September 22, 1968
Seattle, Washington
Letter to Hayagriva

"Regarding encroachment by Maya: There is every possibility, at every time, because we are living in the kingdom of Maya.

Her influence upon us is very strong, but as indicated in the Bhagavad-gita, 7th chapter, that in spite of her very great influence over the living entities, a living entity as soon as he fully surrenders unto Krishna, the influence of Maya will no more act upon him. This is a fact. So the more we become stronger in our Krishna Consciousness, the more Maya is aloof from us."

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Monday, 21 September, 1970
Calcutta
Letter to Isana and Vibhavati

"The Vedas say that there is a Master Krishna. This Servant Krishna is the Spiritual Master and this is the conclusion. The Spiritual Master is the Mercy Representative of the Supreme Lord and as such He is given honor as good as Krishna, but He is never identical with Krishna.

Perhaps you know the picture of Madhvacarya, one of the great Acaryas in our line, who is holding two fingers up to indicate Krishna and jiva. The impersonalists hold up one finger because their idea is that everything is one. So if we make the Spiritual Master identical with Krishna, then we will also become impersonalists.

If we say that our Spiritual Master is Krishna, then the conclusion is that if we become Spiritual Master some day, then we will also become Krishna. Please try to understand how dangerous this kind of reasoning is."