Divya Shakti Devi rear row second from the left.

Date: 6/15/23

All glories to Sri Sri Guru Gauranga!

Divya Shakti Devi was one of the original supporters of our attempt to establish a branch of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in New York City following the direction of Srila Sridhara Maharaja.

Dated: 4/2/1987

My Dear Sripad Tripurari Maharaj and Jagat Guru Maharaj,

Please accept my humble dandavat pranams, and to all the devotees there headed by your good selves. These days Srila Guru Majaraj’s health is much better and for that we are happy.

Sripad B.K. Giri Maharaj has received the full blessings of Srila Guru Maharaj for opening a center in New York on his behalf called Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, New York Branch. For this auspicious endeavour a couple of good brahmacari assistants would be most helpful and we would be happy if Rohini Kumar das brahmacari and Devanatha das brahmacari could go to New York and assist there the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

We hope you are well and looking forward to seeing you again. Once again accept my humble respects and offer the same to B.G. Sadhu Maharaj and Bhavananda Roya Swami.

Yours Affectionately,

Swami B.S. Govinda
( Govinda Maharaj)

She joined with us as a bhramacharini, immediately lent her support to our acquisition of a rental house in Floral Park, NY (pictured in the accompanying photos) and earnestly began supporting all our preaching efforts there.… Read More...

Date: 5/15/23

Dear Bhakti Ranjana dasa,

Please accept my blessings and well wishes in remembrance of my Divine Masters.

Since your phone call yesterday I reread your email (below) and have carefully considered all the points you made in both your email and phone call.

I appreciate your desire to render some service to the Deities and Devotees of our Math. As you have fond remembrances of myself and Srimati Lila Sundari Devi we also have fond memories of you and your generous help to our mission during the time you stayed with us.

During that time I accepted you as my disciple [Bimalananda dasa] and regarded you as a father regards his son. In that spirit I did all I could to give direction to your spiritual life in the line of my Sri Guru Parampara. The purpose of this direction was to save you from the repeated cycle of samsara. Unfortunately, you rejected that direction and you rejected me as your guru. The justification for the action you took is stated in our scriptures as follows.

Srimad-Bhagavatam (5.5.18):

gurur na sa syat sva jano na sa syat
pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat
daivam na tat syan na patis ca sa syan
na mocayed yah samupeta mrtyum

“Even a spiritual master, relative, parent, husband, or demigod who cannot save us from repeated birth and death should be abandoned at once.”… Read More...

Date: May 8, 2023
Subject: Re: Bhavananda’s testimony presented as equal to that of Srila Prabhupada.

My dandavats to you Maharaja.

You wrote:

Please forgive me for being unwilling to argue about the matter.

That’s one way of dodging these questions I presented to you in my previous email challenging your use of citations from Bhavananda in your book (Prabhupada’s Kirtana Standards).

How do you suppose Bhavananda, promoted as a guru within ISKCON and widely accepted as such, persuaded others to have homosex with him?

I’ll tell you what I suppose. You tell me why I’m wrong. I suppose he presented himself as acharyam mam vijaniyan and/or saksad hari, in other words non-different from Krishna. Therefore, pleasing him by satisfying his perverse sexual appetite would please Krishna, Prabhupada, etc. That’s what I suppose. Am I wrong? If so, please cite the “historical testimony” of sources you consider reliable that refute my supposition.

Please forgive me for being unwilling to argue about the matter.

I’m a sucker for such pleas. Especially when I was just about to throw this blow at you with my next email.

You wrote (May 5, 2023):

I’ve carefully considered your concerns. I’m not going to go back and forth about it.… Read More...

Date: May 4, 2023 (Sri Nrsingha Caturdasi)

Dear Sripada Jayadvaita Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances in remembrance of my Divine Masters.

On Apr 1, 2023, at 4:28 AM, Jayadvaita Swami wrote:

Regarding my citing Bhavananda: Regardless of his history, he heard first-hand instructions from Srila Prabhupada, and I regard his testimony as reliable, despite his later falldowns. My citing him has nothing to do with his status in ISKCON and so on. In the book I cite a number of other devotees who’ve had various problems or who no longer follow their vows. For the same reason: I don’t think their problems knock out the value of their historical testimony.

Suppose I am a reader of your book who knows nothing about Bhavananda and I ask you ”Who is Bhavananda?” What will your answer be?

Today we are celebrating Sri Nrsingha Caturdasi and the life of Sri Prahlada, one of the twelve mahajanas, whose historical testimony I accept as reliable. Perhaps by his grace I feel no need to read or hear the historical testimony of Bhavananda and believe it is a black spot on your book; one you would do well to eliminate.

In a recent letter to a friend I wrote this.… Read More...

Date: 2/16/23

On January 27, 2023 I posted “Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam!” which contained the following text from my email to Srimati Govinda Nandini Devi dasi.

“When I first viewed the video you sent me of your street sankirtana (attached to your email of 12/9/22) I didn’t positively recognize you. I just viewed it again and see that you are playing a harmonium, chanting and looking very energetic, happy and still youthful.”

Yesterday (2/15/23) I received an email from Srimati Govinda Nandini Devi in which she corrected my misunderstanding as follows.

“Today I was at Harinama after a long break. I recorded a video for you so that you wouldn’t confuse me with other young energetic mataji. (Smile) Earlier I sent you a video of Camila playing the harmonium. I am also in this video, but in the background. I will attach photos and videos to you. I play the tambourine in Harinama.”

Included with her email was the photo below.

Unless I am again mistaken, she is pictured playing the tambourine.

Therefore, I issue the following correction.

This sentence-

“I just viewed it again and see that you are playing a harmonium, chanting and looking very energetic, happy and still youthful.”… Read More...

Hari Nama on a street in Moscow.

January 27, 2023

Dear Srimati Govinda Nandini Devi,

Please accept my blessings and well wishes in remembrance of my Divine Masters.

I hope I will hear from you soon that your health has recovered.

When I first viewed the video you sent me of your street sankirtana (attached to your email of 12/9/22) I didn’t positively recognize you. I just viewed it again and see that you are playing a harmonium, chanting and looking very energetic, happy and still youthful.

Once I was with Srila Sridhara Maharaja who was speaking with us on his veranda as his kirtana party was returning from morning sankirtana around Navadwipa. As the group came nearer to us and the chanting grew louder his attention was being drawn more and more away from us and towards the sankirtana party. By the time it entered the gate of the Math Srila Sridhara Maharaja was becoming more and more joyful and animated. Finally he broke his talk on the present topic and told us (paraphrasing) ”I cannot dance any more, but in my heart I am dancing.” He was so much pleased to hear the kirtana party.

My feeling was similar while watching and listening to the video of your kirtana group and seeing everyone in a very happy mood.… Read More...

Date: 1/21/23

Good morning Darren,

I would like to further the thread of our conversation. I hope you will indulge me.

According to ancient Vedic scriptures — such as Bhagavad-gita and Sriman Bhagavatam — the current age we live in is known as Kali-yuga. It is a very inauspicious age characterized as follows:

ŚB 1.1.10

प्रायेणाल्पायुष: सभ्य कलावस्मिन् युगे जना: ।
मन्दा: सुमन्दमतयो मन्दभाग्या ह्युपद्रुता: ॥ १० ॥
prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya
kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ
mandāḥ sumanda-matayo
manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ

Synonyms

prāyeṇa — almost always; alpa — meager; āyuṣaḥ — duration of life; sabhya — member of a learned society; kalau — in this Age of Kali (quarrel); asmin — herein; yuge — age; janāḥ — the public; mandāḥ — lazy; sumanda-matayaḥ — misguided; manda-bhāgyāḥ — unlucky; hi — and above all; upadrutāḥ — disturbed.

Translation

O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy,misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.

Due to these characteristics of the Age of Kali, meditation — in the manner of a yogi sitting still in the forest in a fixed position for hours at a time — is not recommended as a means to God realization.… Read More...