Changes! Changes! Want to see all the changes made to the purports of Srila Prabhupada’s 1972 Bhagavad-gita As It Is? The BBT will soon be putting them all online.
When I made my revisions for the second edition, I did them directly on a copy of the book–that is, a copy of the first edition. After the second edition was published, for many years my first-edition copy was lost. But about three years ago, Dravida Dasa found it in a trunk in San Diego. More recently, that copy has been digitized. And soon the BBT will be putting it online.
On that copy, you’ll be able to see all the changes made to the purports and the word-for-word meanings. (The translations were done separately, not in the book itself.)
In addition, I have added comments, sometimes briefly explaining the reasons for the changes but mainly giving the text of the original manuscripts and transcriptions from which the first edition was made.
Matsya Avatara Dasa, from Gopiparanadhana Prabhu’s Sanskrit school in Govardhana, has added comments to explain some of the changes made to the word-for-word meanings.
The book will be published in installments, chapter by chapter, as simple PDF files. (The chapters will appear in installments because adding the notes and doublechecking them takes time.)
The chapters should start appearing later this month. Watch this space!
This is really cool and wonderful documentation for ISKCON!
Still one of the things that I find missing … and needed … is audio for all of Srila Prabhupada’s purports. I think that is so essential. We have so many expert speakers who have done the Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam texts, but Srila Prabhupada’s spoken purports are missing.
If we only had Srila Prabhupada himself to do them … sigh … maybe computers will get so good one day that this could be done electronically and convincingly so.
Good news. Krishna.com offers an MP3 CD of Dravida Dasa reading the entire Bhagavad-gita As It Is–Sanskrit, translations, and purports.
Here’s the link: Complete Bhagavad-gita audiobook.
Finally! Jaya!
You can’t change the books without an audit trail for scholars and scholarly-minded devotees. The massive conspiracy theory / backlash / schism is inevitable.
Personally I welcome this accounting with open arms and a sense of closure. I don’t understand why this was not done before. It makes no sense to me to change the central texts of a religious tradition with no accountability or transparency.
Thank you for your comment. I think this forthcoming annotated book will give devotees a much clearer understanding–and a lot of relief.
As mentioned, for many years the edited book was lost, and only recently did I receive scans of it.
But long before that, even before the second edition was published, we worked pretty hard to inform and consult the community of devotees.
In the days before the internet–long before the internet–that involved making photocopies of a 30-page mailout and sending it by post to every ISKCON GBC man, sannyasi, and temple president in the English-speaking world (and a number of other devotees besides).
Back in those days, that set a pretty good standard for transparency.
Anyway, that was then, and now is now. I look forward to having this new resource available for all.
Thank you again.