Page 22 - OSSISPS - Eng
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preface                                                  xvi

          with consideration of time, place, and circumstance, and respond
          to  the oft-mooted  query,  “Who is  qualified to speak  strongly?”
          If my analysis of various angles and nuances of these subjects
          seems repetitive, it is because I have tried to treat all common
          perspectives on them, many of which overlap. Furthermore,
          “Repetition of something is necessary in order that we understand
          the matter thoroughly, without error.” 1

          A measure of the effectiveness of this book will be the extent to
          which it engenders further discussion. Herein, several important
          topics have been broached but not developed comprehensively.
          Not least among them is the very purpose and mission of
          iskcon. Also, in focusing primarily on strong speaking targeted
          at nondevotees, this work offers only limited guidelines for
          contentious exchanges within Vaiñëava circles. Not everything
          can be included in one volume. I pray that Kåñëa grant me the
          time, resolve, health, intelligence, and purity to complete the
          several other important theses that I plan for addressing these
          and other issues vital to the Kåñëa consciousness movement.
          My thanks are extended to those devotees who continue to selflessly
          help me in the production of my books (see Acknowledgments,
          p.  273), and  to the  many more  who  have encouraged me  by
          expressing appreciation of my writings. Special mention is also
          due to those devotees who, by their abhorrence of strong speaking,
          have afforded me sustained inspiration for the compilation of this
          treatise.

          I request all devotees to please pray that throughout this life, and
          perhaps also in many more lifetimes, I may continue to speak
          strongly and to persevere in this vocation of writing, and that in
          so doing I may always aspire to be a humble instrument in the
          service of Çréla Prabhupäda and his followers. Furthermore, I pray


          1 Bg 2.25, purport.
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