01/26/98 - 1537

Sanskrit Error?

USA (VNN) - by Madhudvisa dasa (see also VNN story# 1024)

There is so much news these days, but at least for me, the most serious problem with ISKCON is they are changing Srila Prabhupada's books.

All the other news is, more or less, temporary, here today and gone tomorow. But Srila Prabhupada's books are the lawbooks and ISKCON are quietly modifying the laws... It is a great disaster. So if the devotees could put some preassure on ISKCON in this regard and save the teachings of Srila Prabhupada from the hands of the "editors" that would be a great service to Srila Prabhupada.

Thank you very much for the letters. Particularly the one on the BG changes. It is such a serious problem and unless one very carefully studies the two editions and considers it carefully it is difficult to spot the differences as Jayadvaita has often used the same words, but just arranged them in a different order to get a completely different meaning.

bg 7.30 Purport Original:

Persons acting in Krsna consciousness are never entirely
deviated from the path of understanding the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.

bg 7.30 Purport Jaydavaita's:

Persons acting in Krsna consciousness are never
deviated from the path of entirely understanding the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.

It is not a Sanskrit error as it is in Srila Prabhupada's purport, which was not written in Sanskrit. And it makes no sense the way Jayadvaita has "corrected" it.

The point is that devotees are sometimes deviated from the path of Krishna consciousness. Maya is very strong. So it sometimes happens. But Srila Prabhupada says they are never entirely deviated. And that is true. Even though a devotee may fall from the standard, he can never forget Krishna actually. So he is never completely deviated, so Srila Prabhupada's statement is perfect. However, Jayadvaita's correction is completely untrue. "Persons acting in Krsna consciousness are never deviated from the path of ENTIRELY understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead.." It is not possible to entirely understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna is unlimited and we are very small. So how can we, the tiny living entities "entirely understand" Krishna? It is not possible at all. Devotees can know Krishna to some extent, to the amount Krishna reveals Himself to the devotee, but it is not possible to "entirely" understand Krishna at any point in time.

Krishna is unlimited, we are limited, very small. Lord Caitanya even says Krshna doesn't entirely understand Himself. Of course Krishna understands everything, but because Krishna is always expanding there is a continual competition between Krishna's knowledge and Krishna's expanding qualities. As soon as Krsihna understands His qualities they expand... So how can we "entirely understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead". It is complete nonsense. Of course Jayadvaita Swami may have done it in good faith, but he has completely destroyed the original meaning and turned it into something that makes no sense at all. It is not a matter of grammer, he has changed the philosophy.

(see http://www.sudarsana.com/ISKCON/BookChanges/ for more details.)

So finding so many of these "modifications" in the new edition of Bhagavad-gita was a great shock to me, as previously I felt uncomfortable about the new edition, but I couldn't even dream that such drastic changes could have been made.

So many devotees have had the same experience as you, including myself, with the new edition of the Bhagavad-gita, feeling uncomfortable with it, but not really being able to pin down the reason.

It is a very good point you have brought up that something needs to be done soon. My copy of Srila Prabhupada's original Gita is also showing signs of wear and tear and the paper is becoming very old. So I am sure they are all like that. So Srila Prabhupada's work is now almost lost. If enough devotees put pressure on the GBC they have to do something. I suspect this is Jayadvata's personal program, and as you have indicated, it may have been done with all good intentions, but the result is that Srila Prabhupada's original work has been obscured and ISKCON no longer has an authoritative translation of the Bhagavad-gita.

I don't think many of the devotees in ISKCON or even the GBC are aware of the extent of the changes Jayadvaita has made. So if many of Srila Prabhupada's disciples like yourself could get together and present this issue to the GBC, perhaps at the Mayapura GBC meeting this year, that would be a great service to Srila Prabhupada and all the devotees.