Gita Cover-Up Alert or Buyer Beware!
BY: RUPANUGA DAS (ACBSP)
Dec 01, 2010 — JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, USA (SUN) — Interested parties should be made aware that the BBT editors of Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad-Gita As It Is have continued editing their own new (2010) paperback edition of their 1983 "revised and enlarged" version. They have removed the notice "Revised and Enlarged" from the face page and left only "Second Edition." The phrase "with the original Sanskrit text, Roman transliteration, English equivalents, translation and elaborate purports" has been omitted. So now, after all the omissions, the face page reads simply "Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, Second Edition, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada."
Consequently, there is no indication for the prospective buyer that the book is actually a revised version of the original; rather it is made to appear to be simply a re-printing of the original—by the same author! The BBT editors, remaining incognito, continue to plagiarize Srila Prabhupada's name and fame to lend credibility to their in fact re-written version of the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, originally designated as the "Complete Edition" by Srila Prabhupada himself.
On the back cover, once again the editors omit an important phrase in the description of Srila Prabhupada as "the leading exponent of the science of Krsna consciousness in the West and the world's most distinguished teacher of Vedic religion and thought…" And they add a curious sentence in conclusion, which really reflects their own clandestine position: "Thus, unlike other editions of the Gita, his conveys Lord Krsna's profound message as it is—without the slightest taint of adulteration or personally motivated change." This is so reminiscent of that well-known story of the man on the second floor of his house hearing a noise downstairs and calling out, "Who's there?" revealing the actual position, a voice from below answers emphatically, "Oh, I'm not stealing! I'm not stealing!"
Or the time when devotees told Srila Prabhupada about a newspaper article claiming that a space probe to Mars had sent back photographic images that so closely resembled the terrain in Arizona. Srila Prabhupada said the scientists involved were themselves in Arizona, simply revealing their own minds, reflecting their surroundings.
Similarly, these editors, perhaps smarting from unending legitimate criticism, have inadvertently revealed their own position: "Oh no, we have edited responsibly, without the slightest taint of adulteration or personally motivated change!" But they continue to commit what Srila Prabhupada described in the purport Srimad Bhagavatam 3.4.26:
"Although one may be well versed in transcendental science, one should be careful about the offense of maryada-vyatikrama, impertinently surpassing a greater personality."
The impertinence knows no bounds, because BBT editing has become a co-authoring of Srila Prabhupada's books. Buyer beware! Milk still looks like milk even when containing poison.
