Bhagavad-gita As It Is 7.24

avyaktam— nonmanifested; vyaktim—personality; apannam—achieved; manyante—think; mam—Me; abuddhayah—less intelligent persons; param—supreme; bhavam—existence; ajanantah—without knowing; mama—My; avyayam—imperishable; anuttamam—the finest.

First Edition: Unintelligent men, who know Me not, think that I have assumed this form and personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is changeless and supreme.

Second Edition: Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.

Manuscript: The less intelligent impersonalist they also do not know the Sup. Perfectly and they think me myself, the Sup. Per, of God. Krishna I was impersonal before nad now I ahve assumed the personality. This conclussion is due too their poor fund of knowledge.

What appears in the Second Edition, though perhaps less elegant, is indisputably closer to Srila Prabhupada's original words.

The First Edition leaves untranslated the crucial word "avyaktam." Krsna, the Mayavadis say, has "assumed a personality." But what do the Mayavadis think was His former status? Srila Prabhupada's translation for "avyaktam" makes it clear— "I was impersonal before." In this way, Srila Prabhupada homes in on the essence of the Mayavada philosophy.

In the word-for-word meanings, by the way, I've changed the translation for "bhava"—from "state of being" to "existence." No big deal. Same meaning. Then why the change? Answer: The original transcription says "distance"— obviously a mishearing for "existence." So we've gone back to Srila Prabhupada's original word.

And why has "changeless" been changed to "imperishable"? Again, to match Srila Prabhupada's original word-for-word meaning.

This message also appears on the following web page:

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Interested in the differences between the first and second editions of Bhagavad-gita As It Is? You'll find more than 150 examples at this address:

www.krishna.com/newsite/GitaRevsExplained.html

There you'll see the published versions side by side with the text of the original manuscripts. And the graphic format of the web helps you see at a glance what the revisions are and where they're coming from.

For anyone who has concerns about the editing of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, this is a must-see.

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Hare Krsna.

© dipika.org August 27, 2003