Letters from Srila Prabhupada Vol.1 1947-1969 (in pdf) - Krishna Path

67-12-25
My Dear Madhusudan,
Please accept my blessings . I am so
happy to read your letter dated Dec. 28,
1967. And I am very concerned that due
to your sincerity and service mood you
have improved in Krishna Consciousness
excellently. Whatever allocation of duty
there may be, if we try to execute such
specific duty sincerely, that alone can
make us much more advanced in Krishna
Consciousness. In the Bhagavad Gita, it is
stated that for the fixed up devotee there is
one duty. This duty is understood through
the transparent medium via media of the
Spiritual Master. It is better service to
Krishna and Spiritual Master in a feeling
of separation; sometimes there is risk in
the matter of direct service. For example,
Kirtanananda was giving me direct service
by massaging, cooking for me, and
so many other things; but later on by dictation
of Maya, he became puffed up, so
much so that he thought his Spiritual Master
a common man, and was existing only
on account of his service. This mentality
at once pushed him down. Of course,
those who are sincere devotee, they take
direct service as an opportunity, but the illusory
energy is so strong that it acts on
this doctrine of familiarity breeds contempt.
Kirtanananda was thinking I was
existing on his service, instead of realizing
I was giving him opportunity to do me
some service.
My advice to you is to continue your
good attitude that you are keeping now
and this alone will help you in advancing
your cause of Krishna Consciousness. I
am pleased that you are very diligently assisting
Rayrama. Rayrama is a sincere
worker and by assisting him you will be
benefited. You are doing your best and I
DECEMBER, 1967 271
San Francisco
December, 1967
shall advise you to continue this attitude.
Regarding smearing on the Body of
Lord Jagganath: You should always know
that the Body of Lord Jagganath is spiritual
. We are given the chance of serving
the Spiritual Body and according to Revealed
Scriptures, we should serve the
Transcendental Body of the Diety just as
we try to serve our worshippable personalities.
To continue a sense of devotion, it
is better to wash the Body of Lord Jagganath
with hot water so that we may have
the feeling that Lord Jaggganath is more
comfortable. We should offer foodstuffs
to the Diety and allow enough time to eat
them. These are all transcendental sentiments.
At Vrindaban, the Dieties are offered
foodstuffs and time is allowed as in
the case of others. Yes, before offering
anything to the Diety you must be satisfied
that it is a first class offering and there is
no objection if you taste it by smelling.
But you should not smell for other purposes.
The whole idea is that devotional
service should always be immune from
sense gratification.
I am very glad that you are prepared to
go to Vrindaban. Many students, boys
and girls, are also prepared here to go to
Vrindaban. I am just in negotiation for a
good place for you and as soon as it is
fixed up, we shall go to Vrindaban, at
least one dozen students. Achutananda
and Ramanuja had very good reception
and they are planning to preach Krishna
Consciousness and to open a branch
there, and I have encouraged them in that
idea. My dream is that at least one dozen
students shall remain in V rindaban and
trained up nicely, and sent for preaching
work all over the world.
Hope you are well.
Your ever well-wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami