October 24, 1976
My Dear Makanlal,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated 10/7/76.
My blessings are always with you as you have requested. You are a very good devotee and servant of Krsna. So far your questions are concerned. Nityananda is the principle of the Guru. So, the Gurudeva is the incarnation of Nityananda. Anyone strictly following the instruction of the Guru is following Nityananda. The price one has to pay if he wants to become Krsna conscious is that he must dedicate himself to following the order of the spiritual master, mahat seva. If the Spiritual Master is pleased with disciple then the blessings of Guru will be there. That is the best way to become Krsna conscious, and Krsna is non-different from Nityananda. You may pray to Lord Nityananda to help you become dedicated in the service of your Guru. Krsna consciousness cannot be achieved artificially. You should approach Nityananda Prabhu through your Spiritual Master.
I am pleased to accept the devotees you have recommended for initiation. Please be very sure that they all know and follow the regulative principles and chant minimum 16 rounds daily. Hold a fire sacrifice and have Rupanuga chant on their beads. Their new names are: Willard—Vaisnava dasa, John—Jivapati dasa, Adam—Akruranatha dasa, Nancy—Nitya-manjari dasi.
Hoping this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami