Important And Not Important
It was the transcendental genius of Srila Prabhupada which extracted out of the vast body of Vedic literature the essence and delivered it to us in such genuine manner that even the simplest of men could apply it in his life.
Genius means to simplify the matter, not to complicate it.
When initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1974 Srila Prabhupada during his second visit in Germany ended each of his lectures,
"chant Hare Krsna, distribute my books, take prasadam and be happy...thank you very much". The response was an ecstatic "Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!" ...and we dive into devotional service again.
Some may suggest that Srila Prabhupada showed us the way to explore Vedic scriptures, and so we can, and must, explore this path further in order to find out "what he didn't say yet". Some openly say that Srila Prabhupada's presentations are only basic and for beginners, those who want to progress "have to find more".
These suggestions are dangerous and by nature offensive as those pseudo intellectuals aiming for "higher levels of Krsna consciousness are proposing we should explore what Srila Prabhupada didn't explore, and they indicate that Srila Prabhupada didn't give us EVERYTHING.
Even Krsna, the origin of the Vedas, states in Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna that "men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas..."(2/42-43) and
"The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of three modes of material nature. O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three modes...(2/45)
Krsna also establishes clearly that "...all purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them" (2/46) and finally He concludes:
"When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas, and when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization, then you will have attained the divine consciousness." (2/53)
Raised in western line of empiric search considering "simple" meaning "primitive", even those who claim to be followers of Srila Prabhupada in course of their lives decided to embark on academic careers, naturally becoming polluted by the mayavada dominating these circles, a mayavada stating that everything is relative and to every thesis there is anti-thesis of the same relevance and value. Anybody quoted God, Krsna, will be instantly rejected by such fools as there is not anybody of the same nature to be found, what to speak of anybody being superior to Him. The word "absolute" doesn't exist in academic circles…that's established by these "men with fertile brains" ironically with "absolute certainty". It is this hypocrisy of "absolutely non-absolute" which dominates the academic world.
Then there are those who faithfully quote Vedas, pointing out principles of inferior nature while ignoring the higher ones.
Here is an example:
Recently, one mataji reported to me how she collected first class woolen jumpers in Second Hand shops in order to donate them to devotees who may need them in the upcoming winter. Her gift was rejected, and it was explained to her that the recently visiting Indian devotee, a real pundit, told the devotees they should never accept polluted materials from karmis.
Yes, whatever was used by the materialistic people may be considered polluted...but once again, Srila Prabhupada taught us a higher principle:
devotees can accept polluted materials…and purify them by doing of their devotional service.
According to the logic by our learned brahmana we shouldn't drive in any second hand cars, use any second hand tools and not associate with those who do so. As matter of fact we should stop all our preaching activities, sit at the bank of Ganga river, chant the Holy Name and as soon seeing a materialist, we should take bath in this Holy River to purify ourselves.(As stated in the sastra).
Srila Prabhupada, the living Bhagavata, taught us a far more pragmatic way of living by showing us how to purify (almost) everything in the fire of devotional service.
When being taught the art of preaching by my senior god brothers, I remember hearing the story of a brahmacary going door to door, begging alms for his spiritual masters. Knocking on a door of a particular house, an old woman who was obviously in a foul mood opened the door.
Angry, she said:"You want some donation? I will bring you some donation!"...and brought to the brahmacary a handful of ashes. Gratefully the brahmacary accepted this worthless gift, blessed the lady and walked on to another door.
It was in this mood Srila Prabhupada accepted our ash-like offerings while starting his transcendental movement. As told by one of his servants, one morning after giving some of his first initiations, Srila Prabhupada was found walking up and down in his room, chanting and occasionally looking on a small golden heart hanging on a chain around his neck.
On the heart was engraved:
"From John with Love".
Seeing his servant somewhat surprised, Srila Prabhupada smiled at him and explained:
"This was given to me with love".
It didn't take much imagination to guess where the heart and the chain came from. Probably one of the girls, being initiated the day before, had nothing else to give to Srila Prabhupada as the only valuable thing she had...the golden heart from John. Fully aware of her loving surrender to her spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada graciously accepted this humble offering, blessing
this soul along the departed John and the one who produced this piece of jewelry.
Where finally the heart with the chain ended is not important. Important is never to violate and obstruct the flow of devotion and the service being offered to a pure devotee. This is the highest principle for every preacher in Srila Prabhupada's movement, overruling the inferior principles to be found in the Vedas.