Open Letter to Sivarama Swami

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This below e-mail was sent to Sivarama Swami through the e-mail address (asksrs@gmail.com) provided on this website. I hope that the devotees in charge of receiving the e-mails will forward the e-mail to Maharaja. In the meantime I will look for another e-mail address of his.

Dear Sivarama Swami. Dandavat pranama. Jaya Srila Prabhupada.

I apologize if answering this letter becomes a burden on your many other responsibilities.

Recently I heard a podcast from your website where you respond to a few questions about the changes made to Srila Prabhupada’s books.

I have a few comments and points I find important in relation to your response, and I hope you will find the time to answer each of them.

This is an open letter, so it will also be posted online.

The letter is attached to this e-mail, but you can also find it here:

Open Letter to Sivarama Swami

Thank you very much.​
Your servant,
Ajit Krishna Dasa

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The Holy Name Will Destroy the Book Changers

caitanya-bhagavata

CAITANYA BHAGAVATA, ADI 11.105-110:

TEXT 105

prabhu bole, — “bhakta-vakya krsnera varnana
ihate ye dosa dekhe, se-i ‘papi’ jana

TRANSLATION

“The Lord replied, “Whoever finds fault in a devotee’s description of Lord Krsna is a sinful person.”

TEXT 106

bhaktera kavitva ye-te-mate kene naya
sarvatha krsnera priti tahate niscaya

TRANSLATION

“Krsna is certainly pleased with His devotee’s poetry, even though it is imperfectly composed.”

TEXT 107

murkha bole ‘visnaya’, ‘visnave’ bole dhira
dui vakya parigraha kare krsna vira

TRANSLATION

“An uneducated person may chant visnaya, while a sober person will chant the proper form, visnave, but the Supreme Lord Krsna will accept both forms when they are chanted with devotion.”

COMMENTARY

“To Lord Krishna, a pandita expert in correct language and someone ignorant of correct language are both equal. Of the two, Krishna bestows more mercy on the one who has more enthusiasm for the service of Krishna. Krishna, the omniscient Supersoul of every living entity, is not guilty of the fault of partiality. So-called learned persons who are devoid of devotion proudly consider themselves learned as they reveal their foolishness by pointing out faults in the transcendental language of the pure devotees. The Supreme Lord and master of Sarasvati confirms the foolishness of the so-called learned offenders who are envious of the devotees at every step. Thus their pride of learning is diminished. Due to the absence of realization in the Absolute Truth, Shri Krishna Chaitanya, they belch forth mundane knowledge of sense enjoyment. This is the cause of their disease and falldown.”

TEXT 108

murkho vadati visnaya dhiro vadati visnave
ubhayos tu samam punyam bhava-grahi janardanah

TRANSLATION

“At the time of offering obeisances to Lord Visnu, a foolish person chants visnaya namah (this is improper due to faulty grammar) and a learned person chants visnave namah (this is the correct form). But both achieve equal piety by their offering of obeisances, because Lord Sri Janardana sees the sentiment of the living being, in other words, He sees the degree of devotion, or in other words, He awards the result accordingly (He does not see one’s foolishness or intelligence).”

TEXT 109

ihate ye dosa dekhe, tahara se dosa
bhaktera varnana-matra krsnera santosa

TRANSLATION

“One who finds fault with a devotee is himself at fault, for a devotee’s descriptions are meant only for the pleasure of Krsna.”

TEXT 110

ataeva tomara se premera varnana
ihate dusibeka kon sahasika jana?”

TRANSLATION

“Therefore who will dare find fault with your devotional descriptions of Krsna’s pastimes?”

CAITANYA BHAGAVATA, MADHYA, 19.209:

ye amara dasera sakrt ninda kare
mora nama kalpa-taru samhare tahare

“My wish-fulfilling holy names destroy one who blasphemes My servant.”

FROM THE COMMENTARY:

“So if gross materialists engage with pride in activities like censuring, blaspheming, and abusing the devotees from the material point of view and through mundane considerations, then the Supreme Lord destroys them.”

Note the word “censuring”. When BBT International deletes Srila Prabhupada own chosen words and sentences, then they are in effect censuring Srila Prabhupada.

(The purports are by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Maharaja, translated by Bhumipati Dasa)

Caitanya Mahaprabhu on the poetic mistakes of great vaisnavas

Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Adi Lila_1

Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:

Even in the poetic compositions of such great poets as Bhavabhuti, Jayadeva and Kalidasa there are many examples of faults. Such mistakes should be considered negligible. One should see only how such poets have displayed their poetic power.” (Caitanya Caritamrta, Adi-Lila, Ch. 16, Texts 101-102)

Prabhupada’s purport to text 102:

In Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.5.11) it is said:

tad-vag-visargo janatagha-viplavo
yasmin prati-slokam abaddhavaty api
namany anantasya yaso ‘nkitani yat
srnvanti gayanti grnanti sadhavah

In explaining the glories of the Lord, inexperienced men may compose poetry with many faults, but because it contains glorification of the Lord, great personalities read it, hear it and chant it.” Despite its minute literary discrepancies, one must study poetry on the merit of its subject matter. According to Vaisnava philosophy, any literature that glorifies the Lord, whether properly written or not, is first class. There need be no other considerations. The poetic compositions of Bhavabhuti, or Srikantha, include Malati-madhava, Uttara-carita, Vira-carita and many other similar Sanskrit dramas. This great poet was born during the time of Bhojaraja as the son of Nilakantha, a brahmana. Kalidasa flourished during the time of Maharaja Vikramaditya, and he became the state poet. He composed some thirty or forty Sanskrit dramas, including Kumara-sambhava, Abhijnana-sakuntala and Megha-duta. His drama Raghu-vamsa is especially famous. We have already described Jayadeva in Chapter Thirteen of this Adi-lila.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu on editing the work of a vaisnava

Ishvara Puri also met Gadadhar Pandit and was pleased when he saw the depth of his renunciation. He started to affectionately give him lessons from Sri-Krsna-lilamrta, a book of his own composition. Nimai would also come daily to Gopinath Acharya’s house to visit Ishvara Puri while he was teaching Gadadhar and offer him His obeisances. One day, Ishvara Puripada asked Nimai to correct any mistakes that were in his book. Nimai answered:

Anyone who finds any fault with a devotee’s description of Krishna is a sinner. If a devotee writes a poem, no matter how poorly he does it, it will certainly contain his love for Krishna. A fool says ‘visnaya’ while a scholar knows the correct form is ‘visnave’, but Krishna accepts the sentiment in either case. If anyone sees a fault in this, the fault is his, for Krishna is pleased with anything the pure devotee says. You too describe the Lord with words of love, so what arrogant person would dare criticize anything that you have written? (Chaitanya Bhagavata 1.11.105-110)

We should note carefully that even if mistakes that normally only fools make are in such works, they should not be corrected. If one sees any fault in such so called mistakes, the fault is his.

When Nimai Pandita (Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu) said the above, he was actually referring to these verses from Sri Narada Pancaratra:

“Gaņeśa prayed: A foolish person chants, visnāya namaḥ whereas a learned person chants, vişnave namaḥ. However, the meaning and results of both are the same.”

“A person glorifies the Lord according to the knowledge he has received from the bestower of knowledge, Lord Hari.”

“Actually, Lord Janārdana accepts only the love and devotion that are offered to Him by the devotee.”

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead is beyond the influence of karma. Therefore, who can properly glorify Him? Still, it is everyone’s duty to worship the Lord, offer prayers to Him, bow down to Him and remember Him, according to one’s capacity.”

“According to their particular intelligence and ability, all devotees and non-devotees should glorify and worship the Supreme Lord, and chant His holy names.”

“Kartikeya prayed: You are the Supreme Lord and the indwelling Supersoul of all living beings. It is only from You that the living entities get the necessary intelligence to carry out their activities. People glorify You according to their understanding and saintly persons do not deride their inevitable shortcomings.”