Inconclusive Rebuttal
BY: SUN STAFF
Jul 30, USA (SUN) — In June of this year we published an article by Parasurama dasa entitled "A Letter to my Friends". At the end of the article, Parasurama provided a link to a related video commentary. Prior to this, a controversial video had been posted on YouTube, entitled "Narayana Maharaja Blashemes Srila Prabhupada".
Both the YouTube video and "Letter to my Friends" generated a number of responses from supporters of B.V. Narayana Maharaja, particularly offering a rebuttal of the YouTube video. Among the rebuttals received by the Sun was a video created by Tulasi devi dasi entitled "Narayana Maharaja Does Not Blaspheme Srila Prabhupada". We also received word that Shyamarani devi (Jadurani dd) wished to rebut the video, and we later received an article from Avadhoot Maharaja which contained her rebuttal, framed as a cooperative effort by a number of B.V. Narayana followers.
In the case of the rebuttals provided by both Tulasi devi and Shyamarani et al., the position being taken was that the YouTube "Blasphemy" video posted by Barkingdog18 had been cut & pasted to present an entirely false version of B.V. Narayana's words, wrongly creating the impression that he was seriously criticizing Srila Prabhupada. In their rebuttals, Narayana Maharaja's supporters offered what they characterized as a factual transcript of the lecture in question, with highlighted sections and inserted commentaries which indicated that key parts of Narayana's sentences had been clipped out to give a false impression.
Unfortunately, although we made the request of all rebuttal parties, none of them was willing or able to provide us with a copy of the actual video footage that matched their transcript. In fact, in the case of the cooperative Shyamarani rebuttal, what was submitted to us was a supposed rebuttal video with text transcript wherein the transcript didn't even match the video material. Rather, it appeared to be a casual, 'interpretive' transcript.
Because the rebuttal transcripts have not been supported by original video footage of the lecture, which obviously exists, and because the transcripts don't even match the snippets of footage that was provided, we can only conclude that these rebuttals are not substantive, nor even sensible. Therefore we have declined to publish them in the Sun. Our invitation still stands for the supporters of Narayana Maharaja to provide an accurate video with matching transcript rebuttal of the Barkingdog18 YouTube piece, which does indeed present a scene that indicates the serious slander of HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
