Hasti Gopala Dasa
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada the founder acharya for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
did not leave ISKCON a directive indicating the following. That after leaving his body those in charge of the BBT should cease publishing former editions of his books once the BBT had completed specifically revised editions. Nor did he indicate in any manner that his original pre 1978 books not be read sold or used for study by anyone. Absence of that specific directive leaves all of the original publishing programes in place,an a fortiori. Revision of an original book by Srila Prabhupada does not set legal precedent to cancel the continued publication of the original editions at any time.
There was and is no legal authority invested in the BBT to do this unless said by the author in legal documents hence actus reus. The BBT never prepared any preparatory statement to the public at large or to ISKCON at large about it’s plan to revise the original 1972 Gita and never requested input from the ISKCON society or any of Srila Prabhupadas disciples outside of ISKCON. Nor did the BBT inform the above that the original 1972 edition of the Gita would no longer be available. The BBT and ISKCON are decades over due regarding what they owe the public and Srila Prabhupadas disciples erga omnes. They have acted continually in bad faith regarding this issue and anyone outside of their tight inner circle.
There must be an immediate international effort to take control of the BBT and all publishing of Srila Prabhupadas books while cancelling any further changes to Srila Prabhupadas books. The reprinting and distribution of all of his original pre 1978 books books should commence as soon as possible after the BBT is secured. If we do not move on this and remain silent then as individuals we must prepare to pay the individual consequences.
Ys Hasti Gopala Dasa
All Glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gouranga
ReplyDeleteAll Glories To Srila A.C.BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada. Iskcon's ONLY DIKSA GURU. KI-Jai
Well Said Hasti Gopala Dasa Prabhu
It has Been Proved that the BBT and Iskcon GBC Are not in Favour of His Divine Grace Srila A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
''If you want to please me then distribute my books'' Srila Prabhupad!!
Bhakta Roger Rodpush
In 1970, Srila Prabhupada included in the Directions of Management an announcement that he was going to form the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and stated there that its trustees would also be members of the GBC. In this way, he would be assured that the BBT, although a legal entity separate from ISKCON, would be managed by the GBC. During his lifetime, all of the BBT trustees he selected were members of the GBC, but if you look at the list of current BBT trustees, you will see that this managerial directive has been completely discarded. This is the deviation that is at the root of all of the discrepancies we have seen over the past thirty years especially in terms of the unwarranted editing of Srila Prabhupada's books. The GBC has no say in the way the BBT is managed except to rubber stamp what the non-GBC member BBT trustees have already decided.
ReplyDeleteWhat we find particularly alarming is that the BBT editors have chosen not to include any annotations in the form of footnotes or addenda to show what has been changed in books previously published, giving the false impression that the revisions had been personally approved by Srila Prabhupada. We are also aware that although hundreds of scholars submitted words of praise honoring Srila Prabhupada's original books, not a single scholar (outside of ISKCON) has written anything glorifying the BBT editors for their revision of the body of transcendental literature with which they were entrusted. We have even seen a testimonial written about the original Bhagavad-gita As It Is by Dr. Shaligram Shukla presented in an ad by the BBT to sell the revised Gita, as if that were the book Dr. Shukla was praising! Where is the integrity?
The good news is that many of the un-edited original books are available through KBI and even through the BBT. Let us focus on getting those books out to the public just as we did in Srila Prabhupada's presence. Let us remember that any instruction he gave us concerning book distribution and the effect it would have on society in gerneral was in relation to his original books, not the revised editions. "These books are qualified to be distributed unlimitedly," was Srila Prabhupada's description of the original editions, so we should arrange our lives in such a way that we can all take part in the topmost service of imparting the knowledge contained in these books (the king of education) and share with the innocent public this science of Krishna consciousness. In this way, we will again give Srila Prabhupada "Top Billing" as Krishna's empowered representative who appeared in this world in Caitanya Mahaprabhu's line to spread love of Godhead to every town and village.