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02/22/98 - 1633 Give Jayadvaita Swami the "Benefit of the Doubt"?
USA (VNN) - Letters from Krishnakant, Madhudvisa dasa and Nara Narayan Vishwakarma das From: Krishnakant Dear Krishnakant Prabhu Haribol! Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Yes. The ball is in their court now. We have shown in many cases the meaning of the text in the "Revised and Enlarged" edition of Srila Prabhupada's "Bhagavad-gita As It Is" significantly differs from the meaning of the original text in the book personally used and approved of by Srila Prabhupada. Some differences have been listed at <http://www.sudarsana.com/ISKCON/BookChanges>. So it is now up to the BBT to make public the source material which justifies so many changes. If they fail to make such material public then the question remains, "What have they got to hide?" But, having said this, it is still greatly perplexing to me why, if the original editors made so many unauthorized changes to Srila Prabhupada's original manuscript which Jayadvaita has corrected for us in the "Revised and Enlarged" edition, why did he not mention any of these "big changes" in his critique on the original editors work? Why has he only mentioned a few relatively insignificant changes and not mentioned any of the "big changes" at all? The other important point is the BBT are now "Revising and Enlarging" Srila Prabhupada's books. Not just editing them as they did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. The justification for these wholesale revisions to Srila Prabhupada's books is one sentence taken from one of Srila Prabhupada's letters where Srila Prabhupada says whatever Jayadvaita Swami does is all right. However these letters are written to specific devotees at specific times and places and can not be taken as absolute instructions for all time and all places. The Bhagavad-gita "Revision and Enlargement" was done at the height of the Zonal Acarya days and things were VERY different in ISKCON and the BBT than when Srila Prabhupada wrote the letter the BBT use to justify Jayadvaita's freedom to change Srila Prabhupada's books any way he feels like with no checks and balances. It would seem ISKCON have placed the whole future credibility of the organization in the hands of one person. It is a very dangerous situation. Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! Your servant Madhudvisa dasa
From: Nathan Zakheim <zakheim@earthlink.net> Subject: Re: Give Jayadvaita Swami the "Benefit of the Doubt"? Dear Prabhus: PAMHO AGTSP! When an author declares that his writing is finished, and that the editing is accepted by him, and that the typos (if any) are not objectionable, then the readership can pick on of two choices: 1. Accept the author's work at face value without rejecting parts of it. (Srila Prabhupada has stated in CC that even if a great sadhu makes a "mistake",that mistake is also honored due to the stature of the sadhu.) 2. One can reject the writer for creating a work that is flawed in a way that the reader finds that they cannot accept. According to copyright law, it is not allowable for changes to be made in a copyrighted book. If I do not like some of the passages written by Mark Twain, it does not give me the right to eliminate or "enlarge" on such passages. In the case of Mark Twain, the idea would be ridiculous. Who would dare to change the approved published volume of the great Mark Twain? I was present and actively engaged in aspects of the development of Srila Prabhupada's books. I knew all of the editors both personally and well. I was aware of the type of things that Srila Prabhupada did not like, and the type of things that he left to the discretion of His editors. When you have a prissy, ultra-retentive person such as Jayadvaita Swami watching for years in impotent horror as a totally debauched (even depraved) person such as Hayagriva edited away in a beach cottage in Ensenada Mexico while living a life that could (or at least should) make any member in good standing of any Iskcon Temple cringe, you can imagine the level of OUTRAGE and ENVY that such a person would feel when they felt that THEY were much more qualified to do the job! Why did Srila Prabhupada pick Hayagriva instead of Jayadvaita in the first place? WHO KNOWS!!! I certainly did not like his editing! I loved Srila Prabhupada's wonderful Transcendental turns of phrase and linguistic quaintness. I resented Hayagriva's editing. SRILA PRABHUPADA DID NOT! He said that "Whatever Hayagiva has edited is good". I DISAGREE WITH ANY CONCLUSION THAT GIVES CHANGES A BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT! There is NO reason to give Jayadvaita Swami the benefit of the doubt. Jayadvaita Swami is filled with ENVY of Hayagriva and Rayarama as well as the other AUTHORIZED editors of Srila Prabhupada's books. If not, then how can he DARE to overturn the DIRECT REQUEST of our Guru Maharaja? NO AUTHOR GIVES EVEN HIS BEST EDITOR THE RIGHT TO CHANGE HIS COPYRIGHTED AND PUBLISHED BOOKS POSTHUMOUSLY. In the case of Srila Prabhupada, the idea of Him approving post-Samadhi changes is insane. SRILA PRABHUPADA READ ALL OF HIS BOOKS AND LECTURED ON THEM. Who is going to step forward and accuse Srila Prabhupada of being incompetent to hear discrepancies in his own books? I was present when He would find a discrepancy in the Srimad Bhagavatam. He immediately stopped the reading and requested that a responsible person take down the error and have it corrected in the next edition! (A person such as Rameshwara) I ASSURE YOU that the idea of changing Srila Prabhupada's books was repugnant to him. He REPEATEDLY DENOUNCED any proposed changes in his books ON PRINCIPAL. Those who feel that they are authorized to make post-humus changes subscribe to a current and very pernicious HERESY. Such persons do not accept the ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY of Srila Prabhupada. They do not see them selves as UNDER HIS AUTHORITY as Spiritual Master. THEIR HERESY is their perception that the Vedas are greater than any individual practitioner of them. They see the work that Srila Prabhupada did in a different light than that of an actual disciple. They believe that since the Vedas are greater than any individual practitioner, even Srila Prabhupada,(All fall short of the Glory of 'God) that it takes a collective or communal effort to "get it right" CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT IS GOING THROUGH THEIR HEADS? "Srila Prabhupada didn't have enough TIME to get it right" "Srila Prabhupada JUST COULDN'T SEE that his editors were not up to the standard" "Srila Prabhupada was just ATTACHED to Hayagriva" "Srila Prabhupada was an OLD MAN FROM INDIA and DIDN'T UNDERSTAND many things in the western world that WE OF COURSE UNDERSTAND since we are from the west. I was exposed to this type of horrible anti-spiritual swill for all of my days and years amongst the chronically disobedient and heretical Iskcon leaders who went on to become GBC members and then puffed them selves up into "infallible bona fide spiritual masters" in 1978. The heresy of the Vedas being greater than the Acharya is a direct gift from the Gaudiya Math and the camps of Sridhara Maharaja and Narayan Maharaja. The current followers of these heretics have even drawn a picture of a big circle of GREAT VAISHNAVA ACHARYAS that shows Srila Prabhupada as an obscure member of that large circle. BY SO DOING, THE HERETICS PLACE THEMSELVES ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE ACHARYA. I am not amazed that Jayadvaita Swami has changed the books. I AM AMAZED THAT HE SOMEHOW FEELS THAT HE HAS THE RIGHT TO DO SO! No actual disciple would dare to do such a thing. His respect for his Guru Maharaja would make it impossible. ONLY WHEN A MAN FEELS EQUAL TO HIS GURU CAN HE UNDERTAKE SUCH A TASK. I think that everyone would love to see a non-edited manuscript published as the source material for each and every book. Scholars would love to pore over such writings five hundred or a thousand years from now. Errata can be footnoted and enclosed at the back of a volume. A guide to errors can be published alongside the original volume (under the name of the editor, not the name of the Author.) Essentially, Jayadvaita Swami is writing HIS words under the name of Srila Prabhupada, as though HE were HIS DIVINE GRACE A C BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA! In Short, HE THINKS THAT HE IS SRILA PRABHUPADA. This is a Mayavadi conclusion. I have begun a lawsuit together with several other concerned disciples of Srila Prabhupada to demand that the books be restored to their original condtion as approved by the Author. I fully support the publication of any and all of Srila Prabhupada's source material and work in-progress. I would also fully support Jayadvaita Swami if he were to take the same source material as Srila Prabhupada and wrote his own version with his own purports, and his own translation and transliteration. He could call it "The Bhagavad Gita as it REALLY is" or, "The Bhagavad Gita as it was meant to be" Or even, "The Bhagavad Gita as it WOULD have been if Srila Prabhupada had not overlooked so many REALLY OBVIOUS mistakes (that I certainly caught RIGHT away)" In the end there will be a line "drawn in the sand". Srila Prabhupada is ABSOLUTE. He is NON DIFFERENT from Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This will be the demand: DO YOU ACCEPT, OR DO YOU NOT ACCEPT? Either He is or is not absolute. There is no compromise position. If Srila Prabhupada IS absolute, then Jayadvaita Swami had better put things back where he found them before he gets into REAL trouble! If Iskcon and the GBC conclude that Srila Prabhupada is NOT absolute, well.........they can continue doing the same sort of things that they are doing right now. They will not need to change themselves at all. Your eternal servant, Nara Narayan Vishwakarma das |