The more we organize opportunities for everyone to read Prabhupāda’s books more thoroughly, more questions are answered, and the more we imbibe Prabhupāda’s mood, it’s inescapable—and we don’t wonder about it. We know directly Prabhupāda has manifested himself as a spiritual hologram right in front of us and spoken to us directly and as intimately as possible—because that’s the nature of books. They’re miraculous.

I’ll just make one last point, which is that Śrīla Prabhupāda also wanted us to write. He wrote his books based on the tradition of all the ācāryas, and we’re a sampradāya of the book. All ācāryas generally have written and left some literary contribution behind. Sometimes people feel reticent about writing, because they say, “Well, Prabhupāda wrote everything, so we shouldn’t write anything.” But you could look at it a different way—and that is, if we don’t write, how can we prove what we got from Prabhupāda?

At one time, Prabhupāda criticized his colleagues from the other institution he was part of for some time, and asked, “Where are their books?” As Prabhupāda was producing more and more books, he asked, “Where are their books?” Maybe it’s not well known, but Prabhupāda strenuously advocated that all of his followers should write. Did you know that?
I’ll just read you a quote and let Prabhupāda speak for himself. Are you up for this? There’s a few here. I took out a few out of many more, just to give a taste.

"Formally, all activities were performed in connection with Viṣṇu, but after Satya-yuga, there were symptoms of disrespectful dealings among Vaiṣṇavas. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has said that a Vaiṣṇava is he who has helped others become Vaiṣṇavas. An example of one who has converted many others into Vaiṣṇavas is Nārada Muni—a powerful Vaiṣṇava who has converted others into Vaiṣṇavas is to be worshiped. But because of material contamination, sometimes an exalted Vaiṣṇava is disrespected by other minor Vaiṣṇavas. When great saintly persons saw this contamination, they introduced worship of the Deity in the temple. This began in Tretā-yuga and was especially predominant in Dvāpara-yuga. But in Kali-yuga, worship of the Deity is being neglected. Therefore, chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is more powerful than Deity worship.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu set a practical example in that He did not establish any temples or Deities, but He profusely introduced the saṅkīrtana movement. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa consciousness preachers should give more stress to the saṅkīrtana movement—especially by distributing transcendental literature more and more. This helps the saṅkīrtana movement. Whenever there is a possibility to worship the Deity, we may establish many centers. But generally, we should give more stress to the distribution of transcendental literature, for this will be more effective in converting people to Kṛṣṇa consciousness."

Okay, that’s the preface. And now it gets to something more specific about writing.

"It is certainly not good to write literature for money or reputation, but to write books and publish them for the enlightenment of the general populace is real service to the Lord. That was Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī’s opinion, and he specifically told his disciples to write books. He actually preferred to publish books rather than establish temples. Temple construction is meant for the general populace and neophyte devotees, but the business of advanced and empowered devotees is to write books...
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To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/
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