On disputes

"Never leave a dispute with a brahmana unfinished. If you die and leave something in dispute, you will have to take another birth to make it right." --Letter to Pandava Vijaya dasa, 2002

On Gayatri

"Chant the morning Gayatri after the stars have disappeared but before the sun globe appears. Chant evening Gayatri after the sun globe disappears but before the stars appear."

--Spoken to Rupanuga dasa during his brahmana initiation

On cooking

"While I was Gurudeva's chef in Cambridge, England, he taught me the spiritual law of how important it is to use every grain of rice and not throw even one grain down the drain. Up until then I was unconscious about this and very wasteful. Many times I was in such a hurry preparing things for him that I would rinse the rice and empty what I could into the pan and throw away the grains that stuck to the sides. After he saw me do that, he would come in and check on me, to make sure I had learned that lesson. He said if I was wasteful with a simple thing like rice, I would be wasteful in other areas of my life. How true that was. I now am very conscious not only
while cooking but with all I do."

--Krsna Sakti dasi

On caring for devotees

"As I stated in my short talk before leaving Dallas, Krsna is now blessing our zone with many nice new souls who are offering their lives in His devotional service. I am therefore counting on you, my senior disciples, to train these new devotees properly. One of the best ways to get the mercy of Krsna is to take the responsibility for helping His devotees. So whatever service you can do for these new souls who have come to surrender to Krsna will be very much appreciated."

--Letter to Kuntidevi dasi, January 28, 1986

On training children

"To train our children in Krsna consciousness is a most valuable service. They are all special souls who have taken birth in Vaisnava families, and we must give them every opportunity to progress in their Krsna consciousness. The most important factor for a teacher is to be an ideal example of Krsna consciousness. Then the children will imbibe the qualities of the teacher. This means that you must be very perfect in your sadhana. Never sacrifice your sadhana for any reason."

--Letter to Kunkumangi dasi, August 20, 1990

On being depressed

"Look at Krsna. If you look at your material circumstances, you will be depressed. Always look at Krsna."

--Spoken to Sakuntala dasi, 1989

On relationships

"Always be very loving to one another."

--Spoken to Kunkumangi dasi and Narottamananda dasa during their wedding, April 22, 1993

On falling down

"Failure is the pillar of success. The sin is not so much in the falling down; rather, it is in the staying down once one has fallen."

--Spoken to Gostha Bihari dasa, 1982

On sankirtana

"Lord Caitanya's sankirtana party cleanses the heart of all the dust that accumulates over millions and millions of years. The more we perform this sankirtana yajna, the cleaner our hearts will become and the more joyful we will become. I want all of my disciples to learn to become absorbed in sankirtana. For this reason, you must show a steady example. It does not matter that you may not always do very 'big.' What counts is that your effort should be very big."

--Letter, February 2, 1982

On chanting

"One should never stop chanting. It has nothing to do with whether or not one can concentrate. We chant because of the order we have received from guru. To disregard the guru's order is the greatest offence. The guru has ordered us to chant sixteen rounds, so we must do so--on his order. It is best for us to try to avoid the ten offences, including inattentiveness. But we should not avoid the order of our guru. Chanting offensively is better than not chanting at all. By chanting offensively, while carrying out the order of the guru, we will gradually get the strength to give up all offences. If one is sick, one must still try to chant. Only with the
permission of one's guru can one reduce the number of rounds due to illness--that is, unless it becomes impossible, due to severe illness. But then one should try to make up the rounds later, when one is again healthy."

Letter to Urjesvari dasi and Saibya dasi, December 5, 1994

On guru-seva

"A disciple should see that whatever service he or she offers as being done for his or her spiritual master.

"One of the most important things is to be able to carry out personal instructions. These are never to be disregarded but are to be considered as special mercy coming from the spiritual master."

"Follow all my instructions and know that I am always with you."

"The relationship of guru and disciple is so sacred. Even the destruction of the universe cannot separate them. Always remember this."

--Letters to Nrtya Kisori dasi, 2000