Prabhupada's Books Must Change

by Ananda Das
(Reprinted from Com)

Dear Devotees:

Recently a misguided devotee has made a cause celebre of his contention that the ongoing process of improving the scholarly presentation of Srila Prabhupad's books while at the same time making them conform as closely as possible to his intent should be stopped. This devotee contends that at an arbitrary time in the past these books were perfected, and they should thereafter be fixed in time without further changes ever.

This argument, taken to its ultimate conclusion, would eventually make Prabhupad's books a curious historical artifact rather than a spiritual guide for the next 10,000 years, because the English language, as any other language, will not stand still. Words change their spellings, words change their meanings. That is why many people are baffled by Shakespearean puns, confused by Milton, and unable to read Beowulf without a translation. "The old order changeth, yielding place to new." Outside of universities you can scarcely find a person today who speaks Old English or Mediaeval English, and eventually the speech of the mid-twentieth century will seem quaint and puzzling too.

A simple example should suffice. In the translation of the Christian Bible prepared on the order of King James, the word "meat" occurs several times, yet it does not mean "animal flesh," as many people reading those books today might wrongly assume. The word "meat" in the times of King James meant "food." Just imagine how much confusion has been caused by misguided fundamentalism which ignores the real changes in meaning that occur over centuries.

[The misguided devotee] writes:

"The original, approved by Srila Prabhupada, says void philosophy causes frustration whereas Jayadvaita [Maharaj]'s says void philosophy "arises from frustration."

This example, cited with so much mock outrage, proves nothing, since no Vaishnava will argue with the truth of either version. Voidist philosophy is BOTH the cause of frustration and the effect of frustration. Anyone who makes a serious attempt to understand Sripad Sankaracharya's preaching will throw up his hands in despair at the numerous self-contradictory aspects, and people who experience frustration, but who are not yet ready to accept the mercy and take the shelter of Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are likely to drift into some form of word-jugglery masquerading as serious philosophy; in their bewildered state they will be unable to differentiate sense from nonsense.

Such frustrated people, in a vain attempt to make their own confusion seem purposeful, may even begin posting articles on the Internet attacking the credentials of reputable devotees, on the theory that if they cannot personally find any nectar in a flower, they can at least point out the spots on the moon's surface. Still, given a choice between two slightly different statements which amount to the same thing, let us prefer the more accurate text, as His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami has done. We should all be careful to avoid the offence of lese-majeste; by omitting to properly offer respect to the senior Back To Godhead editor and the devotee entrusted with vetting the accuracy of Srila Prabhupad's books, the author of this campaign has lessened his own devotional credibility.

"How can we make Prabhupada's books 'acceptable' to people in maya?"

Obviously, we can't. This, like the rest of this devotee's specious complaint, amounts to hyperbole. None of the people who are truly serious about preaching the Krishna Consciousness philosophy would be willing to tolerate any effort to dilute the transcendental message of Srila Prabhupada. Anyone who reads the older books and the newly revised books side by side with an open heart will thank Sriman Jayadvaita Swami for his wonderful service to Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON. Like the excellent devotee that he is, he is reluctant to stand up in his own defence against wild and uncalled-for accusations, but devotees who care for honesty and fair dealing must protest an unprincipled and mean-spirited campaign of villification which only delays the development in the attacking devotee of the 26 Vaishnava qualities in which, to date, the attacker still has a pronounced shortfall. Yet if that devotee so given to fault-finding were to humbly approach the person who is the subject of his repeated, uncalled-for attacks, and seek his forgiveness, I am sure that he would readily be granted this forgiveness. Among devotees of generous spirit, there is no meanness or remembrance of past falldowns, only mildness, tolerance, friendship, simplicity and the other noble qualities to which we all should aspire.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada, to his pure Vaishnava followers, and to Lord Gauranga!

Best wishes,

Ananda Das

CHAKRA 23-Apr-98