BY: SUN STAFF
May 30, CANADA (SUN) — A comparative view of text changes made to Srila Prabhupada's books.
"They are both one and the same identity. They differ only in form. He is the first bodily expansion of Krsna, and He assists in Lord Krsna's transcendental pastimes."
Original Original Edition of Caitanya- caritamrta, 1975, Adi lila 5.5 Translation
"These two are one and the same identity. They differ only in form. Lord Balarama is the first bodily expansion of Krsna, and He assists in Lord Krsna's transcendental pastimes."
New BBT Revised Edition of Caitanya-caritamrta, 1975, Adi lila 5.5 Translation
On a number of occasions, our readers have requested that we add a postscript to the "Changes" series, offering our thoughts on the significance of each specific word or phrase revision. While we are far from being Sanskrit scholars, we will attempt to point out at least some of the obvious grammatical, rhetorical or contextual issues we note in the text changes. We would appreciate the assistance of any devotee(s) competent in Sanskrit and well-versed in Srila Prabhupada's writings who could assist us in this regard. Kindly email us at sun@harekrsna.com to volunteer.
With respect to today's example from Adi lila 5.5, the BBT editors made two changes to the Translation. In the first instance, the phrase "They are both" has been changed to "These two are".
While the differences between "they" and "these" are subtle, they certainly exist. The most basic difference refers to the distance of the object to the speaker, and that 'distance' often has a contextual relationship to time (i.e., distance equals length of time). "These two" comprise an object that is closer to the speaker than "they are". While we cannot speculate as to Srila Prabhupada's intent in this regard, we simply note the grammatical difference.
With respect to the second revision, Srila Prabhupada used the word "He", and the editors changed it to "Lord Balarama". The Text and Synonyms for this sloka follow:
TEXT
eka-i svarupa donhe, bhinna-matra kaya
adya kaya-vyuha, krsna-lilara sahaya
SYNONYMS
eka-i-one; svarupa-identity; donhe-both of Them; bhinna-
matra kaya-only two different bodies; adya-original; kaya-
vyuha-quadruple expansions; krsna-lilara-in the pastimes of
Lord Krsna; sahaya-assistance.
We note the absence of the name "Balarama" in the Sanskrit verse, which seems to support Srila Prabhupada's use of the personal pronoun, "He".
We invite our readers to comment, and again encourage the assistance of anyone competent in Sanskrit or the language arts who can assist with this weekly segment in the Sun.
