11.04.25
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Why One Conversation Cannot Rewrite the Gītā: A Case Study in Misusing Prabhupāda’s Words

By Ajit Krishna Dasa

A devotee recently pointed to the following excerpt from a 1973 conversation and argued that, based on this alone, Bhagavad-gītā 18.66 should be “corrected” to replace the word religion with “occupation”:

Prabhupāda: Now, Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66].
Satish Kumar: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Now, dharma means occupation. Dharma is not translated as “religion.”
Satish Kumar: No, no.
Prabhupāda: This is wrong translation. Dharma means occupation.
Satish Kumar: Activity?
Prabhupāda: Activity, occupation.
(Conversation, London, July 30, 1973)

Before rushing to “fix” the book, a few points need to be made—especially in light of arsa-prayoga, the principle that the words of the ācārya are not to be tampered with after his departure:

  1. No instruction, and thus no authorization, was given to change the verse. Srila Prabhupada often spoke freely and loosely in conversation, but he gave direct, literal instructions for book changes while present. Here, he did not.
  2. Srila Prabhupada himself frequently translated dharma as “religion.” This is not a one-off occurrence—it appears hundreds of times in his books and lectures. Are we now to “correct” them all? On what authority?
  3. He heard the verse read aloud repeatedly and never objected. This is decisive. He personally approved the printed Gītā, lectured from it, and signed off on it as finished work.
  4. What happens when we find other places where Prabhupada gives different meanings or emphases? Language is fluid, and Srila Prabhupada tailored his wording to context and audience. Selectively mining conversations to override the final, published work is not fidelity—it’s revisionism.
  5. This is exactly how “The Blessed Lord” was removed by Jayadvaita Swami and the BBTI from later editions. Even though Srila Prabhupada accepted that phrase while alive, and even used it himself, editors saw one conversation where he expressed a reservation—and used that as a pretext to delete it from the entire book.

If this logic is allowed, what will be next?

This is the fatal pattern: use a stray comment in a private conversation to overrule the public, authorized book. It weaponizes Prabhupada’s own words against his finished legacy. That is the opposite of arsa-prayoga. That is how the books slowly stop being his.