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preface xiv
Kåñëa consciousness in a manner meant to most closely follow
that of Çréla Prabhupäda’s. Hence, I composed this treatise and
featured it in my publication My Memories of Çréla Prabhupäda.
Now, some sixteen years later, I consider that there is even
greater need to air that message than when it was first produced.
Therefore I have expanded and overhauled the original version
and published it as this separate volume. In the course of revising
it, while reflecting on the preaching tussles and controversies I
have been involved in over the last thirty-seven years since being
admitted into iskcon, I regretted that I had not been stronger,
bolder, and more outspoken. I now find myself more convinced
than ever of the “crying necessity of the moment for silencing the
aggressive propaganda of specific untruths that is being carried on
all over the world.” 1
It is fitting that Speaking Strongly be my first publication after Çré
Bhaktisiddhänta Vaibhava. By perusing Speaking Strongly, devotees
who appreciated the robust preaching of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta
Sarasvaté (as depicted in Çré Bhaktisiddhänta Vaibhava) may
further appreciate that such robustness was not meant to be
limited to him but imparted to all his followers, as it clearly was
to his foremost disciple, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupäda.
Almost certainly, Speaking Strongly will be controversial, and many
devotees will find its import difficult to accept. While expecting
criticism, I request would-be critics to first read the book in its
entirety. I must apologize to whoever may become offended by any
of my statements; but some things need to be said even at the risk
of discomfitting others (why so is discussed herein). Admittedly, a
seemingly contradictory case could be made for a more restrained
1 Harmonist 29.173 (Dec 1931); SBV,
vol. 3, p. 146.