The misconception that only ritviks are opposed to changes of Srila Prabhupadas books

[Paramananda das]

dear devotees

Please accept my humble obaisences

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Actually Rupanuga Prabhu and Mother Govinda that are senior to Jayadvaita Swami ,do not agree with the changes done to Srila Prabhupadas books.

Govinda dasi’s Letter

Dear Yashoda Dulal Prabhu,

Pamho. Yes, the bbt always gives that one worn-out example of cattle,  and of course the other one, planet of the trees. Yes, those are typos,  mistakes. They fail to mention the other four thousand and nine hundred  and ninety eight changes they made!

And had these two errors been corrected, along with any misspelled  words, etc. there would have been no cause for alarm–or for a million  dollar lawsuit with… bbt defending the edited version–one which they  lost in the courts. That is the only reason that now the  world has an option to read Prabhupada’s original words. But the 5000  changes that were made, and changing the “writer’s voice” was  unwarranted and factually criminal.

In a meeting at Honolulu temple some years back, Jayadvaita M.  actually stated, “Oh, those (original) books were horrible!” Those  “horrible” original books, with Srila Prabhupada’s divine mercy,  made thousands of devotees in the ’70s. More books were distributed then  than now.

It seems you believe the propaganda that Hayagriva was never around  Prabhupada much, and there were many editors etc. What can I say? This  is simply not true. I knew Hayagriva from the time I joined Prabhupada  in San Francisco, January of 1967. Hayagriva was there, and was already  editing the Gita, and spending hours every day with Srila Prabhupada  going over every verse!

And later, just before the first Gita was printed, in late 1968,  Hayagriva LIVED with us in Los Angeles. (I was Prabhupada’s  secretary for the whole year of 1968 and part of 1969) Daily they would  spend hours in Prabhupada’s room, going over every inch of the final  edits. I am an eye witness to this.

At this time, I even did the cover drawing for the  first MacMillan Gita (the purple one) with Prabhupada guiding  me, literally over my shoulder, watching the drawing develop. The purple  Gita cut out a lot of that meticulous work done by Srila  Prabhupada and Hayagriva; Macmillan wanted to make it smaller. So  they greatly edited Prabhupada’s manuscript, and he was unhappy with it,  but accepted it as “a blind uncle.”

But as soon as he could, he printed his manuscript in total, the  Original Gita, the one with Jadurany’s reddish battlefield picture on  the cover. Srila Prabhupada was extremely happy with that Gita–he  finally got his carefully nurtured manuscript into print! He was  overjoyed!

The “Edited Edition”, with the blue battlefield cover, done by  Parikshit das, with Krishna carrying a whip rather than his Panchajanya  (conch) as directed by Srila Prabhupada, was done AFTER Srila  Prabhupada’s departure from this world. Both the editing and the cover  were done after his departure, yet they inserted his preface and  signature of 1971–as if, with 5000 changes, it was the same book! How  unethical!

Most of Prabhupada’s disciples did not even know this editing  mischief was going on; they were grieving the loss of Srila Prabhupada  from this world. Only later, when the dust had settled, did many of us  learn of this travesty.

So I really do know what happened in those days. I even met with MacMillan in New York prior to the printing.

Jayadvaita M. had not even become a devotee in early 1967, so how  would he know?? He says many things that are not in keeping with what  really happened, since he was not there; perhaps he is relying on  hearsay, I don’t know. Neither was Jayadvaita M. in Los Angeles in late  1968 when Hayagriva lived with us for weeks on end, completing the  editing work. Most of what the bbt says in this regard is based on fairy  tales, hearsay, and perhaps some personal ambition as well. I do not  know how they can skew things in this way and still sleep at night.

But what I do know is that Srila Prabhupada wanted NO FURTHER CHANGES  TO HIS BOOKS. HE EXPRESSED THIS ON MANY OCCASIONS. A little research  can easily prove this point.

Now, you may enjoy reading many various literatures that are perhaps  well written, even better written, and that is fine. But if you want to  read Srila Prabhupada’s original words, gone over with a fine tooth comb  by Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva, then I suggest you read his original  books. If you want to compare them, that’s fine too. But his original  books must be available to the people who will come in the future of  this Kali Yuga. And the changes must stop lest the original teachings be  obliterated in the course of time.

Generally I avoid these political issues, as I feel most are fairly  unimportant and always changing. However, this book issue is very very  important. So important that Srila Prabhupada himself came to me in a  darshan a few years back and told me to defend his original books.  Frankly, I did not want to take this task, as it means stepping on  people’s toes, but he insisted. He ordered me to speak out, so I must,  in spite of being labeled and criticized.

Srila Prabhupada wants it known all over the world, and especially  for future generations, that his original books are just as he intended  them to be. They have his full shakti, full mercy, and are for all of  mankind. If the changes continue, there will always be another editor  who thinks he can improve this or that, and eventually the original  meaningswill be lost.

You may appreciate the editing work, but Srila Prabhupada doesn’t. He  didn’t appreciate the changes then, and he doesn’t appreciate it now.  Our duty is to please our Guru, not our own sense of what sounds good or  doesn’t sound good.

He made this clear so many times, yet they have chosen to ignore  everything he said. Please understand, I don’t blame any one person, not  even Jayadvaita M. It is the nature of the Kali Yuga to try to destroy  that which is sacred and meant for the upliftment of mankind. That is  how Maya works.

Srila Prabhupada often said “Krishna has written these books.” So  tell me, how can a conditioned soul improve on what Krishna has said or  written??

Your servant and sister, Govinda devi dasi

You can read http://bookchanges.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Bg-Chapter-1-diff... and see for yourself .Even the very first sloka of Bhagavad Gita is changed completly and speculatively :

Srila Prabhupadas Macmillan Gita:

TEXT 1

  2

  3 TRANSLATION

  4

  5 Dhrtarastra said: O Sanjaya, after assembling in the

  > place of pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, what did my sons

  > and the sons of Pandu do, being

  > desirous to fight?

  6

Jayadvaita Swamis version:TEXT 1

  8

  9 TRANSLATION

10

11 Dhrtarastra said: O Sanjaya, after my sons and the

  > sons of Pandu assembled in the place of

  > pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, desiring to fight, what

  > did they do?

12

Srila Prabhupada translation is 1000 better than Jayadvaita Swamis.

your servant

Paramananda das