Mahatma Health / Hindu Quotes / Book Changes 09 26 24

Mother Yasoda would laugh at Krishna's antics as a child.

PADA: Alachua's devotee community is getting hit to some extent by the hurricane there now, with some devotees already reported losing power to their homes. We have some friends there and pray they will be safe. Kali Yuga is getting worse, that is all there is to it. Of course, there are also some devotees living right in the direct path of the storm's worst parts, and one can only hope they got out of there in time. ys pd  

HG Mahatma Das’ Health Update, September 26, 2024

Jaya Srila Prabhupada!

The medical team reports that he is progressing as expected. Some tubes have been removed, he walked a little, and he ate a small amount. The recovery process for this procedure is long and difficult, so please continue your prayers, blessings, pujas, and kirtans. They are carrying him through.

Your servant,
Radhapriya Devi Dasi

PADA: Yep. After dedicating their lives to promoting the worship of illicit sex with men, women and children, and / or drunks, porno swamis, dope heads etc. as God's gurus / messiahs etc., many or even most of the GBC leaders fell down, got sick, or died prematurely. Or all of the above. 

And part of that is -- (a) the offense of making conditioned souls into God's successors; (b) part of that is -- the intense suffering they caused all sorts of Vaishnavas by orchestrated banning, beating, molesting and even killing some of them; (c) part of that is their accepting karma from disciples that they are not qualified to absorb; (d) and probably another part of that is the fact they derailed Lord Chaitanya's movement and made it into a series of scandals and bad public media, and made it devolve into a sort of sahajiya / de facto Hindu process. OK another part is that this cabal may have poisoned their guru. 

All of these horrible things have combined to create a lot of suffering in this "guru" group, either mental, physical, spiritual -- or all of the above. And Mahatma is simply another one of this group. A PADA reader was telling me the other day, most of them have just gone totally bonkers, they have lost their intelligence altogether. They misused their intelligence, and now it has been lost. I agree.

What some people don't seem to realize is, we cannot offend Krishna and His parampara by making fools and debauchees into His alleged successors, and then pray to Krishna to save the offenders. That is not how it works. The offenders are going down, one way or the other. No one can save them, except themselves, by doing some heavy repentance and admitting that they are not Krishna's successors. 

While riding my bike on my japa ride, some guy stopped me frantically and asked me if I had seen his dog come this way. His dog had been hit by a car, and the dog had one eye popped down out of his head, and it was limping and bleeding. Ummm no, I must have missed that, thank goodness, I did not have to see that dreadful scene. Sheesh pilgrims. That is the result of forgetting Krishna, and probably making some offenses too. 

I have no idea why someone would want to make debauchees into Krishna successors, since even this guy who was looking for his damaged dog knows -- we cannot promote deviants as God's successors -- yep even he knows -- there will be severe reactions. 

And being a dog hit by a car is simply one of several billion problems a person can endure by offending Krishna and His parampara. Why would anyone want to take that risk? Yep, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, no kidding. Just having Mahatma's best pal "porno swami" Gunagrahi buried in the dham is going to take these folks into a dog's body, after they suffer worse reactions in lower births on lower planets. Did I forget to mention porno swami had a long suffering battle with cancer, which some folks said was "because he took too much karma." Duh-oh! 

Meanwhile, most everyone agrees they just wanted to make ISKCON into a Hindu show bottle:   

"You may call the Vedas Hindu, but "Hindu" is a foreign name. WE ARE NOT HINDUS." (Sri Isopanisad Introduction)

"Simply we are teaching that 'Become God conscious.' God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. He’s God. And WE ARE ALSO NOT HINDU or Muslim or Christian. This is our bodily designation. We are all pure, part and parcel of the Supreme." (BG Lecture NY 23/11/66)

Prabhupada: (chuckles) And that mataji, she has taken land. I don't like that idea. Some Hindus are supporting. I don't want a Hindu temple. Our constitution is different. We want everyone. Krsna consciousness is for everyone. IT IS NOT A HINDU PROPOGANDA. People may not misunderstand. And actually, till now IN OUR SOCIETY THERE IS NOT A SINGLE OTHER HINDU THAN ME. (laughter) Is that not? (Meeting 9/6/69) New Vrindavana)

Lord Caitanya, He said that “I am not a brahmana. I am not a Christian. I AM NOT A HINDU. I am not a sannyasi. I am nothing of this sort.” Then what You are? “I am the servant’s servant’s servant of Krsna. That is My identification.” And when you identify yourself in that way, you are liberated. That is Krsna consciousness, perfection of Krsna consciousness. (CC Lecture New York 21/12/66)

angel108b@yahoo.com

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Dialogue on Book Changes #2

BY: VYAPAKA DASA

When A Man Is So Sure He's Right - Part 1

Recently, a discussion between His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami (JAS) and myself (Vyapaka dasa) regarding precedents and authority for posthumous change to Srila Prabhupada’s books was undertaken via email. Portions of those emails were recently published on the Sampradaya Sun.

JAS’s last email never received a reply and this essay addresses points found in that and other correspondence. The reply is lengthy and will be published in four parts.

The first subject to be discussed is as follows.

SRILA JIVA GOSWAMI AS A PRECEDENT FOR POSTHUMOUS EDITING

JAS writes in an April 28, 2006 email to myself (Vd) regarding an alleged precedent of posthumous change to an acarya’s work:

JAS writes in an April 28, 2006 email to myself (Vd) regarding an alleged precedent of posthumous change to an acarya’s work:

"> Okay. The fourteenth chapter of the Bhakti-ratnakara contains a letter
> from Sri Jiva Gosvami to Srinivasa Acarya in which Srila Jiva mentions
> he was editing Srila Rupa Gosvami's Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. The letter
> was written after Srila Rupa Gosvami's physical departure from the
> world.

"(Vd in a previous email) >>Do you have examples where the writings of great vaisnava acaryas on Srila Prabhupada's level has been edited posthumously?

JAS: I provided you an excellent example and asked: Is that good enough for you?

You (Vd) replied: No. Definitely not. You are comparing your actions to those of Srila Jiva Goswami? I see.

"To satisfy you, what I need to find is an example in which the writings of a great acarya were posthumously edited by an idiot whose editing was approved by great souls.

"That's why I asked earlier whether, if the answer to your previous question were yes, your thinking would change or I would just be wasting my time.

"You have answered my question.

"And you have persuaded me that going further with our correspondence would be pointless.

‘When a man is so sure he's right that no evidence would be enough to change his mind, there's no use of further discussion.

‘That appears to be where you stand. And so I beg your leave.
"I wish you well in your devotional service to His Divine Grace.
Hare Krsna. Goodbye."

We apologize to JAS for wasting his time but unfortunately, we remain unconvinced by his argument and logic. His evidence regarding precedent within our tradition for posthumous change amounts to one letter by Jiva Goswami. Rationally, one would expect that additional examples would be cited if available. We will base our arguments on JAS’s presentation that no other examples exist.

Therefore, Jiva Goswami had no precedent for posthumous change. So, if no previous authority posthumously edited an acarya’s work, then the only reasonable deduction, for this to be a precedent for JAS, is that Jiva Goswami acted upon his own initiative to edit Srila Rupa Goswami’s writings, after receiving no order to do so.

This is necessary because JAS admits that no instruction was given by Srila Prabhupada to posthumously edit his books. So, an order by the spiritual master (in this instance to Srila Jiva Goswami) must be lacking in order to qualify as a precedent for JAS.

Similarly, if Jiva Goswami was instructed to edit by Rupa Goswami before his departure, or that he never edited the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu but offered a commentary, then Jiva Goswami’s editing or writing also cannot be claimed as a precedent by JAS.

Queries have been made to different scholars of the Goswamis and one has opined that Jiva Goswami likely edited his spiritual masters’ work, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. However, he emphasized that the editing was limited to adjusting Sanskrit meter, etc.

Jiva Goswami was the most prolific and scholarly of all the Six Goswamis. As will be seen, he edited and commented on a wide variety of spiritual literature.
Srila Prabhupada informs us in a Caitanya Caritamrta (C.C.) purport:

"...This is described in the Bhakti-ratnakara. As far as our information goes, Srila Jiva Goswami composed and edited at least twenty-five books. They are all very much celebrated, and they are listed as follows: (1) Hari-namamrta-vyakarana, 

.... (12) a commentary on the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, [added emphasis] .... After the disappearance of Srila Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Gosvami in Vrindavana, Srila Jiva Gosvami became the acarya of all the Vaisnavas in Bengal, Orissa and the rest of the world, and it is he who used to guide them in their devotional service."(C.C., Adi-lila 10.85, purport)

In the same purport it continues:

"Srila Jiva Gosvami strictly followed his predecessor gurus [added emphasis]." (C.C., Adi-lila 10.85, purport)

That a direct reference to this situation is found in a Srila Prabhupada purport is important. If indeed, Jiva Goswami polished the Sanskrit, Srila Prabhupada seems not to see it as noteworthy and thus highlighted his commentary.

JAS states in the Vedabase that: "At the highest level of authority we can place Srila Prabhupada's books. These are the works in which Srila Prabhupada formally presented for the world the message of the scriptures and the previous acaryas. It is these books that form the very basis of the Krsna consciousness movement." (The Bhaktivedanta Vedabase: What to Make of What You Find by Jayadvaita Swami)

We agree with JAS that the information contained in Srila Prabhupada’s books is our highest level of authority. So, we must conclude that Srila Jiva Goswami, based upon information provided in Srila Prabhupada’s purports, did not edit the substance of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, but simply offered a commentary.
Part 1 b to follow