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770717 - Letter to Giriraja, Bali Mardan, Gopal Krishna, and Surabhir from Tamal Krsna


Vrndavana,

July 17, 1977

From: Tamal Krishna

Bombay

My dear Giriraj, Bali Mardan, Gopal Krishna, and Surabhir Maharaja,

Please accept my most humble obeisances at your feet. His Divine Grace has received your letter dated 7th July, 1977 and has instructed me to look into your request and reply you.

I am forwarding a copy of your letter as well as a copy of this Letter to: His Holiness Ramesvara Maharaja. I foresee a number of difficulties in your request. In your letter you state, “Ramesvara Swami is committed to sending a further sum of Rs.42,00,000 by the first week of November.” Juxtaposed to this is the following from the BBT Board Meeting minutes dated June 26th, 1977 sent from Los Angeles: “BBT is to start sending $70,000 per month to Bombay from late July to October.” This would mean a total of $280,000 or roughly Rs.25,00,000. As a further reference we may see the BBT Trustees Meeting resolution from Mayapur dated March 5th, 1977: “It was noted that a total of $630,000 will be available for construction purposes between now and the end of 1977. $300,000 is the minimum required for emergency US loans. This leaves $330,000 for India. of the $330,000, $240,000 is required to complete the pledge of one crore rupees to Bombay. The balance should be available for other projects in India, contingent on the Bombay project staying within its budget.” In either case whether we consider $240,000 or as mentioned in the more recent L.A. Board Meeting, $280,000 this is far less than the Rs.42,00,000 (nearly $500,000) which you are expecting. So to begin with, apart from the loan which you are requesting from His Divine Grace, it appears that you will be at least Rs.17,00,000 short from Ramesvara Maharaja.

From: His Divine Grace’s side, He is capable of giving you the money you have requested more or less on the dates you have requested, providing His Divine Grace agrees to do it. A point to interject here, is that if Ramesvara Swami is actually going to send a Rs.6,00,000 installment in November, there is every likelihood that he could arrange to send this to you at least by the second week of November, making the last suggested loan installment from His Divine Grace unnecessary. What seems to me to be a second big question is your scheme for repaying the loan. You are counting on half of the future remittances (December to March) from Los Angeles. However, referring to the above quotation from the Mayapur Meeting, it is apparent that some U.S. Temples are desperately requiring emergency loans. It may very well be, judging from the above statement of the L.A. Board Meeting statement that starting in November, English BBT is planning to give loans to U.S. Temples. They may be planning to use the profits in November and December for that purpose. Furthermore, it is a standard practice of the BBT to set aside sufficient funds in December to carry the BBT over during the sparse months of March and April when devotees all go to India and the BBT income is down drastically. It is also traditional that in the month of January and February, BBT collections are very often low, which might make it impossible for them to give any loans at all. Based upon these considerations I am very skeptical about your proposal for repaying the loan, what to speak of your proposal for getting funds allocated for the Bombay Gurukula Building.

Please consider all these points, and if you feel necessary, write (or if it is an emergency call) Ramesvara Maharaja. But before any serious consideration of your request can be made, these questions would have to be cleared up. Hoping this meets you all well.

Your servant,

Tamal Krishna Gosvami
Secretary to Srila Prabhupada
c.c. His Holiness Ramesvara Swami
c/o ISKCON LA
His Holiness Surabhir Swami
His Grace Giriraj das Brahmacari
His Grace Gopal Krishna das Adhikari
His Grace Bali Mardan das Adhikari
c/o ISKCON Bombay

[Handwritten at top of this letter:] Dear Ramesvara Maharaj, Please let me know what are your intentions for transfers to India between now and Mayapur Festival Time. Your servant, TKG SL_770718_A1

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