Story THREE Testimonials – By Bhagavat das My Dear Godbrothers and Godsisters: Please accept my most humble obeisances! All Glories to Srila Prabhupada! I am very glad that we as disciples of Srila Prabhupada are finally doing something about this great offense to our Spiritual Master. I would like to tell three stories that are personal experiences of mine with Srila Prabhupada and his books. It is my earnest hope that these stories will once and for all lay to rest the controversy of anyone ever editing Srila Prabhupadas books. Now to Let us see how a purely devoted disciple of His Divine Grace approached the translating and editing process. After Srila Prabhupada’s departure there is a little known pastime, that will not remain so after this letter goes on your website, where Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj helped to reveal the unrivalled perfection of Srila Prabhupada’s masterful translation of Bhagavad Gita. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj was given the service by Srila Prabhupada of translating all of His books into the Orissan language. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj was a great scholar who could write and speak in five languages, Orissan, Hindi, Bengali, English, and Sanskrit. He got his degree in English from the University with a minor in Sanskrit. I lived with Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj in the same room for nearly 3 years. He translated Srila Prabhupadas Bhagavad Gita with the greatest love and devotion and attention for detail. Because of His vast command of languages He was able to notice little details that others may have overlooked. One thing that was a cause of great transcendental concern for Him was the fact that when Srila Prabhupada translated a word from Sanskrit to English it would not be the same if Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj translated the Sanskrit word directly to Oriya. In other words the English word that Srila Prbhupada used to explain the Sanskrit word had an entirely different meaning than the Oriya word that would normally be used as a translation of this same Sanskrit word. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj was concerned that in translating the literal English into Oriya that many Pandits and Scholars would c omplain that this was not an accurate translation. Since Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj did not want to change one single word of His beloved Spiritual Master’s books but at the same time be able to defend the scholarships of His Guru Maharaj beyond the shadow of a doubt, He devised a plan for writing down all of the so called contradictions in a list until he completed the entire work. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj then went to a little village to see the now retired Sanskrit professor who had taught Him Sanskrit in college. This man was considered one of the foremost authorities on the Sanskrit Language in India having one of the largest personal libraries on the subject, including one of the best collections of Sanskrit to English Dictionaries. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj knew that this scholars grasp of Sanskrit to English translation would provide him with the evidence he needed to prove the authority of Srila Prabhupada’s work. After about ten days Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj returned to the little mud hut that we lived in with the Sanskrit professor in tow. The Sanskrit professor introduced himself (I apologize but unfortunately I cannot remember his name) and began glorifying His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada’s masterful translation work. The Professor told me that he started studying Sanskrit when he was five years old, now in his late 70′s he had been studying the language for over 70 years. He told me how on the first review of his dictionaries he could not find the translations that Srila Prbhupada had made from Sanskrit to English, but he said that Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj kept encouraging him to keep looking, assuring him that he would find the translation if he looked long and hard enough. The professor said he would have given up if it were not for Srila Gour Govinda Maharajs insistence that His Guru Maharaj had been accurate and that if he looked hard enough he would find it. Then the professor told me that he found each and ever y translation that Srila Prbhupada had made. The professor told me that these translations that your Guru has made are the most obscure and brilliant explanations of these words from Sanskrit to English that he had ever seen. The professor admitted that with all of his education and training he could not have thought of these obscure and brilliant meanings that so perfectly expressed the inner truths of the mysteries of the Bhagavad Gita. The professor then said having seen this translation work of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada he was convinced that Srila Prabhupada was the greatest Sanskrit scholar in the history of civilization and must have been directly enlightened by the Supreme Lord Krishna to accomplish this work. There is so much to learn from this pastime. The first thing of course is that no one is qualified to edit one single word of Srila Prabhupada’s books period! Unless he is on the same level as His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and since it is pretty obvious Jayadvaita is not then he should leave the books alone! Now some may say how do we know he is not and the answer to that is the second important lesson that we learn from this pastime. Unlike Jayadvaita who has changed the words of his Spiritual master’s books in order to meet with the approval of scholars and professors. The pure devotional attitude of Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj was to elevate the professor by engaging him in devotional service and then bring him up to a spiritual platform so that he could get the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. Instead of acting like and editor and scholar Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj teaches us how to protect and defend the honor of the Spiritual Master through His Pure Devotional mood. Jayadvaita’s erasing the words of our Divine Master Srila Prabhupada and replacing them with h is mental speculations reminds me of the story when the Mayavadi scratched out the name of Krishna in the book and replaced it with the word Brahman. Krishna eventually appears before him with scratches on His face the Mayavadi realizes his folly and surrenders to the Lord. Srila Prabhupada’s books are his transcendental body how much longer are we going to sit back and let his books be abused. If Srila Prabhupada were here and some one was abusing him would we stand by idly and watch it happen! NO! Why do we continue to allow Jayadvaita to abuse our Spiritual Master’s books. Can we not stand up in the pure Devotional mood of Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj and defend the Honor of our Spiritual Master? Let us all work together to restore Srila Prabhupada’s books to their pristine and uncontaminated glory. Then let us distribute those books again and preach the pure devotional service of the Lord to the innocent masses yearning to be free of the shackles of maya. Let us enter the arena of the material world proclaiming the Glories of the Lord with the absolute conviction that we can only benefit everyone we meet with the highest good. If any demoniac persons try to stop us then we should proudly proclaim like the Christians of old being attacked by the lions in the Roman coliseum that we are the servants of the Lord and our spiritual master and we are fearless. Your most worthless servant Bhagavat Das
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 05:31:18 +0000
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