Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February 22, 1969, and I was so much engladdened to note the contents. I am so pleased with your sincere efforts to succeed in this Chapel Hill center program. I think that by now Tosana Krishna has already joined you there and I am sending him a set of beads by separate post.

You will be pleased to know that one devotee, Karatieya, has already received his 4-D ministerial status from the draft, and I am enclosing herewith carbon copy of the letter I have sent to your draft board. So we shall save you from the draft. If you stick to the study of our books and continue as a preacher, there will be no difficulty for you to get 4-D classification.

Regarding Lord Caitanya's birth date, it is March 4, and you may celebrate it as elaborately as is possible for you. Immediately you should contact Brahmananda in New York, and ask him to send you a few chapters of Teachings of Lord Caitanya which you will return afterwards. So on this day you may read from these chapters. To celebrate you should have a picture of Lord Caitanya on the altar and decorate Him with flowers very nicely. Chanting and lecturing may go on. In these lectures you should explain very carefully Lord Caitanya's teachings that we are eternal servitors of Krishna, and it is not that we are ourselves the Supreme Lord.

So I am very pleased with your sincere efforts to make a success of the Chapel Hill center, and please keep me informed of your progress. I hope this will meet you in good health and cheerful mood.