By Locanananda Dasa

I met Hayagriva’s son in front of the Doughnut Plant perhaps ten years ago when I was working there as the treasurer and accountant. I asked him what his father had to say about the recent changes being made to Srila Prabhupada’s books. He said, “My father told me, ‘If I made all those changes to his Bhagavad-gita, he would have cut off my head.'”

We know Hayagriva presented many editing suggestions to Srila Prabhupada. He was being directed by His Divine Grace. How could another editor come along without knowing what edits to the manuscript Srila Prabhupada had specifically approved when working with Hayagriva? To think that by returning to the original manuscript and reversing what Srila Prabhupada had approved puts the modern editor in a precarious position of having likely negated and overruled the intentions of Krishna’s pure devotee. It is like a razor’s edge. If you are not cautious, you can get a bloody cheek, or much worse.