a.c. bhaktivedanta swami
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| Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64 a.c. bhaktivedanta swami |
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3.6.09 1957: February 20 Bombay The Hon'ble Mr. Chief-Justice Sri M.C. Chagla Chief Justice House, Harkisan Road, Bombay-6. My Lord, I beg to inform your Lordship that on the 16th instant I was present in the meeting of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in which your Lordship spoke something at length on the matter of equal distribution of wealth as the ultimate solution of economic problem. The subject matter dealt with in the meeting was "What is the matter with the world?", and you all respectable gentlemen tried to solve it in different angles of vision. Sri Munshiji tried very faintly to solve it by going back to Godhead and I do not know whether your Lordship agrees with him. I may introduce hereby my humble self as the editor of a fortnightly Theistic periodical and copies of the same are sent to your Lordship for your kind perusal. I came to Bombay from Vrndavana to see Sri Munshi on the same mission of going back to Godhead, because without this there is no solution of any problem, the world is now facing. The Bhagavad-gita is the standard book in this matter. Sri Munshi is trying to utilize this philosophy for the good of the people in general. He is spending establishment charges to the extent of Rs.40,000.- per month for the last twenty years--but actually no tangible benefit is derived out of it up till now. I saw Sri Munshi with a view to cooperate with him for implementing the transcendental ideas of the Bhagavad-gita. But I did not receive any encouragement from him so far. I am, therefore, seeking an interview with your Lordship to discuss for a few minutes about this standard idea of solving the problems. In the Bhagavad-gita the solution of the problems are given in the following words, Bhoktaram yajna tapasam Sarva loka maheshvaram Suhrdam sarva bhutanam Jnatva mam santim rcchati (Bg. 5.29) Yat karosi yat asnasi Yaj juhosi dadasi yat Yat tapasyasi kaunteya Tat kurusva mad arpanam (Bg. 9.27) Equal distribution of wealth or knowledge, beauty, fame, energy and non-attachment etc., all these are perfectly done by the above arrangement. The matter is more explicitly understood by the example of our own bodily structure. The whole body is constituted of the senses and organs. All the senses and organs are equally supplied with energy when the stomach is fully fed up. Stomach is the central figure for distributing equal energy to the respective parts of the body as much as watering the root of the tree is the source of supplying energy to all the branches and leaves of the tree. The human society is now running on in an illusory way, forgetting its eternal relation with the Central Cause. They will have to be reinstated in that original position in terms of the above slokas of the Bhagavad-gita. Without this no solution is possible. There are practical ways and means to do this job in accordance with the present time, situation and objective. I have a programme for this job by the order of my spiritual master and I have come to Bombay to enlist some sympathisers with my object. Will your Lordship be kind enough to hear me for a few minutes and oblige? Yours obediently, A. C. Bhaktivedanta letters | 03:29 | 1.6.09 1957: February 18 Bombay Sri K.M. Munshi President of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay Governor's Camp, Lucknow-U.P. Dear Sri Munshiji, Please accept my greetings. I am thankful to you for your granting me an interview and accepting a few copies of my paper "Back to Godhead" which you have promised to go through at your leisure hours. And on reading the paper, I hope, you may be able to make an estimate of my mission in the matter of the Bhagavad-gita. I heard it through reliable sources that you are a great admirer of the Bhagavad-gita and your Vidyalaya has a special department for preaching its philosophy. I came to Bombay from Vrndavana to co-operate with you, because there is no difference between the missions of both yourself and myself. I also attended your meeting of the 16th instant on the subject of "What is the matter with the world?" I was very glad to know your opinion about it and so far I remember that you concluded to go back to Godhead which only can save the world from a disaster of civilization. Actually that is the position. Men have forgotten their eternal relation with Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Some of them are so foolish as to think that everyone of them are so many Sri Krishnas or Gods although we know that God is one, one without a second. But there is no doubt in the fact that the man, nay every living entity, is a part and parcel of the Supreme God in quality; and therefore qualitatively there is no difference between living being and God. But so far quantity of energy and potencies are concerned, there is a great ocean of difference between living being and God. Therefore, the right philosophy is that God is simultaneously one and different from the living being. Those, who therefore consider God and living beings are identical in every respect, are polluted in thought. This pollution of thought of the empiric and atheistic philosophers now prevailing practically all over the world, has caused a tremendous deterioration of human civilization as to become agnostics in dealings. Symptoms of this agnostic trend of human civilization is described in the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad-gita and I need not describe it before you. Therefore the preaching of the Bhagavad-gita must be in the line of its parampara system as it is described in the 4th chapter of the book. If it is not done so, then such preaching of the Bhagavad-gita, even if it is done by the erudite scholars, will be a sheer waste of time, energy and money. I wish, therefore, that you may co-operate with me in giving the idea an effective shape. In this connection, I would like to draw your attention particularly to my papers (issue No.XI) "An essential service" and (Issue No. X "Sri Krishna the Supreme Vedantist". In this connection, I have already made an association registered, of which a short description is given on the 4th page of the issue No. X which, I hope, you will kindly note. Some friend asked me to join your institution for preaching the cult of Bhagavad-gita; but if you find it difficult to accept my service, then I shall go on organizing my society separately. And if you advise me to do so separately, then I would request you to become a formal member of the League personally. I hope you will not take my offering in an inferior complex but accept it in a spirit of love for the Bhagavad-gita. Om Tat Sat. As I have been engaged in speaking of the Bhagavad-gita in your "Bhavan" for a few days, you may kindly send me the reply to the address given on the top of the first page. Om Tat Sat. I am, Yours sincerely, A. C. Bhaktivedanta letters | 03:05 | |
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