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As the Air Carries Aromas
By Jayadvaita Swami
Posted September 15, 2004

Bhagavad-gita As It Is 15.8:

sariram—the body; yat—as; avapnoti—gets; yat—as; ca api—also; utkramati—gives up; isvarah—the lord of the body; grhitva—taking; etani—all these; samyati—goes away; vayuh—the air; gandhan—smells; iva—like; asayat—from their source [First Edition: from the flower].

The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas.

The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another.

Manuscript (partly edited):

The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life, as the air carries the smell from the river. Thus does he take one kind of body, and again quit it to take another.

Comment:

In the First Edition (but, curiously, not the already edited manuscript) a full line of Sanskrit has been left out, untranslated. In the old Macmillan abridged edition it was there. And in the complete Second Edition you'll find it restored.

Apart from that: In the original manuscript, in the word-for-word section, what's going on with the word "asayat"? The transcription said, "from the result." and an editor crossed it out and replaced it with what appears in the First Edition—"from the flower." (And in the translation the manuscript says, "from the river.")

Clearly, this was all scrambled. The Monier-Williams Dictionary defines "asaya" as "resting-place, bed; seat, place; an asylum, abode or retreat," and so on. Therefore, when the Second Edition says "from their source"—a definition Srila Prabhupada uses elsewhere for the same word (Bhagavatam 3.29.20)—the Second Edition has it right.

Commenting in Srimad-Bhagavatam on this verse from Bhagavad-gita, Srila Prabhupada says, "If the wind passes over a garden of roses, it will carry the aroma of roses, and if it passes over a filthy place, it will carry the stench of obnoxious things." (Bhagavatam 4.28.20, purport) Obviously, life isn't all flowers.

Hare Krsna.

This message also appears on the following web page:

http://www.krishna.com/newsite/main.php?id=242

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.

Also worth seeing:

"Bhagavatam Revisions Examined" http://www.krishna.com/newsite/main.php?id=286

This is an "information-only" conference, not a discussion conference. The only person who can post texts to it is me. (Queries and comments may be sent to me privately.)

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The First and Second Editions of Bhagavad-gita As It Is are © 1972, 1983 by The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Except where I have included quotations from non-BBT sources, the rest of this message, and of the conference as a whole, is © 1999-2004 by The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hare Krsna.

© dipika.org September 15, 2004

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