102 THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION

Dear Swamiji:

Thank you very much for your very interesting letter of February 15,
1970, with enclosure.

I am afraid that whenever you quote a passage purporting to show that
only the chanting of the name Krsna is required, I can quote another one
which requires something else, adding, yadi sloko ‘pi pramdnam, ayam api
Slokah pramadnam bhavitum arhati: ‘‘If mere verses are authoritative, this
verse also ought to be regarded as authoritative.’’ And there may be no
end to this in the foreseeable future, as Patafijali also says, mahdn hi Sab-
dasya prayoga-visayah: ‘‘For vast is the domain for the use of words.””

Yours very sincerely,
J.F. Staal

3764 Watseka Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90034

April 24, 1970

Dear Dr. Staal:

I beg to thank you very much for your kind letter dated February 25,
1970. I am sorry that I could not reply to your letter earlier because I was
a little busy in the matter of purchasing a new church estate at the above
address. We have secured a very nice place for a separate temple, lecture
room, my quarters, and the devotees’ residential quarters, all together in
a nice place with all the modern amenities.

I beg to request you to visit this place at your convenience, and if you
kindly let me know a day before, my students will be very glad to receive
you properly.

Regarding our correspondence, actually this quotation and counter-
quotation cannot solve the problem. In a court both the learned lawyers
quote from law books, but that is not the solution to the case. The deter-
mination of the case is the judgment of the presiding judge. So argument
cannot bring us to a conclusion.

The scriptural quotations are sometimes contradictory, and every
philosopher has a different opinion because without putting forward a
different thesis, no one can become a famous philosopher. It is therefore
difficult to arrive at the right conclusion. The conclusion is, as above
mentioned, to accept the judgment of authority. We follow the authority
