When Prabhupada’s books will be the lawbooks for 10,000 years, how can we contextualize them?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Contextualize means explain what a particular word meant, many persons spoke it, and how that meaning was different from the meaning that we take.
So we can, there is a proposal to put some footnotes to clarify certain things which are difficult to understand. So that has not been accepted till now. But over a period of time, it will be required.
Because without that, there will be too much misunderstanding. So, it takes time. As generations pass on.
Then, in the first generation, there is too much emotional proximity to Shatrughna to allow objective thinking. Anybody who says something slightly different, unfaithful to Prabhupada. And what happens, just one charge of being unfaithful to Prabhupada, that becomes like a permanent black mark on that person.
And that person cannot do anything about it. So, of course, we are not saying that people should just do anything and everything in the name of being broad-minded or feel sensitive to all these things. But some emotional distance, as one or two generations pass, then that excessive emotional distance that is there, that the devotees… It’s not that Prabhupada is definitely an exalted Vaishnavacharya.
But some devotees who responded earlier had the idea that Prabhupada is the only Acharya. And recently, one devotee asked a question. Just as Bhaktivinoda Thakur said, there are many other Sampradayas.
So, there are some Gauriyas and devotees who do not accept Prabhupada as a Sankhya Chakra. So, can we call them also as a Sankhya Chakra? This is a very good question. We don’t have to call them.
If one devotee will get half of the disciples from that place. Can a person practice his Gauraya Vaishnavism without taking notice of his Gaurapada? That person cannot go back to Gaurapada. It’s a very difficult sequence.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given a process. Certainly, Prabhupada has given a process which is much more accessible, which is in a much more wishable way, much more joyful way. Prabhupada’s mercy has made things much easier.
And we cannot play into monopolized Gaurayas. So, sometimes that sort of objective thinking is difficult. When there is too much emotional proximity, when there is a little bit of distance, then we are probably thinking that way.
And then, according to Tantric subconscious, these are the three aspects. How do I emphasize the maintenance of religious proposals in the generations? In general, if you see, there are two kinds of Christian organizations. Some, which distribute only Bibles.
And others, which distribute books based on the Bibles. And then, what they find is that the institutes, the Christian organizations, distribute books based on the Bible. They attract people to read Bible also.
Their Bible sales don’t go up. Their Bible sales also go up. But it’s not just the Bible sales go up.
But people also become committed to Christianity. Because people have been presenting things in a way that is relevant to them. So, same way, people have books of, say, other devotees, subsequent generations.
And they will act as a bridge to Christian propagandas. So, it’s not that some other books will displace the propagandas. They will actually assist people to become Christian propagandas.
That’s the first point. The second point is that, yes, propagandas are important, but Prabhupada has not said anywhere in his own writings that his books will be the laws. It’s only one conversation.
This is a car conversation with a few disciples. When he was getting out of the car, he said that. So, this is not to say that it is not an important statement.
But it is not a… It is not as emphatic a statement as we make out in this poem, as compared to what Prabhupada has said. First of all, even if you say law books, law books also change. There are so many amendments that happen in the law books also.
Actually, law books are much more changeable. The constitution is much less changeable. But even the constitution has amendments.
So, what to speak of that? Not just the law books. So, the point is, the law books also need to be amended. And also, Prabhupada himself did not write in his books that they will be the laws.
It’s only in the conversation he said that. That’s to emphasize the importance of the books. And they are very important.
I’m not saying that they are not important. But, you know what happens? He shouldn’t overemphasize things that Prabhupada did not overemphasize. When Prabhupada gave him an emphasis, he gave an emphasis.
For example, Moon Landing. Now, Prabhupada made three kinds of statements. Since they did not go to the moon.
They went somewhere, but not to the moon. And he said, they may have gone to the moon, but they did not have access to the moon. So, he made three kinds of statements.
First, a man did not go to the moon. That is not an accurate representation of Prabhupada’s message. And if you make that as a faith issue, if you need to add pan-responding and unfaithfulness, you don’t have to.
Because we are not being faithful to the broadness that was there in Prabhupada’s positions. So, this is a danger. That in claiming to be faithful to Prabhupada, we may end up being faithful only to a particular aspect of Prabhupada’s teachings.
And neglect the broad range of positions that he had. So, more important than just quoting Prabhupada’s statements is important. But more important than quoting Prabhupada’s statements is understanding the tradition and the mood on behalf of which he was speaking.
And then contextualizing the statements accordingly. Otherwise, you can lead to a lot of unnecessary confluence over issues that are not very consequential. There are central issues which may get neglected.
Because we keep based ideology, fighting over peripheral issues. So, as long as the core principles of Krishna consciousness are practiced, then the faithfulness should not go unheeded. And how that faithfulness will remain further, that every generation of leaders will have to think about.
And they will have to do that. We can’t create a sort of recipe for faithfulness which can be followed by each generation. Because each generation’s position will be different.
The time-space approach will be different. The culture will be different. And accordingly, the presentation will have to be adjusted.