n the previous article, we discussed objections to books not written by Srila Prabhupada being propagated in ISKCON due to their content. However, there is an even more fundamental question of whether Srila Prabhupada authorised his disciples to even write such books in the first place. (Emphases added.)
Below we present in bold a letter Srila Prabhupada wrote on 28/2/72 to Satsvarupa, interspersed with our comments:
"You ask one question about the nature of books I want you to write as my disciples; on this point, Krsna Consciousness is not limited. Persons like all of the Gosvamis wrote so many books, Visvanatha Cakravarti, and all the acaryas wrote books, and still I am writing books."
Srila Prabhupada explains the "nature of the books" he is speaking about by referring to: "all of the Gosvamis", "all the acaryas" and himself, and how between them they are producing so many books, since Krsna consciousness is not limited.
"Similarly, also my disciples will write."
Then he states that "similarly" his disciples will also write – which, as we just saw, refers to writing so many books on Krsna consciousness just as the acaryas have done.
"So any self-realized soul can write unlimited books without deviating from the original ideas."
So, therefore, this writing of unlimited books" can be done by anyone who is thus self-realised – which, as we just noted, refers to writing so many books just as the acaryas did. Hence, the term "self-realized" refers to being "self-realized" just like "all the acaryas" are.
In the previous article, we noted that HH Sivarama Swami ("SRS") has dared to write a commentary on the work of the great acarya, Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, and admits about doing this that:
"commenting on the great acarya's masterpiece is evidence of this author's shamelessness"
(VKM, Vol. 2, Introduction)
SRS's admission of shamelessness is understandable, because it is not that just anyone can write such a commentary. When referring to the writing of such commentaries, Srila Prabhupada states that the acaryas who write them are of such high spiritual realisation that they will be able to even go beyond the work of the acarya they are commenting on and develop it further:
"If my previous acaryas has written something, so he will not touch those points, but he will write something which can develop further. That is acarya"
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 14/6/70)
Which reinforces what we quoted Srila Prabhupada stating in the previous section, about how one needs to be self-realised like the acaryas to write such commentaries.
However, in the Introduction to his book Venu Gita, SRS has tried to justify his book writing program by quoting the exact same letter from Srila Prabhupada to Satsvarupa that we just quoted in the previous section. He accepts that in order to write books one must be self-realised as stated in that letter, but claims:
"Srila Prabhupada instructed Satsvarupa Maharaja as well as other devotees to write and publish their books [...] he also ordered a disciple to complete the Srimad-Bhagavatam. On the strength of such evidence, I take it he considered such devotees sufficiently "self-realized" to write."
He claims that Srila Prabhupada ordered Satsvarupa and other disciples to publish books and ordered a disciple to complete the Bhagavatam, and this alone means that they had reached the level of "self-realisation" required to write books. He then claims this as the proof for his whole book writing program:
"Thus he empowered his faithful followers to write "unlimited books""
But the actual facts are different:
1) No order from Srila Prabhupada instructing "a disciple to complete the Srimad-Bhagavatam" has ever been produced.
2) Srila Prabhupada authorised 2 books: Readings in Vedic Literature by Satsvarupa and The Scientific Basis of Krsna Consciousness by HH Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami:
a) Readings in Vedic Literature was a book written specifically as a textbook for college undergraduates, as stated in the Preface. The book contains two parts. The first part is academic and quotes, as Srila Prabhupada states, "so many rascals" (Letter to Satsvarupa, 17/4/77). The second part simply reproduces extracts from Srila Prabhupada's books.
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b) The Scientific Basis of Krsna Consciousness was written specifically from a scientific angle, as part of a program set up specifically to engage devotee scientists to present Krsna consciousness in scientific terms:
"We have engaged our scientist students. They have already..., one student has already written one small book, The Scientific Basis of Krsna Consciousness"
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, 25/3/75)
Thus, these 2 books represent limited books, both in terms of quantity and content, written on specialist subjects – primarily requiring academic and scientific knowledge. They are, therefore, not examples of the writing that Srila Prabhupada spoke about: the books written by the acaryas, which require one to be self-realised.
3) In the letter quoted at the outset, Srila Prabhupada stated anyone who is "self-realized" like the acaryas can write unlimited books. But that is not what happened here. These 2 books only came about because Srila Prabhupada specifically commissioned them, rather than as part of some self-realised acarya engaging in writing "unlimited books".
The basis for SRS's whole "self-realised" book writing program has been defeated. The commissioning of an academic or scientific book is not proof that Srila Prabhupada declared the authors to be self-realised just like "all the acaryas". That one could even think such a thing is an example of taking things to be very cheap, which Srila Prabhupada defines as being a sahajiya:
"That is sahajiya, which means a class of men that take everything very cheap."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, 15/6/72)
And, having seen the facts in the previous article, it is no surprise that SRS would use such a sahajiya argument!
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