Though it is not “As it is” but still it is “As it is”

Though it is not “As it is” but still it is “As it is”

Though it is not at all Bhagavad Gītā as it is (compiled by Śrīla Bhakti Vedānta Svāmī Mahārāja), but still it is really as it is like the version compiled by Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan together with the touch of the version of Bhagavad Gītā by Gita Press, Gorakhpur.

Please find bellow a passage from Hayagriva Dasa’s work, The Hare Krishna Explosion:

Swamiji finally tires of my consulting him about Bhagavad-gita verses. “Just copy the verses from some other translation,” he tells me, discarding the whole matter with a wave of his hand. “The verses aren’t important. There are so many translations, more or less accurate, and the Sanskrit is always there. It’s my purports that are important. Concentrate on the purports. There are so many nonsense purports like Radhakrishnan’s and Gandhi’s, and Nikhilananda’s. What is lacking is these Vaishnava purports in the preaching line of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. That is what is lacking in English. That is what is lacking in the world.”

“I can’t just copy others,” I say.

“There is no harm.”

“But that’s plagiarism.

“How’s that? They are Krishna’s words. Krishna’s words are clear, like the sun. Just these rascal commentators have diverted the meaning by saying ‘Not to Krishna.’ So my purports are saying ‘To Krishna.’ That is the only difference.”

In the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, a large portion of the English verse translations by Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja are either identical to, or only slightly different from, the English Gita Press edition by C. L. Goswami and M. A. Sastri.

Below is a letter from Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja to a disciple:

“Please send me the third canto English translation of the Shrimad-Bhagavatam done by the Gita Press. You got these copies from the Gita Press for reference. I want the third canto, please send as soon as possible.”

(671221 - Letter to Rayarama written from San Francisco)

Gaura Hari Haribol!