December 29
Regarding Mr. Alan Watts introduction, I may inform you if the books will sell nicely by Mr. Watts introduction I do not mind his nonsense.
Letter to Brahmananda, December 29, 1967
Srila Prabhupada's Quote Of The Day
December 28
The temple president is in charge and the sannyasi should not contradict the instructions. Although if he does see something wrong or if he sees a fault or defect he should bring it out directly to the temple president.
Letter to Sukadeva, December 28, 1974
December 27
Under all circumstances you must remain in the association of devotees. Do not let yourself fall out of this association. Even if it is very difficult and there may be many problems or disagreements still simply by remaining in the association of devotees and follow our regulative principles, chanting 16 rounds, rising early etc., you will become purified. If you leave the association of devotees to follow these regulative principles will be very difficult. Therefore stay in the association of devotees and continue making nice milk preparations for the Deities.
Letter to Parvati, December 27, 1974
December 26
Regarding your questions, there is no question of using paper plastic fruits and flowers for worshiping the deities. If no fresh fruits or flowers are available, then you can decorate with some fresh leaves. You have seen our temples; nowhere do we use such things. You are experienced devotee, why you propose like that? We are not after decoration, we are after devotional service for pleasing Krishna's senses. Decoration must be there of course, to make the temple as opulent as possible for pleasing Krishna. Outside the temple, you can use the plastic ornaments. But not for worship. For daily worship there must be fresh fruit, flowers, and leaves.
Letter to Himavati, December 26, 1971
December 25
When an iron rod is put into a blazing fire, the rod soon takes on the qualities of the fire; namely light and heat. But if the same rod is put amidst some ice, then it will remain simply dark and cold. In the same way, a devotee should associate with fellow devotees, and in relationship to others the devotee should try to elevate them also onto the spiritual platform. So please follow this principle and surely you will mark great strides in the matter of your spiritual advancement.
Letter to Govardhana das, December 25, 1969
December 24
Our policy of Krishna Consciousness is very nice. We are offering people good family life with faithful wives in Krishna Consciousness. Similarly, able husbands in Krishna Consciousness so that the younger generation will be happy to have nice home, nice wife, nice food, nice dress, nice philosophy of life, nice culture and ultimately, nice Krishna. So this movement is the nicest of all other movements. Simply the ministers should be ready, intelligent, honest, and sincere. Then surely the Krishna Consciousness movement will be accepted by all considerate men and women.
Letter to Gurudasa, December 24, 1968
December 23
I'm very pleased that you are taking my order to distribute books so seriously. All blessings of Krishna are on these girls who are working so hard to distribute my books. That is very nice that you want to distribute more books than Tamala Krsna goswami's sankirtana party.
Letter to Dharmatma, December 23, 1976
December 22
I have just noted that the Maharashtran Government is lifting the prohibition of liquor in this state, because they cannot prevent people from taking illegal liquor and sometimes killing themselves because it is bad quality, and also they lose so much tax money. So it is very clear that simply by prohibiting something will not mean the people will stop. If you tell a thief not to steal, despite all sorts of warnings, he will continue to steal. Therefore, the best way is not to prohibit by laws but to cleanse the heart. That is the real prevention of sinful activity.
Letter to Jayapataka, December 22, 1971
December 21
Please print as many books as possible, this is my real pleasure. By printing these books of our Krsna Conscious philosophy in so many different languages we can actually inject our movement into the masses of persons all over the world, especially there in the western countries and we can literally turn whole nations into Krsna Conscious nations.
Letter to Hrdayananda Maharaja, December 21, 1974
December 20
Yes you are correct, when one associates with one who is in illusion or mislead naturally he will also become influenced by that illusion. So you must pray to Krsna to protect you from such bad association. Do not forget our most important business which is to develop pure Krsna Consciousness by following our strict regulations and Vaisnava standards, and always be engaged in service.
Letter to Jayadvaita, 20 December, 1974