Srila Prabhupada: That is preaching. Our process is anusrnuyat. We hear from the superiors and reproduce it. That is sravanam-kirtanam. Then perfect. If I add something, my own imagination, then it will spoil. No addition, alteration. As It Is. As it is you hear from your spiritual master, reproduce. That’s all. Yare dekha tare kaha krsna upadesa. This is Krsna-upadesa is coming by parampara, so you reproduce. That’s all. Even a child can reproduce what he has heard from his father. It is not at all difficult.
(Srila Prabhupada, morning walk, August 29, 1975 Vrindaban, India)
So unless one is self-realized, there is practically no use writing about Krsna. This transcendental writing does not depend on material education. It depends on the spiritual realization. You’ll find, therefore, in the comments of Bhagavatam by different acaryas, even there are some discrepancies, they are accepted as asat-patha. It should remain as it is.
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.23-24, March 31, 1976, Vrindaban)
Yasoda-nandana: Sometimes they appeal that “We can make better English,” so they change like that, just like in the case of Isopanisad. There are over a hundred changes. So where is the need? Your words are sufficient. The potency is there. When they change, it is something else.
Svarupa Damodara: That’s actually a very dangerous mentality.
Yasoda-nandana: What is it going to be in five years? It’s going to be a different book.
Srila Prabhupada: So you… What you are going… It is very serious situation. You write one letter that “Why you have made so many changes?” And whom to write? Who will care? All rascals are there. Write to Satsvarupa that “This is the position. They are doing anything and everything at their whim.” The next printing should be again to the original way.
(Srila Prabhupada conversation, June 22, 1977, Vrindaban)
It is not possible for a common man to write books on bhakti, for his writings will not be effective. He may be a very great scholar and expert in presenting literature in flowery language, but this is not at all helpful in understanding transcendental literature. Even if transcendental literature is written in faulty language, it is acceptable if it is written by a devotee, whereas so-called transcendental literature written by a mundane scholar, even if it is a very highly polished literary presentation, cannot be accepted. The secret in a devotee’s writing is that when he writes about the pastimes of the Lord, the Lord helps him; he does not write himself. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, dadaami buddhi-yogam tam yena maam upayaanti te. Since a devotee writes in service to the Lord, the Lord from within gives him so much intelligence that he sits down near the Lord and goes on writing books.
( Caitanya-caritamrita Adi 8.19)
Speak Your Mind