When Nectar of Devotion is the lawbook for ISKCON, why is it not stressed enough?

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thank you, Hare Krishna that not all of them are always authentic so we’ll have to see when Prabhupada said it now I have not heard it being, I have not found a written quote for it as far as I know it’s not in Vedas in fact that very famous quote about Prabhupada saying my books will be the law books for the next 10,000 years now that is also not there in any purport it is there in one conversation which Prabhupada had with devotees when they were going in a car I am not saying that it is unimportant but sometimes Prabhupada himself if he has not emphasized certain things, we do not have to emphasize them more than what he has emphasized so yes Prabhupada’s books are important they are very important but sometimes some things it’s finding quotes for our pet ideas becomes like a game sometimes in devotees somebody likes to chant chant 64 rounds chant 128 rounds chant 192 rounds and Prabhupada said 99% advancement somebody else likes Kirtan and they say Kirtan is Yugadharma Prabhupada said the purpose of everything is to do Yugadharma of chanting all this preaching, managing just going in front of me is chant dance, that is the perfection of life you don’t have to do anything else so whatever people are inspired by they often take those quotes correspondingly now if we are inspired by something and we find quotes related to that, that is wonderful but one definition in Bhakti there can be many definitions of success so becoming attached to Japa is one definition of success becoming attached to Kirtan is another definition of success becoming attached to Bhagavatam and deeply studying the Bhagavatam understanding it, that is another definition of success raising, building beautiful temples so that people can come to Krishna that is one definition of success so there can be many different definitions of success and what makes the Bhakti movement so variegated is that Bhakti can accommodate all these definitions of success so within Bhakti one definition of fanaticism can be when one definition of success is made into the only definition of success it is one definition yes chanting the Holy Names or doing Kirtan or whatever it is one definition of success but it is not the only definition of success so with that in mind, even if the Prabhupada had said something like this that Nectar of Devotion is the law book certainly he has not quoted it repeatedly and that is why it is not that it has to be made into some serious lacuna something that is seriously missing if you are not studying it or something like that it is an important book no doubt but its importance should not be disproportionately highlighted at the expense of everything else now if you look at the way Prabhupada translated the books see, he considered his the four main works Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam, Sisi and Anody now if you see Sisi and Anody are in one group its like Prabhupada Prabhupada in his Prabhupada through the Bhagavad Gita is giving the basic Vedic philosophy introducing his audience to the concepts of the Vedic culture and the Vedic wisdom that is, so if you consider a pyramid, the foundation is laid by the Bhagavad Gita Bhagavad Gita is a broad Vedic book within them at a higher level is Vaishnavism so the Bhagavatam is a Vaishnav book clearly focuses on Krishna and not just Krishna as as the as the philosophical absolute truth that means, the philosophy of how Krishna is God is explained in the Bhagavad Gita but the Bhagavatam focuses more on the Krishna as the person who performs Leela so, various pastimes so the Bhagavatam is a Vaishnav book, so the pyramid is moving one step upwards Chaitanya Charitamrta is a directly Gaudiya Vaishnav book so where the focus is on Lord Chaitanya and the principles of Gaudiya Vaishnavism as taught in Chaitanya Charitamrta nectar of devotion will also be at that level because Chaitanya Charitamrta focuses on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and reveals his emotions for Krishna and nectar of devotion analyzes those emotions so certainly that book needs to be studied so, when I did the Bhakti Shastri course the way I did it is, I started Ishopanishad, where I take all the fundamental philosophy then nectar of instruction, I take the fundamental application, then Bhagavad Gita, we go deep into the Bhagavad Gita concepts and nectar of devotion we talk about the principles of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to some extent so when I asked the devotees at VT, Vaishnava training education, MIH, EIH they said that taking the first 19 chapters for nectar of devotion is simply functional practicality it is just that Bhakti Shastri course will become too long otherwise so devotees can and should study the advanced chapters later and the nectar of devotion is is Prabhupada said, the summary study once Satsvarupa Maharaj had written a book called Appreciation of Prabhupada, many books in that series so once he asked Prabhupada, what does the summary study mean? Prabhupada, summary study means I do what I want to do what does it mean by that? you know summary study for example if you read the Krishna book in the Gopi Gita chapter the Gopis have come in the forest and they begin the song they begin the Jayati Dey, they come Janmana and they go on and then at the end in this way Prabhupada writes in Krishna book in this way the Gopis chanted Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Hare Krishna so somebody asked did the Gopis chant Hare Krishna Mahamandir so the point is that that there is certain mood of longing for Krishna that the Gopis were having and that mood is very high upwards, we can cultivate that mood by chanting Hare Krishna Mahamandir so Prabhupada is not just giving the scripture as it is, he is giving it as it is but as it is doesn’t mean you have to keep the see when we talk about as it is we may think you know ok something was packed in a fridge or packed in a company manufacturer it was packed, the pack was never opened as it is it has come to me that’s what we think of, that is a very simplistic understanding of as it is see as it is when we say Bhagavad Gita is as it is what it means is Prabhupada himself says in the preface that this Bhagavad Gita is written for the same purpose for which Krishna descended 5000 years ago and that is to attract the conditioned souls back to him so how that purpose can be fulfilled will vary according to the circumstance so Prabhupada did want the devotees to study all the Gaudiya all the literatures and in fact if you study the first chapter of the Bhagavatam itself, first chapter of the first canto of the Bhagavatam Prabhupada says that he has a list of various Acharyas whose commentary should be studied and in that he doesn’t restrict himself to Gaudiya Acharyas, he talks about even Vallabhacharya and other Acharyas, so the point is Prabhupada did want us to study those books also, so Bhaktirasa Amrit Sindhu, a deeper study of that is available through Dhanundaj Maharaj books of devotion and Bhanu Maharaj has also translated the commentary of Jiva Goswami Durgam Sanghanitika so if you feel inspired to study that book we can read Prabhupada’s Elector of Devotion, read the Acharyas commentaries and that way we can study there is no need to deprive ourselves of that just because it is not being studied in the Bhakti Shastra we can read, we can hear classes of devotees who have given those classes, we can read the books and we can understand it, but there is no need to think that just because it is not being studied, something is wrong as I said there is individuality within the process of Bhakti, we feel inspired to study a particular book, if a particular definition of success appeals to us you can surely go ahead you can see that as Krishna’s mercy and somehow or other we are being attracted to Krishna, so this is the way I am attracted to Krishna fine, move forward with that and move closer to him thank you