–The Australian Society for Krishna Culture. AUSKCULTURE, operation start 1984 — ABN 65 231 425 870.

In OT BG 2.56 Srila Prabupada basically writes:

One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries and is not puffed up when there is happiness and is thus free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage fixed in mind.

Hayagriva writes:

One who is not disturbed in spite of the threefold miseries who not elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.

Jayadvaita writes:

One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.

Both Hayagriva and Jayadvaita negate and deny the basic personal feature to be elated when there is happiness. This is impersonalism. To negate and deny basic personal attributes of the living entity is impersonalism. What an “impersonal calamity”! One is naturally elated when there is happiness and one should legitimately be so. But when one becomes puffed up when there is happiness and success, as Sila Prabhupada wisely and frankly puts it, then one’s fall down has begun.

Both you editors Hayagriva and Jayadvaita and supporters are so very puffed up for removing first class language from Prabhupada ‘s Bhagavad-gita As It Is and replacing it with your personal and ordinary verbiage such as replacing Prabhupada’s “freaks of nature” with your “cataclysm” in BG 2.8 P. What an imposture! What fake presentation in the name of Srila Prabhupada. What misleading of the world and the devotee community. Not only that, you sneakily remove any Prabhupada reference that could expose your nefarious activities by, for example, removing the very words “puffed up” from BG 2.56. You deserve to be cut down unceremoniously!

“The spiritual master in the authoritative line of disciplic succession is the “son of God,” or in other words the Lord’s bona fide representative. The proof that he is bona fide is his invincible faith in God, which protects him from the calamity of impersonalism. An impersonalist cannot be a bona fide spiritual master, for such a spiritual master’s only purpose in life must be to render service to the Lord. He preaches the message of Godhead as the Lord’s appointed agent and has nothing to do with sense gratification or the mundane wrangling of the impersonalists. No one can render devotional service to an impersonal entity because such service implies a reciprocal personal relationship between the servant and the master. In the impersonal school the so-called devotee is supposed to merge with the Lord and lose his separate existence.” Srila Prabhupada in Mukunda Mala stotra mantra 4 Purport.

What impersonal falsity! Jayadvaita in his swollen impersonalist’s pride and envy denies one of the fundamental proprietary rights of the living entity: happiness or in Sanskrit language “ananda”.

According to shastric reference, there are three fundamental proprietary rights of the living entity, which are sat, cit and ananda i.e. the living entity is eternal, the living entity in his pure stage is full of knowledge and the living entity in his pure stage is also full of bliss.

Jayadvaita wants to make people unhappy. That is his hidden agenda. Both versions of the Bhagavad-gita have the same hidden agenda: To make people unhappy. What an imposture and betrayal to Srila Prabhupada!

Not to mention the constant sexism encountered in current versions of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Again in OT BG 2.67 Srila Prabhupada clearly writes about “the intelligence of the person”, whereas Hayagriva and Jayadvaita, in their male chauvinism, attribute intelligence only to men and thus misleadingly impose their male chauvinism on the minds of all readers.

Essentially Srila Prabhupada’s OT BG 2.67 is as follows:

As an unfavourable wind sweeps away a boat on the water, similarly even one of the senses on which the mind constantly focuses can carry away a person’s intelligence. 

Hayagriva’s:

As a boat on the water is sweept away by a strong wind, even one of the senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man’s intelligence.

Jayadvaita’s:

As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, even one of the roaming senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man’s intelligence.

BG 2.72 is also sexist.

Srila Prabhupada basically writes:

That is the way of the spiritual situation of godly life, upon attaining which nobody becomes bewildered. If one is situated in such status of life even at the end of life, one can enter into the kingdom of God. 

Current official version reads:

That is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a man is not bewildered. If one is thus situated even at the hour of death, one can enter into the kingdom of God.

It also felt that Srila Prabhupada’s sometimes stately style of writing is reduced and down graded to ordinary speech by His so-called editors (BG 2.1 and BG 2.2 purports and others.) That is absolutely unwanted. Srila Prabhupada is like the attorney general of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and when He uses legal terms such proprietary rights as in BG 2.47 the editors quickly erase it. This is plain cheating. And of course an affront to Srila Prabhupada, a stab in the back of Srila Prabhupada. These things do not go unnoticed and the editors and other responsible custodians will be called to account for these illegal matters.

Syamasundara Prabhu (probably of South Africa) gives on dandavats the opinion of an American lawyer about Srila Prabhupada’s own legal mind as follows:

“Hare Krsna. Very nice history of preaching in a very dangerous place. I have known Kshudi Prabhu for a long time. He told me another interesting history. As mentioned his parents were lawyers and his mother specialized in “Trust Law” and she is the one who, under Srila Prabhupada’s direction, set up the BBT. Kshudi told me that his mother remarked that Srila Prabhupada had expert knowledge of trust law and that Srila Prabhupada knew exactly what he was doing, and that she had never met a lay person knew so much, that Prabhupada could have been a trust lawyer.”

And all glories and respects to Kshudi’s Prabhu’s mother who performed such important service as setting up the BBT!

And why did the editors just drop the last sentence of purport 2.7 which reads? :

“One who attempts to comment on the Bhagavad-gita without knowing this science is the greatest pretender.”

All glories to Srila Prabhupada, the attorney general of the Supreme Personality of Godhead!

For the advancement of Krishna consciousness we recommend the constant hearing of this particular production. Constant means 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year, just as the Goswamis of Vrndavan used to constantly be engaged in devotional service of the Lord. Sri Caitanya Mahapabhu in His Siksastaka also recommends: “Kirtaniya sada Hari”. One has to chant the glories of the Lord always……….or as close as possible to “always” or “constant”.

This is an excellent production. Congratulations to the producers! It lasts 2 hours and forty seven minutes. So no need to constantly refresh. It has no music or other super-imposed sentimental distractions. It is the same Prabhupada chanting as we had in the early days of the Hare Krishna movement, in the seventies (1970es). I am therefore assuming that it is very genuine. Other productions artificially speed up the chanting, whereas this genuine production resounds in your mind even when you stop hearing it. There is a need for an ultimate shelter for the raging and uncontrolled mind. This is it! Chanting Hare Krishna mantra is the perfection of the thinking process, which may sound simple. But it just is. We can play this Prabhupada Japa sound while we are chanting our own rounds of Hare Krishna mantra. We can play it while sleeping and be spiritually benefitted even while sleeping :):):), just loud enough not be unnecessarily awoken. Of course our bank accounts also accumulate interest at night when we are sleeping. So earning material or spiritual benefits while sleeping is not such an unusual thing.

Besides chanting the prescribed number of rounds, it is sometimes the best policy just to hit the mind with a dose of

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Our Param Guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Maharaja used to say we should beat the mind with broom and stick, mornings and evenings. This may sound strong and even violent and lets us not bloody our minds in any case. There is a limit to tapasya or austerity, when tapasya becomes harmful. In the early days of ISKCON in Germany, at the famous Schloss Rettershof near Frankfurt, currently advertised as as a romantic hotel, we used to do special tapasya by bathing outside in the winter with cold water. The situation was such that as soon as the water reached the floor it became ice. It was ok then but I shall not do it again now. At Kumbha Mela in Allahabad, where is it quite cold, we hear that Srila Prabupada Himself , the Acharya, did wait till the sun was up in the sky to take His bath. Schloss Rettershof is also the place where German police, one weekend morning, came to arrest us all with machine pistols and dogs. We were released the same day. The tactics of some of our samkirtan people were just unacceptable.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada Who BTW doesn’t look too pleased on this picture! He seems to be sceptical about something. Certainly not about the process of Krishna consciousness itself!

Whereas the above is a shameless manipulation of Srila Prabhupada’s voice. Srila Prabhupada never chanted at such speed.

Whence we may call version number two “the abracadabra Bhagavad-gita,” whereas the previous version, number one, is filled with mistakes that even a child in primary school will spot and correct as is the case in the purport to verse 10.34. But the real parampara version is still missing.

Srila Prabhupada is never under the modes of ignorance and passion, as we, ourselves, may be and exhibit the symptoms of the lower modes of nature. Srila Prabhupada is always transcendentally situated and as always Srila Prabhupada basically writes very carefully and cautiously in OT BG 2.28:

“All that are created were non-manifested before, and only in the middle are they manifested, and when vanquished they become non-manifested again. So what need is there for lamentation?”  

Both Hayagriva and Jayadvaita write:

“All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation?”

First of all we ought to stick to Srila Prabhupada’s nomenclature of manifested and non-manifested.

The contradiction and absurdity lies in the proposal: “All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, …” This is a nonsensical and foolish proposal. A soon as there is beginning there is manifestation. There cannot be non-manifestation at creation, just as water and fire are incompatible. Non-manifestation is before the creation. Neither can here be creation in the non-manifested state. Creation and manifestation take place simultaneusly. As Srila Prabhupada clearly expresses it in one single word “”All that are created were non-manifested before….”

Again my question to the editors will be : DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT SRILA PRABHUPADA IS A FOOL??? DO YOU NONSENSES REALLY THINK THAT YOU ARE MORE INTELLIGENT THAN SRILA PRABHUPADA? You have just demonstrated the opposite.

Or do you perhaps think that Srila Prabhupada is some old Indian culturally and educationally retarded guy Who needs to catch up with the great, perhaps decadent, ways of American culture? It is not a matter of adapting Srila Prabhupada to the modern world. Let the modern world be bent in the sense of Srila Prabupada’s ways.

It appears that often the editors are more concerned about quick-hitting and good-sounding formulas at the cost of actually communicating a sound philosophical content.

We also note that the editors systematically drop Srila Prabhupada’s adverb “kindly” from the verses. “Kindly” is an adverb that smoothes up communication and kindness relates deeply to the humanity of every human being. In BG 10.12-13 they have unlawfully removed the expression “my dear Krishna”, an expression of affection. In other words, Srila Prabhupada originally introduced an element of kindness into the Gita and these editors and their supporters have brutally and surgically cut it out. No kindness here!!! No wonder HH Jayapataka Maharaja writes here http://www.dandavats.com/?p=88925 that a scientific analysis has found that ISKCON rates very low on the scale of devotee care.

The editors also seem to have a visceral aversion for some English words that Srila Prabhupada is very fond of such as “nobody”, “callous”, “poor fund of knowledge”(BG 2,29 P), “kindly”, “opposite number”, “freaks” (Bg 2.8 P) and “brahmin” (BG 2.7 P & BG 2.31 ) This are Prabhupadisms the world should become acquainted with and use in everyday language. That degree of familiarity with Srila Prabhupada’s message and terminology will be a great victory for the Krishna consciousness movement! BTW my MacBook dictionary completely endorses “brahmin”. So, again, we ought to follow in Srila Prabhupada’s footsteps and use the word “brahmin”, instead of “brahmana”. Because of the combination of the two vowels “a” and “I”, “brahmin” sound much better, whereas “brahmana” offers only a hackneyed repetition of three “a”s There is also a music to literature, which is not to neglected!

In this way the editors are pushing Srila Prabhupada unceremoniously and brutaly out of His own creation to instal themselves instead. What a subtle imposture!!! My MacBook dictionary gives “having or showing a lack of courtesy; rough or abrupt” for the definition of the word “unceremonious”.

Thus we obtain two different Bhagavad-gitas. The first is Bhagavad-gita As It Is Not by Hayagriva and the second is Bhagavad-gita As It Is Not by Jayadvaita. The schism that Srila Prabhupada wanted to avoid at all costs has actually been created. We can only hope that the upcoming parampara Bhagavad-gita As It Is will mend the differences. Krishna will see to that.

Additionally one may ask: Why is the author of these anti Bhagavad-gita As It Is editors also addressing a dead person? Hayagriva has indeed passed away some years ago. The answer is that these matters do not just just concern the editors. It also concerns all those responsible guardians of Srila Prabhupada’s rich literary legacy just as well. Therefore the plural is justified and sometimes inaction is even more sinful than action as was the case for Bishma and Karna who did not protect Draupadi as an attempt was made to disrobe her in public in the assembly of non-gentlemen, (asat-sabhaya: the vicious assembly SB 1.8.24) Karna had to die on the battlefield of Kurukshetra under unfair circumstances for his inaction. He could otherwise not be vanquished by Arjuna. Being the son of the sun god, he was quasi-invincible.

In conclusion, we may say that Srila Prabhupada formulation of BG 2.28 is just perfect and complete and does not need a single iota of adjustment. Please publish it instead of the current nonsensical and consequently embarrassing presentation.

“”All that are created were non-manifested before, and only in the middle are they manifested, and when vanquished they become non-manifested again. So what need is there for lamentation?”  

All glories to Srila Prabhupada, the perfect leader and greatest tapasvi!

Lord Krishna is so very cool. In Bhagavad-gita 2.18, He says to Arjuna:

“The material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is sure to come to an end: therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata.”

Compared to the Hayagriva version, Jayadvaita’s is clearly superior.

OT says:

“The material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to be ended: therefore you fight, O descendant of Bharata.”

Hayagriva says:

Only the material body of the indestructible , immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction: therefore fight, O descendant of Bharata.

There are two weaknesses here:

1. Where does Hayagriva get “Only” from? He gets it from his imagination only. He is inventing it. We don’t accept. It gives an unwelcome mood to the whole sentence.
2. Jayadvaita’s ” is sure to come to an end” is just such an admirably succinct, faithful, quick-witted and linguistically correct way to convey OT’s “is subject to be ended”, whereas Hayagriva’s ” is subject to destruction” really misses the mark.

Further down in the purport of BG 2.18, we find that some corrections imposed by force and without permission (whence illegally) on Srila Prabhupada are SO EXTREMELY PETTY, FALSE and FAKE.

Here is an example:

In OT Srila Prabhupada’s three last sentences of the purport are as follows:

As the sunlight maintains the entire universe, similarly the light of the soul maintains this material body. As soon as the spirit soul is out of the material body, the body begins to decompose, and thus it is the spirit soul which maintains this body. The body is therefore immaterial and (thus) Arjuna was advised to fight without consideration of the material body and not sacrifice the cause of religion instead.

Hayagriva gives:

As sunlight maintains the entire universe, so the light of the soul maintains this material body. As soon as the spirit soul is out of this material body, the body begins to decompose; therefore it is the spirit soul which maintains this body. The body itself is unimportant. Arjuna was advised to fight and sacrifice the material body for the cause of religion.

And Jayadvaita writes:

As sunlight maintains the entire universe, so the light of the soul maintains this material body. As soon as the spirit soul is out of this material body, the body begins to decompose; therefore it is the spirit soul which maintains this body. The body itself is unimportant. Arjuna was advised to fight and not sacrifice the cause of religion for material, bodily considerations.

First point: the editors falsely decided that in the first sentence the article “the” for “sunlight” is wrong and dropped it. The article has been crossed out in the OT. This is a very petty, false and fake correction.

Second point: the editors falsely decided that the adverb “similarly” is inappropriate and replaced it with the poorer adverb “so”. “Similarly” has been crossed out in the OT. One may asks: “So what?” The answer is that these are are extremely petty, false, fake and illegal corrections and my request would be: ” Can these ignorant, petty and puffed up rats please get off Srila Pabhupada? The standard procedure to deal with nasty and nefarious rats is to bait them with rat poison.

Third point: The actual antecedent in OT for “unimportant” is “immaterial”, which has again been crossed out. Srila Prabhupada really typed “immaterial”. What is wrong with “immaterial”??? My Mac book dictionary gives as first definition for “immaterial”: “1 unimportant under the circumstances; irrelevant: So here Srila Prabhupada is not only right again but more evolved and sophisticated as well. “Immaterial” is a better rendition. These sometimes puffed up and ignorant editors are wrong again. And why not just use the expression “plain stupid” while we are at it. These sometimes plain stupid and fake editors are wrong again. They are simply misleading the world on all things Bhagavad-gita As It Is.

In respect of use of the word “stupid” in Krishna consciousness, my Godbrother, HG Brghupati Prabhu tells the story how Srila Prabhupada shouted at him “Are you stupid?” at the occasion of his brahman initiation. He was a little emotional for being so physically close to his Spiritual Master as Srila Prabhupada was whispering the mantras into his right ear and he was enable to properly hear and repeat. Many of us were emotional on that occasion indeed, including this humble self.

Fourth point: Here Hayagriva commits a serious blunder by writing “sacrifice the material body for the cause of religion.” This false and fake formulation could unnecessarily cost lives eventually. What is meant instead is that by refusing to fight, Arjuna would fail to perform or “sacrifice” his dharmic duties of a soldier or ksatriya, just as Jayadvaita has corrected it.

For the benefit of the entire world, we request that all these literary discrepancies throughout Srila Prabhupada’s glorious Bhagavad-gita As It Is be adjusted properly ASAP by the custodians of His literary legacy.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada, the Founder of Iskcon, the BBT and Back to Godhead magazine and the most pre-eminent and evolved Spiritual Master of the entire world!

After a very good and faithful start of chapter two with Srimad Bhagavad-gita 2.1, here in Bhagavad-gita 2.2 Jayadvaita totally misses the point. The Swami is blind and wants to keep others in ignorance as well about “the values of life”. He talks instead about the value of life. He is just as blind as King Dhritarastra himself. What is the actual value of life? As per current media reports, in Gaza, Palestine, for example, the value of life is not much at all. No need to state that this is a very distressing and painful situation for everyone, especially for the dying.

On closer examination we find that in the OT, Srila Prabhupada clearly translates the Sanskrit “anarya” with the plural “persons who do not know the values of life”. And the most amazing thing of all is that Hayagriva whimsically changes it to a singular “value of life” in his word for word presentation and then in the verse itself catches precisely the Prabhupada intended meaning and puts it very nicely in the plural expression “the progressive values of life”. This is what Srila Prabhupada is really talking about. What inconsistency and whimsicality on Hayagriva’s part!!! Was he taking drugs on that day? Where was his mind? And Jayadvaita simply follows. Why didn’t Jayadvaita pick up the matter and correct it?

Srila Prabhupada BG 2.2 (closest version):

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, wherefrom have these dirty things come upon you? They are not at all befitting men who know the values of life. They do not lead to higher planets but to infamy.

Srila Prabhupada uses the expression “these dirty things” which is quite explicit and everyone understands it’s meaning. Besides that in the word for word of all three versions “kasmalam” is translated as “dirtiness”. So we may ask what is wrong with this expression “these dirty things”? Is it not sleek, refined or sexy enough? Srila Prabhupada also uses plural number for both “men” and “values of life.” Why change it? We note that in the OT there has been an attempt to obliterate the Prabhupada typed plural word “men”. It is hardly legible and has been replaced with the handwritten singular “man”. Are we implying that Srila Prabhupada is a fool??? Are we implying that Srila Prabhupada is ignorant of the facts of life and how to address them? Rather the opposite is true. Srila Prabhupada is the wise man and he who dares to rashly and impudently change unnecessarily His wording or formulation is himself a FOOL and OFFENDER at the lotus feet of Guru.

Hayagriva BG 2.2:

The Supreme Person (Bhagavan) said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy.

The Swami BG 2.2:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy.

Comes the Swami’s very excellent rendition of BG 2.1:

Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eyes full of tears, Madhusudana, Krishna, spoke the following words.

In the original transcript (OT) Srila Prabhupada uses both expressions “depressed in mind” and “eyes full of tears”. As opposed to Hayagriva’s “sorrowful”, the idea of depression is most suitable because of it’ s current and recurrent relevance in the world we are living both in the sense of “feelings of severe despondency and dejection” (MakBook dictionary) and also in the context of economic depression. Just see Srila Pabhupada’s ever relevance!!! Neither is there any need of Hayagriva’s speculation of “his eyes brimming with tears” even though it is otherwise a suitable and elegant expression. It has to be rejected. Better stick with Srila Prabhupada’s simple wording of “eyes full of tears” as does Jayadvaita Swami. This is a memorable instance where Jayadvaita manifestly trumps Hayagriva in Bhagavad-gita editing. He clearly scores a point here. But Hayagriva also deserves one point for his “progressive values of life”. Later in this chapter, at verse 18, Jayadvaita scores another point.

Hayagriva BG 2.1:

Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful, his eyes brimming with tears, Madhusudana, Krishna, spoke the following words.

There are hundreds and perhaps thousands of such anomalies and digressions in both versions of available Bhagavad-gitas. Therefore we may say that strictly speaking neither version is fully acceptable. When these anomalies will be corrected we will finally have Srila Prabhupada’s jewel Bhagavad-gita As It Is and on the whole it will be quite a different and even more powerful book! Om tat sat.

My dear readers, what are you thinking?

Music by: Bhakti Marga https://lnk.to/Bhaktimargamusic   / @bhaktimargamusic108  https://www.bhaktimarga.org/

namas te narasimhaya
prahladahlada-dayine
hiranyakashipor vaksah-
sila-tanka-nakhalaye

I offer my obeisances to Lord Narasimha who gives joy to Prahlada Maharaja and whose nails are like chisels on the stonelike chest of the demon Hiranyakashipu.

ito nrsimhah parato nrsimho
yato yato yami tato nrsimhah
bahir nrsimho hrdaye nrsimho
nrsimham adim sharanam prapadye

Lord Nrsimha is here and also there. Wherever I go Lord Nrsimha is there. He is in the heart and is outside as well. I surrender to Lord Nrsimha, the origin of all things and the supreme refuge.

tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-srngam
dalita-hiraryakashipu-tanu-bhrìgam
keshava dhrita-narahari-rupa jaya jagadisha hare
jaya jagadisha hare jaya jagadisha hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of half-man, half-lion! All glories to You! Just as one can easily crush a wasp between one’s fingernails, so in the same way the body of the wasplike demon Hiranyakashipu has been ripped apart by the wonderful pointed nails on Your beautiful lotus hands.

In this respect, Srila Prabhupada writes in purport of Srimad Bhagavatam 8.3.2:

It is imperative, therefore, that all devotees in Krishna consciousness practice chanting some mantra. Certainly one should chant the Hare Krishna mantra, which is the maha-mantra, or great mantra, and also one should practice chanting cintamani-prakara-sadmasu or the Nrsimha stotra (ito nrsimha parato nrsimha yato yato yami tato nrsimhah). Every devotee should practice in order to chant some mantra perfectly so that even though he may be imperfect in spiritual consciousness in this life, in his next life he will not forget Krishna consciousness, even if he becomes an animal. Of course, a devotee should try to perfect his Krishna consciousness in this life, for simply by understanding Krishna and His instructions, after giving up this body one can return home, back to Godhead. Even if there is some falldown, practice of Krishna consciousness never goes in vain. For example, Ajamila, in his boyhood, practiced chanting the name of Narayana under the direction of his father, but later, in his youth, he fell down and became a drunkard, woman-hunter, rogue and thief. Nonetheless, because of chanting the name of Narayana for the purpose of calling his son, whom he had named Narayana, he became advanced, even though he was involved in sinful activities. Therefore, we should not forget the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra under any circumstances. It will help us in the greatest danger, as we find in the life of Gajendra.

Why not follow Srila Prabhupada, instead of trying to recklessly jump over the head of the acarya?

In the original transcript and in Hayagriva’s and Jayadvaita’s word-for-word rendition we find a cool expression “respectable leader” as rendition of the Sanskrit “shrestas”, which in turn becomes “great man” in both translations.

Please find Jayadvaita’s BGAII 3.21 rendition. This is the official version accepted and promoted by ISKCON:

“Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.”

But in the original Srila Prabhupada verse transcript the word “great man” is nowhere to be seen.

Srila Prabhupada simply sticks to the cool expression “respectable leader of human society” as follows with my own editing and my Godbrothers’ inspiration:

“Whatever action a respectable leader of human society performs, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standard he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.”

Original transcript can be found here: https://bookchanges.com/bhagavad-gita-as-it-is-manuscript/

Who is great and what is greatness?

Respectable leaders of human society are within reach.

It is felt that this whimsical, arbitrary and unauthorized transition from “respectable leader of human society” to “great man” represents an instance of over-intellectualization and willful dehumanization of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is.

Srila Prabhupada certainly is great for creating an ideological structure that the whole world can adopt if it wishes to do so.

And Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the greatest in all respects i.e. in terms of wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, as stated in the Vishnu Purana 5.6.47. He also says so in Bhagavad-gita 15.18:

“Because I am transcendental, beyond both the fallible and the infallible, and because I am the greatest, I am celebrated both in the world and in the Vedas as that Supreme Person.”

The Sanskrit antecedent for “greatest” is “uttamah”, meaning literally “the best”.

Finally and I may have remarked this before in BGAII 3.18 we find again tinges of sexism as Srila Prabhupada’s original “a self-realized person” becomes in both Hayagriva’s and Jayadvaita’s versions ” a self realized man…”

Here is Jayadvaita’s BGAII 3.18 version:

“A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.”

I would suggest in simple wording the following rendition instead which I believe is closer to Srila Prabhupada’s original intention and meaning:

“A self-realized person (in Krishna consciousness) has no obligation to discharge prescribed duties, nor is he attached to not perform such work. Nor has he any need to take shelter of any other living being.”

The same sexism applies to verse 3.33 where Srila Prabhupada’s original “person” becomes “man.”

Two more thing:

Prabhavishnu Prabhu recounts how he met Srila Prabhupada in His office in Mumbai https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coI5-cW2YoE

Srila Prabhupada was sitting with His head in His hands and with a pained expression on His face for a few minutes. Then He looked up and said to Prabhavishnu Prabhu:” The Bombay project is such a headache, it is such a headache.” After a pose, He added: “But it is for Krishna, so it is all right.”

And Srimati Malati recounts here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSJmF_m7HPA at 21 minutes how she was cooking in Jaipur and Jaipur is full of monkeys. The monkeys were as bold as grabbing eatable right out of the cooking pan! One day she really got exasperated and Srila Prabhupada told her to get a stick. He also added: “But don’t hit them just show the stick. If you hit them they will get angry and attack you.” On that day Srila Prabhupada gave her his own cane and as soon as she showed the cane the monkeys would split. “It was magic” she recounts. Once in Vrindavan, I had a similar monkey experience. I just had bought some mandarins at the fruit market and while walking in the street the monkeys just attacked, tore the plastic bag into pieces, spread the mandarins all over, grabbed them and disappeared.

Jai Srila Prabhupada!

Krishna is the father of all living entities. He is not happy that all these souls in the material world are rotting like hogs. Therefore He sends His representatives. In the case of Lord Jesus Christ, Krishna sent His son. Lord Jesus claimed to be the son of God. Everyone is a son of God, but this son was an especially favorite son, and he was sent to a particular place to reclaim the conditioned souls back home, back to Godhead.

But if the conditioned souls insist on staying here, what can Krishna or His servant do? They allow us to go on with our materialistic activities, because the first condition for getting out of the material prison house is that we must desire to get out. When we finally become disgusted with our predicament, we pray, “My dear Lord, I have served lust, anger, and greed for so long, but they are still unsatisfied, and now I have become disgusted with serving them. Now, my dear Lord Krishna, my intelligence is awakened, and I have come to You. Please engage me in Your service.”

A Second Chance. The Story of a Near-Death Experience.

SC 10: The Next Life: Its Up to Us.

CHANTING BHAGAVAD-GITA

There are 700 verses in the Bhagavad-gita. 

The breakdown is as follows:

Bhagavan Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, speaks 574 verses or 82 %

He does not speak at all in chapter one and speaks all verses of chapters 7, 9, 15 and 16.

His friend and disciple Arjuna speaks 85 verses or 12.14 %

Sanjaya, the King’s secretary, speaks 40 verses or 5.71 %

And Dhritarastra, the imposter king, speaks only the very first verse or 0.14 % 

Srila Prabhupada often gives the example of the fire and the iron. If one puts the iron in the fire it becomes red hot by association. In other words it acquires the properties of the fire. One could say it becomes fire. And in his typical defiant mood, Srila Prabhupada would then challenge: if you don’t believe me just touch the iron. 

In 730712R2.LON there is such a passage:

”So God is all-good. Therefore I become good by association with God. It is very simple reasoning. Yes. God is all-good. So if you remain always with God, then you become good. The same example: if you remain with fire, you become warm, the quality of the fire. If you remain in sunshine, you become warm. And the more you remain, the more you become warmer, warmer. Then become hot. Yes. Just like you put one rod, iron rod in the fire. It becomes warm, warmer, warmer. Then it will be red hot. When it is red hot, it is no longer iron rod; it is fire. Touch anywhere, it will burn.”

Here is a second one:

“So as it is said that in the beginning was the word, that means before the creation there was the transcendental sound. So that word, or transcendental sound, is not like the material sound. If we associate with the transcendental sound Hare Krishna, then we become purified to become transcendental. Just like we can have a crude example: You take one iron rod and put into the fire. The iron rod will be warm, warmer, and gradually it will be red hot. When it is red hot, then it is no longer the iron rod; it is fire. So how it has become fire? By association with the fire. Simply, therefore, if you simply keep yourself touch with God by this vibration of transcendental sound, gradually you become godly.” 740614LE.PAR 

By chanting Bhagavad-gita on a regular basis or even casually the same procedure of spiritualization or “Krishnaization” of our consciousness takes place by association with the transcendental sound. We do not become God, but we become godly. 

The point being:”In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from a dangerous type of fear.” BG 2.40 

Further more the breakdown by chapters is as follows:

Chapter 1.

Dhritarastra: 1 verse 

Sanjaya: 24 verses

Arjuna: 21 verses 

A total of 46 verses.

Krishna does not speak at all in chapter one.

Chapter 2.

Sanjaya: 3 verses 

Arjuna: 6 verses

Sri Bhagavan: 63 verses 

A total of 72 verses.

Chapter 3.

Arjuna: 3 verses

Sri Bhagavan: 40 verses

A total of 43 verses

Chapter 4.

Arjuna 1 verse

Sri Bhagavan 41 verses

A total of 42 verses for chapter 4.

Chapter 5.

Arjuna: 1 verse

Sri Bhagavan: 28 verses

Total 29 verses

Chapter 6.

Arjuna 5 verses

Sri Bhagavan 42 verses

Total 47 verses

Chapter 7 

Sri Bhagavan speaks all 30 verses of chapter 7!

Chapter 8

Arjuna 2 verses

Sri Bhagavan 26 verses

Total 28 verses

Chapter 9

Here again Sri Bhagavan speaks all 34 verses as in chapter 7

Chapter 10

Arjuna 7 verses

Sri Bhagavan 35

Total 42 verses

Chapter 11

Arjuna 33 verses

Sanjaya 8 verses

Sri Bhagavan 14 verses

Total 55 Verses.

Chapter 12 

Arjuna 1 verses

Sri Bhagavan 19 verses

Total 20 verses

Chapter 13 

Arjuna 1 verses

Sri Bhagavan 34 verses

Total 35 verses

Chapter 14

Arjuna 1 verse

Sri Bhagavan 26 verses 

Total 27 verses 

Chapter 15 

As in chapters 7and 9 here again, Sri Bhagavan speaks all 20 verses.

Chapter 16

Bhagavan speaks all 24 verses

Chapter 17.

Arjuna 1 verse

Sri Bhagavan 27 verses

Total 28 verses

Chapter 18

Arjuna 2 verses

Sanjaya 5 verses

Sri Bhagavan 71 verses

Total 78 verses

UNESCO adopts the 150th Birth Anniversary of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada!
CELEBRATION OF ANNIVERSARIES IN 2024-2025 WITH WHICH UNESCO WILL BE ASSOCIATED (AS RECOMMENDED TO THE GENERAL CONFERENCE In 216 EX/DECISION 28 AND 217 EX/DECISION 32)
150th anniversary of the birth of Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada, philosopher, social reformer, and eminent spiritual leader (1874-1937) (India with the support of Cuba, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Thailand, and Viet Nam)
This is perhaps the first time a Vaishnava leader has been recognized by the UN!          Source: Dandavats.com