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Srimati Radharani
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Subject: Srimati Radharani
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From: Bhakta Paul
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Date: Tue Jul 04 15:23:42 1995
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Message-Id: id561
om ajnana-timirandhasya
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah
sri-caitanya-mano- 'bhistam
sthapitam yena bhu-tale
svayam rupah kada mahyam
dadati sva-padantikam
I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with
the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him. When will Srila
Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada, who has established within this material world the
mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus
feet?
vande 'ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams ca
sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam
sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-caitanya-devam
sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri- visakhanvitams ca
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and
unto the feet of all Vaisnavas. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus
feet of Srila Rupa Gosvami along with his elder brother Sanatana Gosvami, as well
as Raghunatha Dasa and RaghunathaBhatta, Gopala Bhatta, and Srila Jiva Gosvami. I
offer my respectful obeisances to Lord Krsna Caitanya and Lord Nityananda along
with Advaita Acarya, Gadadhara, Srivasa, and other associates. I offer my
respectful obeisances to Srimati Radharani and Sri Krsna along with Their
associates Sri Lalita and Visakha.
he krsna karuna-sindho
dina-bandho jagat-pate
gopesa gopika-kanta
radha-kanta namo 'stu te
O my dear Krsna, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation.
You are the master of the gopis and the lover of Radharani. I offer my respectful
obeisances unto You.
tapta-kancana-gaurangi
radhe vrndavanesvari
vrsabhanu-sute devi
pranamami hari-priye
I offer my respects to Radharani, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and
who is the Queen of Vrndavana. You are the daughter of King Vrsabhanu, and You are
very dear to Lord Krsna.
vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca
krpa-sindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaisnavebhyo namo namah
I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaisnava devotees of the Lord. They
can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of
compassion for the fallen souls.
sri-krsna-caitanya
prabhu-nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara
srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda
I offer my obeisances to Sri Krsna Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita,
Gadadhara, Srivasa and all others in the line of devotion.
hare krsna hare krsna
krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare
Dear Bhakta Paul
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
> Thank you for your most recent letter, it has taken me some time to
>respond to it because of other mail that needed to be answered. i thank you
>for your patience on this matter.
Thank you for replying. I was a little afraid I may have offended you, which I
certainly don't want to. So I am pleased to see your reply.
> So far, i see that we are not really arguing with each other when what
>we state looks to be a difference of opinion, but is actually,
>misunderstanding each other. i hope that we should work together on this and
>try to elaborate our points to the fullest extent so that we can communicate
>clearly.
Yes. We both have to make spiritual advancement. And Krishna katha [talking about
Krishna] and sadhu sanga [the association of devotees] is a very nice thing. We
are all individuals and we naturally have different ideas and opinions. Even in
the spiritual world sometimes the devotees disagree... "We should serve Krishna
this way," "No. I think we should do it like this..." But this is not like an
ordinary argument. Because the point is to serve Krishna better.
Devotees sometimes disagree with each other but there is no envy, no malice. Srila
Prabhupada wanted to make the theme of the last Mayapur festival before he left
his body "Unity in Diversity". That was his idea. He wanted ISKCON to be a "House
for the whole world to live in." It means we should have unity, a single purpose,
serving Krishna and Srila Prabhupada, but at the same time allow individual
devotees to preach in their own way. The straight-edge preaching is an example of
this. It is not very "traditional" at all... But it attracts people to Krishna
consciousness, so it is good. That is the diversity. But the unity is we are all
following Srila Prabhupada's instructions. All chanting 16 rounds, following the
four regulative principles, getting out of bed before 4:00 every morning,
attending Mangal Aroti, etc.
> The first point i want to bring up is the reading of Srila Prabhupada's
>books in relation to why some people here have read books, magazines, etc.
>written by other people due in part to the availability of his books. When i
>became a devotee two years ago, i was given a copy of the Bhagavad-gita As It
>Is. For someone whose reading rarely surpassed the daily comics, this book
>just blew me away. It was thick and had alot of words like transcendental,
>cosmic, etc. used in ways i had never imagined. Let's not even bring up the
>Sanskrit words. There was no one to explain this stuff to me, so i was pretty
>stuck.
Yes. My experience was similar when I got the Bhagavad-gita. Although it wasn't my
first book. I was on a holiday in London and one mataji stopped me in Oxford
Street and she showed me the "Higher Taste" and she said it was a vegetarian
cookbook and wondered if I would like it. I knew she was a Hare Krishna and I
thought the Hare Krishna's were nonsense... But I was thinking about becoming
vegetarian. So I said, "OK, I'll have a look." I thought she was just giving it to
me and then she asked for a donation so I gave her two pounds. I read the first
part of it that night and there is lots of nice philosophy in there as well as a
justification for vegetarianism. It changed my idea about the Hare Krishna
movement. Although I didn't become a vegetarian I had it in my mind that the Hare
Krishna's had a nice philosophy and the mataji I met seemed like a nice person.
Then I went back to Australia and worked as a computer programmer for 12 months.
But I just lost interest in it really and started travelling in Australia instead.
I ended up in Perth and we have a nice restaurant there. So I saw it and
remembered the cookbook so I went in and had lunch... And that was it for me. They
were serving such nice prasadam, it was unbelievable, I'd never tasted anything
like it before. I was astonished. Event things I usually didn't like tasted
wonderful. I couldn't work it out at all. And Prabhupada's books and the old-style
Back to Godheads were everywhere. The devotees were giving them out for free...
[which is not such a good idea but anyhow...] They had all Prabhupad's small
books, Bhagavad-gita, a couple of volumes of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Higher
Taste, and dozens of different issues of the BTG. I was stunned. I just started
reading everything I could lay my hands on. It was so nice. I had another computer
job then in Perth but I became rather distracted from it and was having two hour
lunches so I could go into the city to take prasadam at the restaurant, and I was
reading Prabhupada's books instead of working... After about a month I got the
black "Prabhupada" book [Satsvarupa dasa Goswami's summary of the Srila Prabhupada
Lilamrta] I couldn't put it down. [By that time I was also getting up at about 4
in the morning and walking to the temple chanting jappa. I didn't make it for
Mongal Aroti, but I was there for the Bhagavatam class, Guru-puja and prasadam. It
was a small temple, but very "fired-up" There were about eight brahmacaris and the
Kirtanas were very nice.] So I finished reading "Prabhupada". And then I knew
Srila Prabhupada was the most special person I had ever met and I decided to use
my life to try and do something for him. So I got rid of whatever things I had,
packed my bag and just went to the temple and "joined".
I probably wouldn't have got so involved if the devotees at the restaurant weren't
so nice. They were explaining everything to me. I agree with you that you need
someone to explain things. I was reading the books and coming to the restaurant
and temple and asking questions. There was a mataji who was always working in the
restaurant who would often preach to me. She would usually tell me, in some way or
another, that I was not my body, but I was a spirit soul, and my business was to
serve Krishna. Actually mostly all the devotees were telling me that... So one day
I asked her, "Why do you always tell me the same thing, 'that I am not my body.'"
And she said, "It is a very difficult thing to realize. Even in the temple many of
the classes are about this. We have to always remind ourselves. It is very easy
thing to forget." So somehow I have never forgotten her instruction. I consider
that mataji as one of my gurus, because she helped me so much to understand what I
was reading in Srila Prabhupada's books.
Everything works together, Srila Prabhupada's books, the prasadam, the kirtanas,
the Bhagavad-gita classes, and most importantly, the association of the devotees.
I don't think I would have become Krishna consciousness unless that mataji went
out of her way to go out and distribute books on Oxford Street in London, or if
the Perth temple devotees weren't running such a nice restaurant and temple... So
I owe a lot to those devotees.
You have probably noticed two very critical books that helped me to become Krishna
conscious were "The Higher Taste" and "Prabhupada". While they were not actually
written by Srila Prabhupada, but by his disciples, I still consider them
"Prabhupada's books" because Prabhupada's disciples have not presented any of
their own ideas in these books. They have explained Prabhupada's instructions and
Prabhupada's life in their own words, in a language that is easy for us to
understand. Also the old BTG's were very attractive to me. I liked reading them
and looking at the pictures, but once again they are written by Prabhupada's
disciples. But they contain Prabhupada's teachings. They are not quoting from
anything except Prabhupada's books and they are not presenting anything except
Prabhupada's presentation of Krishna consciousness.. So I count them as
"Prabhupada's books".
> This was not at all a position i wanted to be in, so i took a peek into
>my local library to see what they had. One of the first books i noticed was
>the Bhagavad-gita and right next to it was another BBT book called Readings
>in Vedic Literature.
I would also call this "Prabhupada's Book" [assuming it's the one by Satsvarupa
dasa Goswami] It was compiled by Satsvarupa Maharaja to help with university
preaching. He asked Srila Prabhupada about it and Srila Prabhupada replied to him
that he should write it by taking information from his classes and books. And that
is what he did. There is nothing new introduced. It is Prabhupada's Krishna
consciousness explained. [But clearly many of Satavarupa Maharaja's more recent
books are his own, they could not be called "Prabhupada's books"]
>i read the description on the back of the book, and took
>my new found treasure home with me. There was still some difficulty in
>understanding it, but it helped me out a great deal. At that point and time,
>Virginia had a new devotee, but only one.
These books are incredibly powerful. And they work even if you don't understand
them. Srila Prabhupada said if they even touch the books their life is changed.
Because Krishna is present in these books. Even if someone just keeps books like
the Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad-gita in their house the house becomes like
a place of pilgrimage... What to speak of if they read them [or even if they just
try to read them]...
> Between a year and 1.5 years later, things started coming together.
>People who had become devotees in the same area started meeting each other.
>And with one friend, i had started a distribution company. These other
>devotees started off by listening to Shelter's lyrics on a deeper level,
>reading hard-core fanzines, and other books. Most of them did not even know
>who Srila Prabhupada was. Their understanding came from devotees they could
>relate to and looking back on the situation, hard-core devotees was the
>majority.
> So now it's even longer after that time. These bhaktas are now reading
>Srila Prabhupada's books, but i've quit the distribution company. The company
>is doing his best to distribute books and hard-core fanzines. And a couple of
>days ago, i just got some books to distribute (all of them by Srila
>Prabhupada).
Book distribution ke jaya!
I only know that above everything else Srila Prabhupada wanted us to distribute
his books. It is the most important thing. Srila Prabhupada said, "My spiritual
master said, 'If you get money, print books.' So I have tried a little in that
way." He said he didn't know what the result would be but he just blindly followed
the instruction of his Guru Maharaja. So we should do the same.
>Only if you want to know, i will tell you why i quit the
>company. As for now, i will be working introvertedly.
If you want you can tell me... The main thing is we want to always remember
Krishna, never forget Krishna. So Srila Prabhupada gave us a program in ISKCON
designed so from 4:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night we would be busy serving
Krishna. That is my goal. I want to be fully engaged serving Krishna 24 hours a
day. Because "an idle mind is the devils workshop," If we're not busy serving
Krishna we will end up serving maya.
I'm also working "introvertedly" [I don't know if it's really the right word for
me] I would like to be in the association of devotees, going out with them on
Hari-Nam, etc. But I am by myself at the moment. But nothing changes really. We
can serve Krishna anywhere, we can chant Hare Krishna anywhere. It requires some
determination, however, to get up before 4:00 in the morning, to chant at least 16
rounds, to strictly follow the regulative principles, to read Srila Prabhupada's
books, and to preach. But it can be done, its not really difficult. You just have
to decide to do it, that's all...
> Had books like Beyond Birth and Death, Easy Journey to Other Planets,
>etc. been available at the time, i assure you, i would have read them. But
>now they are here and i am going to distribute them to give out what i didn't
>have.
Jaya! People will read them and they will become devotees. Never become
discouraged, thinking, "I am distributing all these books and no one is
joining..." It is a gradual thing. Not everyone who reads the books joins
immediately. But their life will be changed. The whole world will be changed. Maya
is strong though. It's always a battle. But it is a very glorious battle, and you
never loose. Krishna says:
nehabhikrama-naso 'sti
pratyavayo na vidyate
sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
trayate mahato bhayat
"In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little
advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear."
(Bhagavad-gita 2.40)
> No sense in thinking about the should have, would have, could have when
>it has passed.
> i also agree about how we should be careful in dealing with the Mayavadi
>philosophy. But the books i was speaking of that i have recommended to read
>have not been of that nature. Most people don't understand it on any level at
>all, so there are books that may be considered worse in some respects (ever
>hear of Monkey On a Stick?).
"Monkey On a Stick" is not worse than the Mayavadi philosophy! If you read the
Mayavadi philosophy it will become very difficult for you to ever take to Krishna
consciousness. "Monkey On a Stick" is bad, but it is largely true, although it has
been presented in a very "sensational" way. But it is nowhere near as bad as the
Mayavadi philosophy. The big danger with Mayavadi philosophy is it is very
difficult to tell it from Krishna conscious philosophy. You or I would probably
not be able to tell at all. Particularly without reading it. They don't say they
are Mayavadis, they say they are devotees, and they don't disbelieve in Krishna,
they just have a slightly different understanding of Him... They quote all the
same verses from the Bhagavad-gita, they just interpret them slightly
differently... We probably wouldn't know until it was to late, until the damage is
done. But everyone knows "Monkey On a Stick" is not a bonafide Krishna conscious
book. It is written by some reporters looking for a sensational story... It's not
the same thing at all.
>At the same time, when i'm talking to poeple who
>are skeptical about Krishna consciousness, they won't read any books in
>support of the Krishna consciousness movement written by devotees. This comes
>from the mentality that a devotee would never deface Krishna consciousness.
>In such instances, i have recommended books by well-known friends of the
>movement (Dr. Larry Shinn, Thomas Hopkins). These books serve their purpose
>well.
They certainly do. Srila Prabhupada was VERY pleased when scholars wrote favorable
books about the Krishna consciousness movement and was always anxious that his
books be distributed at universities and colleges and libraries so scholars and
students would have access to them.
> When you quoted verses from Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta about Lord
>Caitanya's dealing with the Mayavadi philosophers ("My spiritual master
>considered me a great fool...), you also included a quote from
>Bhaktisiddhanta Goswami Maharaja. i like it that we agree that reading other
>peoples' writings is not so bad (sarcasm).
It's from Prabhupada's Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. Prabhupada quoted Bhaktsiddhanta
and I quoted Prabhupada. That is the system. The knowledge descends through the
disciplic succession.
> This next part confuses me a lot. i said: "It doesn't matter whether
>the author has been a devotee for ten days or ten thousand years, as long as
>there is someone to explain it and as long as the literature itself is bona
>fide, then there should be no problem." Then you said: "This is completely
>incorrect. The potency of the book depends on the purity and potency of the
>author. It is not simply a matter of writing something...There has to be
>spiritual realization on the part of the author and it has to be bona fide."
> i will continually stand by my statement, but i also agree with parts of
>your statement, they go together somewhat.
Yes. I also agree. What I am trying to say is the purity has to be there. Srila
Bhaktsiddhanta Maharaja (as quoted by Srila Prabhupada) said in Kali-yuga there
are many psuedo-viasnavas. They dress as devotees but in their minds they are not
interested in serving Krishna. They are after fame, followers, profit,
distinction, money and women. So these "disciples of Kali-yuga" also write books.
And some of them are ISKCON devotees too... So just because a book is written by
an ISKCON devotee doesn't make it bonafide...
>Srila Rupa Goswami received
>instruction from Lord Caitanya for ten days before writing his (beautiful)
>Bhakta-rasamrta-sindhu. But the understanding he had came from his personal
>relotionship with the Lord (considering he was sitting next to Lord Caitanya,
>he must have had a nice relationship with Him!)
Yes. Lord Caitanya is in his heart as well. He is also in your heart and my heart,
the supersoul. He is called "catya-guru" or the "guru within". The spiritual
master gives us instructions from outside and Krishna also gives us instructions
from within our hearts. Krishna consciousness is a very mystical process. The
knowledge and detachement from the material world developed by devotees is
"causeless". Because we are all originally Krishna conscious. Our original
consciousness has been covered, that's all. So to uncover this consciousness we
chant Hare Krishna and serve our spiritual master and Krishna...
> One devotee asked Prabhupada,
>"How can we become more like you?" Prabhupada told this disciple that we had
>to repeat what he taught. Based on this, i think this purity that we develop
>comes from doing just as Prabhupada's reply suggests, by repeating his
>instructions.
Not just repeating them! Many repeat them but don't follow them in their own
lives. They may perfectly repeat Prabhupada's instructions but if they don't
follow them their preaching will not have any potency. It will actually be a
disturbance in the spiritual lives of the people who hear it. So we have to
follow...
> We may not be very perfect (pure) at all, but when we recite,
>live, and understand perfect instructions, we are at least in the right
>direction. Reciting is similar to writing, only it is a different medium.
If we LIVE them we will be pure. There may be so many difficulties in the
beginning, that is another thing. But unless we are following the regulative
principles and chanting 16 rounds we won't be able to convince anyone else to
either! Our preaching will have very little effect. However even the preaching of
a first-day bhakta will be fully potent if he is sincere and if he repeats what he
has heard from a pure devotee. Srila Prabhupada, in some lectures, praised the
preaching of the child of one of his disciples. Her name was Saraswati. She was
only 2 or 3 but everyone she met she would ask, "Do you know who Krishna is?" and
if they said "No", she would reply, "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of
Godhead". So Prabhupada said her preaching was perfect.
> The next part you bring up is what started this whole affair, the
>studying of Radha. i mentioned that my primary goal was to focus on Her (by
>separating Her from Krishna), and you said this was demoniac. You later
>mentioned that Radha is never separate from Krishna. i mean come on, you
>can't tell me that an impossible act is demoniac.
It's impossible, but that's what the demons want. Ravana wanted to abduct Sita
from Lord Ramachandra. He wanted Sita [Laxmi, the Goddess of Fortune who is an
expansion of Srimati Radharani], but he didn't want Lord Ramacandra [who is an
expansion of Krishna.] So that's the demoniac spirit. It's impossible but that's
what they want.
>You can have one or the
>other, but the impossibility of the matter defeats the demoaniac nature of
>the matter.
You can't just make up things like this out of your own brain. We have to take our
arguments from the authorities. Our logic is not so perfect. I can rightly
challenge you on this point. We have to be always prepared to quote the authority
upon which we make a statement. That is the Viasnava way. We quote our spiritual
master, we quote Krishna from Bhagavad-gita and so on... We explain in our own
words of course, but we can't "speculate" like you have done here.
> What i meant when i mentioned Radha's separation from Krishna had to do
>with Her emotions. i could site many references, but some of the sources
>aren't from Prabhupada, so i'll just mention a nice chapter from Krishna book
>called: The Gopis' Feelings of Separation. Hey wait, i'm demoniac so i'll
>just mention a couple of verses on the subject from a book called
>Radha-Rasa-Sudha-Nidhi: verses 19, 38, 49, 181, 215, 218, 255, and 256. The
>exact word for this is Virahini (She who feels separation). And as long as
>i've got this book turned to the index, i'll point out the special form of
>separation Radha experienced even in Krishna's presence! Prema-vaichittya.
You can read about it in Caitanya-caritamrta also. Everything is there. Why not
read Sri Caitanya-caritmrta?
Are you trying to say [by writing your numbers there] that what I have written
before was wrong? I have just written what Prabhupada has written...
>You can't think about Radha without Krishna. That is demoniac. That is common in
India in relation to the worship of Laxmi-Narayana. Laxmi is the Goddess of
Fortune and Lord Narayana is Her Husband. But in India many people worship Laxmi
without Narayana. They want Laxmi [mony, fortune..] but they don't want Narayana.
<snip>
>
>I have to answer on what you have written. I have given you good advice. That is
my responsibility. You can accept it or not... That is up to you. It is not good
to start at studing Radharani. We can't understand Her without first understanding
Krishna... We have to follow the process. Study Bhagavad-gita, then Srimad
Bhagavatam from canto's 1 to 9. Then we can study Krishna's pastimes... That's the
system. What else can I say?
> <snip>
>Radha is NEVER seperated from Krishna... That's the whole point. When Krishna
left Vrndavana Her feelings for Krishna increased and increased. She couldn't
sleep, She couldn't eat , She was practically dying from separation from Krishna.
But Krishna is present in these feelings of separation. Krishna never leaves
Vrndavana. These are very subtle things to understand. It is not possible just by
study. We have to serve a pure devotee spiritual master. It is knowledge that
Krishna reveals to us from within our hearts...
>
>
> In case you were wondering, i have not read the book. i was just taking
>a peek at the index. According to the translator, Dasaratha-suta dasa, the
>book is reserved for advanced devotees. Sure he sold me a copy, but that
>doesn't mean i should read it. The original author of the book is Srila
Just read Prabhupada's books... Everything is there...
>Prabodhananda Sarasvati Goswami, a great devotee of Lord Caitanya
>(sri-krsna-caitanya, radha-krsna nahe anya: "Two personalities - Srimati
>Radharani and Sri Krishna - are combined in the incarnation of Sri Caitanya
>Mahaprabhu.")
> You are right that Krishna is present in our feelings for separation
It's not me that is right! I have not put my ideas into it at all. I am just
repeating what Srila Prabhupada has presented in his books. That is the system. We
don't have independent ideas.
>from Him which brings up the age old question of, "How can a pure devotee
>feel separated from the Lord when he is always associating with the Lord?"
It is a question asked by fools. They can't understand the feelings of a pure
devotee and his relationship with Krishna so they come up with so many nonsense
"logical" contradictions. But many such apparent contradictions exist in relation
to Krishna. But they are not contradictions at all... It requires realization. It
cannot be understood by intellectual argument or scholarship. It is based on love.
This is the highest spiritual mellow [vipralamba-seva] service in separation. It
is not easy to understand.
> The final part of your letter, as you have suggested, does seem to be
>based on a misunderstanding. It had to do with your statement about me
>reading Srila Prabhupada's books and then (me) aksing you where your source
>of information for this was. Not who was your source of spiritual
>information. i really don't find it a need to get into this too much.
It is the most important thing. My source of information is His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He has told me everything I know about Krishna and
he continues to tell me more and more every day as I read his books more and more
and as I try to serve him by following his instructions...
> When i talk of Srila Prabhupada's disciples, those in the line of Srila
>Prabhupada, and his Grand disciples, i meant those who are real devotees,
>which would exclude such personalities as Bhaktipada from the category of a
>disciple.
He was an official initiating guru in ISKCON until around 1992. His books were in
every ISKCON temple. His articles were published in the BTG. He was considered one
of the "Pure Devotee" acaryas supposedly selected by Srila Prabhupada to lead the
movement after his departure... If you said what you are saying now in ISKCON ten
years ago you would find yourself thrown out on the street and they would be
calling you a demon... So times change. THERE IS NO GURANTEE THAT EVERY ISKCON
DEVOTEE WHO WRITES BOOKS IS QUALIFIED to do it... It is not a simple thing.
>As far as i am concerned, once a devotee stops taking instruction
>from their spiritual master, they have put themselves in a position that is
>not of the Guru-disciple relationship.
We can't really say, "As far as I am concerned." It matters very little what we
think. We have to see what the bonafide acaryas have to say about it and present
their view. Of course in this case you are correct and you are speaking according
to the philosophy coming down through the disciplic succession...
> They are thinking themselves superior
>to their Gurus instructions, so how can they be a disciple. And when i
>mentioned the devotees in the line of Srila Prabhupada, i was definitely
>referring to bona fide Vaisnavas and not Mayavadis.
Yes. But how will you tell? The original book may be bonafide but the person who
translates it into English may not be... Still it will be poison, and you will
still be disobeying Srila Prabhupada's many clear instructions against this. It is
not good.
>"Regarding the Gaudiya Math books being circulated there, who is distributing?
Who is sending these books? The Gaudiya Math does not sell our books, why should
we sell their books? Let me know. These books should not at all be circulated in
our society. B___ V___ T___ is very much antagonistic to our society and he has no
clear conception of devotional service. He is contaminated.
>
>"Anyway, who has introduced these books? You say that you would read only one
book if that was all I had written, so you teach others to do like that." (to
Sukadeva Nov 14, 1973)
>
>So these are the books of the other devotees in our sampradaya and you are saying
we should read them, but my spiritual master says NO.. So I have to accept my
spiritual master. We may not always be able to understand the instruction of our
spiritual master. It may seem unreasonable or illogical to us but disciple means
to accept the orders of the spiritual master. We have to have faith in him and his
instructions...
>
> Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
>Gosvami's explanations to Sri Brahma-samhita is available from BBT. Because
>of this, i would assume Prabhupada did not mind us reading it.
Yes. Prabhupada authorized the Brahma-samhita. It is written IN ENGLISH by Srila
Bhaktsiddhanta Maharaja. It is not a translation.
> For now, i have answered your letter. Please forgive me for any offenses
>i have committed against you in doing so. By the way, i'm not a hard-core
>kid, but because of my age, other devotees think i am. Thank you.
Thank you for writing and I hope we can come to some agreement on this matter. Of
course my ideas are fixed. I have to obey Srila Prabhupada. He is very clear in
stating that everything we need is in his books. I see no need to look elsewhere.
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