Articles about Black Devotees? — Letters

Back To Godhead September 1982 Service or Slavery—The Choice Is Yours Caribbean Journal — Notes From The Editor Akincana Krsnadasa Babaji Maharaja Passes Away Articles about Black Devotees? — Letters Krishna-Balaram Temple in Vrindavan Every Town and Village Srila Prabhupada Speaks Out on Modern Civilization The Yoga Dictionary John Berryman — “The Dream Songs” & Krsna’s Song Hare Krsna—A Spiritual Force at the Antinuclear Rally Freedom of Religion — A Spiritual Challenge for Hare Krishnas Back To Godhead September 1982 PDF Download The Best Health Food

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Could you answer some questions of mine? I have been a life member of your movement for six years and have read every book by Srila Prabhupada. I’ve visited many temples the world over and I’ve read every BACK TO GODHEAD magazine for the last twelve years. I would like to know why you never seem to write articles on Krsna consciousness in the black community? I’ve seen so many talented black devotees. I feel you owe it to yourselves to do some articles about them.

I have also met Bhakti-tirtha Swami, who I thought and think to be a great pure soul. I feel you should at least do a full-length article about him, not just a news story. I feel that this would enliven black people by helping them to see that Krsna consciousness is international and not restricted to a particular class of people.

I also wish to request more articles on Latin people. I’ve visited many temples in South America. Why not do an article on Krsna consciousness in Latin America? You’ve done some on Australia, New Zealand, Paris, Germany, etc. Why not some articles on the two classes of people I have mentioned?

D.A. Cooper
San Francisco, California

OUR REPLY: Thank you for your suggestions, especially the one about Bhakti-tirtha Swami. He’s on the move so much it’s hard to catch up with him. But as soon as we can we’d love to run an article on him. Within the last several years, we have published articles on Latin America—”The Sankirtaneros of Mexico” and “The Krsna Culture Comes to Latin America,” to mention just two. And just after you wrote us we published ‘”A Great Fortune for the People of Trinidad,'” an article about how black devotees in that Caribbean island opened a new temple.

In a higher sense, of course, a devotee of Krsna knows that the color of someone’s skin is no more important than the color of his shirt. He sees the inner self, the soul, which is neither black nor white nor Latin. According to the Bhagavad-gita, each of us, regardless of what kind of body we have, is a spiritual soul, a part of Krsna eternally related to Him as a loving servant. Here at BACK TO GODHEAD, this spiritual identity concerns us more than what percentage of black, white, or Latin faces appears on our pages.

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I have received your magazine for many years, and I always look forward each month to receiving such a wonderful magazine in my mail. Without this magazine I have no spiritual life; it’s like a life raft in the ocean of materialism.

Raymond Spahn
Mt. Shasta, California