope you are being properly assisted by your other Godbrothers. I shall be glad to hear from you. May Krishna give you all protection in the discharge of your transcendental duties. Yours ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 30.1.04 | Monday, January 30, 1967 San Francisco, Calif. My dear Satsvarupa, Please accept my blessing. I understand that Neal has left us and you have taken the responsibility for typing the records. Please let me know how many tapes are with you. I think you have five tapes with you because I have got only three with me. See that the tapes do not miss. You are a sincere devotee of the Lord and certainly He will bless you with auspicious advancement in the matter of spiritual understanding. Your assistant Ranchor is doing well with me. He is not now disturbed in his mind. I hope you are all in full cooperation in the service of Krishna. I shall be glad to hear from you. Hope you are well. Your ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 30.1.04 | Monday, January 30, 1967 San Francisco, Calif. My dear Jadurani, Please accept by blessings. I have heard about your good work although you did not write me. I always remember you as the nicest girl because you are so devoutly engaged in the service of Krishna. I am sure Krishna is pleased on you and He will bestow His blessings upon you. Better you accept Krishna as your Husband and He will never be unfaithful. Mundane husbands and wives never agree with one another. Because in the material world the relations are on the basis of body which is false basically. Under the circumstance how we can have the genuine thing on platform of false existence. Devote yourself therefore 24 hours in the service of Krishna and see how you feel happy in all respects. You are very good girl, because I have heard you chanting while working. It is very good and may Krishna give you more and more enlightenment. I always pray that you may be happy by our Lord's Grace. I shall be glad to hear from you. Yours ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami letters | 30.1.04 | 29 Jan 2004 Sunday, January 29, 1967 Mantra Rock "Sunday, January 29, 1967 marked the major spiritual event of the San Francisco hippy era, and Srila Prabhupada, who was ready to go anywhere to spread Krsna Consciousness, was there. The Grateful Dead, Moby Grape, Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service -- all the new-wave San Francisco bands -- had agreed to appear with Srila Prabhupada at the Avalon Ballroom's Mantra-Rock Dance, proceeds from which would go to the local Hare Krsna temple. "Thousands of hippies, anticipating an exciting evening, packed the hall. LSD pioneer Timothy Leary dutifully paid the standard $2.50 admission fee and entered the ballroom, followed by Augustus Owsley Stanley II, known for his own brand of LSD. 
Mantra Rock Dance poster "At about 10 p.m., Srila Prabhupada and a small entourage of devotees arrived amid uprorious applause and cheering by a crowd that had waited weeks in great anticipation for this moment. Srila Prabhupada was given a seat of honor onstage and was introduced by Allen Ginsberg, who explained his own realizations about the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and how it had spread from the small storefront in New York to San Francisco. "The chanting started slowly but ryhthmically, and little by little it spread throughout the ballroom, enveloping everyone. Hippies got to their feet, held hands, and began to dance as enormous, pulsing pictures of Krsna were projected around the walls of the ballroom in perfect sync with the beat of the mantra. By the time Srila Prabhupada stood and began to dance with his arms raised, the crowd was completely absorbed in chanting, dancing and playing musical instruments they had brought for the occasion. "As the tempo speeded up, the chanting and dancing became more and more intense, spurred on by a stageful of top rock musicians, who were as charmed by the magic of the maha-mantra as the amateur musicians had been at the Tompkins Square kirtanas only a few weeks before. The chant rose; it seemed to surge and swell without limit. When it seemed it could go no further, the chanting stopped. Srila Prabhupada offered prayers to his spiritual master into the microphone and ended-by saying three times, "All glories to the assembled devotees!" The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood buzzed with talk of the mantra-Rock Dance for weeks afterward. Allen Ginsberg later recalled, "We sang Hare Krsna all evening. It was absolutely great -- an open thing. It was the height of the Haight-Ashbury spiritual enthusiasm." [Chant and Be Happy, Chapter 2, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1982] letters | 29.1.04 | 25 Jan 2004 Wednesday, January 25, 1967 San Francisco, Calif. My dear Brahmananda, I am in due receipt of your letter of the 21st instant and later on yesterday I have received five tapes in good condition out of which I have sent today two tapes duly recorded. So long am here I shall send you two tapes duly recorded every day and similarly you also send me two tapes daily so that there will be no difficulty. While coming San Francisco I advised both Kirtanananda and Gargamuni to dispatch one tape reel to India. It was duly packed and addressed as follows: Sri Radharamana Das Brahmacari, Sri Gaudiya Sanghasram, 23 Doctor Lane Calcutta-14 India. I am very much anxious to know if this reel has already been dispatched by air mail. If not please immediately do it and let me know that you have done so. I have received letter from the above Brahmacari that he has not as yet received the same. Please treat this as very urgent. Sriman Karalapati (Carl Yeargans) has sent me one check for ten dollars which I am enclosing herewith for credit of his account and he has said that some of his relatives would pay $50.00. If not received please let Sri Karalapati be informed of his dues till now and he would remit. His address in Greece is as follows: K. Yeargans, Poste Restante, Lindos, Rhodos, Greece Also please send him all the copies of Back to Godhead and other literatures so far published. He is very anxious to get my commentary on the Bhagavad-gita. So let me know if there is any possibility of publishing this book from U.S.A. otherwise I shall immediately arrange for its printing in India. The translation and commentary is already finished. I shall begin Caitanya Caritamrta Essays & Text. If I am assisted by one expert typewriter like Neal, as he is doing now, we can publish every three months a book. And the more we have books, the more we become respectable. It is understood that $5000.00 five thousands of dollars have already been credited in the account of INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS INC. on January 23, 1967 and as advised by me in my previous letter the payment should be made to the seller of the House under strict instruction of the lawyer appointed in this connection. In India it is the custom that immediately after payment the buyer gets possession of the house immediately. I think the same procedure is followed in this country. Further, $200.00 may be transferred to my account in the Trade Bank And Trust Co. at 4th street for purchasing some musical instruments for Mr. Jonathan Altman. This month as usual the check may not be sent to him but advice may be sent to him that the amount has been paid to my account for purchasing his musical instruments in India. The cost will be about $500.00 out of which $200.00 has to be sent immediately. So after transferring the above amount you can let us both know about it so that I can take the necessary steps. While Kirtanananda coming he may bring with him some stationery and envelopes of the Society as well as dry mangoe juice for me. Kirtanananda knows where to get it. I have also sent some instructions with Rayarama and I hope you have received the same. Here everything is going well. Four devotees have been initiated and two devotees have been married. On the marriage ceremony day there was extraordinary gatherings (150 at least) and all of them were distributed prasadam. Sriman Ranchor assisted by some girls prepared Kacori, Samosa, Iskcon Balls, Puri, Chatni etc and there were many fruits also and all the guests enjoyed the Prasadam very nicely. The initiated persons are as follows: Sri Haridasa Brahmacari, (Harvey Cohen) Sri Syamasundara Adhikari (Sam) Srimati Malati Devi (Mrs Melody) Srimati Harsa Devi (Miss Hope) In the morning class there are not less than 25 students and in the evening there are 30 to 50 students. And I think they are gradually understanding the philosophy seriously. Sriman Mukunda Das has in view a plot of land about sixty acres for the society and he wishes to organize our community camp there. It is very encouraging. Please reply this letter point by point and let me know the progress of the house purchasing negotiation. Hope you are doing well with greater enthusiasm even though I am absent. Please take care of Jadurani so that her painting work may go on very nicely. She is entrusted with great responsibility. More in my next. With my sincere blessings for you all, I am Yours ever well wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Enclosure check for $10.00  A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami with students, San Francisco, 1967. letters | 25.1.04 | |
|
|
