Image: Akincana Gocara (AI-generated), from the photograph on the cover of Govinda Dasi’s memoir A Place of Sandalwood and Roses
Govinda Dasi, who served Srila Prabhupada as a secretary in the late 1960s and was sent by him to open temples in Hawaii in 1969, has responded to the removal of the “expert at rape” paragraph from Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.25.41, calling the posthumous editing of his books “the literary crime of the century.”[1][10][11] She wrote under Akincana Gocara’s Facebook post of 1 November, which carried the reactions of Hridayananda Dasa Goswami and Sukadeva Swami, after first sharing an Arsa-Prayoga post on another deleted passage.[2][3][4][5] Her comment is published below in full, followed by a comment and a post of hers on the same subject.[5][6]
This is only one of the many thousands of changes to Prabhupada’s books.
Practically speaking, his books were completely REWRITTEN after his demise, and they have been changed continuously ever since then.
The message as Srila Prabhupada gave it has been changed and will soon be lost unless we can revert to Srila Prabhupada’s original books.
As every scholar knows, original text cannot be changed whimsically as has been done. Because the book then loses its authenticity. The edited books, for example, are NOT welcomed by colleges or universities if they are aware of posthumous editing. It simply is NOT DONE.
There are various rules and protocols that have to be followed in the academic community.
Annotations, footnotes, endnotes etc. is the correct way to make changes to an author’s published text—along with the name of the editor or annotator, date and number of edition.
But that has not been done. Devotees do not know they are not even reading Srila Prabhupada’s writings—rather they are reading the rewritten texts—rewritten in 1978 by a 26 year old American boy who had NO knowledge of Sanskrit, or publishing protocol, and had only become a devotee less than 10 years before. With only a high school education. If only they knew!
If devotees actually understood this, there would be a burning desire for the real books to be available again. Not the knockoffs. Stupid BBTii propaganda that they are “closer to Prabhupada” and yet some people actually believe it.
Srila Prabhupada repeatedly told us, do not change my words. He also said, “I did not write these books. Krishna has written…” and he would read HIS OWN BOOKS at every opportunity—on trains, on planes, and in his room in the evenings. He considered his books perfect because they were transmitted by Krishna Himself.
Dont devotees want to read what Prabhupada wrote, and what HE HIMSELF read at every opportunity??
Yet there are THOUSANDS of changes, and the “writer’s voice” is completely gone from those BBTii editions of his books.
Devotees should compare them and they will see for themselves just how they have been cheated out of hearing the pure voice of our master Srila Prabhupada. It is the literary crime of the century.
Devotees should wake up because by the time our grandkids grow up, these books will be totally different books. In fact they already are! But it will get worse. Look at what happened to the teachings of Christianity—thous shalt not kill and there are millions of slaughter houses. Yes. It can happen. It did happen. It can happen again…
SRILA PRABHUPADA WAS SO HAPPY THAT SCHOLARS LOVED HIS BOOKS! HIS REAL BOOKS! BUT THEY DONT LOVE THE BBTII KNOCKOFFS. In fact, they wont even accept them into university libraries or institutions. DID YOU KNOW THAT??
Ask yourself WHY? Because they are seen as non authentic knockoffs, “derivative books” that were written after the author passed away. They are even copyrighted as “derivative books” that name Srila Prabhupada as the BBTii “writer for hire.” HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
Jayadvaita Swami, who revised the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, has written that Prabhupada’s books were always edited by his Western disciples with his general approval, that those early editors sometimes made mistakes, and that the revisions bring the text nearer to what Prabhupada originally said.[7] He cites a letter of 7 September 1976 in which Prabhupada approved his editing, a line also carried by the BBT’s site BBTEdit.com, and in 2010 he disputed Govinda Dasi’s account of how the Gita was edited.[8][9]
As of 4 November, no reply from the BBT or Jayadvaita Swami appeared under her comment. The invitation to senior leaders, ISKCON institutions and the BBT to send statements remains open.[4]
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