Reply to Madhudvisa
BY: DRAVIDA DASA
Aug 22, 2010 — LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (SUN) —
I guess I'll just have to surrender. After all, now I know that . . .
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 7.25 the 15th verse of the Isopansad should be attributed to Queen Kunti.
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 9.29 Srila Prabhupada's quotation of Krsna's words "*anyone who surrenders unto Me, proportionately do I take care of him" should have asti na priyał/ye bhajanti preceding them, from BG 9.29, rather than ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham, from BG 4.11.
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 13.2 it made better sense to have "Sometimes we understand that I am happy, I am mad, I am a woman, I am a dog, I am a cat; these are the knowers." rather than "Sometimes we think, "I am happy," "I am a man," "I am a woman," "I am a dog," "I am a cat." These are the bodily designations of the knower. "
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 2.1 "This realization is made possible by working with the fruitive being situated in the fixed conception of the self" made perfect sense, rather than "This realization is possible when one works without attachment to fruitive results and is situated in the fixed conception of the real self."
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 18.31-32 the purport Srila Prabhupada dictated for 18.32, describing intelligence in the mode of ignorance, should rather be appended to 18.31, and that the word "ignorance" should be replaced with "passion" throughout.
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 5.28 the Gita should read "One has to drive out the sense objects such as sound, touch, form, taste and smell by the pratyahara (breathing) process in yoga," even though everyone knows that it's pranayama, not pratyahara, that is the breathing process and even though the word "(breathing)" was added by Hayagriva.
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 9.26 the whole first paragraph of the purport, printed in the first, abridged edition, should be deleted because there's nothing of great significance there:
For the intelligent person, it is essential to be in Krsna consciousness, engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, in order to achieve a permanent, blissful abode for eternal happiness. The process of achieving such a marvelous result is very easy and can be attempted even by the poorest of the poor, without any kind of qualification. The only qualification required in this connection is to be a pure devotee of the Lord. It does not matter what one is or where one is situated. The process is so easy that even a leaf or a little water or fruit can be offered to the Supreme Lord in genuine love and the Lord will be pleased to accept it. No one, therefore, can be barred from Krsna consciousness, because it is so easy and universal. Who is such a fool that he does not want to be Krsna conscious by this simple method and thus attain the highest perfectional life of eternity, bliss and knowledge? Krsna wants only loving service and nothing more. Krsna accepts even a little flower from His pure devotee. He does not want any kind of offering from a nondevotee. He is not in need of anything from anyone, because He is self-sufficient, and yet He accepts the offering of His devotee in an exchange of love and affection. To develop Krsna consciousness is the highest perfection of life. Bhakti is mentioned twice in this verse in order to declare more emphatically that bhakti, or devotional service, is the only means to approach Krsna. No other condition, such as becoming a brahmana, a learned scholar, a very rich man or a great philosopher, can induce Krsna to accept some offering. Without the basic principle of bhakti, nothing can induce the Lord to agree to accept anything from anyone. Bhakti is never causal. The process is eternal. It is direct action in service to the absolute whole.
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 9.34 the translation should omit "become my devotee"
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 18.54 the translation should omit "and becomes fully joyful."
Prabhupada carefully went over every word of the manuscript with Hayagriva Prabhu and agreed that . . .
at 10.21 the purport should omit these words dictated by Prabhupada -- "It appears from this verse that the moon is one of the stars; therefore the stars that twinkle in the sky also reflect the light of the sun. The theory that there are many suns within the universe is not accepted by Vedic literature. The sun is one, and as by the reflection of the sun the moon illuminates, so also do the stars. Since Bhagavad-gita indicates herein that the moon is one of the stars, the twinkling stars are not suns but are similar to the moon." -- because Hayagriva convinced Prabhupada that it was just too much for the reader to accept, even though when Prabhupada learned that Hayagriva had removed some of Prabhupada's negative statements about the moon landing from Easy Journey he became furious at Hayagriva and chastised him severely, and the statements were restored, despite their being equally as controversial as the Gita statement.
And I guess I'll also have to surrender and realize that Prabhupada didn't really mean it when he wrote to Brahmanada in 1970: "I think [Krsna Consciousness: The Topmost Yoga System] should be gone through once more very carefully and all the mistakes that are still existing there should be corrected. If the books are printed with spelling mistakes and other mistakes, that will be a discredit for our publication. So please see that editorial work is done very nicely. " I guess none of the above passages in the Macmillan Gita are in the category of "other mistakes" that Prabhupada would want fixed, because he judged that they wouldn't discredit the publication and (as he says elsewhere) the institution and, as is abundantly obvious, Srila Prabhupada himself.
On second thought, I think I'll continue to live in the land of reality rather than the land of fantasy and take Prabhupada at his word -- "Concerning the editing of Jayadvaita Prabhu, whatever he does is approved by me. I have confidence in him." (letter to Radhavallabha, 1976) After all, if Jayadvaita Swami's editing was good enough for Prabhupada, it's good enough for me.
Your servant,
Dravida dasa
