Gaya-Sraddha, the ritual of offering oblations to the forefathers at Gaya,
& Hari-Seva, service to Lord Sri Hari

“Please earnestly pray to the Holy Name, as a result of which, the Holy Name will bestow His mercy”

All glories to Sri Sri Krishna Chaitanya Chandra!

Sri Bhagavat Press,
Gowari, Krishnanagar,
2nd Poush 1323, 17th December 1916

With affection and good wishes –

               I have received both of your letters dated 13th Kartik and 13th Agrahayan in due time. There is no need to write letters to ***. Please, by all means, refrain from associating with the Mayavadis, impersonalists, the mundane Shakta sampradayas, followers of Shakti, and the karmis, materialistic persons, or non-devotees. When a devotee is born, the forefathers of that family are especially benefited and they become liberated. There is no need to separately pray for the forefathers. There is absolutely no necessity to have a darshan of the Lotus Feet of Sri Vishnu with the mood of performing fruitive activities and the motive of attaining material enjoyment.

Verses from Srimad Bhagavatam like “vaitanike mahati karmani yujyamanah.. ” have rejected such external shows of ritualistic ceremonies. Please do not get engaged in such activities. The meaning (of the above verse from Srimad Bhagavatam 6.3.25) is: “Those who are bewildered by the illusory energy of the Lord cannot understand the transcendental value of performing devotional services because their minds are attached to the fruitive activities of the Vedas. Their intelligence has become dull and hence they are busy collecting ingredients of ritualistic ceremonies which only yield temporary material benefits.”

There has been a delay of a few days in publishing the magazine. Please earnestly pray to the Holy Name, as a result of which, the Holy Name will bestow His mercy.

The devotees here are doing well. Please enhance our happiness by informing us about your spiritual well-being from time to time.

Your ever well-wisher,

Sri Siddhanta Saraswati