Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 26th August, 1971 and have noted the contents carefully. I am glad that you have admitted about the GBC members not very appropriately discharging their duty. I do not mind this discrepancy but you should be alert; you and all GBC members. We are now growing in volume all over the world dealing with public money. People have respect for our movement. Now it is time for GBC members to be very very careful so that people may not point out any black spot in the behavior of our society. I have issued a letter to all the GBC members only for this purpose that each one of you should always think how to improve the cause and advance our society and as soon as there is some good point you can communicate with your colleagues and give some decision and put it before me so that I can give my final approval. So you should not remain for a moment without thought of improving ISKCON activity. So far you are concerned, being the zonal secretary of that quarter of the world, your duty is to see that all our different centers within your jurisdiction must be going very accurately. The accounts are not being kept very scientifically and if there is extravagant spending that should be changed. We should simply accept the bare necessities of life. The balance money and energy should be employed for pushing forward Krishna's mission.
I have seen the rough trial balance in which it is stated that about Rs 13,000/- was spent for travelling expenditure. Of course you are all sons of big rich Americans so it may not be very big amount for you but we poor Indians, to us it is a shocking amount. In our childhood with my father I used to walk 10 miles to save a ticket of 5 paise on the tram car. So we are trained up in that way. Of course it was a very pleasant morning walk. So I wish to know how this big amount was spent for travelling expenditure. You must be very careful in the future. If we have spent Rs 13,000/- for local travelling in Calcutta, then why not purchase a car? One can be gotten for Rs 20,000/- only.
So how these things happen? It is your responsibility as zonal secretary. Besides that you are supposed to be one of the members of the book trust but in your presence the book fund money is being eaten up. So we have to rectify all these processes. I know it very well that you are all sincere workers but still it is my duty to point out the discrepancies. In Delhi however I hope you will do things very nicely from the very beginning. Whatever mistakes you have committed in other centers may not be repeated in Delhi.
Regarding Indira Gandhi, I have already pointed out to you all that she cannot attend the function on political reasons. Anyway I am very glad to learn that she is sympathetic at least about our movement and she is inquiring about me also; that is very nice. You are planning now for a meeting between ourselves. That is also very good and if Indira Gandhi gives me a little time for giving a patient hearing to the importance of our movement and tries to understand the philosophy of this movement you can immediately fix up some date for an appointment according to her convenience and I shall keep that appointment at any rate. Our movement is not any local movement. It is for the total human society. It is most authorized on the principles of Bhagavad-gita and affirmed by Lord Caitanya and all the big acaryas. So we have got every confidence on this movement for the peaceful situation of the whole world. Our aim is one God, one religion, one people, one activity, everything one. Practically it is happening also, so we can help the leaders of the society if they are sincere in the attempt to unify all the nations under the name of United Nations. So you can try to fix up an appointment time for this important meeting.