Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 12-22-71, and I am very much pleased that you are making such nice advancement in Krishna Consciousness and that you are always thinking in so many ways how to best serve the Lord. By fixing your attention in this way, worrying how He will be pleased with me, you will naturally very soon reach the supreme highest perfection of life which is pure Krishna Consciousness. You should be very serious for trying for it, as I think that you are one of my senior disciples and I am very much relying on you now to carry on this mission with full responsibility. We must become so responsible for seriously practicing this art of of Krishna Consciousness, because this world is so full of degrading elements of life for dragging everyone down and down, and if just a few men can perfect the art, they can save the rest of all the people from the greatest dangers. So I count you and your godbrothers among those few men who are treading seriously on the path back to Home, back to Godhead, and now we must maintain such exalted position and not fall back by neglecting our highest standards of devotional practices. In this way, what I have introduced into your Western countries, the pure love for Godhead process of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, will go on increasing more and more to have effect by saving others; otherwise, it will gradually become mechanical and fade away like every other so-called religious movement. So you can understand that I am very much depending on you to become very much convinced yourself of our Krishna philosophy and to take full responsibility for teaching others purely.

If you like you may join Kirtanananda's roving party for some time as manager, I have no objection. But if Hayagriva is requiring you to help manage New Vrindaban, and if you want to return there, you may also return there. In this matter you may consult Karandhara and the other GBC men.

I have accepted, upon your recommendation, Bill and Kathy Bowes as my duly initiated disciples, and their letter follows.

I hope this will meet you in good health and happy mood.