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

The greatest nonsensical proposal of current edition of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (BGAII V2) is found in the word for word of chapter 16, verse 7 and gives us an idea of the moral turpitude of the editor. By translating and changing from BGAII V1, the meaning of “nivrttim”from “improper action” to “not acting improperly”, he indicates that actually there is no difference between proper action and improper action. It is all one. Do whatever you like. This is essentially the definition of Lord Krishna’s demoniac life. Fortunately the matter is rectified in the translation of the verse itself. The two translations coincide exactly:

“Those who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done. Neither cleanliness nor proper behavior nor truth is found in them.”BG 16.7

Srila Prabhupada’s use of the word “propriety” is however lost. In this particular context, as well as generally “propriety” is an essential word. Therefore we propose:

“Those who are of demoniac quality have no sense of propriety and do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done. They are unclean. Neither do they know how to behave, not is there any truth found in them.” BGAII 16.7 V3

And in BG 2.28, we find another absurdity in the expression “unmanifest in their beginning.” “Beginning” means manifested stage and unmanisfested stage is before the beginning. By definition manifested and unmanifested stages don’t coincide to any extent. The expression “unmanifest in their beginning” represents therefore a laughable contradiction in terms and must therefore be avoided. Srila Prabhupada simply write “unmanifested before.” Besides that “O descendant of Bharat” is conspicuous by its absence in both editions.

Here is BGAII 2.28 version 3:

“O descendant of Bharata, all created beings were non-manifested before; manifest only in their interim stage, and when vanquished, they become non-manifested again. So what need is there for lamentation”

Both editors seem to have a strong aversion for logicians because in the first sentence of the purport of previous verse, BG 2.27, they drop unceremoniously the word “logicians.”

Srila Prabhupada writes:”According to logicians, one has to take his birth according to one’s activities of life.”

In their superior wisdom they have decided that this should instead be shortened to:”One has to take birth according to one’s activities of life.”, clearly a corruption of Srila Prabhupada’s words.

In BG 2.33, purport, the word “certificate” is dropped once :

Srila Prabhupada writes: “Arjuna was a famous fighter and he obtained certificates by fighting with many great demigods including even Lord Shiva”

Both editors write: “Arjuna was a famous fighter. and he attained fame by fighting many great demigods, including even Lord Shiva.”

Further down in the purport we read:”So he was credited with so many military certificates from many authorities……..which are Srila Prabhupada’s own words.

In the Transcript for BG 2.35 Srila Prabhupada uses the word “fig”. Why not keep it as follows:

Text 2.35

“The great generals who have very highly esteemed your name and fame will consider that you have left the battlefield out of fear only and thus they will not give a fig for you.”

From BG 2.42-43 it is evident that the editors have a fundamental aversion for Srila Prabhupada’s expression “poor fund of knowledge”

BG 2.47 Prabhupada’s “proprietary” in “proprietary right” is missing.

Another things is that in the Original Transcript Srila Prabhupada repeats the expression “Krishna Consciousness” over and over again. But in many cases, the editors have just suppressed this wonderfull expression which is in fact the object of our samadhi. This is both an affront to Srila Prabhupada and a great disservice to all those souls who are seriously interested in self realization. I had previously noted this anomaly and on March 25 2018 have written the article titled KRISHNA MISSING. ONE MILLION DOLLARS REWARD which can be seen by scrolling down home page.Krishna consciouness is all we are about. Srila Prabhupada wants to increase our Krishna consciousness and by removing the expression “Krishna consciouness”innumerable times, the editors decrease our Krishna consciouness. I am saying this is a deliberate affront to Srila Prabhupada and an great disservice to all fallen souls. Hare Krishna.

Sexism 2.67; 2.72 Srila Prabhupada gives capitals to “the Goddess of Fortune”, the editors don’t.

Bg 1.14 purport, we have a good example how previous editors diminish the literary value of Prabhupada’s writings:

“Besides that the chariot on which both friends were seated was donated by Agni to Arjuna and this indicated that this chariot was meant for conquering all sides wherever it would be drawn. The chariot was meant for conquering over all the three worlds by all means.”

becomes

“Besides that, the chariot on which both the friends were seated had been donated by Agni (the fire-god) to Arjuna, and this indicated that this chariot was capable of conquering all sides, wherever it was drawn over the three worlds.”

The repetition for emphasis is lost.

AKNOWLEDGEMENT.

We acknowledge our debt of gratitude to HG Madhudvisa Prabhu, who made the Original Transcript (OT) available to the world by establishing the bookchanges.com website. 

First of all, if some of those original typists or editors would have had any decency, respect, circumspection and professionalism, they wouldn’t have scribbled all over the manuscript, thus making some of the passages completely unreadable. Judging by the thoroughness and great determination they crossed them out, leaving just one black mark on the white paper, it would appear that those typists or editors were extremely concerned and determined that some of Srila Prabhupada’s spoken words would never be readable again and this is what’s happening in some cases.

Bhagavad Gita As It Is is really divided into three parts because the original transcript (OT) is constituted of three distinct parts as follows:

1 ) The introduction plus the first five chapters have been typed by Srila Prabhupada Himself. For reviewing purposes, we shall, therefore, concentrate on the introduction and these initial five chapters first. 

2 ) Chapters six to eleven have been typed by another party or parties from Srila Prabhupada’s tape dictation. “Neal, the typist,” may have been one of them. Please see Prabhupada Lilamrta Vol 2 page 267 New York City November 1966

3 ) Chapters twelve to eighteen have not only been typed by another party or parties from Srila Prabhupada’s tape dictation, as were chapters six to eleven, but have also undergone a first process of editing by HG Hayagriva Prabhu, who is mostly responsible for version one of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is.

In other words, there is here a progression of five, six and seven chapters, which form the complete Bhagavad-gita of eighteen chapters.

The most astounding feature is that the original audio dictation is lost. In His transcendental pastimes, Srila Prabhupada carefully erased the tapes in order to reuse them again and again. 

This information has been provided by HG Dravida Prabhu of ISKCON San Diego, USA, and is considered reliable. 

In other words, in the first part, introduction and chapters 1 to 5, we are dealing with Srila Prabhupada Himself directly. For the second part, chapters 6 to 11, we are one brain away from Srila Prabhupada and in the third part, chapters 12 to 18, we are two brains away from Srila Prabhupada. The more brains away from Srila Prabhupada, the more chances for deviation and (mis) interpretations.

In many instances we also feel that Srila Prabhupada’s simplicity of expresion and more systematic language have been violated in the name of so-called more elaborate or snappy English. Simplicity has got its own virtues and sometimes complexity is created irrespectively in order to create a monopoly.  This is to be avoided. Bhagavad-gita, the message of Lord Krishna, is for everyone from the illiterate to the most learned and everyone in between.When I say illiterate, I am not exagerating. In Lord Caitanya’s times, in India, there was an illiterate brahmana who would feel love for Krishna and cry by simply looking at the pictures of Bhagavad-gita, especially the picture where Krishna accepts the subordinate position of charioteer. It is therefore essential that the style of writing appeals to everyone and because Srila Prabhupada was appointed by Krishna to deliver His message, we postulate that the most universally appealing style of writing is Srila Prabhupada’s own. So let us therefore stick to Him. Let us therefore stick to the Prabhupada mood. Om tat sat.

For more info please go to https://krishnaculture.org/bhagavad-gita-as-it-is-version-3/

Extract from HG Basu Ghosh Prabhu’s Vyasapuja offering 2021 to Srila Prabhupada:

” You must be pleased to know that the Chief Minister of West Bengal visited Sridham Mayapur and announced that she would do anything to promote religious tourism in West Bengal. You must be pleased to know that she had a law passed in the State Assembly exempting Iskcon’s Mayapur Tourist Corporation – wholly owned by your Iskcon India Governing Bureau, that you registered at Bombay during 1971- from land ceiling laws up to 750 acres! She further had the West Bengal State Assembly pass an exemption from stamp duties that saved the Mayapur project approximately fifty crores of rupees”(Fifty crores of Indian rupees is equivalent to roughly AU$ 8.8 million or US$ 6.6 million at this date. Source: ofx.com)

___________________________________________________________________________________

Let us, first of all, express our sadness and deepest sympathy for the relatives and friends of the slain devotees in the Bangladesh aggressions.

We seek two things:

1. Justice – Those who are responsible for the recent violence must be held accountable and punished per Bangladesh law.
2. Protection – We call on the Bangladesh government to ensure the safety of all religious minorities in Bangladesh._______________________________________________________________________

BGAII 10.34 purport.

The manuscript reads:

” Medha, memory, not only to read many books on many subject matter, but to keep them in the memory and produce them when necessary, that is also another opulence”

BGAII V1 points instead in the opposite direction, whence the title of my article:

“One need not read many books on different subject matters; the ability to remember a few and quote them when necessary is also another opulence.”

BGAII V2 respects the original “read many books”:

“And the ability not only to read many books on different subject matters but to understand them and apply them when necessary is intelligence (medha), another opulence.

BGAII V 3 possibly:

And the ability not only to read many books on different subject matters but to remember and quote them when necessary is intelligence (medha), another opulence.

Further considerations:

We note that the three word-for-word renditions translate the word medha as “intelligence” not “memory.”

Clearly, the idea of remembrance is present in the original transcript and should therefore be conserved in the final rendition. If one is able to remember and quote the subject matter, then understanding is implicit. No need to mention it.

The question will be how to best render “produce”, which in itself is not ideal:

“Quote” as in BGAII V1 or “apply” as in BGAII V2 ?

We may choose “quote” because Srila Prabhupada, the preacher, is always in the business of quoting Shastra as no one else knows how. Jai Srila Prabhupada!!!

Final remark: Such editorial discrepancies are very disturbing and cause discord. In Srila Prabhupada’s own words: ” If the books are printed with spelling mistakes and other mistakes, that will be a discredit for our publication.”

POST FINAL REMARK:

In order to improve the standard of presentation of BGAII V1, this point along with the number of qualities enumerated in the verse, which are in fact seven and not six, ought to be corrected just like the expression “cattle raising” of BGAII 18.44 has rightfully been corrected to “cow protection”, on Srila Prabhupada’s personal request.

The same applies to “avaricious” of BGAII 2.5 as well as the multiple use of “the Blessed Lord,” instead of “the “Supreme Personality of Godhead.” In BGAII 2.13 p. Hayagriva replaced Prabhupada’s “futile” with the word “meaningless.” and Jayadvaita Swami tolerates such whimsical change. What is wrong with “futile”, we may ask?

These are all inventions of Hayagriva Prabhu who thus takes the freedom of blocking access to Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-Gita as It Is. In all honesty, his presentation of BGAII should therefore be called Bhagavad-Gita As It Is Not (BGAIIN) by Hayagriva Prabhu.

In conclusion and IMHO, but for the missing purport sentence “And the ability not only to read many books on different subject matters but to remember and quote them when necessary is intelligence (medha), another opulence”, we may say that BGAII V2 10.34 is just fine by the arrangement of HH Jayadvaita Swami.

One can only shed tears. This is Vaikhunta!

The sounds and mood for the last moments of life.

The rhythm of the kirtan is conducive for a good walk, one two, one two, one two.

The sound of the singer’s voice is distinctive. Is It a bass or baritone voice? Probably not a tenor and even less an alto or countertenor.

And the sound of electric guitar add to the sweetness of it all.