Analysis of Book Changes: The Perfection of Yoga
In future you don’t do any changes without asking me first.
[Letter: Bhargava, May 29,1976]
Srila Prabhupāda: So, these rascals will change every year their theology. So, what is the value of their words? Childish. [break] …changes, he is a rascal. That is our… We say, “Kṛṣṇa the Supreme.” We never change it. And “Surrender is the only process.” We shall never change it. In any circumstance we will not change it. That is the difference. And these rascals will change every year their opinion. They are rascals. [break] …They are rascals. [break] Kṛṣṇa said that “I am the Supreme.” So Arjuna accepted, the Supreme. All the ācāryas accepted the Supreme. Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted, Supreme. My Guru Mahārāja accepted, Supreme. I am accepting, Supreme. I am teaching the same thing. So, there is no change. Not that after a few years it will be changed. That never be. That is our position. [break] Changing means material. Anything material is susceptible to change. Like this material body. Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk, Los Angeles, California, USA. December 21, 1973
Hare Krsna. All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and all Vaisanvas. The link below compares 1972 and 1983 editions of “The Perfection of Yoga”There are 300+ changes found. Although most of the changes include commas, hyphens, etc, there are few significant changes which should not be disregarded.
Link for comparison: https://draftable.com/compare/CcgKImzADAeT
So perfect yogi, they control the prāṇa-vāyu in such a way that by their sweet will they can transfer themselves through the prāṇa-vāyu in different planets. They can do that when they are fixed up, that “Now I am completely able to transfer myself,” so they can transfer to any planet, or if he wants, he can transfer himself to the spiritual world. That is the perfection. We have given this picture in our Perfection of Yoga book: a yogi is transferring himself to another planet.[Lecture on SB 3.26.34 — Bombay, January 11, 1975]
Download E-book of “The Perfection of Yoga – 1972 Edition” in PDF format:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u2Ni39uNd70xJEG6DAzPcs4T378sw9s8/view?usp=sharing
Purchase the first edition of “The Perfection of Yoga – 1972 Edition”:https://krishnastore.in/perfection-of-yoga-1972-first-edition-h-krishna-427.html
What are the changes?
1. Chapters are interchanged. (Only chapters 2,3, and 8 are in a proper order)Did Srila Prabhupada ever ask to change the chapter sequence here? Any change carried out without an authorization from Srila Prabhupada must be rejected.
Sequence of chapters in 1972 edition:1. Yoga as Reestablishing Relations with Kṛṣṇa
2. Yoga as Work in Devotion
3. Yoga as Meditation on Kṛṣṇa
4. Yoga as Rejected by Arjuna
5. Yoga as Body and Mind Control
6. Yoga as Freedom from Duality and Designation
7. The Fate of the Unsuccessful Yogī
8. The Perfection of Yoga
Sequence of chapters in 1983 edition:
1. Yoga as Rejected by Arjuna
2. Yoga as Work in Devotion
3. Yoga as Meditation on Kṛṣṇa
4. Yoga as Body and Mind Control
5. Yoga as Freedom from Duality and Designation
6. The Fate of the Unsuccessful Yogī
7. Yoga as Reestablishing Relations with Kṛṣṇa
8. The Perfection of Yoga
2. Two major deletions recorded. Did Srila Prabhupada ever authorize his books to be changed according to any person’s whims and delete anything that as per one’s so called understanding?
Deletion 1:“Everyone in the material world is a servant; no one is master.” [Chapter 1]
Deletion 2: Darkened lines are deleted in 1983 edition. [Bhagavad Gita 6.7]jitātmanaḥ praśāntasyaparamātmā samāhitaḥśītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣutathā mānāpamānayoḥ[Chapter 3]Although the translation of only half of the verse is present in the book, it is still better to keep the full verse as it is. The reason for keeping things as they are, is explained by Srila Prabhupada below.
“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]
3. Change of the front cover. The newer editions of this book have more and more concocted covers. One of the covers even has a man standing on one leg trying to meditate. At the same time, there is no picture of Lord Krsna on the front cover. This cover is shown below:
Was all this ever authorized? With this new cover, what impression are they trying to fix in the readers’ minds? Impersonalism? Gymnastic yoga? No one knows as they are trying to do any kind of destruction to Srila Prabhupada’s books.Even on the front cover of Easy Journey to Other Planets, the yogi was shown to transfer himself to Krsna’s abode.With no picture of Krsna and his abode, where is this person transferring himself?
Instruction from Srila Prabhupada regarding cover change:
“No, the printing of the Gitar-gan cover this fashion is not at all approved by me. You have done most nonsensically. Why change the cover? When people look to see the Bhagavad-gita they expect to see Krishna and Arjuna, not the picture of Krishna with cow. You have done a great mistake by changing the front picture and it will hamper the sale. In future you don’t do any changes without asking me first.
Simply because there is no stock of books, we can do anything whimsically??? Is this logic? Gita is not spoken in Vrindaban, it is spoken on the battlefield of Kuruksetra, but this is Vrindaban picture. That chariot driven by 4 horses, that is the real Kuruksetra picture. It is not that because there is no stock we can do whimsically as we like and lose the idea, that is rasa-bhasa. Because there is no bread, you take stone to eat? There is no stock of bread so you will take stone??? The front picture is most important thing and you have changed it. It must remain standard, and not change. Also, the lettering is not nice on the cover. You could have taken a color picture of Krishna and Arjuna and used it black and white (one color) on the front cover. Just as you did with the inside back cover of the Bhagavat darsana, the original picture of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was in color but you have printed it in black and white. You could have done this on the front cover with Krishna and Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, but the cover must not be changed.
[Letter: Bhargava, May 29, 1976]
Some more quotes against unauthorized book changes:
You may title this book, Teachings of Lord Kapila, but it must be subtitled, “The Son of Devahuti”. That will remain, do not try to change it. The Americans may like it or not like it, but we must make the distinction between devahuti putra kapila, and the atheistic Kapila. Do not try to change anything without my permission.”[Letter to Radhavallabha, Aug 26, 1976]
“Our literature is not sentimental stories. It is meant to be understood by the intelligent class of men. Children and those with child-like mentalities will do better to chant “Hare Krishna” and take prasadam. We cannot water down the philosophy to make it more palatable. Our books must remain as they are. Do not waste your time anymore with such attempts. We are not going to publish it. Whatever books we have got, let them try to understand, and if they cannot then let them chant “Hare Krishna” and take prasadam.
Hoping this finds you and your husband well.”
[Letter to Lilavati — Bombay 31 March, 1977]
“He should not think his authority mistake. He’s such irresponsible man. He should not be given any responsible work. Our first business should see how he is advanced in devotion. We don’t want so-called scholars.“
[Room Conversation — February 27, 1977, Mayapura]
Conclusion:It is best to stick to the original way, that is the first editions of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Same goes with “The Perfection of Yoga”.Hare Krishna.