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

AUGUST
68-8-1 Montreal
3rd August, 1968
His Holiness The Pope, Paul VI
Vicar of Jesus Christ
State of Vatican City
Rome, Italy
Your Holiness:
Please accept my respectful humble
obeisances at Your lotus feet. I beg to introduce
myself as an Indian monk, following
the Vedic principles of religious
life, and at the present, I am in the renounced
order of Sannyas (aged 72 years)
and preaching God consciousness all over
the world. I came to America in 1965, and
since then I have many followers belonging
to both Christian and Jewish faiths.
And I have established 8 centers of
Krishna consciousness temples in the
USA and Canada. In the month of September,
1968, I am scheduled to go to
London on this mission, and maybe I can
visit other cities of European countries.
My mission is in the line of Lord
Chaitanya, Who is Personified Love of
Godhead, and Who advented Himself 482
years ago in India, and preached God consciousness
all over the country. His mission
is to revive God consciousness all
over the world, on the basis of Srimad
Bhagavatam (Science of God). The principle
of Srimad Bhagavatam is that any religious
faith which helps a man to develop
Love of God, without any motive, and
without being hampered by any material
condition, is transcendental religion. And
the best process or the easiest process, in
this age especially, is to chant the Holy
name of God . From this definition of reli-
gion as we find in the Srimad Bhagavatam,
the criterion test of religion is how it
helps people to develop his dormant Love
of God, which is not artificially invoked,
but it is aroused from within by bona fide
association of devotees and hearing about
God.
The human form of life is specially
meant for this purpose, namely, to invoke
the dormant Love of God, because better
development of consciousness is found in
the human body. Animal propensities for
sense gratification equally found both in
man and animals. But the special significance
of human life is to achieve Love of
God as the prime perfection of life. Unfortunately,
at the present moment people
are more concerned about the principle of
sense gratification, or the animal part of
human life, and they are gradually declin·
ing in God consciousness. This tendency
is very much deteriorating, and because
Your Holiness is the Head of a great religious
sect, I think we should meet to
gether and chalk out a program for
cooperation.
The human society cannot anymore be
allowed to continue a Godless civilization
at the risk of decreasing truthfulness,
hygienic principles, forgiveness, and
mercifulness. Because on account of predominance
of these principles at the
present moment, duration of life,
strength, and memory of the human being
is decreasing. The human society is gradually
degrading in the matter of religiosity,
and justice; and "might is right" is
gradually taking the place of morality and
justice. There is practically no more
family life, and the union of man and