BHIKHUS SHOULD.............HIS DHAMMA 447
So far as my reading of the mind of the Indian youth is concerned it is very difficult to make them turn to learn the monestic ideals. The best way is that we can create like Japanese married priests like the protestant Christians have done. For that we shall have to find means for their support during their educational period and after they go out public life as priests.
The conversion ceremony in Bombay will probably take place in December, most probably during the X’mas holidays so that many people could have travel facilities which they would not otherwise get. I shall let you have the exact date after consulting my Bombay people.
I hope you are giving full publicity to the Nagpur ceremony, in the Maha Bodhi Journal. I would like you to particularly mention the following points :
1. that on the first day some three lakhs and eighty thousand people became converts to Buddhism. As many people arrived after the ceremony was over a second ceremony was held on the next day as the first item in the programme.
2. that there was another conference at Chanda on 16th October 1956 which was held in the evening. There also another conversion ceremony was held and some
3 lakhs of people were converted.
3. According to the news item in yesterday’s paper there was again a conversion ceremony held at Akola after I came away and more than 2000 people were converted.
4. That a Marathi paper called ‘Navyug’ has published some fine photographs of the crowd that attended conversion ceremony at Nagpur.
5. That I am receiving letters from all corners for conversion.
If you are issuing a special number of Mahabodhi Society Journal and desire, to obtain photographs I can help you to obtain the same. Please let me know.