2015 Letters

Start changing course and I cannot guarantee the outcome (01/18/15) Dear _______, I agree fully with what you are saying. At ______ all the devotees should continue doing everything as they were when i was personally there. No need to change any of our standards. I am not in favor of the old Iskcon look. We do not want to be identified with those Read more...

A disciple is not supposed to be a mental burden for the guru (01/28/15) A disciple is not supposed to be a mental burden for the guru. If a disciple cannot render any meaningful service to the mission of the guru, at least he should not throw his material troubles on him.

"Dear Abby" (02/02/15) I have given our devotees plenty to learn and standards to come up to. So devotees should focus on that...how to please guru and Krishna. Not that guru is a place to dump my daily problems, like "Dear Abby". I think you get my point. SN

Our standards (02/03/15) What is needed is discrimination. How to deal differently with different devotees, but at the same time keeping our own standards. For example; Any connection with  _____ cannot preach in our mission at all. _______ Mahārāja being a Prabhupāda and Śrīdhara Mahārāja follower...no problem for him to lecture, lead kīrtana and ‘jaya oṁ’ prayers. Because we have great regard for those Read more...

The leaders have to lead in the right direction (02/04/15) Now the leaders have to lead in the right direction. Mostly that is what everyone is doing. It is actually only ______ who keeps trying to turn the ship. He doesn't mean any harm, he just doesn’t follow me. He keeps doing his thing and that is always a deviation and a problem. SN Read more...

Limiting our interactions (02/05/15) _____ is a bundle of contaminations. Probably the best thing would be that until i return to _____ we should limit our interactions with devotees from other missions. Limit meaning only when really, really necessary.

There is a much better life ahead (03/02/15) Dear ______ The temple/āśrama building is looking very good. I can see everything is professional quality with more important added bhakti. Gaura Haribol! Looking forward to being there personally in future. I hope ______ is strong and holds his ground for a better life. His wife is nice, but too much envy and hassle from that Read more...

Brahmānanda Prabhu (07/09/15) Dear ______, My humble daṇḍavats. Glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. I have been meaning to write for some time. Of course you must have heard that Brahmānanda Prabhu left his body a few weeks ago in Vṛndāvana. I had visited Brahmānanda a few years ago. We had lunch together at his apartment and some sweet talks. I was hoping to have his Read more...

Nothing in this material world matters more than our spiritual practices (07/12/15) Dear ______, Thank you so much for the nice email full of affection for this fallen soul. By the grace of Bhagavān i have wonderful well-wishers such as yourself. Sorry to hear that the wife isn't progressing spiritually. One day she may wake up to discover that NOTHING in this material world Read more...

This remote part of the world far from Śrīdhāma Māyāpura (07/29/15) Dear _____ Swami, Dandavat pranams. I read the recent article. Very nice, very positive. This is how Lord Caitanya's sankīrtana movement spreads to every town and village, even to Ocala, Florida. As Prabhupāda once said at Gainesville University, "It is very nice that in this remote part of the world far, far from Read more...