Wednesday 22 May 2013

Jayadvaita Swami on why he edited Bhagavad-gita

The following is a 2 ½ hour class given yesterday at the Manor by Jayadvaita Swami on why he edited Bhagavad-gita:
 
The main challenger throughout is Bhajahari. One interesting challenge that was brought to JAS was Bhaja asking when the editing process would stop, i.e. when would the “definitive edition” of Bg be available.  JAS said it would stop when both he and Dravida leave their bodies.  Bhaja asked why didn’t the editing stop when SP left his body?   Funnily enough, on the back cover of the original Macmillan Gita, it says in large type at the top: “The Definitive English Edition of Bhagavad-gita”!
 
Another interesting point was JAS admitting he made a mistake in editing one of the purports, which Parasurama said introduced Mayavada philosophy into the book!  Bhaja then said that since JAS had publicly apologised via BTG for the big mistake of the zonal acarya system, how do we know he didn’t make mistakes in his editing as well?
 
At the end, JAS profusely thanked Bhaja for being brave enough to challenge him in public, as he didn’t want an audience of “yes men”! I’m not sure if this is on the above audio though as I haven’t gone through it.
 
The quality is audible but not pristine since it was recorded “unofficially”, but the “official” high quality digital recording of the classes are usually available online about a week or so after the class.

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