This small book examines one specific change in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Bhagavad-gītā As It Is: the replacement of “The Blessed Lord said” with “The Supreme Personality of Godhead said” as the translation of śrī-bhagavān uvāca.

At first glance, this may seem like a minor issue. After all, no follower of Śrīla Prabhupāda should object to identifying Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the very foundation of his presentation of Bhagavad-gītā.

But the real question is different. The question is not whether “The Supreme Personality of Godhead said” is true. It is true. The question is whether later editors were authorized to remove “The Blessed Lord said” from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s published book after his departure.

This book argues that they were not.

Using this one phrase as a case study, the book examines the larger principles involved in the posthumous editing of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books: authorial approval, manuscript evidence, the difference between annotation and alteration, the function of word-for-word meanings and verse translations, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s own use of the word “blessed,” the Gauḍīya devotional English of The Harmonist, and the Vaiṣṇava principle of ārṣa-prayoga.

The argument is simple: evidence may justify explanation, but explanation belongs in a separate annotated edition clearly identified as such. It does not automatically justify replacing the published words of the ācārya in the body of the original text.

This book is therefore not merely about one phrase. It is about the integrity of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s published books, and about the principle that his original texts should be preserved as he gave them.

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