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Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta
In this way I passed my life as a householder until 1950, when I retired from family life as a  vānaprastha . With no companion, I loitered here and there until 1958, when I took  sannyāsa . Then I was completely ready to discharge the order of my spiritual master. Previously, in 1936, just before His Divine Grace passed away at Jagannātha Purī, I wrote him a letter asking what I could do to serve him. In reply, he wrote me a letter, dated 13 December 1936, ordering me, in the same way, to preach in English the cult of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as I had heard it from him.
After he passed away, I started the fortnightly magazine  Back to Godhead  sometime in 1944 and tried to spread the cult of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu through this magazine. After I took  sannyāsa , a well-wishing friend suggested that I write books instead of magazines. Magazines, he said, might be thrown away, but books remain perpetually. Then I attempted to write  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam . Before that, when I was a householder, I had written on  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , had completed about eleven hundred pages, but somehow or other the manuscript was stolen. In any case, when I had published  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , First Canto, in three volumes in India, I thought of going to the U.S.A. By the mercy of His Divine Grace, I was able to come to New York on September 17, 1965. Since then, I have translated many books, including  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ,  Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu ,  Teachings of Lord Caitanya  (a summary) and many others.
In the meantime, I was induced to translate  Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta  and publish it in an elaborate version. In his leisure time in later life, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Țhākura would simply read  Caitanya-caritāmṛta . It was his favorite book. He used to say that there would be a time when foreigners would learn the Bengali language to read  Caitanya-caritāmṛta . The work on this translation began about eighteen months ago. Now, by the grace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Țhākura, it is finished. In this connection I have to thank my American disciples, especially Śrīman Pradyumna dāsa Adhikārī, Śrīman Nitāi dāsa Adhikārī, Śrīman Jayādvaita dāsa Brahmacārī and many other boys and girls who are sincerely helping me in writing, editing and publishing all these literatures.
I think that His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Țhākura is always seeing my activities and guiding me within my heart by his words. As it is said in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ,  tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye . Spiritual inspiration comes from within the heart, wherein the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His Paramātmā feature, is always sitting with all His devotees and associates. It is to be admitted that whatever translation work I have done is through the inspiration of my spiritual master because personally I am most insignificant and incompetent to do this materially impossible work. I do not think myself a very learned scholar, but I have full faith in the service of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Țhākura. If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace. Certainly if His Divine Grace were physically present