July 26, 1970
London
My Dear Yamuna,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 12 July, 1970, and noted the contents. I have also received the pera and it is very nice. I know that you prepare everything very carefully for the Deities. You can offer the Deities as many varieties of sweetmeats as possible.
I am very glad to learn that your training program is going on and the result is that now men are trained for opening and maintaining new branches. This is very much encouraging to me. So there are many things to be trained up and I am sure both yourself and Gurudasa are competent to execute them. So your program of study is very nice and regulated. Try to chant the mantras. It will not be difficult because the transliterations are there. In Los Angeles temple they are doing it very nicely every morning.
Yes, I am glad to learn that the brahmacarinis are engaged in assisting work and cleaning. These are the most important duties for the brahmacarinis—namely cleansing. Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally used to inspect temple cleaning and if He would see a little particle of dust He would remark, "O, you have not done very nice." So try to follow His footsteps in the matter of cleansing. By nicely cleansing one can get promotion in the spiritual kingdom in some of the Vaikuntha planets—it is so nice.
So your program for training your Godsisters is very nice, so do it nicely as you have got experience in arcana. There is no matter if there is a little change here and there—the real duty is love and devotion. But you say that the women with children make their schedules around their children. That is the difficulty for family men, their first worshipable object becomes the children. What can be done? You are fortunate that you have got Krsna as your son.
The slides which you have sent of recent temple innovations is very, very excellent. One Bengali gentleman from London has sent me a letter praising your decoration of the Deities. The exact words he has used are that one cannot turn his face once turning towards the Deities. I have also seen the slides and my opinion is also the same. Please, therefore, go on getting credit for your service to the Lord. I am very much happy to learn it. Does your husband sometimes help you in this connection or not? I think he should be also trained up so that one day in a week he may also take charge of the Deities although he has got many other duties.
Yes, I have received the article from the Swedish newspaper. I could not read it, but it appears to be very nice. I have also received the two articles on the Rathayatra festival. Thank you very much.
Hope this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami