Tag Archives: Jahnudvipa

10.08.13
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Which Danish cover is proper? (Reply to Dravinaksa Dasa)

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Skærmbillede 2013-10-01 kl. 10.05.00New Danish Bhagavad-gita cover – proper or not?

Dear Dravinaksa Prabhu! Dandavat pranam! Jaya Srila Prabhupada!

Thank you for your thoughtful reply (New Danish Bhagavad-gita Cover is Proper) to my text (New Danish Bhagavad-gita As It Is cover is against Prabhupada’s instructions) on the Sampradaya Sun.

As long as the BBT International insists on publishing their changed 1983 edition of Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is they must certainly start following the academic accepted protocol for posthumously edited books (mention of editor’s name, what was edited and when). In such a scenario another cover than the one appearing on Prabhupada’s original and authorized 1972 edition is certainly proper.

But as long as the BBT International publishes their unauthorized, edited Bhagavad-gita As It Is with Prabhupada’s signature as if he approved of it, but don’t write the names of the editors, what was edited and when, then the changed cover constitues another unauthorized change that ought to be exposed.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada,
Ajit Krishna Dasa

10.01.13
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New Danish Bhagavad-gita As It Is cover against Prabhupada’s instructions

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Recently the leading Danish editors (Lalitanath Dasa and Jahnudvipa Dasa/Jahnu Dasa) working for BBT International were made aware of this quote:

Prabhupada:

“And the covers, if possible, should always be the same for each respective book regardless of what language it may be printed in.” (Letter to Jadurani, Bombay, January 3, 1975)

Here is the cover for Prabhupada’s original 1972 edition of his Bhagavad-gita As It Is:

Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is-original_1972_Macmillan-cover

Prabhupada liked this cover so much that he wanted the Deities of Gita-nagari should be “Krishna and Arjuna, exactly as on the cover of the Bhagavad-gita.”:

Srila Prabhupada began to sow the seeds of inspiration in directing the future development of Gita-nagari farming community.  Prabhupada confirmed today that the presiding Deity should be Krsna and Arjuna, exactly as on the cover of the Bhagavad-gita. (Tamal Krishna Goswami’s Diary, Prabhupada’s Final Days, August 30)
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Through their online magazine the Danish BBT(I) editors recently informed the Danish congregation that their new translation of the unauthorized BBT International 1983 Bhagavad-gita are to be published late November 2013. Despite being aware of the above desire and instruction from Srila Prabhupada the editors apparently decided to create their own, new cover–quite different from the original:

Skærmbillede 2013-10-01 kl. 10.05.00

Prabhupada:

“Service means you must take order from the master. That is service. Otherwise it is mental concoction. Actually, the servant requests, “How can I serve you?” So when the master orders, “You serve me like this,” then you do that, that is service. And if you manufacture your service, that is not service. That is your sense gratification. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. You have to see how he is pleased. Now if he wants a glass of water and if you bring a nice glass of milk, you can say milk is better than water, you take it. That is not service. He wants water, you give him water. Don’t manufacture better thing.” (Lecture, Bhagavad-gita 15.15, August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm))

09.09.13
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Cover Up

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By Bhakta Torben Nielsen

(This was originally posted in the Sampradaya Sun.)

bg-cover-original

Here in Denmark we have a “new” version of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is (supposedly), coming up. One of the editors, Jahnu/Jahnudvipa prabhu, publicized his suggestion for a front cover (pictured below). As everyone can see, by comparison, it is different, in so many ways, from Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is. This is a local example, but from research on the Internet, it is easily seen how widespread this corruption is.

Srila Prabhupada:

“And the covers, if possible, should always be the same for each respective book regardless of what language it may be printed in.” (Letter to Jadurani, Bombay, January 3, 1975)

“Regarding Bhagavad-gita, enlarged edition, the picture approved by me to Jadurani is all right.” (Letter to: Satsvarupa – Los Angeles 31 July, 1970)

A subsequent “debate” on editor Jahnu’s suggestion of a Bhagavad-gita cover was quickly censored, including Jahnu’s picture. The topic was banned, as there is a stricture on that facebook forum (Krishna.dk) not to bring up “institutional”, “controversial” or “negative” material.

The idiotic irony is that bringing up the topic is “controversial” and forbidden – but DOING these things, changing the books, is fine.

jahnus-cover-bg-1

Jahnu’s Suggested Bhagavad-gita cover

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A few comments from Ajit Krishna Dasa (not featured in the post at Sampradaya Sun)

It is truly astonishing to see the amount of mistakes on this suggested cover:

  • Bhagavad-gita is not spelled with capital “G” in “gita, but with a small “g”.

Prabhupada says:

“Regarding the listing of the Bhagavad-gita in the religion catalog of MacMillan, they have spelled it Bhagavid Gita and not Bhagavad-gita As It Is. I do not know why they should commit such mistake, I hope that this will not hamper the sales. Please point out this discrepancy to Mr. Wade.” (Letter to Brahmananda, Los Angeles, 19 December, 1968)

  • Over the “i” and the “g” there should be a line. That could be excused if this is not the final version, and the sanskrit will be added later.
  • On the original it says “As It Is”. In Jahnu’s this is changed to only capital letters “SOM DEN ER”.
  • On the original books it says “His Divine grace”. On Jahnu’s we find “Sri Srimad A.C…”
  • Regarding the artwork itself. Prabhupada was happy about the front cover of his 1972 edition. He approved it. He never asked for it to be changed at any point. The original cover is shining, it gives the impression of heroism, chivalry and fighting for the right cause. The colors on Jahnu’s cover is dark, boring and depressing. Prabhupada said that if a painting should be changed it should be the exact same scene, but made better (read more about this here). On Jahnu’s cover we find a different scene, and the dark and depressing colors certainly does’nt make it better.

I find it truly astonishing how a BBT International editor like Jahnu, who has been working for BBTI for more than 20 years, doesn’t know or care about the clear instructions from Srila Prabhupada regarding front covers, artwork and text-editing. The amount of speculation Jahnu puts into his cover is amazing.