“They’re ruining my books.” — Srila Prabhupada
The greatest anxiety Srila Prabhupada has is that after he’s gone we will add things to his books that are bogus, we will take things out that are bona fide, we will make changes in his books and the whole work for 10,000 years, his plan Prabhupada was working on, it will all be spoiled by us because of our tendency to change.
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Prabhupada Ordered “No Changes!”
Soon after the intense marathon for completing the publication of Caitanya Caritamrita, Radhaballabha prabhu approached Srila Prabhupada and mentioned that the artists are now completing the paintings in preparation for the second printing. To this, Srila Prabhupada replied “NO changes”.
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Srila Prabhupada on Editing His Books
Anything spoken by the Personality of Godhead should be taken as it is, with great care and attention and with great respect. It is not our business to amend the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or make additions or alterations, as it has become a custom for many so-called scholars and swamis who comment on the words of Bhagavad-gita.
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Closer to Manuscript? Not really…
The “defense” Jayadavaita Swami uses in justifying his changes to Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is is “I have made it closer to the original manuscript…” This is not a good defense. Just imagine if I write a book and find an editor I trust and and give him the service of editing my manuscript [...]
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Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada on Editing His Books
Anything spoken by the Personality of Godhead should be taken as it is, with great care and attention and with great respect. It is not our business to amend the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or make additions or alterations, as it has become a custom for many so-called scholars and swamis who comment on the words of Bhagavad-gita.
Changes
108 ISKCON Bhagavad Gita Changes
Jayadvaita did not only correct typographical errors. He has changed many things. There are thousands of changes which are completely unnecessary, change for the sake of change. Many of the changes alter the meaning of the text amid thousands of petty changes which apparently do not change the meaning.
Manuscript
Jayadvaita undoes Prabhupada’s work on Gita Manuscript
Prabhupada and Hayagriva worked together on editing the Bhagavad-gita daily during the almost three months while Hayagriva Prabhu was living with him in the San Francisco temple. Hayagriva went through practically every verse with Srila Prabhupada. Jayadvaita tries to eliminate all this work on the Gita by Srila Prabhupada by going back to the first draft.
Testimonials
“They’re ruining my books.” — Srila Prabhupada
The greatest anxiety Srila Prabhupada has is that after he’s gone we will add things to his books that are bogus, we will take things out that are bona fide, we will make changes in his books and the whole work for 10,000 years, his plan Prabhupada was working on, it will all be spoiled by us because of our tendency to change.
Recent Articles
To Edit or Not To Edit – That Is The Question
The book editing issue is a very serious one, perhaps the most serious issue in ISKCON today. I have seen the attractive and seemingly authentic website promoting these changes, but most of it is propaganda, a lot of it based on speculation of what took place. It is most unfortunate that this has occurred, as it endangers everything Srila Prabhupada came to this world to do. He came from Krishna Loka “to write some books.”
Demonized by ISKCON for distributing Srila Prabhupada’s Books…
The change disease has gotten to the point where devotees are being demonized for wanting or distributing these same books we grew up with and happily distributed, because we knew it pleased Srila Prabhupada so much.
Prabhupada Instructs Jayadvaita
When Jayadvaita Swami says: “the obviously erroneous “regulated principles” — a term that makes no sense” we must know that this is his opinion only, and it differs with Srila Prabhupada’s. It is a major problem that every time something doesn’t make sense to Jayadvaita Swami he must change it till he can understand it. This is not the behavior of a disciple.
Srila Prabhupada Said: “Arsha-Prayoga”
“So unless one is self-realized, there is practically no use writing about Krsna. This transcendental writing does not depend on material education. It depends on the spiritual realization. You’ll find, therefore, in the comments of Bhagavatam by different acaryas, even there are some discrepancies, they are accepted as asat-patha [NOTE: "asat-patha" should be transcribed as“Arsha-prayoga”. [...]
Who is Qualified to Write Transcendental Literatures?
Srila Prabhupada on who is qualified to write transcendental literature: These days many ISKCON devotees are publishing their own books, making their own translations and commentaries on Sanskrit or Bengali texts, or editing Prabhupada’s books I have no problems with devotee’s translating books into English that were not done by Srila Prabhupada. What must be [...]
Prabhupada Proofread the Gita Galley Proofs
Dear Srimati Govinda dasi, Please accept my humble obeiscances. Srila Prabhupada jayatah. I just came upon this in Folio – SPL Ch 4, “A Summer in Montreal” and I am sending it to you just in case this point is not in your awareness. Brahmananada had just come from Boston: “I came up to show [...]
Gita Cover-Up Alert or Buyer Beware!
Interested parties should be made aware that the BBT editors of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-Gita As It Is have continued editing their own new (2010) paperback edition of their 1983 “revised and enlarged” version. They have removed the notice “Revised and Enlarged” from the face page and left only “Second Edition.” The phrase “with the original [...]
Prabhupada Himself Clears It Up
There are a few different points I would like to address in this article. Firstly, in regard to my article called “Can I Trade For That Original One?”, I was just reading Srila Prabhupada’s original Gita and in the preface Srila Prabhupada himself says three times that his finished book is what is to be [...]
Jayadvaita undoes Prabhupada’s work on Gita Manuscript
Prabhupada and Hayagriva worked together on editing the Bhagavad-gita daily during the almost three months while Hayagriva Prabhu was living with him in the San Francisco temple. Hayagriva went through practically every verse with Srila Prabhupada. Jayadvaita tries to eliminate all this work on the Gita by Srila Prabhupada by going back to the first draft.
Can I Trade For That Original One?
Recently I met one nice young gentleman and presented Prabhupada’s books to him. I went through my whole presentation and explained how it’s the original, unedited pure wisdom. He then all of a sudden, without saying anything at all, just turned and went to his car, reached into it and pulled out a BBTI Bhagavad-Gita [...]
The Spin Doctor Has Gone Too Far!
In his rebuttal of Mother Govinda dasi’s letter, “Book Changes: History Backs the BBT“, Jayadvaita Swami asserts that history supports his very strange claim that Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva did not work together on the editing of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita. He claims that Mother Govinda dasi was wrong and that she did not ever see [...]
Jayadvaita is Wrong — still he insists on justifying his blunders?
Aug 27, 2010 — HAWAII, USA — Dear Prabhus, please accept my most humble obeisances. Thank you for all your extensive research into Srila Prabhupada’s letters and lectures, verse comparisons, etc. And thank you for your articles, Madhudvisa Prabhu, Ramadas Prabhu, Hotra Prabhu, and any and all other sincere devotees who care so much about [...]
ISKCON “Original Manuscript” Scam
I am not sure if you are aware of this but ISKCON has a policy of “revising” Srila Prabhupada’s books. They are making unauthorized changes to Srila Prabhupada’s books. For example now the Bhagavad-gita ISKCON distributes has thousands of unauthorized changes that in many cases significantly change the meaning of what Srila Prabhupada said in [...]
Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing!
My husband, Bhakta Philip and I were distributing books at a concert parking lot. It was a busy scene with a big jam band performing that night. I set up a table and immediately an extraordinarily curious man came by. He lifted the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, looked at it, and put it back. Then [...]
Jayadvaita Can Not Understand — So He Changes It…
In a paper called “The Revision of Bhagavad-gita As It Is: Answers to a Courteous Inquiry” regarding Bhagavad-Gita 2.1, Jayadvaita Swami says: “Have you ever had to explain the last sentence of this purport? ‘This realization is made possible by working with the fruitive being situated in the fixed conception of the self.’ It’s just [...]
The Last Days of School
I was at one of the bigger schools and saw a student who looked pretty hip and together, so I ran to catch up with him. I showed him the books and he immediately looked at me asking, “Are these the edited ones?” I busted out laughing in total surprise that a regular guy knew [...]
Srila Prabhupada’s Free Press
May 27, 2010 — JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, USA — An intelligent person who wants to learn what Srila Prabhupada has to say in his Bhagavad-gita As It Is will immediately note the sub-heading, “Enlarged and Revised”, which appears in the 1983 version. That phrase, “enlarged and revised”, usually rings a bell in the mind of a [...]
Chaste to the Original
Dear Srila Prabhupada, Please accept my humble obeisances, and kindly forgive my offences. vande ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams ca “I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and unto the feet of all Vaisnavas.” I am writing to you Srila Prabhupada, because letters addressed to your Divine Grace must [...]
Original or Revised Bhagavad-gita — It’s Your Call
One way to consider whether the revisions published in the 1983 version of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is were necessary is to make a side-by-side comparison of those revisions with the first edition text as published by Macmillan Co. in 1972. It was that text or manuscript to which Srila Prabhupada affixed his seal of [...]
Change — The Western Disease
Don’t do this. Keep the old system strong, and if necessary repair it. Don’t change from this to that. That is your American disease. This is very serious that you always want to change everything. (Letter to Bhakta dasa, Nov 24, 1974) There is no change. Therefore sastra means it is for all the time, [...]
Bhagavad Gita Changes — Complete List
For the first time a complete computerized comparison of Srila Prabhuapda’s original 1972 Macmillan Bhagavad-gita As It Is and the current ISKCON “Revised and enlarged” edition is available. It is amazing, and surprising to see all the changes so clearly pointed out. This is a side-by-side comparison of Srila Prabhuapda’s original Macmillan Bhagavad-gita As It [...]
History of the Bhagavad Gita Changes
Not all of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples share Jayadvaita’s and the formal GBC decisions to make so many changes to Srila Prabhupada’s books. We see a very real and holy sacredness in the books that Srila Prabhupada personally gave approval of and used in lectures for years. I am not opposed to correction of a limited [...]
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Manuscript
Published for the first time. The manuscript of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. This is the “original manuscript” referred to by Jayadvaita Swami which he uses to justify the BBT changes to Srila Prabhuapda’s Gita. As I have noted elsewhere ISKCON’s New Gita Closer to the Manuscript? Not Really… this manuscript is not the authority, the [...]
Where Angels Fear to Tread
The editors of the 1983 revised Gita did not believe that they actually interpolated philosophy or style.* Their idea was to improve both translations and purports by transposing and clarifying portions of old manuscripts, etc. existing prior to the one finally submitted to Macmillan in 1972. Truly, many of the grammatical, spelling, format and historical [...]
A Scientific Method for Evaluating Editorial Changes to Srila Prabhupada’s Books
“Our editing is to correct grammatical and spelling errors only, without interpolation of style or philosophy.” (Letter to Rupanuga, 2/17/70) Previous evaluations of the editorial changes focused on descriptions of the changes and references to pre-publication drafts rather than a factual quantification and comparative philosophical analysis. This article presents a scientific evaluation of the Bhagavad-gita [...]
Prabhupada on Editing Bhaktsiddhanta — Don’t
Kīrtanānanda: Why don’t you write some purports to that? (Srila Bhaktsiddhanta´s Sri Brahma Samhita) Prabhupāda: Huh? Kīrtanānanda: To Bhaktisiddhānta’s Brahma-samhitā. It would be nice if you would write some purports to it. Prabhupāda: Purports? Kīrtanānanda: Yes. Some of us have difficulty understanding Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. Prabhupāda: Yes. So if I get time… My time is very [...]
Restoring Confidence in the BBT
The attached .pdf file contains [Restoring Confidence in the BBT.pdf] a PowerPoint presentation which Madhudvisa dasa presented to the BBT trustees at their Vrindavan meeting during Kartik in 2007. The meeting was chared by Brahma Muhurta Prabhu and Jayadvaita Swami and all other important BBT trustees and members were present. The presentation was well received [...]
Jayadvaita – Change “Hare Krishna” to “hare krishna”…
Dear jayadvaita swami, Hare Krsna—or should I write “hare krsna”? I just received your letter recommending more changes. You write: “Strong reasons can be advanced, however, for leaving aside our present standard in favor of extending “down style’ to all pronouns. The editors of Chicago “urge a spare, down style” in the field of religion, [...]
Caitanya-caritamrta Changes — Full List
A complete comparison of the 1975 original edition of Srila Prabhupada’s Sri Caitanya-caritamrta with the new ISKCON/BBT revised edition highlighting all the changes. All changes are highlighted in the following pages. This comparison is based on the original & revised versions as they are presented in the Bhaktivedanta Archives Folio. We have not yet verified [...]
Jayadvaita Swami attacks Madhudvisa dasa
The following is a description of Jayadvaita Swami demanding a private meeting with me at the in March of 2004 at the annual ISKCON Mayapur Festival at Sridharma Mayapur, West Bengal, India, and what happened, “behind closed doors…” In 2004 I attended the Mayapur Festival for the first time in many years in 2004 as [...]
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