1. I have read many of Srila Prabhupada's books. I appreciate his whole hearted devotion to Krsna and his amazing authority on the Vedic literature. However, I find it little out dated when he speaks against using contraceptives to prevent the population explosion.
(Satchidanand Raut, Delhi)
Our reply – It is heartening to know that Srila Prabhupada's books are being appreciated by people far and wide. The foremost and the most important instruction that Srila Prabhupada has given to us is to chant the Hare Krsna mahamantra. If we sincerely follow his words, the first effect mentioned is "ceto-darpana-marjanam", meaning the mirror like heart will be cleansed of all contaminations accumulated over the entire period of our sojourn here in the material world. This includes anarthas like lust, anger etc. So, when Srila Prabhupada speaks in the negative about the use of contraceptives to control the "population explosion", he in fact implores us to inspect the problem from a deeper perspective. Instead of focusing on the battle and losing the war, Srila Prabhupada wants us to win the war and so the battle. If we focus on the principles that he has enunciated for us, we would of course be free of the problems that modern society hopes to solve by the use of artifical methods for contraception, but more than that we would also be free from this vicious cycle of birth and death. Of course, Srila Prabhupada always reminded us that the problem of "population explosion" is a myth. If we revert back to our original state of serving Krsna with love, He would maintain and take care of a population many times the present one without any difficulty. Apart from this, popular statistics and the increase in incidences of venereal diseases prove that use of contraceptive methods has in fact given rise to increased promiscuity, thus tightening our shackles to the material world more.
The reply to the letter was written by Nilesh Chandekar.