Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of January 12, 1969, and I have carefully noted the contents.
I have gone through the description of the various rooms of the house but you have not mentioned if there is suitable space for a temple also. Our present temple in Montreal has very nice space so our first consideration is how to make the temple room nice. So I do not know how this house shall be suitable for all of our purposes. It may be very suitable for residence and prasadam distribution, but unless there is nice arrangement for a temple, how will it be possible to rent it? So unless I understand how you intend to arrange for a nice temple like the one you have presently, a little difference doesn't matter, I do not know how you can accept such house. I shall be glad to hear further from you about this.
Regarding your questions, the incidence of Sanatana Goswami and Rupa Goswami should be taken as follows; Rupa Goswami treated Sanatana Goswami as his Spiritual Master, so therefore to pray to Krishna for serving Krishna or the Spiritual Master is very good. Similarly, if the house is very good for serving Krishna it is very good. But if our purpose is for our personal convenience, for that purpose we shall not pray. But for the convenience of Krishna and the Spiritual Master we should always pray.
The absence of the idea of God is not very important, but the sense of loving God is the most important. The cowherd boys and all of the residents of Vrindaban were so much absorbed in love for Krishna that naturally there was absence of the idea of God. Yasoda was so much absorbed in love of Krishna that she did not care to know that He is God. Our whole philosophy is to increase our love for Krishna. Love with awe and veneration and love that is spontaneous is different, but still one has to learn about the greatness of Krishna. To come to the stage of spontaneous love for Krishna is a very high stage, and it is not to be imitated. In our conditioned state of life, we should worship Krishna as God with respect and veneration. That is the system. The relationship of the Spiritual Master and the disciple is not the same as the relationship with Krishna in Vrindaban. The relationship with the Spiritual Master must always be continued with the greatest respect and veneration, without forgetting His exalted position; like father and son.