Quoting out of context

On a related but separate note, further to the points that I made in Preaching in the post-Gay-Marriage World about de- and recontextualized quoting of Srila Prabhupada, I should add that cutting and pasting a whole lot of Prabhupada's statements from different places to create a compendium is also creating a different context, and thus quoting out of context. That is to say, if I take a whole lot of things that Srila Prabhupada said on one subject in different environments to different people, and then stick them all together and present this aggregation in a different environment I may be "quoting Prabhupada verbatim", but I'm doing so in a way and a context that he himself did not do, and one that does not necessarily reflect the same intent that he had when he made those statements.

In order to faithfully represent Srila Prabhupada we have to speak appropriately to the time, place, and circumstance with the same intent and purity of purpose that he had. That takes purification, not mere imitation.

The goal is to help people to become Krishna conscious. It's not just to prove to everyone how "right" we are. As His Holiness Devamrita Swami mentioned the other day, that was Prabhupada's genius - he did not compromise on the principle, but he was flexible in the application. So to follow his footsteps we have to do the same: be uncompromising on principle, and intelligently flexible in application. The Krishna Consciousness movement is not meant for blind following, but for creating independently thoughtful men.