Page 23 - Śrī Pañcatantra - Eng

Preface xxi

Therefore, in the final analysis, all śāstra is not of the same level,
and nīti-śāstra should not be considered on par with Purāṇic
histories or the Itihāsas like Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa.

I would like to thank His Holiness Bhakti Vikāsa Swami not
only for his constant encouragement, but for seeing to the
publication of this important work. My wife and constant
companion Śrīmatī Abhaya Mudrā Dāsī helped to guide
the book’s progress at every step with her many ideas and
suggestions. Our dear daughters Yaminī and Jaya Rādhe have
also encouraged this project through their love of these stories.
I gratefully acknowledge the editing and Sanskrit skills of Kiśora
Dāsa and his wife Ananta-sarovara Dāsī for their hundreds of
valuable suggestions. I also thank Sriman Pradeep J Aithal for
painting beautiful art for the cover. Finally I would like to thank
Priyanka and Gaurav Singh for their generous financial support
while I was busily absorbed in writing. They are always eager to
read these thought-provoking stories to their two devotee girls
Gaurāṅgī and Ānandinī. May Lord Kṛṣṇa continue to shower
this pious Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava family, and all who read this work,
with His eternal blessings.

There is a tendency by certain classes of nondevotees to
trivialize śāstric records, or even go so far as to turn Kṛṣṇa and
His incarnations into a fantastic cartoon or some ancient fable.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Such speculative ideas
that the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa is a fable are
specifically held by atheists who contradict the opinions of the
greatest mahā-bhāgavatas such as Śrī Nārada, Vyāsa, Madhva
and the more recent ācāryas of our Gauḍīya sampradāya.

The science of auspicious timing, muhūrta, is mentioned in
several places in Pañcatantra. Let us therefore now begin
our presentation of Pañcatantra under auspicious stars and
seek the blessings of our Guru Mahārāja Śrīla Prabhupāda.