In January 2001 Sri Giriraja Govardhana Gaudiya Math in Murwillumbah Australia hosted Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja. From 350 —400 devotees and guests attended lectures, kirtan and prasadam for eight days. An increase in the local community becoming interested in Krishna Consciousness was in part due to a large banner over the entrance to this small farming community reading, "Hare Krishna Festival — all welcome".

The local ISKCON president Ajita Das posted a letter stating the disappointment ISKCON has with our recent preaching practices and revealed misconceptions they have about trade marking the transcendental name "Hare Krishna". (Their letter is appended for reference below.)

The transcendental nature of the holy names of Krishna is described in the Padma Purana and quoted in Cc Madhya 17.133

"The Holy Names of Krishna are cintamanih — transcendental bliss. They are the embodiment of all rasa because the name and the possessor of the name are non different. The names of the Lord are fully satisfying and always liberating, purnah suddho nitya-mukto, i.e., they can never become polluted." Even if an institution trade marks the names of our Lord and then appoints gurus, management, and teachers who become entangled in bad activities - still the names of Krishna remain pure and uncontaminated. They are not the property of any individual or institution and they do not need to have their reputation defended. They will purify even the most fallen. The only requirement is to receive them from and chant these names in the association of pure devotees.

President Ajita das has written: "ISKCON has worked hard for many years to establish a reputation and goodwill in the words HARE KRISHNA …" But the previous verse and Bhagavad-Gita 3.27 give us a clearer vision about who is the doer.

"One under the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities when in fact they are carried out either directly by the Lord or by his agents such as the three modes of material nature."

President Ajita das has also written: "… through the misuse of our trademark … of the words Hare Krishna … We would be extremely reluctant to enforce our legal rights …" Although one should not disrespect the laws of the land, these laws are not sanatana (eternal) dharma. Trade mark legislation is for the most part written by atheist and cow eaters and is subject to being changed at any moment. A vaisnava or genuine aspirant never takes shelter in trademark legislation — he takes shelter in guru, sadhu, and sastra. All of our previous acharyas have given us prayers for taking shelter.

Krishna Consciousness is not a sectarian concern. There is only one guru, who appears in an infinity of forms to teach you, me and all others. In the Mundaka Upanisad (1.2.12) it is written:

In order to learn the transcendental science, one must approach the bona fide spiritual master in disciplic succession, who is fixed in the Absolute Truth. Therefore, if the Absolute Truth is one, about which we think there is no difference of opinion, then the guru cannot be two. Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja are not the gurus of sectarian institutions or one out of many differing exponents of the truth. On the contrary, they are jagad-guru, or the gurus of all of us, the only difference is that some do bhajana to realize the essence they have in common while others worship only the external form and thus become entangled in sectarian concepts and activities - such as trade marking the holy name. (see lecture published in the Harmonist l936, on the advent day of His Divine Grace Om Visnupada Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura.)

In the Padma Purana is written:

"One who thinks the Deity in the temple to be made of wood or stone, who thinks of the qualified spiritual masters in the disciplic succession (such as Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, and Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaj) as ordinary man, who thinks of caranamrta or water from holy places as ordinary water, who thinks the Vaisnavas to belong to a certain caste or creed (such as ISKCON and non ISKCON), who considers the holy names of the Supreme Lord which are able to destroy all sin as ordinary sound vibrations (which are subject to mundane trade mark legislation), or to consider the Supreme Lord as equal to the demigods is to be considered a resident of hell."

I pray that all find room in your heart to forgive me if I have written anything that causes pain.

Sri Giriraja Govardhana Gaudiya Math

Lilasuka das

(a servant of the secretary)

To: Giriraja Govardhana Gaudiya Math

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness Inc is disappointed that your Organisation seems to have decided upon a course of action that is likely to cause divisiveness and certainly confusion in an area of religious life where we think it is more appropriate to aim for harmony and cooperation. If the end result of your actions is that people will be confused about the relationship between our organisations then that, in our view, is not in the interest of either party.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness Inc has worked for many years in Australia to establish both a reputation and goodwill in the words HARE KRISHNA as a means of identifying our organisation and what our organisation does in both a religious and commercial sense. The end result of this is that we believe that people in Australia use the words HARE KRISHNA to distinguish our organisation so these words have become part of our identity in both a material and spiritual sense. In fact The International Society for Krishna Consciousness Inc is the registered owner in Australia of the trade mark HARE KRISHNA in relation to "religious education, seminars, lectures; educational entertainment and information services of a religious nature" in Class 41 (registration 745346) and so any use of the words HARE KRSHNA in a trade mark sense by an entity that is not authorized by us in relation to such services would infringe registration 745346.

We believe that we are obliged to defend the intellectual property rights that we have built up over the years and also act to do what we can to prevent deception and confusion arising through the misuse of our trade marks or any attempt to sow confusion in the minds of our supporters. We would certainly like to make it quite clear that we do not either agree with or condone the use of the words HARE KRISHNA in the way that we have seen. We would be extremely reluctant to enforce our legal rights but prefer to voice our concerns to you in a spirit of fraternity hoping that you will appreciate that your actions are inappropriate and counterproductive and that you will accordingly cease use of the words HARE KRISHNA in a way that is both contrary to the trade marks legislation and which would have the consequence of leading to deception or confusion.

On behalf of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Ajita Das

President