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Transcribed and edited by Sripad Krsna Bhajana dasa Brahmacari
Submitted by Jadurani dasi
[On September 21, 2001, when Srila Narayana Maharaja returned to Mathura after his two-week preaching tour in Jaipur and Delhi, he received 5,000 newly published copies of Jaiva Dharma by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Over forty years earlier he had translated Jaiva Dharma from the original Bengali into Hindi, and then recently, under his guidance, his disciples translated his Hindi version into English. Now, on the evening after his return, Srila Maharaja held a ceremony inaugurating the new publication. During the ceremony he spoke about the significance and glory of Jaiva Dharma, thanked and blessed the devotees who assisted in its publication, and after expressing his appreciation to them individually, presented each of them with a copy.
Amogha: I thought you said that we should not read the previous acarya's books.
Prabhupada: No, you should read.
Amogha: We should.
Prabhupada: It is a misunderstanding..we are following the previous acaryas. I never said that.
Regarding Jaiva Dharma, our Srila Prabhupada said in September 23, 1969, on the divine appearance day of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, "Bhaktivinoda Thakura happens to be one of the acaryas, and he has left behind him many books. Caitanya-siksamrta and Jaiva Dharma are very important books. They are in Bengali and Sanskrit. And he has prepared many books of songs. We are trying to present Bhaktivinoda Thakura's books in English, and gradually you will get them. So our adoration, our worship is to Bhaktivinoda Thakura today so that he may bless us to peacefully make progress in Krsna consciousness. Acarya-upasana. Simply by the blessings of the acaryas we can make very rapid progress."
Regarding Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's books in general, a conversation took place with Prabhupada on May 13, 1975: "Paramahamsa: Srila Prabhupada, I remember once I heard a tape where you told us that we should not try to read the books of the previous acaryas.
Amogha: That we should not try to read Bhaktivinoda's books or earlier books of other acaryas. So I was just wondering
