1) a change of meaning - from those intended by Prabhupada - and the syntax of Prabhupada's flow of expression;
2) a change in tone and voice from Prabhupada's own;
3) a change of persona and aesthetics in look and feel of the book itself;
4) change of experience for the reader. Most seem to say yes on all 4 accounts. Interested to hear your own thoughts. The remaining question is if Prabhupada would approve any of these - what to speak of all of them. Many are finding it quite a strenuous and extraordinary leap to make.
5) The 5th area is if the full potency of Prabhupada's shakti is still represented or how much it's compromised. At that point, it would seem the argument is already lost. However, there is a case to be made that given its kali-yoga, they still offer a far greater impact as compared to having nothing of Prabhupada's books.
It has that ring of a kali-yuga kind of 'make-do.'
M Dasi: I think they should leave his books alone. Look what happened with the Bible. It's been changed. There are new versions of it. You can Google it. It's not my area of expertise but a vastly well- known fact.
PADA: First of all, a person who says that Krishna's guru successors are often falling into illicit sex with men, women and children -- should not even be allowed into any ISKCON temples, much less be made the primary editor of any publications. ys pd
RD: I had no idea you would have responded with this. lol.
MD: It's alright, PADA has absolutely no evidence to prove anything, the best thing is not to respond to Ritviks, in the U.K. we have a Pundit God brother, he says what they say isn't backed up by sastra and the tradition of sastra.
PADA: Illicit sex acharyas is not in our tradition.
GTD: Is man lead by words of men or the love of the spirit?
P Devi Dasi: I agree with your first 5. I understand your comment, I'd add: for me it was never a question of whether these new books make devotees, or even attract people - it was about following Prabhupada's instructions. Or rather, to stop following them. Thanks for letting me say this.
RD: Oh my, that would of course be the #1 issue. Prabhupada repeatedly and specifically requested against it. loll.
JD: I’m not advocating either way here, but the first two items you’ve posted seem to neglect that there were people editing to begin with. So a phrase like “the blessed lord said” (a super king James biblical reference) really comes from that exchange and isn’t “native” (for lack of a better word in my minuscule imagination) to Srila Prabhupada’s own.
V Das: The difference is -- Srila Prabhupada approved of wording like that. Srila Prabhupada wanted it there. It was his style. We shouldn't change his style.
NKD: Sober, honest and courageous words. Happy to see and hard to disagree.
RD: A pleasant surprise to see u here. Of course, it would be Prabhupada related post to get u to speak up.
AR: I did a comparison back in 1991 ... it’s way different. I couldn’t believe the watered down version of the Sanskrit words meanings chosen. Real talk, it is not the same. When that happened, other Vaisnavas start doing their own show bottle versions too. Then started publishing from other book companies. I was like... it felt eerie and thought that anybody could do it, now. Meaning so many people getting lost.
PADA: Yes, so many "new" editions are coming along due to the original sin, the process of changing given by the bogus GBC cadre. This has emboldened people like Purujit and his pals to cite Jayadvaita's rationales to write their own editions of the books too. Naturally, the sincere Prabhupadanugas want to use the original edition books that the acharya uses himself, lectures from, has printed, and so on and so forth. The good news is, most people have rejected all these "newly edited" versions and they now want original versions. Some book distributors told me they stopped doing books as soon as they could not distribute originals, this is hampering the preaching of the Krishna religion. Was that the plan of the bogus GBC all along?
WK: Recently Krsna revealed something to me, so simple to understand. Regarding editing making changes to Srila Prabhupada's books. I wanted to share this experience. Antonio a maintenance worker for our complex, came to do a repair. Whenever he comes to my home, he always initiate s intelligent conversation about our movement. He came to America from El Salvador the same year Srila Prabhupada came to America.
He considers this his good fortune. On this visit Antonio ask me. How, do we really know what God looks like, and how many times they have changed the Bible. How do we know the truth. My natural response, and I was grateful to speak this rare and unique truth. As I answered him, I realized once again the true value of words spoken by a pure devotee, unchanged, uncontaminated. Handed down through the disciplic succession.
And that's how we know who Krsna is, where He lives and what he looks like. Lord Krsna spoke the words that Srila Prabhupad translated, and the paintings were guided by the same pure force. So understanding the importance of not changing anything, guarding the purity is as important as anything given to us in our care. Because I believe this instruction wholeheartedly, I was able to speak this truth to another jiva soul (Antonio). Who understood the importance, and this simple point. I was blown away how easy he understood without any argument. The look on his face of relief, to come in contact with truth.
A feeling that echos to my own good fortune. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
G Dasi: Great answer and most of all your clear faith came through.
KR Dasi: The GBC is taking note of how the Vatican became so powerful and overpowering over the mass of people. They changed Jesus's teachings, got rid of all the women ... and the Goddess ..... then they buggered the kids and each other behind closed doors, whilst pretending to be Guru's who could lead people beyond their suffering. Meanwhilst, pocketing a pretty penny. It's a disgrace. They say we should believe word for word the things Srila Prabhuapda spoke... yet they always change his words. They are hypocrites. Srila Prabhupada would slap them if he saw how far they have gone from the truth.
PADA: Yes, when we came out and said that changing the books is a major deviation in the early 1980s, most people argued with us at the time and said that this is a bona fide "GBC approved program," and thus we should not protest. Well fast forward to now, and it is clear the tide is turning, more people than ever want originals.
Its also clear to a lot of people that the GBC has become a corrupt institution, which is why Srila Prabhupada said -- please make sure they do not turn my mission into another Gaudiya Math or Catholic Church. Yes, when so many devotees object to the GBC's process, we can judge by the result to see its not working, not acceptable, and its upsetting the Vaishnavas and etc.
Same thing with our friends who keep copying and pasting a 1997 lawsuit all over the universe, saying this lawsuit should never be read by anyone. Fine except, they want to personally ensure that everyone in the universe reads it? And they are thus the exclusive readers, advertisers and publishers of that document for the past 20 years now.
And the result is, they are not making devotees, temples, programs, book printing and so on -- unlike those of us who have better things to do, like preach about Krishna. Did I forget to mention, they also object to many of these successful preaching efforts? Yes, do not listen to Srila Prabhupada, listen to us and our publishing of defective documents, and folks like GBC's lover's club leader Bhakta das and etc.
Simple thing, we can judge by the result.
Of course some ISKCON victims have told me, the real reason folks objected to the lawsuit is -- they are angry their program of banning, beating, molesting, suing, and murdering vaishnavas has been de-funded, exposed and minimized, and now it turns out -- their book changing program is also being de-funded. Oh boo hoo! Anyway, we are making good progress, as evidenced by these types of discussions. ys pd
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