Tag Archives: Bhagavad-gita

06.26.15
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Desire for Needless Change Fulfilled (Bg, Introduction)

vancha-kalpa

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Introduction:

Original, authorized 1972 edition: 

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord who can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and who are full of compassion for the fallen souls.”

JAS It Is:

vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.”

Jayadvaita Swami, Letter to Amogha Lila, 1986:

“Srila Prabhupada staunchly opposed needless changes.”

06.25.15
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One Example Out of Many Disproves Editor’s  Own Words (Bg. 13.25)

Bg. 13-25

BY: BHAKTA TORBEN

Jun 21, 2015 — DENMARK (SUN) — 

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 13.25:

Original, authorized 1972 edition: 

“That Supersoul is perceived by some through meditation, by some through the cultivation of knowledge, and by others through working without fruitive desire.”

Manuscript: 

“That Supersoul is perceived by some through meditation, and by some through the cultivation of knowledge, and by others through working without fruitive desire.”

JAS It Is: 

“Some perceive the Supersoul within themselves through meditation, others through the cultivation of knowledge, and still others through working without fruitive desires.”

The original 1972 standard and the so-called manuscript are completely identical. And well articulated. Still the ‘JAS It Is’ model chooses a different phrasing.

As seen many times before.

Here are some important words from the principal editor to Srila Prabhupada’ s books after His Divine Grace’ s departure. On the policy of editing:

“‘Arsa-Prayoga’ is a very important principle. The editor should never have the mentality that he is better than the author, that he has something more to contribute than the author does, that the author really doesn’t know what he is doing, but he knows what he is doing. That’ s offensive and that ruins everything. It is an offense to the acarya. The idea however that this sort of sanctity that the authors’ s has, or that the words of the author has, have, somehow extends to the mistakes of the editors is weird. It is an offense to correct the mistakes of previous editors! Are they acaryas? Are they paramahamsas? Are they infallible? They are wonderful devotees, they did wonderful service, but they made mistakes. Understandable.”

We advise the reader to ponder the gap between theoretical intent and actual action. This example is by far not an isolated case.

06.24.15
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Uneven Edit (Bg. 2.48)

bg-2-48

BY: BHAKTA TORBEN

Jun 17, 2015 — DENMARK (SUN) —  Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 2.48:

Original, authorized 1972 edition: 

“Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.”

Manuscript: 

“Do your prescribed duty in an equipoised condition. To do such duty without being attached to success or failure, and to remain in an equiposed condition is called Yoga.”

Read Aloud to Srila Prabhupada by Tamala Krishna in London, 1968: 

“Be steadfast in your duty, O Arjuna, and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga [Bg. 2.48].”

And immediately after Tamal Krishna’s reading of the verse Srila Prabhupada says:

“This is the explanation of yoga, evenness of mind. Yoga-samatvam ucyate. If you work for Krsna, then there is no cause of lamentation or jubilation. Jubilation is there because you are working for Krsna, but there is no cause of lamentation. Yoga-sthah kuru karmani, yogah karmasu kausalam. That is the secret of activities, how you can very diligently work at the same time you are not entangled with the actions. That is the secret. Go on.”

The word-for-word reads ‘samatvam – evenness of mind‘ (Original), but the heavily edited ‘JAS It Is’ version says in the word-for-word ‘samatvam – equanimity’.

‘JAS It Is’:

“Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.”

Once again we observe an absolutely unnecessary change. This verse in the original 1972 edition is perfect.

There are more irregularities. Check it out.

06.11.15
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Failed De-Sexing Edit Attempt (Bg. 2.23 and 2.24)

BY: BHAKTA TORBEN

May 14, 2015 — DENMARK (SUN) —

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 2.23:

Screen Shot 2015-06-11 at 13.38.38

Original, authorized 1972 edition: 

“The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.”

Manuscript: 

“The soul can never be cut into peices by any kind of weapon, neither can he be burnt by fire, nor can He be moistened by water, nor can he be dried up by the wind.”

JAS It Is: 

“The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.”

Although both the manuscript and the original says he about the soul, the JAS It is-version has, for unknown reasons, dropped the pronoun.

Paradoxically, however, ‘Jas It Is’ version in the ensuing verse, 2.24, does NOT drop the pronoun ‘he‘ for the soul:

Bhagavad-gita As It Is 2.24:

Original, authorized 1972 edition: 

“This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.”

Manuscript: 

“This individual soul is unbreakable, cannot be burnt, insoluble, nondriable, everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.”

JAS It Is. 2.24:

“This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.”

So the ‘JAS It Is’ edit-strategy seems to be pretty fickle. “Should we, or shouldn’t we?”

Anyway, why not just stick to the original? It is pretty clear.

In London, 1973, BOTH of the original’s verses were read aloud to Srila Prabhupada.

06.10.15
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Superfluous and Awkward (Bg. 3.26)

BY: BHAKTA TORBEN

May 18, 2015 — DENMARK (SUN) —

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 3.26:

Screen Shot 2015-06-10 at 12.21.52

Original, authorized 1972 edition: 

“Let not the wise disrupt the minds of the ignorant who are attached to fruitive action. They should not be encouraged to refrain from work, but to engage in work in the spirit of devotion.”

Manuscript: 

“Those who are after the fruitive results of prescribed duties may not be induced to stop work, disrupt his intelligence. Rather they should be engaged in all sorts of activities, for gradual development of Krsna consciousness.”

JAS It Is:

“So as not to disrupt the minds of ignorant men attached to the fruitive results of prescribed duties, a learned person should not induce them to stop work. Rather, by working in the spirit of devotion, he should engage them in all sorts of activities [for the gradual development of Krishna consciousness].”

The original is fine and lucid.

The ‘Jas It Is’ edition is a threefold mix of the original and the manuscript plus added stuff, i.e., the words ‘So as not to’ and ‘a learned person’ .

The bracketed sentence in the end ‘for the gradual development of Krishna consciousness’ is a pleonasm to the sentence ‘working in the spirit of devotion’, therefore superfluous and the end-result is awkward.

There is more, check it out.

06.09.15
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King Shifted (Bg. 1.20)

BY: BHAKTA TORBEN

Jun 07, 2015 — DENMARK (SUN) —

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 1.20:

Screen Shot 2015-06-09 at 12.38.01

Original, authorized 1972 edition: 

“O King, at that time Arjuna, the son of Pāṇḍu, who was seated in his chariot, his flag marked with Hanumān, took up his bow and prepared to shoot his arrows, looking at the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. O King, Arjuna then spoke to Hṛṣīkeśa [Kṛṣṇa] these words:”

Manuscript: 

“Oh the king, at that time Arjuna the son of Pandu who was seated on the chariot with flag marked with Hanuman and while just he was about to throw his arrows taking up the bow, he said unto Lord Krsna as follows after looking on the situated sons of Dhritarastra.”

JAS It Is: 

“At that time Arjuna, the son of Pāṇḍu, seated in the chariot bearing the flag marked with Hanumān, took up his bow and prepared to shoot his arrows. O King, after looking at the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra drawn in military array, Arjuna then spoke to Lord Kṛṣṇa these words.”

The words ‘drawn in military array’ are an addition. They are NOT to be found in either the original or the manuscript, nor in the ‘English equivalents’.

The address ‘O King’ starting the verse in both the original and the manuscript is shifted.

The original’s text is perfectly lucid and understandable. No apparent reason to change anything.

06.08.15
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Ramesvara Prabhu Speaks About the Paintings in Srila Prabhupada’s Books

Ramesvara Prabhu here speaks about the amazing transcendental pastime of creating the many paintings in Srila Prabhupada’s books – especially the Krishna Book.

He explains how Srila Prabhupada often gave personal instructions to each artist regarding the specific paintings they made.

Unfortunately almost all these transcendental paintings have been removed from Srila Prabhupada’s books and replaced with other paintings that were not made under Srila Prabhupada’s supervision and authorization.

05.01.15
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Example of a Bona Fide Change to Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is

krishna-cows

This is how evidence for bona fide changes looks like:

Room Conversation with the Mayor of Evanston — July 4, 1975, Chicago:

Tamala Krsna: “Farming, cattle raising and business are the qualities…”
Prabhupada: They are not cattle raising, that was…
Tamala Krsna: Cow protection.
Prabhupada: Cow protection. It has to be corrected. It is go-raksya, go. They take it cattle-raising. I think Hayagriva has translated like this.

This change is – contrary to all the post-1977 changes – Prabhupada-approved. It first appeared in a 1976 reprint of the 1968 abridged edition of Bhagavad-gita As It Is.

04.20.15
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The Book Changes and Gitar Gan

gitar-gan

The Non-Original Gitar Gan with the edited verses from the unauthorized 1983 Bhagavad-gita As It Is (I cannot find a picture of the original Gitar Gan)

By Ajit Krishna Dasa

The Gitar Gan is Srila Prabhupada’s poetic rendition of Srimad Bhagavad-gita in the Bengali language.

So far Gitar Gan has never been translated into English. Online we find a version with the original Bhagavad-gita verses added as a translations (here). On the Vedabase we find a version with BBTI’s edited verses added as translations (also available online). Both are without English word-for-word meanings.

Obviously, none of these are precise translations, since Srila Prabhupada’s Gitar Gan is a poetic rendition and not a literal translation of the Gita.

I would humbly like to submit that there is a GREAT need for a literal English translation of Gitar Gan.

Why?

Because it could be key in deepening our understanding of many of the controversial changes made to Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita after his departure:

Bg 11.28:

Original and authorized 1972-edition:

“As the rivers flow into the sea, so all these great warriors enter Your blazing mouths and perish.”

BBT International’s edited 1983 edition:

“As the many waves of the rivers flow into the ocean, so do all these great warriors enter blazing into Your mouths.”

​Are the mouths blazing or are the warriors blazing? Gitar Gan seems to give us the answer:

jvalita tomara ei mukhe

jvalita-firing/flaming/blazing; tomara-your; ei-these; mukhe-mouth

jvalita: blazing (appears twice in the word-for-word synonyms in the Caitanya Caritamrta. Both times is it translated as “blazing”)
tomara: your (can be found 1000+ times in Caitanya Caritamrta).
ei: these (can be found 2000+ times in Caitanya Caritamrta).
mukhe: mouth/in the mouth/on the mouth/and more (found many times in Caitanya Caritamrta).

TRANSLATION: “Your blazing/firing/flaming mouths” (made with the help of several bengali speaking devotees found on facebook).

Anyone who does not agree with this translation, please give us your opinion.

​Bg. 2.35​:

Is Arjuna a “coward” or is he “insignificant”?

Bg. 2.30:

Is the soul “eternal”?

Many such questions could be answered if we had an English translation of Gitar Gan.

IMPORTANT: I am not suggesting that we can change in the original Bhagavad-gita As It Is by referring to Gitar Gan. But we might be able to expose many of the needless and offensive changes made by Jayadvaita Swami.

An English translation of the Gitar Gan is therefore an urgent need.

I urge anyone who reads this to help find some qualified Bengali speaking devotees who can and will take up this important task.

Please contact me if you have idea ideas on how to procede with this project.

Your servant,
Ajit Krishna Dasa

04.03.15
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Performer Edit (Bg. 14.19)

BY: BHAKTA TORBEN

Apr 02, 2015 — DENMARK (SUN) —

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 14.19:

Original, authorized 1972 edition:

“When you see that there is nothing beyond these modes of nature in all activities and that the Supreme Lord is transcendental to all these modes, then you can know My spiritual nature.”

Manuscript:

“When you see that there is nothing beyond these modes of Nature in all activities — and that the Supreme Lord is transcendental to this, then you can know My spiritual Nature.”

Screen Shot 2015-04-03 at 14.58.14

Jas It Is:

“When one properly sees that in all activities no other performer is at work than these modes of nature and he knows the Supreme Lord, who is transcendental to all these modes, he attains My spiritual nature.”

The Original and the manuscript agrees TO THE LETTER. Both the manuscript and the original says `You can know My spiritual nature´, whereas `Jas It Is´ says `he attains to My spiritual nature. The word-for-word says, ‘vetti’- know.

The phrase, ‘no other performer‘ is not found in the original or the manuscript.