August 4, 1958 : Bombay
Satsvarupa: After some months in Vrindavan, Srila Prabhupada decided to go back to Bombay and preach. In Bombay, he quickly broke off his association with the stifling Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and moved out of the faculty residence there. Although in Bombay Srila Prabhupada was practically homeless, in August of 1958 he boldly wrote the prime minister, expressing his conviction that India's spiritual culture must not only be revived at home, but also be distributed to the West.
Even without having been to the West, Srila Prabhupada expressed his conviction that the Americans and even the Russians were hankering for spiritual realization; they could not have become satisfied merely with material advancement. Pandit Nehru, therefore, should help his friends in the West by offering them spiritual knowledge from India.
Back in the 1930s, the Nehru family had bought their medicines from Srila Prabhupada's Prayag Pharmacy, and Srila Prabhupada now appealed to Pandit Nehru as an old friend from Allahabad. Just as Srila Prabhupada had requested Mahatma Gandhi, he requested Nehru to leave his political responsibilities "and as a popular gentleman of the world, engage the rest of your life in this organized spiritual movement to make a real adjustment of western material science combined with Indian way of spiritual realization." As with his letter to Gandhi, his letter to Nehru went unanswered.
Even without having been to the West, Srila Prabhupada expressed his conviction that the Americans and even the Russians were hankering for spiritual realization; they could not have become satisfied merely with material advancement. Pandit Nehru, therefore, should help his friends in the West by offering them spiritual knowledge from India.
Back in the 1930s, the Nehru family had bought their medicines from Srila Prabhupada's Prayag Pharmacy, and Srila Prabhupada now appealed to Pandit Nehru as an old friend from Allahabad. Just as Srila Prabhupada had requested Mahatma Gandhi, he requested Nehru to leave his political responsibilities "and as a popular gentleman of the world, engage the rest of your life in this organized spiritual movement to make a real adjustment of western material science combined with Indian way of spiritual realization." As with his letter to Gandhi, his letter to Nehru went unanswered.
Reference: Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta Volume 1 - Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
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