Mahasrnga Dāsa – Jaipura: Following is an exchange that I had with Jayadvaita Swami regarding the changes that the BBT under his leadership are making. While I admire his perseverance at maintaining his position on making radical and unnecessary changes to Śrīla Prabhupāda books, I believe that he needs to begin to listen to his god brothers and sisters who should also have a say in the way in which their spiritual master’s work is being handled by his disciples who hold posts within the institution.

Fanaticism has no place in our Vaiṣṇava society and to date Jayadvaita Swami has failed to listen to any  sound advice from his learned God brothers and refuses to budge in his mulish attitude to the changing of the work of the Vaiṣṇava Ācārya  His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda. 

— On Wed, 8/24/11, mahasrnga dasa <[email protected]> wrote:

From: mahasrnga dasa <[email protected]>
Subject: Fw: Re: Book changes
To: “Mandapa” <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 8:08 PM

— On Wed, 8/24/11, mahasrnga dasa <[email protected]>
wrote:

From: mahasrnga dasa <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Book changes
To: “Jayadvaita Swami” <[email protected]>
Cc: “Ekanatha” <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 6:39 PM
Hare Krsna Maharaja,

PAMHO. AGTSP.

Thank you for responding to not only my concerns but the deep felt concerns of thousands and thousands of devotees, disciples and people of the world about the changes to Śrīla Prabhupada’s books.

There is no question of ever agreeing on you and Dravida’s continuing effort to prove your intellectual superiority above Prabhupada’s. I’m not sure if it comes from your ethnic background or just false ego but you will no doubt be taken to task in your future life.

You got permission from the zonal acarya infamous 11 GBC’s to change the diacritical marks for around 100 misprints somewhere around 1980 which only passed by one vote. They gave you permission because they were so busy offending other devotees that they just didn’t want to deal with you.
You then took the liberty to make thousands and thousands of unauthorized changes backing up their diluted agenda of the times.

Since then you have added additional members to your disrespectful team continuing to change words, sentence structure, meanings and the contexts of Śrīla Prabhupada’s realizations.

I know you to be quite intelligent but why you don’t see this as offensive to someone who is and was a cent percent pure devotee of Krsna is beyond my comprehension. If you believed in the words of His Divine Grace then you would understand that there must be a reaction for this egotistical nonsense.

I’m sure you’ve been told this in countless ways in the past so I won’t dwell on it here but as a old comrade in arms I would hope and pray that you do a rethink of your past actions and perhaps mellow in your old age. No one lives forever and Lord Krsna is in total charge of who and when a soul is ripped out of their body. Even if rather untimely, like TKG!

I won’t read your defensive websites and counter you tit for tat. You’re way smarter in that department than I am and we could argue until the cows come home. But please try and see that a lot of your changes have political innuendos influenced by the polluted GBC’s of yesteryear’s. Anyone and everyone were mislead by their ruse as gurus but most of the older devotees have woken up by reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s ‘s books.

If you continue to change Prabhupada’s words at least put yours or Dravidas name as the author and stop insulting your spiritual master.
Your servant in service to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s .

Mahasrnga dasa
— On Wed, 8/24/11, Jayadvaita Swami <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Jayadvaita Swami <[email protected]>
Subject: Book changes
To: [email protected]
Cc: “Dravida (das) ACBSP (San Diego – USA)”
[email protected]>,
“Ekanatha ACBSP” <[email protected]>

Date: Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 12:41 PM

Dear Mahasrnga Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s.

Thank you for your letter. Whether we agree or disagree on any given topic, I’m happy to hear from you and remember you.

I’ve noted your point — that editing after the author’s departure is “offensive and unethical” — but I wonder on what authority you say this.

In academic circles, it is not at all considered unethical.

On the contrary, when responsibly done it is considered a valuable service. (See http://www.bbtedit.com/node/120.)

And the history of our sampradaya shows editing of the work of a departed acarya done even by such an illustrious figure as Srila Jiva Gosvami. (See http://www.bbtedit.com/node/121.)

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructed his editors to make sure his books were free from mistakes.

See  http://www.bbtedit.com/node/20
http://www.bbtedit.com/node/10
http://www.bbtedit.com/node/260
And he never said “Until I leave this world.” (See http://www.bbtedit.com/node/13.)

I suppose we are supposed to believe that the author “approved” of all the editorial errors left in his books at the time of his departure. This is a belief I respectfully choose not to share. (See http://www.bbtedit.com/node/203.)

In any case, I hope you’ll feel always enlivened by reading whichever editions of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books you prefer.

And I hope you’ll always buy them from the BBT and encourage other devotees to do so. (See http://www.BBTonly.com.)

On this anniversary of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s appearance: May we always feel a sense of friendship and a common cause in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s service.

I look forward to having your company again, at the earliest.
Hoping this finds you in good health,
Your servant,

Jayadvaita Swami
—————————
www.jswami.info

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: book changes
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:02:24 – 0700 (PDT)
From: mahasrnga dasa <[email protected]>
To: Ekanatha <[email protected]>

Hare Krsna Ekanatha prabhu,

Could you please pass this along to JAS and Dravida prabhus.

The books are being edited by the BBT in the author’s name, meaning that whatever is being changed or added is supposed to be accepted as the author’s work. As we all know, this is highly offensive and unethical since the author is no longer here to approve of such changes. However, in the case of citations, individual writers are at complete liberty to summarize works by an author providing that individual use the proper punctuation marks intended for that very purpose. This law of writing indicates to any learned audience that the quote being cited is not in entirety and that the provided source should thereby be consulted.
Thank you and I hope all is well.

Maha

 

On Thu, 8/25/11, (Temple) Jaipur (India) <[email protected]> wrote:
From: (Temple) Jaipur (India) <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Book changes
To: “Basu Ghosh (das) ACBSP (Baroda – IN)” <[email protected]>, “Bhima (das) ACBSP (BBT India, Juhu, Mumbai – IN)” <[email protected]>, “Jasomatinandan (das) ACBSP (Gujarat – IN)” <[email protected]>, “Ananda Tirtha (das) JPS (Juhu, Mumbai – IN)” <[email protected]>, “Devakinandan (das) JUHU (Bombay – IN)” <[email protected]>, “JSwami” [email protected]>, “mahasrnga dasa” <[email protected]>
Cc: “Ekanatha” <[email protected]>
Date: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 1:24 AM
Dear Jayadvaita Swami

I have seen the last couple of letters between yourself and Mahasrnga Prabhu as a response to his letter to Ekanatha Prabhu. No doubt he is somewhat direct in his speaking, which may be due to frustration.

In your response you mention. In academic circles, it is not at all considered unethical.
On the contrary, when responsibly done it is considered a valuable service. (See http://www.bbtedit.com/node/120.)

Node/120 reads: Restoring lost or mangled text to great works of literature is an endeavor scholars and educated readers highly value, and publishing houses with impeccable reputations for scholarly integrity have published posthumously edited works by such authors as Melville, Thoreau, Faulkner, Hemingway, Orwell, Joyce, Robert Frost, Mark Twain, and James Fenimore Cooper.

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s works are not lost or mangled. The work you are doing is not restoration, neither are you editing, you are changing. Many senior devotees I know here in India feel that the editing is a valuable service but they also feel that there are too many changes that do nothing to make the subject any clearer.

Then you say:
And the history of our sampradaya shows editing of the work of a departed acarya done even by such an illustrious figure as Srila Jiva Gosvami. (See http://www.bbtedit.com/node/121.)

Node/121 reads: The fourteenth chapter of the Bhakti-ratnakara contains four letters written by Sri Jiva Gosvami to Srinivasa Acarya. In the first letter, Jiva writes that he is still proofreading/correcting the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu of Srila Rupa Gosvami, who by then had passed away.

Was it that, the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu was already in print under the direction of Srila Rupa Gosvami and then after he departed Sri Jiva-Gosvami was then re-proofreading / correcting. Or was it that the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu by Rupa Gosvami had not been printed and Sri Jīva Gosvami was getting it ready by proof reading? This is unclear to me.

To finish:
In any case, I hope you’ll feel always enlivened by reading whichever editions of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s ‘s books you prefer.


And I hope you’ll always buy them from the BBT and encourage other devotees to do so. (See
http://www.BBTonly.com.)

BBTonly.com: Of course the letter from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s is very clear and easy for anyone to understand. Even without this letter every serious devotee in ISKCON knows, only the BBT can print and that only BBT books should be brought. Although, as you mention above, I do hope you give us the choice of reading your changed editions or the original, with all it faults.
The BBT should make both available to Temples to choose which editions they want to read and sell, is it not.

I therefore make a personal request to the BBT Trustees that the unchanged editions be available, even at a higher cost. I know we here in Jaipur would be happy to pay a little extra.

I add Bhima Prabhu and Jasomatinandan Prabhu as BBT Trustees for Inida. I add Ananda Tirtha Prabhu as he runs BBT in India, I add Devakinandan Prabhu as he is our Co-Zonal Secretary for Rajasthan and I add Basu Ghosh Prabhu as he is an excellent editor.

Your servant
Pancaratna Dasa
Temple President ISKCON Jaipur
Chairman India Regional Governing Body 2010/2011