Allahabad.
14th September, 1951
Mr. Daniel Bailey
Information officer
American Reporter,
54, Queensway, New Delhi.
Dear Mr. Bailey,
I am in due receipt of your kind letter No. AR2295 of the 7th instant and I thank you very much for the same.
You have written to say that 'The United States and American Reporter are keenly interested in bringing to-gether the East and the West closer on a philosophical and religious basis as well as economical and political. Certainly this attempt is not only a laudable thing but also a stepping stone towards the ultimate self realisation.
When we speak of Philosophy it is something higher than the attempt of combining the East and the West. The whole cosmic situation is a complete unit and unless an attempt genuine is made for harmonising the whole disturbed system and partial attempt on our part however large in magnitude will fail to approach the ultimate goal.
Sages of India realised this by a perfect deductive process which descends on human consciousness by the trancendental unbroken chain of disciplic succession -- that material civilisation is a gigantic temporary demonstration of a rabid process of sense-gratification. In that mode of civilisation the sense organs are given unrestricted liberty to gratify ever-increasing desires and the whole show of cultural advancement in science, art,
education, trade, industry, economics and politics is only varied activities of the sense organs.
While I appreciate contribution by Swami Nikhilananda of Ramakrishna Mission in New York towards "India American relation -- A way to world peace." It will not be out of place to mention that comparative study & Philosophical ideas expressed by different religious heads will not only bring large contributions to the said ___ ___ but will also give the public at large a conviction of the Bhagavad Gita.
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Smoke immanates from the fire under certain condition but it is a disturbing condition of the fire. We need the fire and not the smoke. The present smoky materialistic or sensuous civilisation has to be kindled into the fire of reality or Spiritualism. It is neither difficult nor impossible and is much more simpler than any other method. It is just a simple process of fanning the fire in order to get rid of the disturbing smoke. Such fanning process is eternally the same and the one and the empiric speculators have nothing to invent now in it.
The great Philosophy of Bhagwat Gita is the authoritative book to guide us in this respect. We have nothing to drag in it by forcing emperic interpretations. Let it be understood as it is because it is just like the Sun. The Sun does not require to be helped by other light. So there is no need of interpreting Bhagwat Gita by an indirect meaning. Let us understand that Kurukshetra is Kurukshetra and it is still a sacred place of Hindu pilgrimage. The Pandavas are the sons of Pandu as it is stated in the history of Mahabarata. The Pandavas and the Kurus met at the battlefield of Kurukshetra and the philosophy of the Bhagwat Gita was told by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna.
I wish that the American people may try to understand Bhagwat Gita in terms of its direct meaning. Let it not be unnecessarily misunderstood by the empiric speculative method for making a show of the vanity of so called learning without any living experience. Such academic erudition has nothing to do with living reality.
I wish to present an analytical study of Bhagwat Gita as it is. If your people can grasp the direct meaning of Bhagawat Gita it will be possible for us all to understand the basic principle of cosmic harmony. When that is done we shall know then that all adjustment of our existence is not only peaceful but an eternal bliss distinguished from the ephemeral sensual satisfaction. We shall then only know that here is a world where there is no struggle for existence and every living entity, nevermind what it is, is fit to exist.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Yours truly,
Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta
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