courteously of Bhakti Ananda Goswami: As a research historian and theologian my entire lifes work has been based on an interdisciplinary comparison of the religious traditions and philosophies, arts and sciences of the World with the various traditions described in Srila Prabhupadas original books. Without his Books nothing that I have accomplished would have been possible. And, while I never was blessed with his physical association, I eventually was blessed with the personal association of Dr. Acharya Prabhakar Mishra, who was Srila Prabhupadas intimate first Disciple and his Sanskrit Guru. Most ISKCON-related Devotees do not really understand who Dr. Acharya Prabhakar Mishra was, or realize that he was famous all over India, Sri Lanka, Kashmir and Nepal as a very great Sanskrit Acharya. In fact Acharyaji was the Head of the Sanskrit Department of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Mumbai. Many considered him to be unrivaled in his Sanskrit and other Shastric brilliance, and yet he always maintained a humble demeanor in relationship to Srila Prabhupada as his beloved, venerable Spiritual Master. Srila Prabhupada and Acharyaji were very close. They lived together for over 5 years and founded the League of Devotees together in Jhansi. After meeting Acharyaji in 1982, in all the years of my contact with him, he NEVER criticized Srila Prabhupadas erudition or his translations to me, and I never heard of him fault-finding Srila Prabhupadas Books to anyone. This was not because they were free of any apparent INSIGNIFICANT material faults. It was because Srila Prabhupadas Books were TRANSCENDENTAL to any such so-called material faults. When a work of mere mundane genius rises to a level of unmatched greatest and thus makes a significant contribution to the human experience, sane and responsible humans do not tolerate its distortion and destruction. Recognizing the value of anything uniquely great, as belonging to all of humanity, the legacy of such a uniquely great thing is usually protected for posterity, by those who have the most historical interest and personal investment in it. When it comes to a Sacred Religious Tradition of Initiation (DIKSHA), it is primarily the duty of the disciples in that tradition to preserve and perpetuate their sacred tradition, including any scriptures and commentaries in their particular school or teaching lineage (Diksha Sampradaya). From the root of Sanskrit DIKSHA and English DISCiple we get the following words, which when strung together are quite revelatory... A DOCtor DISCiplines DISCiples, inDOCtrinating them in DOCtrine from a sacred DOCument. Srila Prabhupada coined the term disciplic succession. This was not proper English but it was accurate in an inspired way. His speaking and writing was full of such deep level realization about all kinds of amazing things, both spiritual-theological-metaphysical and historical and linguistic. For example He called Lord Balarama VALOROUS. Did he know that the very concept of VALOR could be traced to Lord BALadevas Heroic Universal Savior Name BL / VL??? Whether he consciously realized this or not, he seeded this profound thought and thousands more like it throughout his incomparable Books, so that on every page a serious student could mine deeper and deeper levels of treasure from them. Thus for me studying Srila Prabhupadas Books (letters, tapes, hymns, litanies, rituals etc.) was akin to mining them for the vast wealth of spiritual and other treasure in them, which was just waiting to be discovered. What Happened to Srila Prabhupadas Legacy? After my family and I were repeatedly and severely neglected, abused, lied to and exploited by ISKCON leaders, and I spent some years of zero contact with active ISKCON Devotees, having received a small donation before Christmas, I ordered two cases of Srila Prabhupadas Gitas to give away as Christmas Presents, primarily to my family members. On receipt I was profoundly shocked to discover that these Gitas were NOT Srila Prabhupadas Bhagavad-gita AS IT IS! In fact as I examined these heavily edited Gitas I was dismayed to realize that if I had been using these from the beginning, that I simply COULD NOT HAVE DONE MY WORK. The changes were that significant! I was so upset that I never gave those Gitas to anyone. Now, just as I have met many devout Protestant Christians whose Bible was the English King James Version, I also reasoned that those edited Gitas might also inspire MANY SINCERE SOULS to become Devotees of the Lord. BUT, for me there could be no comparison between the very late English King James Version and any of the authentically ancient Apostolic Catholic Versions of the Bible, which were in the original Biblical Languages of COPTIC, HEBREW, GREEK, ARAMAIC, LATIN, and GEEZ, and which included whole Books that were left out of the Protestant King James Version. For example the Protestants rejected the Greek Septuagint which is essential to understanding the worship of Krishna-Balarama and Paramatma in Messianic Judaisam in the centuries just before the Appearance of Jesus Christ. So while God can use the King James Version of the Bible to touch the hearts of fallen souls and draw them back to Him, and He can certainly use the BBTs edited version of Srila Prabhupadas Gita to do the same, the King James Version of the Bible is still far from ANY of the Original Versions of the Bible, and the BBT Edited Gita is likewise FAR from Srila Prabhupadas original Bhagavad-gita AS IT IS. Both will have their uses in Sri Krishnas Plan, but they are certainly NOT THE SAME GITA and should not be confused as the same Book by anyone. As a scholar, I simply cannot use the posthumously edited BBT versions of Srila Prabhupadas Books to do what I need to do, and I find it shocking that any disciple of Srila Prabhupadas would have the hubris to change a single word of his Books, without his permission, as it has been done. To change an authors text posthumously, instead of properly footnoting or appending it, is not acceptable in any field. Who is responsible for the decisions that were made to do this to Srila Prabhupadas Books?
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 08:35:42 +0000
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