Brahmatirtha das | The Hare Krishna Movement

Some years ago I read the small paper back book entitled “Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers.”. But just this morning, I happened to be reading some letters Srila Prabhupada had written, and there was one letter I opened that that simply said “Letter to Bob”. Turns out Bob was Bob Cohen who latter became an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada; Bramatirtha das.

Letter to: Bob
Los Angeles
16 June, 1972

Springfield, New Jersey

My Dear Bob,

Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letter dated June 12, 1972, and I have noted the sentiments expressed therein with great pleasure. I am very much glad to hear that you are associating with us, and I know that you are a very good boy, very intelligent and your behavior is gentle, so I have all confidence that very quickly Krishna will bestow all His blessings upon you and you will feel yourself becoming perfectly happy in Krishna Consciousness. One makes his advancement in Krishna Consciousness by giving up voluntarily his attachment to material nature or maya and such renunciation is called tapasya. But we are not very willing to perform austerities without good reason, therefore any man with scientific and philosophical good brain such as your good self, must appreciate first what is the transcendental knowledge. If you get knowledge, automatically tapasya will follow, and then you make your advancement in spiritual life. So to get knowledge is the first item for anyone who is hoping to find his perfection of life. Therefore, I advise you to daily read our books as far as possible and try to understand the subject matter from different angles of vision by discussing frequently with the devotees at New York Temple. In this way you will become gradually convinced, and by your sincere attitude and devotional service you will make progress.

Concluding Words

Continuing with our series of a True account entitled Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers… A search for meaning carries Bob Cohen, a young American Peace Corps worker halfway around the world, to an ancient village in the midst of West Bengal. There, in a small bamboo hut, he finds a teacher who is able to tell him everything he ever wanted to know.

This is the finial installment, the last chapter in the book, and the concluding words are written by Bob, who later became initiated by Srila Prabhupada and was given the name Brahmatīrtha dāsa.

Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Concluding words

On July 19, 1976, His Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda accepted my wife and me as his disciples and initiated us with the names Bhakti-devī dāsī and Brahmatīrtha dāsa. As I reflect back on that day, I can see how fortunate I was to have met His Divine Grace and my Godbrothers in the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement.

When I was handed my beads at initiation, I promised to follow the regulative principles and to chant God’s names daily. Four years previously, Śrīla Prabhupāda had advised me to follow these principles, and within six months, he said, I could be like the other devotees; all unnecessary things (anarthas), such as mundane movies and restaurants, would cease to attract me. “The whole human life is meant for purification,” he said. I was interested in being purified, even though I did not really know what purification meant. I had gone to India with the Peace Corps hoping to find a higher level of consciousness. I could not believe that satisfying the senses was the all in all, yet I myself was bound by the senses. Later I could understand that yoga means becoming free from the dictation of the senses.