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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.