LETTERS/EXCERPTS

Letter to Subhavilasa - Mayapur 16 March, 1977

Toronto

My dear Subhavilasa,

Please accept my blessings and offer the same to your good wife Ashalata, and to your very nice children, Minakshi and Indresh. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated March 3rd, 1977, with enclosed photos.

The farm you describe sounds nice and if you can supply grains, butter, etc. to Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa as you suggest, it is very good. From the photos it seems that it gets very cold there. Whether the weather will hinder the farming as happened at the Vancouver farm? There they were forced to sell the farm. The farm may be called "Subha Farm. I have already given general guidelines for our other farms.

Whatever is available easily we can use. There is no objection to using electricity. But we should not be dependent upon it. Produce oil from castor seeds and stock the oil sufficiently. It can be used in so many ways-for burning, grease, cooking, and as a purgative to cure all diseases. And oxen can be used for driving carts and go preaching village to village. What is the question of killing them? Here in India our Lokanatha Maharaja has successfully organized such a program and it is a great success. He has traveled all over India and everywhere they distribute books, prasadam and perform kirtana. Each night they stop at a different village. We can introduce many millions of such carts all over the world.

As far as possible try to adjust to a natural way of life free from dependence on machines. But our principle should be that we are against nothing and for nothing. Only for Krishna. We want whatever is favorable for Krishna. From the farms we should get sufficient foodstuffs and these can be sent to be used at our restaurants. Along with the restaurants there can be "Bhaktivedanta Reading Room where all my books can be kept and people can come and sit comfortably and read. The people will like these restaurants and reading rooms. They will take them as non-sectarian.

Why should anyone work at a place where meat is served? Are there no other jobs? There is never any good reason for this. There is no unusual circumstance for eating where meat is served. Such places should be avoided altogether.

So far my coming to North America this year, that I cannot say yet.

I hope this meets you and all your family well.

Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS/tkg

Letter to Minakshi & Indresh - Mayapur 16 March 1977

Toronto

My dear Minakshi,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you for your nice letter dated March 3, 1977. From your letter I can understand that you and your brother Indresh are both great devotees. You are very fortunate to have devotee parents and from your very childhood take to Krishna consciousness. I also had the good fortune to have a devotee father and mother and when I was young they gave me Radha Krishna to worship and I was also performing Rathayatra festival with my young friends. I am always thinking of you and your brother, what nice devotees you are. Please continue with your service to Srimate Tulsi devi and to Radha and Krishna and your life will be sublime. I hope this finds you well.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS/tkg

Letter to Subhash Cander Batra – Mayapur 6 March 1976

Medina Crescent, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
My dear Mr. Batra,

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter with enclosed check and I thank you very much. I am very happy to learn that the new Toronto centre has been acquired and I thank you for assisting our mission in this way. It is also very nice that the building is now transferred into the name of our ISKCON. All over the world we are acquiring so many nice centres and this is Krishna's mercy simply to help us push on our preaching work. Thank you very much.

Hoping this meets you in good health,

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS/pks

Letter to Subhavilasa - Bombay 10 January 1976

My Dear Subhavilasa,

Please accept my blessings. I received your letter and I gave it to my secretary with instructions to reply it.

Anyway, all blessings upon you for securing this church. Krishna will certainly be pleased upon you. Now you and your good wife are both initiated, chant faithfully 16 rounds daily, and follow the four regulative principles. This will insure your spiritual perfection.

I hope this meets you well.

Your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

ACBS/tkg

Excerpt from: Conversations with Srila Prabhupada

ŚubhaVilāsa Home Engagement
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Toronto, June 19, 1976

760619LE.TOR

Prabhupāda: Who will talk? You can speak.

Satsvarūpa: So last year, at this time, a year ago, Śrīla Prabhupāda came to ŚubhaVilāsa’s house as part of his visit to Toronto. At that time Toronto ISKCON had only a small temple which they’d had for years on Gerrard Street. All the devotees were very enthusiastic, but their place was not such a nice facility. So Śrīla Prabhupāda visited and came here, and many members of the Indian community and other members of the Toronto community came, and Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke here. At the end of his talk, one man asked Śrīla Prabhupāda that “We are very glad that you have come. Now you please come back again. When will you return again?” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “I will return when you get a big temple for this center.” He had seen different temples, including this big church. So Śrīla Prabhupāda’s invitation to them was that they should make collection to purchase this temple. So ŚubhaVilāsa and Viśvakarma and all the devotees actually worked so hard, and by Kṛṣṇa’s grace they were able to purchase this temple.

So we can see that it is the desire of the pure devotee. Whatever Kṛṣṇa wants, He does not have to work at all. His desires are immediately fulfilled simply by His desiring. Everything is fulfilled. By Kṛṣṇa’s finger signal the whole material creation is created, brought about, and it’s maintained by His separate energies. And everything is annihilated by Kṛṣṇa’s will and created again. And Kṛṣṇa, He is fulfilling all His infinite desires in the spiritual world also. So as Kṛṣṇa’s desires are immediately fulfilled, the pure devotee’s desires are also fulfilled. That’s because he is one with the Lord. His interests are the same are Kṛṣṇa’s. This is the oneness, that the pure devotee has no desire but to see that Kṛṣṇa is satisfied. And so by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desiring this to come about, praying to Kṛṣṇa, therefore the devotees also praying and endeavoring have brought about that now Toronto is situated in such a nice temple, and just since opening that temple now so many new devotees have come and joined. So it’s now very firmly situated in this big North American city to go on spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So we should be always so grateful to Śrīla Prabhupāda, not only for coming and visiting us in our temples, whereby we can actually see in this instance how by his visit this came about, that a year later now such a big, big temple is there… That anyone can plainly see. It is phenomenal. It can be seen. But also we should be grateful that by his instructions… Because the physical presence is not always appreciable. Sometimes he is here and some, then he is not here. But always Śrīla Prabhupāda is with us by our following his instructions. We simply have to be obedient to these instructions. As Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying last night in the initiation lecture, that human life is meant to follow these instructions of tapo-divyam, going to the difficulty of giving up sinful habits, meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and engaging in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So we do these things very sincerely, then we shall always have Śrīla Prabhupāda guiding us. Kṛṣṇa is in the heart, and when Kṛṣṇa in the heart sees that we are trying to follow the instructions of the pure devotee, who’s also a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa… Kṛṣṇa within is the Supersoul. Kṛṣṇa manifested before is us the spiritual master. So the Lord within the heart will see that we are trying to follow the instructions of the spiritual master and will enlighten us how to always stay strong in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how to always feel the direct association and direction of the spiritual master by obedience to his instructions. So all these things we’ll realize more and more if we simply faithfully stick to Prabhupāda’s instruction, and his main instruction is that we simply all be happy and engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Toronto temple purchase agreement in Subhavilasa's legal name, in trust

Excerpts from: Conversations with Srila Prabhupada

ŚubhaVilāsa Home Engagement
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Toronto, June 19, 1976

760619LE.TOR

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) This is not good. Everyone wants to become Kṛṣṇa.

Indian man (1): Or they’re seeking for Kṛṣṇa in material world.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) As Kṛṣṇa lifted the Govardhana Hill at seven years old, so can he do that? Then how he’ll become Kṛṣṇa? Simply by imagination. (Hindi) Hindu society.

Indian man (1): There are too many sections of religion, Hindu religion.

Prabhupāda: There cannot be any section. There are two section: demons and the demigods. That is the statement in the śāstra. Dvau bhūta-sargau loke ’smin daiva āsura eva ca. There are two kinds of men: daiva and āsura. Viṣṇu-bhaktaḥ bhaved daiva āsuras tad- viparyayaḥ. So if they want to remain demons, that is their choice, but that will not help them.
Indian man (1): Most fortunate men try to follow Kṛṣṇa. The unfortunate...

Prabhupāda: So anyway, now it is Śubha Vilāsa Prabhu's duty to bring these imitation Kṛṣṇas.

Devotees:Jaya.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.27
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Vṛndāvana, September 24, 1976

Now, at the present moment, especially the famous movement, Communist movement, they are after completely driving out religious system. This is the misfortune of this age. So they are not in fault in one sense, because the guardians of the religious system, they are fallen. Just like immediately our Śubhavilāsa Prabhu was asking me that “We have seen so many temples. Why they are so neglected?” Is it not your question? And why they should not neglect it? The, mostly, the temples, they have become the means of livelihood. That is the defect. Temple is not meant for means of livelihood. Then it will deteriorate. How long you can falsely worship Deity and make show of ārati? You cannot go on very long time. That is not possible. You’ll be disgusted. Unless there is feeling, bhāva, that “Here is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has very kindly come here to receive, to take, accept my humble service. He’s so great that He cannot be approached by a person like me.” Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān.