84 Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers

in Los Angeles and hope that I may personally hear you in
New York.
Thank you for the kindness you have shown to a very un-
deserving boy.
Sincerely,
Bob Cohen

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ISKCON Los Angeles
June 16, 1972

Bob Cohen
Springfield, New Jersey

My dear Bob,

Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for
your letter dated June 12, 1972. I have noted the senti-
ments expressed therein with great pleasure. I am very glad
to hear that you are associating with us. I know that you are
a very good boy, very intelligent, and your behavior is gen-
tle, so I have all confidence that very quickly Krsna will
bestow all His blessings upon you, and you will feel yourself
becoming perfectly happy in Krsna consciousness. One
makes his advancement in Krsna consciousness by volun-
tarily giving up his attachment to material nature, or mdayd.
Such renunciation is called tapasya. But we are not very
willing to perform austerities without good reason;
therefore any man with a good scientific and philosophical
mind, like your good self, must first appreciate what
transcendental knowledge is. If you get knowledge, auto-
matically tapasya will follow, and then you make your ad-
