BBT press release
The “annotated scans” for Chapter Nine of Bhagavad-gita As It Is are now online at www.BBTedit.com/changes.
The scans for this chapter are the latest in a series that shows all the revisions done for the transliterations, word meanings, and purports of the second edition. Nearly every revision also has a note explaining why it was done, along with an image from the BBT’s oldest manuscripts, allowing you to verify the history for yourself.
Jayadvaita Swami did his revisions for the second edition on a physical copy of the first edition. The scans show that copy. (Revisions to the translations aren’t shown, because he edited them separately, not in the book itself.) Each chapter forms one downloadable pdf file.
The scans for this chapter give you much to see.
You’ll see the extensive first paragraph to 9.26 (patram puspam phalam toyam). This paragraph appeared in the 1968 abridged edition, and devotees often relished and quoted it, especially its memorable line “Who is such a fool that he does not want to be Krsna conscious by this simple method?” In the 1972 edition this paragraph was left out. In the 1983 edition it has been restored.
You’ll see twenty-six of Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit quotations recovered (seven in the purport to text 2 alone).
You’ll see several places where the 1972 edition includes Srila Prabhupada’s explanation for a Sanskrit word but leaves out the word he is explaining — and the second edition restores the missing word. (For example: avasam in the purport to text 8, udasinavat in text 9, and vyapasritya in text 32.)
You’ll find out about new translations the original editor pasted into the manuscript over Srila Prabhupada’s (and see examples).
You’ll also see the thirteen verses for which the original word-for-word meanings were done by a BBT Sanskrit editor, not by Srila Prabhupada himself.
Apart from images for specific changes, the scans for this chapter include thirteen complete sample pages from the original manuscripts, including four pages showing those BBT-supplied word-for-word meanings.
Whether you’re for “the changes,” against them, or neutral, here’s another opportunity to see what the changes actually are.
For devotees who have been critical of the second edition but are thoughtful and open-minded, the scans for this chapter provide ample food for thought.
See for yourself in the annotated scans for Chapter Nine, now online at www.BBTedit.com/changes.
The changes for the Preface, the Introduction, and the previous chapters are already online, on that same page.
