1. Reading the previous acaryas’ books

    Amogha: Srila Prabhupada, I remember once I heard a tape where you told us that we should not try to read the books of previous acaryas.

    Prabhupada: Hmm?

    Amogha: That we should not try to read Bhaktivinoda's books or earlier books of other…, our acaryas. So I was just wondering…

    Prabhupada: I never said that.

    Amogha: You didn't say that? Oh.

    Prabhupada: How is that?

    Amogha: I thought you said that we should not read the previous acaryas' books.

    Prabhupada: No, you should read.

    Amogha: We should.

    Prabhupada: It is misunderstanding.

    Paramahamsa: I think maybe he was thinking that there was some things about some of the Gaudiya Matha books.

    Prabhupada: Maybe.

    Paramahamsa: And sometimes you said that better not to…, better to read your books.

    Amogha: When the devotees went to India this year, they said that Acyutananda Swami very…, chastised them that "You should never… If I catch any of you buying Bhaktisiddhanta's books from Gaudiya Matha, then I will take it away," something like this.

    Paramahamsa: Yeah, that was… The reason was because of…, he didn't want the devotees going to Gaudiya Matha. But there's nothing wrong with the idea of studying the previous acaryas' books.

    Prabhupada: No. Who said that is wrong? We are following previous acaryas. I never said that.

    Paramahamsa: All of your commentaries are coming from the previous acaryas.

    Prabhupada: Yes.

    Jayadharma: But that wouldn't mean that we should keep all the previous acaryas' books and only read them.

    Prabhupada: That is already there. You first of all assimilate what you have got. You simply pile up books and do not read — what is the use?

    Jayadharma: First of all we must read all your books.

    Prabhupada: Yes.

    Paramahamsa: Practically speaking, Srila Prabhupada, you are giving us the essence of all the previous acaryas' books in your books.

    Morning Walk — May 13, 1975, Perth, Australia