Malati's treatments seem to have helped, I feel a whole lot more fresh this morning. Speaking of her, if you're waiting to hear from her in the diary — all these diaries are based on her notes. My written English happens to be somewhat more fluent, so I'm typing in the notes and elaborating on them, but she's the mastermind behind the stories.

The doors seem to be open at Madhava & Malati's today. Karunamayi pops in for a visit, and we chat for a while on a number of topics. He inquires about the status of Madhurya Kadambini, as his wife has recently returned to Italy and is eager to engage in some kind of seva. As he leaves, Yugal comes in. As Yugal leaves, Ananda Hari and Braja Kishori come in. We are on our way to meet Baba, and Braja Kishori accompanies us.

In our discussion with Karunamayi, we had heard that Baba had instructed him to not distribute translations of his commentaries on Vilapa-kusumanjali, Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi and Utkalika-vallari to uninitiated devotees. As I am looking after getting the texts translated, edited and printed, I naturally wanted to inquire about this. Vilapa-kusumanjali and Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi in particular contain confidential narrations about the eight-fold daily pastimes of Radha and Krishna. Baba explained that since these texts are our very bhajan, we should not give them here and there. They are only meant for those who are engaged in our line of bhajan. As I asked about Utkalika-vallari, Baba said that that could anyhow be given to others, too, as though the subject matter was high, the commentaries did not delve as deep into such topics.

Baba wants that we publish his books in a proper order, so as to give people an appropriate philosophical foundation before delving into deep matters of lila. "With these books, we will make very nice publicity, all over universe." "Yes, Baba, all over the world." "All universe", Baba says.

One devotee coming over for a visit had inquired whether there would be something useful he could bring for Baba. Baba plainly noted, "All material needs are fulfilled. All is sufficient, nothing is necessary. Only spiritual needs are there." I tried to suggest a number of items that might be helpful, such as woolen socks or a sweater for the cold season, or some office materials that might not be that easily available in India. "All material needs are fulfilled," Baba insisted. Anyhow, I mentioned to this devotee that the socks might be welcome nevertheless, as Baba has frequently problems with his legs, especially during the cold season.

People tend to bring Baba all kinds of fancy things he has no use for, such as fine silken chadars and other such items. Baba often wears them for a day to make that person happy, and then gives them onwards to someone else. He prefers to keep it simple. Dina Das sometimes irons Baba's clothes. As Baba takes the clothes off the shelf, he smacks them around a couple of times to make them a bit wrinkled, so as to not appear so fancy. "I do not understand, I do not understand..."

Baba is not concerned over people giving so many things or doing so many things. We once inquired on what kind of service we could render for him. His simple reply was, "Service is that which makes another one happy." He then elaborated on what would make him happy, and told how he would be happiest if we would do our bhajan well. He then added how we may work on book publications, bhakti-prachar and so forth, but that was the core of the matter.