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Analysis of Book Changes: 4000+ changes in “The Nectar of Devotion” -1982 edition
In future you don’t do any changes without asking me first.
[Letter: Bhargava, May 29,1976]
Do not try to change anything without my permission.”
[Letter to Radhavallabha, Aug 26, 1976]
The next printing should be again to the original way.
[Srila Prabhupada Conversation, “Rascal Editors,”June 22, 1977, Vrndavana]
Hare Krsna. All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and all Vaisanvas.
This article shows how the entire Nectar of Devotion was spoiled due to unauthorized changes contradicting Srila Prabhupada’s teachings.
The link below contains a detailed list of 4000+ changes made to Srila Prabhupada’s Original Nectar of Devotion 1970 and in the 1982 Edition.
Link containing complete list of highlighted changes: https://draftable.com/compare/BbdfyLvgYWFt (shows all 4000+ changes line by line)
To download/print the file containing changes: Click on the above link. Then click File -> Export/Print -> Side-by-Side view respectively.
https://krishnaconsciousnessmovement.com/?p=31899(1979 Ramesvara Interview confirms that there was no need to change the books)
LINK TO READ ORIGINAL FIRST EDITION NECTAR OF DEVOTION(1970 Authorized Edition): https://drive.google.com/file/d/18vdvcc8U2O8tZ5BzaIIp_PjiddjkxS7e/view?usp=sharing
(Please share this with as many people as possible to distribute Originals)
“That is his tendency, to correct. That’s very bad. He should not do that. The system is: whatever authority has done, even there is mistake, it should be accepted.”
[Room Conversation — February 27, 1977, Mayapura]
I have received the printed copy of Nectar of Devotion. It is very nicely done. The style and the printing are 80% successful. So gradually our policy should be to make our press perfect so that we may not go outside at least for printing our books.[Letter to Brahmananda written from Los Angeles, 19th June 1970]
If anyone will read this Nectar of Devotion. very carefully, he will have all guidance in Bhakti cult. So in the temple class some portions of this book must be regularly discussed.
[18th June 1970 – Letter to Advaita written from Los Angeles]
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. So we have published our Nectar of Devotion. So every one of you should read this Nectar of Devotion repeatedly. The whole substance of Vaiṣṇava philosophy and activities, everything is there. So every one of you read this Nectar of Devotion once, twice, thrice. Unless you have got full-fledged ideas what is this devotional service.
[Srila Prabhupada’s Lecture on Nectar of Devotion, LOS ANGELES – June 23, 1970]
Prabhupāda: Next book is coming, Nectar of Devotion.
Allen Ginsberg: What will that be, your own writings?
Prabhupāda: No, it is the authorized translation of Rūpa Gosvāmī’s book, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.
[Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg — May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio]
Some observed changes:
1000s of unnecessary grammatical changes.
Changing chapter names. Some examples are:
Name of Chapter 10 in Original edition: Techniques of Hearing and Memorizing
Name of Chapter 10 in Revised edition: Techniques of Hearing and Remembering
Name of Chapter 12 in Original edition: Revealed Scriptures
Name of Chapter 12 in Revised edition: Further Aspects of Transcendental Service
Name of Chapter 13 in Original edition: The Mahā-mantra
Name of Chapter 13 in Revised edition: Five Potent Forms of Devotional Service
[Here also, 1 entire page is cut from 13th chapter and placed at the end of 12th chapter in the revised book]Name of Chapter 16 in Original edition: Varieties of Love for Kṛṣṇa
Name of Chapter 16 in Revised edition: Spontaneous Devotion Further Described
Name of Chapter 19 in Original edition: Devotional Service in Love of God
Name of Chapter 19 in Revised edition: Devotional Service in Pure Love of God
Name of Chapter 28 in Original edition: Other Ecstatic Symptoms
Name of Chapter 28 in Revised edition: Existential Ecstatic Love
Name of Chapter 33 in Original edition: Conjugal Affection
Name of Chapter 33 in Revised edition: Indirect Expressions of Ecstatic Love
[Another change observed – The paragraph on conjugal love was deleted from Chapter 33 and inserted to the end of Chapter 32 so that the name of 33rd chapter could be changed.]
What are the consequences of such erroneous deletions?
Explanation – When the name of chapter 33 was changed to “Indirect Expressions of Ecstatic Love”, it included forms like laughter,astonishment,lamentation etc but in the correct edition below, Srila Prabhupada says that all these qualities are of direct expression(except ghastliness). But according to the new edition, all these belong to “Indirect Expressions” thus contradicting what Srila Prabhupada wrote.
“These seven exchanges of conjugal love form another state of ecstatic love. In a direct relationship of conjugal love, there is laughter, astonishment, chivalry, lamentation, anger and dread, but there is no ghastliness. These expressions are considered to be the great reservoirs of pleasure.” [Nectar of Devotion – 1970 Edition, Chapter 33]
Unnecessary deletions:
This is from Chapter 30. If we read the bottom, line it shows a deletion of a line. Did Srila Prabhuapada ever authorize such changes that change the meaning itself?
Deleted – “casting dishonorable words against Radha and Krsna, pouting over the good fortune of Srimati Radharani.”
Replaced “indirect dishonor” with “envy”
There are various unnecessary grammatical changes too.
Deleted “, and they are compared with fragments of cotton floating in the air without any shelter.” [Chapter 42]
Deleted “I shall be satisfied even if I have to eat food collected by begging.” [Chapter 30]
Deleted “given daily. This means that 13,054 multiplied by 16,108 cows were” [Chapter 29]
Quality number 10 – “Can speak fluently in all languages” changed to “Fluent’
[Chapter 21]
Changing and swapping Krsna’s qualities in different orders: [The order is mentioned correctly in 1970 edition as we will see in a letter by Srila Prabhupada further]
Let’s observe the change below:
Original 1970 Edition: (Chapter 22)
61. Performer of Wonderful Activities
In the Bṛhad-Vāmana Purāṇa, the Lord says, “Although I have many fascinating pastimes, whenever I think of the rāsa-līlā, which I perform with the gopīs, I become eager to have it again.”
One devotee has said, “I know about Nārāyaṇa, the husband of the goddess of fortune, and I also know about many other incarnations of the Lord. Certainly all the pastimes of such incarnations are exciting to my mind, but still, the pastimes of the rāsa-līlā performed by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself are wonderfully increasing my transcendental pleasure.”
In the Tenth Canto, 31st Chapter, 15th verse, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the gopīs lament: “My dear Kṛṣṇa, during the daytime when You go out into the forest of Vṛndāvana with Your cows, we consider one moment to be twelve years, and it is very difficult for us to pass the time. And again when You come back at the end of the day, by seeing Your beautiful face we are so much attracted that we are unable to stop looking upon You constantly. At these times, when there is occasional blinking of our eyelids, we condemn the creator, Lord Brahmā, as a dunce, because he does not know how to make perfect eyes!” In other words, the gopīs were disturbed by the blinking of their eyes because for the moment that their eyes were closed they could not see Kṛṣṇa. This means that the gopīs’ love for Kṛṣṇa was so great and ecstatic that they were disturbed by even His momentary absence. And when they saw Kṛṣṇa, they were also disturbed. This is a paradox.
One gopī, expressing herself to Kṛṣṇa, says: “When we meet You at night, we consider the duration of night to be very small. And why speak of only this night? Even if we had a night of Brahmā* we would consider it a very short time!” We get an idea of Brahmā’s day from the following statement of the Bhagavad-gītā: “By human calculation, a thousand yuga cycles taken together is Brahmā’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night.” (BG 8.17) The gopīs said that even if they could have that duration of night, it would still not be sufficient for their meeting with Kṛṣṇa.
* 4,300,000,000 solar years equals twelve hours, or one night, of Brahmā.
62. Kṛṣṇa’s Attractive Flute
In the Tenth Canto, 35th Chapter, 8th verse of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the gopīs tell Mother Yaśodā, “When your son plays on His flute, Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā and Indra—although they are supposed to be the greatest learned scholars and personalities—all become bewildered. Although they are all very great personalities, by hearing the sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute they humbly bow down and become grave from studying the sound vibrated.”In his book Vidagdha-mādhava, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī thus describes the vibration of Kṛṣṇa’s flute: “The sound vibration created by the flute of Kṛṣṇa wonderfully stopped Lord Śiva from playing his ḍiṇḍima drum, and the same flute has caused great sages like the four Kumāras to become disturbed in their meditation. It has caused Lord Brahmā, who was sitting on the lotus flower for the creative function, to become astonished. And Anantadeva, who was calmly holding all the planets on his hood, was moving in this way and that due to the transcendental vibration from Kṛṣṇa’s flute, which penetrated through the covering of this universe and reached to the spiritual sky.”
63. Kṛṣṇa is Surrounded by Loving Devotees
When we speak of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is not alone. Kṛṣṇa means His name, His qualities, His fame, His friends, His paraphernalia, His entourage—all of these are included. When we speak of a king, it is to be understood that he is surrounded by ministers, secretaries, military commanders and many other people. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal. In His Vṛndāvana līlā especially, He is surrounded by the gopīs, the cowherd boys, His father, His mother and all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana.
Changed 1982 Edition:
61. Performer of Wonderful Activities
In the Bṛhad-vāmana Purāṇa, the Lord says, “Although I have many fascinating pastimes, whenever I think of the rāsa-līlā, which I perform with the gopīs, I become eager to have it again.”
One devotee has said, “I know about Nārāyaṇa, the husband of the goddess of fortune, and I also know about many other incarnations of the Lord. Certainly all the pastimes of such incarnations are exciting to my mind, but still the pastimes of the rāsa-līlā performed by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself are wonderfully increasing my transcendental pleasure.”
62. Kṛṣṇa Is Surrounded by Loving Devotees
When we speak of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is not alone. “Kṛṣṇa” means His name, His qualities, His fame, His friends, His paraphernalia, His entourage – all of these are included. When we speak of a king, it is to be understood that he is surrounded by ministers, secretaries, military commanders and many other people. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is not impersonal. In His Vṛndāvana līlā especially, He is surrounded by the gopīs, the cowherd boys, His father, His mother and all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana.
In the Tenth Canto, Thirty-first Chapter, verse 15, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the gopīs lament, “My dear Kṛṣṇa, during the daytime when You go out into the forest of Vṛndāvana with Your cows, we consider one moment to be twelve years, and it is very difficult for us to pass the time. And again when You come back at the end of the day, by seeing Your beautiful face we are so much attracted that we are unable to stop looking upon You constantly. At these times, when there is occasional blinking of our eyelids, we condemn the creator, Lord Brahmā, as a dunce, because he does not know how to make perfect eyes!” In other words, the gopīs were disturbed by the blinking of their eyes, because for the moment that their eyes were closed they could not see Kṛṣṇa. This means that the gopīs’ love for Kṛṣṇa was so great and ecstatic that they were disturbed by even His momentary absence. And when they saw Kṛṣṇa, they were also disturbed. This is a paradox.
One gopī, expressing herself to Kṛṣṇa, says, “When we meet You at night, we consider the duration of night to be very small. And why speak of only this night? Even if we had a night of Brahmā we would consider it a very short time!” We get an idea of Brahmā’s day from the following statement of Bhagavad-gītā (BG 8.17): “By human calculation, a thousand yuga cycles taken together is Brahmā’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night.” The gopīs said that even if they could have that duration of night, it would still not be sufficient for their meeting with Kṛṣṇa.
63. Kṛṣṇa’s Attractive Flute
In the Tenth Canto, Thirty-fifth Chapter, verse 15, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the gopīs tell mother Yaśodā, “When your son plays on His flute, Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā and Indra – although they are supposed to be the greatest learned scholars and personalities – all become bewildered. Although they are all very great personalities, by hearing the sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute they humbly bow down and become grave from studying the sound vibrated.”
In his book Vidagdha-mādhava, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī thus describes the vibration of Kṛṣṇa’s flute: “The sound vibration created by the flute of Kṛṣṇa wonderfully stopped Lord Śiva from playing his ḍiṇḍima drum, and the same flute has caused great sages like the four Kumāras to become disturbed in their meditation. It has caused Lord Brahmā, who was sitting on the lotus flower for the creative function, to become astonished. And Anantadeva, who was calmly holding all the planets on His hood, was moving in this way and that due to the transcendental vibration from Kṛṣṇa’s flute, which penetrated through the covering of this universe and reached to the spiritual sky.”
[Changes in revised book- Qualities number 62 and 63 are swapped with the highlighted paragraph inserted between 61st quality and renaming it with the 63rd quality as 62nd quality from 1970 Edition]
Srila Prabhupada’s direct instructions regarding this Quality number 63 to Jayadvaita Swami:
I am very glad to learn that Nectar of Devotion is now completed. You have inquired about the quality number 63 of Krishna that He is surrounded by loving devotees can be explained as follows: When we speak of Krishna, Krishna is not alone. Krishna means His name, His qualities, His fame, His friends, His paraphernalia, His entourage–everything included. Just like when we speak of a king, it is to be understood that he is surrounded by ministers, secretaries, military commanders and many other people. Krishna is not impersonal, so in His Vrindaban Leela especially, He is always surrounded by the Gopis, cowherd boys, His father, His mother and all the inhabitants of Vrindaban.
[Letter to Jayadvaita written from Los Angeles, January 30, 1970]
The above letter shows that Srila Prabhupada himself directly instructed the editors about all the qualities and there was NO NEED OF SWAPPING, DELETION AND UNNECESSARY INSERTIONS.
The order in the Original Edition is right as the same order is mentioned in Teachings of Lord Chaitanya 1968 Edition:
The above-mentioned 60 qualities are visible up to Narayana. And Krishna has four other special qualities which are: 1. able to manifest wonderful Pastimes, 2. His transcendental flute-playing; 3. eternal youth; 4. His Personal Beauty.
Changing important items in “Chapter 6- How to discharge devotional service”
Left side has the original book.
We can see how alteration of some items has been carried out. Was this done under any authorization?
Chapter 27-Paragraph- Stretching the body (Difference can be easily noted)
Conclusion:
There are so many changes like this found in that link. We need to get serious about increasing the number of original books. Although there have been few good corrections, it is still better to keep things as they are.
“That is his tendency, to correct. That’s very bad. He should not do that. The system is: whatever authority has done, even there is mistake, it should be accepted.”
[Room Conversation — February 27, 1977, Mayapura]We can notice how they have changed everything and spoiled the books in the name of correcting the errors. They have introduced more and more things that are completely not according to the philosophy and even against Srila Prabhupada’s direct instructions as we have explained above.
Therefore, it is best to simply stick to the first editions.
Hare Krsna.
https://krishnaconsciousnessmovement.com/?p=31909 (HOW TO ACCELERATE ORIGINAL BOOK DISTRIBUTION?)