Jul 03, 2015 — DENMARK (SUN) — His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada:
"Originally I wrote Bhagavad-gītā As It Is in the form in which it is presented now. When this book was first published, the original manuscript was, unfortunately, cut short to less than 400 pages, without illustrations and without explanations for most of the original verses of the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. In all of my other books—Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Śrī Īśopaniṣad, etc.—the system is that I give the original verse, its English transliteration, word-for-word Sanskrit-English equivalents, translations and purports. This makes the book very authentic and scholarly and makes the meaning self-evident. I was not very happy, therefore, when I had to minimize my original manuscript. But later on, when the demand for Bhagavad-gītā As It Is considerably increased, I was requested by many scholars and devotees to present the book in its original form, and Messrs. Macmillan and Co. agreed to publish the complete edition. Thus the present attempt is to offer the original manuscript of this great book of knowledge with full paramparā explanation in order to establish the Kṛṣṇaconsciousness movement more soundly and progressively."
(Preface to 'Bhagavad-gita As It Is', Original, authorized 1972 edition)
The massive 'editing' that the BBT/BBTi is doing since decades on the Bhagavad-gita As It Is is supposedly being done on the basis of 'the manuscript'. But this 'manuscript' is nothing more than a draft, a working paper. The real bona fide manuscript is the blueprint presented to the printer/non-different in content to the 1972 edition.
So the post Srila Prabhupada´s disappearance editing of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is is basically taking us AWAY from the real manuscript.
The 1972 edition IS the manuscript, as confirmed in Srila Prabhupada's OWN words above.
I understand we may choose to call it a manuscript still, or 'manuscript' for the sake of convenience, but I think it is important to establish the fact. Jayadvaita Swami is NOT right when referring to the drafts as manuscripts.
