Should devotee read books by nondevotee nationalist thinkers to learn how to protect Vedic culture and actualize varnashrama in today’s society?

Transcript

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Hare Krishna. Question, while trying to implement Varanashram in today’s society, many devotees and even some devotee leaders refer to books by non-devotional writers and thinkers whose philosophical conclusions don’t necessarily agree with the conclusions given by the Acharyas. So, should these books be read? How much should we read these books and in what consciousness, with what attitude? Answer, first and foremost, we have to understand that Shri Prabhupada did not come to monopolize or terminate Krishna consciousness in terms of the philosophical legacy or the cultural legacy.
Shri Prabhupada’s books and the books of our Acharyas are our foremost source of spiritual knowledge. At the same time, no book or even a set of books can give exhaustive knowledge in terms of giving complete knowledge of everything. Even Chaitanya’s pastimes cannot be described, even by Brahmaji throughout his whole life.
One drop of the nectar of those pastimes cannot be described. So, we also know, our Sampradaya is 500 years old and it is focused primarily on establishing Madhurya Ras and the supremacy of Krishna’s sweetness and Krishnadattva. And our Acharyas, even our founding Acharyas like Shiv Goswami, Nisantarbha derives from other Vaishnava Acharyas.
Some points from Ramacharya, some from Madhavacharya. So, in principle, this is not wrong. And Shri Prabhupada himself would sometimes quote from various authors, even material authors, he would sometimes quote from what his college professors had spoken, as long as that was consistent with Krishna conscious philosophy.
So, now we don’t have many of the Vedic literature today. The Vedic literature talk about Paravidya and Aparavidya. Paravidya is transcendental knowledge, Aparavidya is material knowledge that is in harmony with spiritual knowledge.
So, we don’t have much of the scriptures about Aparavidya today. It is well known that much of the Vedic literature today is lost. So, not the Paravidya scriptures like Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita, they are very much available to us, but the Aparavidya scriptures are not available.
And that’s why as far as living in the world is concerned, we need, we need guidance. So, J. Janaka Pandit has said and Prabhupada would often quote that we can take even gold from a filthy place. So, if some other authors have got some insights which can be used by us to understand and share Krishna consciousness, apply Krishna consciousness in today’s world, that is not wrong.
So, there are many thinkers who have also in their own way thought about the spiritual culture, thought about the Vedic wisdom and have tried to present their insights about how that can be applied in today’s society. Now, certainly, if they are not in parampara, all their philosophical conclusions are unlikely to be correct. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that everything that they have said is wrong.
So, we have to, if we are going to read such books, then we have to have our philosophical astuteness. We have to have proper philosophical understanding. So that proper philosophical discrimination, our fundamentals should be strong.
We have to be well-rooted in Sri Prabhupada’s books. And based on those books, based on our understanding of our Krishna conscious philosophy, with those eyes, we can see carefully what is what is uncool to the practice and the sharing of Krishna consciousness and what is prati cool and accordingly incorporate that. So, the ideal situation would be that some senior devotees who have adequate grounding in the philosophy and have also internalized the mood and mission of Srila Prabhupada, they read these books by such authors and then they present the relevant teachings to us, to other devotees, especially younger devotees, in a way that is reconciled with Srila Prabhupada’s and Gaudiya Sampradaya’s teachings and is also relevant today.
So, if some younger devotees are also to get into this, there is a chance that they can get misled about the priorities of various things. So, generally speaking, because we are at the material level of consciousness, material things affect us much more than spiritual things. So, going back to the spiritual world doesn’t attract us emotionally as much as say if we read about how Christians are converting or how Muslims are aggressively preaching and because of that say Vedic culture is in danger and how we need to… So, these things affect us much more emotionally, although they are material and they are temporary and not that they are entirely unimportant, but that they are not as important as the pursuit and the practice and the propagation of Krishna consciousness is.
So, we have Srila Prabhupada’s example of his conversing with Bhakti Sahasrao Thakur and Bhakti Sahasrao Thakur said that the Indian independence movement is not as important as sharing Krishna consciousness. So, if younger devotees are going to read these books, often their priorities may get mixed up. So, some devotees may still do this because that may be their interest and that may later on become their area of service.
So, if that is the goal, then it should be very clear that this is being done as an area of service and we shouldn’t mistake this to be our sadhana. We need to have time for studying Srila Prabhupada’s books, studying and getting a clear understanding of our Siddhanta and apart from that, in addition to that, we can read some other books as a part of our service. Just as students, we may read some academic books for our college studies or as professionals, we may read some professional books to hone our skills better, to acquire some new skills in our profession.
Similarly, we may read these books also to hone our abilities and our understanding so that we can serve Krishna better. So, Vedic culture is much broader than what our current understanding is. So, we have to get understanding of Vedic culture and to get proper understanding into how it is to be applied in today’s society.
We need to first of all study our Acharyas’ books and understand their vision and then we can also see how other thinkers have thought of implementing Vedic culture and then come up with that and integrate based on whatever is practical today. So, I would say three things to conclude. First and foremost is that we don’t have to limit Krishna consciousness or freeze Krishna consciousness and say that we can’t read other books.
For Aparavidya, we may need to read other books. Just as if we have sickness, we have to go to a doctor. That’s material knowledge.
We may use it. So, similarly, we don’t have to freeze. At the same time, we have to be clear that these are not as important as reading this kind of books for implementing Varanashram.
That is not our sadhana. And that is a part of our seva. And our sadhana should be to study Prabhupada’s books and get our philosophical fundamentals strong and also reinforced regularly.
And thirdly, it would be best if senior devotees read Sahaja books and present properly what is in harmony with Prabhupada’s modern mission. And over a period of time, it is our hope that whenever devotees have to read about such subjects, other senior devotees will have within our own tradition prepared literature, prepared books which present these kinds of subjects. So that way devotees don’t have to go outside the umbrella of the tradition for seeking any knowledge which is related with actualizing and applying the tradition within today’s society and one’s own life.
So, we can read these books but we have to exercise due caution while reading these books. And if individually we feel uncomfortable with this kind of reading and this mood of say sharing Krishna or sharing or applying Krishna consciousness, then we have full right because that is not the only way that Srila Prabhupada wanted to practice and share Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada wanted an ashram.
Srila Prabhupada also wanted outreach in the cities. And Srila Prabhupada gave various definitions of success to different devotees. So we don’t have to criticize other devotees if they are doing certain things to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s mission which we in a way that we are not comfortable with.
But we have full right to not participate in that and focus more on the central mainstream core practice of Krishna consciousness which will make us stronger and which will keep us strongly connected with Srila Prabhupada. Thank you. Hare Krishna.