Page 19 - MTYOI - Eng

Introduction

This work is in two parts. The first, A Message
to the Youth of India, an essay by Bhakti Vikäsa Swami,
brings together most of the points that His Divine
Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda taught
about India. The second is a selection of quotations
about India from Çréla Prabhupäda’s extensive writings,
conversations, and lectures. *
In the early 1970s, having established Kåñëa
consciousness in the West, Çréla Prabhupäda started
concentrating his attention on India. He told his
disciples, “My spiritual master wanted me to preach
in the Western countries. Now that I have done that,
I want to preach in India.” Yet in the 70s many Indians,
suspecting that the Westerners’ bhakti was merely a
passing fashion, did not take iskcon very seriously.
Now, a generation later, the foreign devotees
have remained, and acceptance of iskcon has grown.
Many Indians are now initiated disciples of Western-
born devotees. Educated Indians, many of whom were
apathetic to sanätana-dharma, are again taking pride in
their own culture. Like it or not, religion has come to
the forefront of national life.

* Some of these quotations, especially from conversations,
have been largely reworked for clarity of presentation.
References to their original sources are given at the back of
the book.

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