Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Read with proper understanding - Blog - ISKCON Desire Tree

Read with proper understanding

There was no darsana this afternoon, although Srila Prabhupada did go up onto the roof to sit for a while with a few devotees. Then it began to rain so he returned to his sitting room. There he met with Giriraja and Nitai prabhus to discuss requirements for a library for the new building. Nitai has been given Rs. 4,000 by the temple to purchase books for it. Srila Prabhupada said the library should contain all his own books, those of all the acaryas, as well as the Upanisads and other bona fide Vedic texts. He said even those of Sripad Sankaracarya could be included -- but not anything from Gandhi, Vivekananda or Rama-tirtha. "They are all rascals," he said. "The Vedas instruct us that we should not even look at their faces."

I was puzzled. "Doesn't Caitanya Mahaprabhu instruct that if anyone read's Sankaracarya's books he is doomed?"

"Not if he reads with proper understanding," Prabhupada said. "We can read to know what is their philosophy."

After we left Prabhupada's room, I spent a few minutes with Nitai. His pallid, lackluster complexion prompted me to ask about his health. He assured me that he was all right, but to me he seemed drained and lacking in vitality.

- From "A Transcendental Diary Vol 4" by HG Hari Sauri Prabhu

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