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

334 Letters from Srrla Prabhupada
platform. The important thing is that we
are engaging our time and energy in the
service of the Lord. After all , we are so
tiny, what can we do? Krishna sees simply
that this time is being spent in His service.
Please continue to help Gargamuni in his
efforts to spread Krishna Consciousness,
and chant, and continue your duties, and
in this way you will be happy and successful
in Krishna Consciousness. I am happy
to hear you are so much anxious in helping
to start a new temple. Your enthusiasm
is very encouraging to me; there is great
need for the spreading of Krishna Consciousness,
and we need so many enthusiastic
boys and girls for carrying on this
great mission of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
My Guru Maharaj wanted that this
Krishna Consciousness be spread all over
the Western countries especially, and now
in my old age, I am leaving this great responsibility
in the hands of all you my students.
Regarding your questions: Once prasadam
(water, or foodstuffs) is offered to
the Lord, His Plate should remain on the
altar for about 15-20 minutes (while the
portion in the pots may be taken by the
devotees). Water need only remain there
for a few minutes. Once the prasadam is
removed from the altar, and touched by
us, it should not again be placed on the altar.
Whatever we offer should be as fresh
and pure as is possible.
So long we are engaged in the service
of the Lord, He has assured us all protection.
But if we are attacked, of course we
must defend ourselves as best we can. Nobody
can compare with the Merciful Nityananda.
He can defend Himself quite
well; He could have killed the sinners in
an instant, but He had decided that He
wanted to save these sinners. He was setting
an example that we have to preach
Krishna Consciousness even at the risk of
personal violence. Just like the .children
sometimes become violent, but the father
knows he can defend himself at any time,
and so he tries to teach them correctly by
reprimanding them.
Ye s, it is respectful to circumambulate
the temple, keeping your right side to the
Deities if possible. You may dance around
the temple in this way if you like.
I have no complaints with my health
and I am feeling well. Hope you are well .
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
68-2-45
Los Angeles
25th February, 1968
My dear Satsvarupa,
Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt
of a copy of your last Istagosti dated
Jan. 27, and I am very much satisfied with
your replies on the questions made in the
Istagosti. The meeting is called "lstagosti"
and not "Istagoshi ". You may
know also that Ramakrsna 's worship of
Kali makes him a third class man. In the
Bhagavad Gita it is stated that one who
worships the demigods just like Brahma,
Siva, Indra, Chandra or demigodesses
like Kali, Durga, Saraswati, etc., are described
as persons who have lost their intelligence.
One person who has lost his
intelligence, how he can become an incarnation
of God? A person who has lost his
intelligence, is not even counted amongst
the higher section of society. So, the Ramakrsna
is a bogus man according to the
statement of Bhagavad Gita. Vivekananda
was also not even intelligent man because
he accepted Ramakrsna as incarnation of
Gold. This Ramakrsna, who is actually
Gadhadhar Chatterjee, declared himself
as the same Rama and Krsna. If he is accepted
as such by some person, is he very
intelligent man? Suppose a man comes
before somebody and says he is Pres.
Johnson. and the foolish man accepts the
pretender as Pres. Johnson, is that man to