Book distributors with non-devotional clothing

Gopavrindapal: We were some of the first book distributors to begin wearing pants and a skullcap. Kirtanananda was upset by this nondevotional clothing, while Karandhar thought, "What the heck. It works." They were both approaching Prabhupada by letter in an attempt to influence him to their own view. To encourage me, Karandhar would show me the letters that were coming to him and explain the letters that Prabhupada was sending to Kirtanananda.

In the letters to Karandhar, it was quite clear that Prabhupada's mood was "whatever is going to maximize our effect." One of Kirtanananda's arguments was, "They dress like hippies when they go out." Prabhupada responded, "They shouldn't dress like hippies. but that doesn't mean that they can't dress like they are non-devotees." As far as I heard that was the last word. From that point on, we regularly distributed books and approached the public in non-devotional clothing.