Before answering you, I would like to point out that we should never participate in political debates, where someone uses a philosophical concept to go against a person, a group of people or a movement. We must always position ourselves beyond the foolish bickering caused by egos and be interested in concepts and not people.
When Srila Prabhupada arrived in America in the 1960s, he wrote his books by recording his words in a dictaphone and not writing them by hand. I have personally seen him do it. Then his disciples listened to the tapes and transcribed them.
Inevitably it was difficult to do it perfectly. Sometimes it was not easy to understand what Srila Prabhupada was saying, also due to his accent, or saying things that were not clear to the listener and so on. We should remember that the devotees of the time were little more than boys, that knew little of philosophy, inexperienced in everything, and it cannot be excluded that they had misunderstood something and that in the end, in the printed book, we ended up with mistakes.
What the BBT devotees, now that they are older, more experienced and spiritually advanced, are trying to do is to re-listen to the tapes and transcribe them better so that the books contain what Srila Prabhupada really said.
The intention behind all this is certainly acceptable and admirable and we pray to Krishna that the result is the desired one.
I have no doubt about the sincerity and devotion of those devotees and that probably the new editions contain fewer errors.
But on a personal level I must admit that I have some kind of discomfort reading the books with corrections because, not having Srila Prabhupada’s original tapes, I cannot know if the new edition is better or not. It is a question of faith and sincerely, since it is the most important thing in our life, namely Srila Prabhupada’s books, I have a hard time granting it.
I continue to read the original books, which I have since the 1970s, when Srila Prabhupada was still among us in a physical body.
After all, even if they contained some errors, they gave spiritual life to millions of people, including us.
So despite everything, they worked and will continue to work.
But it is just me, please read the new editions and you’ll have the maximum benefits.
– Manonatha Dasa (ACBSP)
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