TAMPERING WITH SRILA PRABHUPADA'S SANSKRIT
BY AJITA KRSNA DASA
There are around 127 of these changes in the first chapter alone (if you count all changes made to one sanskrit word as only one change).
Here we are presenting some statistics by dividing the changes into different categories.
There are also some subtleties in the way the categorization has been done. For example, Prabhupada used a regular typewriter and was therefore not able to write the diacritic marks. So if the diacritic marks are missing in Srila Prabhupada’s draft, but they are added in the 1972 Macmillan edition that is not counted as a change.
Srila Prabhupada started all sanskrit synonyms with capital letters in the draft. In both the 1972 and 1983 editions they were not written with capital letters. This has not been counted amongst the changes.
Other things not counted as a change is when Srila Prabhupada, while writing his draft, obviously hit a wrong letter on his keyboard. An example of this would be “bcpmes” instead of the correct “becomes”. “O” and “p” are just besides each other on a keyboard.
I did my very best, and I tried to be as kind as I could to BBT International, but I encourage everyone to double check my work and get back to me if they think anything could have been done better.
This is how we did it:
Modifications 1: Spelling mistakes, commas, punctuation marks, dividing or connecting sanskrit words and their synonyms
Result: 23 (17.03%)
It should be noted that no changes that had to do with spelling, commas and punctuation marks were found. Therefore all changes here have to do with dividing and/or connecting sanskrit words.
Modifications 2: Modifications according to Srila Prabhupada’s draft while the original edition does not follow Srila Prabhupada’s draft:
Result: 6 (4.44%)
Here is should be noted that four of these six changes have to do only with connecting and dividing sanskrit words. All four are similar to this (left: draft, middle: 1972 edition, right: 1983 edition)
Here we are presenting some statistics by dividing the changes into different categories.
There are also some subtleties in the way the categorization has been done. For example, Prabhupada used a regular typewriter and was therefore not able to write the diacritic marks. So if the diacritic marks are missing in Srila Prabhupada’s draft, but they are added in the 1972 Macmillan edition that is not counted as a change.
Srila Prabhupada started all sanskrit synonyms with capital letters in the draft. In both the 1972 and 1983 editions they were not written with capital letters. This has not been counted amongst the changes.
Other things not counted as a change is when Srila Prabhupada, while writing his draft, obviously hit a wrong letter on his keyboard. An example of this would be “bcpmes” instead of the correct “becomes”. “O” and “p” are just besides each other on a keyboard.
I did my very best, and I tried to be as kind as I could to BBT International, but I encourage everyone to double check my work and get back to me if they think anything could have been done better.
This is how we did it:
Modifications 1: Spelling mistakes, commas, punctuation marks, dividing or connecting sanskrit words and their synonyms
Result: 23 (17.03%)
It should be noted that no changes that had to do with spelling, commas and punctuation marks were found. Therefore all changes here have to do with dividing and/or connecting sanskrit words.
Modifications 2: Modifications according to Srila Prabhupada’s draft while the original edition does not follow Srila Prabhupada’s draft:
Result: 6 (4.44%)
Here is should be noted that four of these six changes have to do only with connecting and dividing sanskrit words. All four are similar to this (left: draft, middle: 1972 edition, right: 1983 edition)
JAYADVAITA SW. CLAIMS HE ONLY EDIT IN THE WORK OF CONDITIONED PERSONS
1982:
“Comparing each verse in the book with the text of the manuscript, I made only those changes that to me seemed worthwhile. I tried to be conservative and not make needless changes.” (Jayadvaita Swami, letter to senior devotees, October 25, 1982)
1986:
“As you know, and as we kept in mind while doing the work, Srila Prabhupada staunchly opposed needless changes.” (Jayadvaita Swami, Letter to Amogha Lila, 1986)
1995:
“When Srila Prabhupada conveyed to us the conclusions of the previous acaryas, he did so perfectly, preserving and transmitting the philosophy exactly as it is, neither watering anything down, nor covering anything over, nor leaving anything out. He gave us the essence of everything.
We therefore don’t need to add anything, subtract anything, or change anything. We need only faithfully serve Srila Prabhupada’s orders, and everything will be revealed.” (Jayadvaita Swami, Sri Vyasa Puja book August 19,1995)
2009:
On BBT International’s website we find this video:
“Comparing each verse in the book with the text of the manuscript, I made only those changes that to me seemed worthwhile. I tried to be conservative and not make needless changes.” (Jayadvaita Swami, letter to senior devotees, October 25, 1982)
1986:
“As you know, and as we kept in mind while doing the work, Srila Prabhupada staunchly opposed needless changes.” (Jayadvaita Swami, Letter to Amogha Lila, 1986)
1995:
“When Srila Prabhupada conveyed to us the conclusions of the previous acaryas, he did so perfectly, preserving and transmitting the philosophy exactly as it is, neither watering anything down, nor covering anything over, nor leaving anything out. He gave us the essence of everything.
We therefore don’t need to add anything, subtract anything, or change anything. We need only faithfully serve Srila Prabhupada’s orders, and everything will be revealed.” (Jayadvaita Swami, Sri Vyasa Puja book August 19,1995)
2009:
On BBT International’s website we find this video: