Category:Editing My Books (Prabhupada)
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda viewed the production of his books not merely as a publishing project, but as a sacred service requiring both technical excellence and deep spiritual surrender. He personally guided his disciples, encouraging them to maintain the highest scholarly standards so that the most erudite thinkers could appreciate the Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy. By emphasizing that an editor's primary qualification is their devotion rather than academic credentials, Śrīla Prabhupāda established a unique standard where linguistic precision serves as a vessel for transcendental truth.
- Devotional Qualification: Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasized that the ability to edit Vedic literatures depends on being fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master rather than academic education alone.
- Technical Precision: To ensure the books command respect in the scholarly world, Śrīla Prabhupāda demanded meticulous attention to Sanskrit diacritic marks, grammar, and spelling.
- Meticulous Transcription: The process of bringing the Vani from tape to print was described by Śrīla Prabhupāda as a disciplined workflow where every word must be transcribed perfectly to preserve the intricacies of meaning.
- Philosophical Purity: While allowing for grammatical corrections, Śrīla Prabhupāda was adamant that the underlying philosophy should never be watered down or altered to suit mundane tastes.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Editing Prabhupāda's Books with Scholarly Precision and Devotional Integrity.
Pages in category "Editing My Books (Prabhupada)"
The following 61 pages are in this category, out of 61 total.
F
I
- I am glad that you are not omitting anything, but just making grammatical correction, and phrasing for force and clarity
- I am glad that you are typing the remaining portion of KRSNA, and then I shall send the second part of KRSNA also for editing. Your husband wanted from me a specific duty, and I think the best part of his valor can be utilized in editorial work
- I am glad to hear you are enlivened at becoming editor of Back to Godhead magazine. This magazine must be edited very carefully
- I am now delivering some lectures every Sunday at the L.A. Temple and the series may be called "Sinful Activities and Their Resultant Reactions.'' They will be transcribed here weekly, and sent to you for editing
- I am very much glad that Pradyumna is now with me for teaching him correctly this sanskrit editing work. After he has become well-trained that will be a great relief to me
- I fully approve of your idea to prepare every available manuscript up to the stage of printing, even if they remain in the layout stage for a while
- I have received a report that you are not working on my books. Why you have stopped editing my books? So what are you doing with my books? You have stopped editing, but what is your occupation now?
- I have received back the edited papers on Srimad-Bhagavatam. Brahmananda & others cannot change the style. They want to see if there is any grammatical discrepancy
- I said to stop this intoxication, but not your editing. You say it is rumor only, but I have heard it several times from other persons. So let it remain as rumor, don't let it be fact. That will give me great hurt
- I started out with this kind of paper, only I was the only writer, the only editor, the only publisher, and the only distributer
- I understand that some girls have volunteered to type and therefore you can now get the revised Gitopanisad nicely and correctly typed before it is handed over to the press
- I want that in all of our books, magazines and other writings the scholarly presentation be given in all instances, so for every Sanskrit word there must be the appropriate spelling and diacritic marks
- I was so much pleased to see that already the tapes were edited and laid out and this is encouraging me to translate more and more
- I wish that all copies, before finally going to the press, must be thoroughly revised and edited so that there may not be any mistakes especially of spelling and grammar or of the Sanskrit names
- If the books are printed with spelling mistakes and other mistakes, that will be a discredit for our publication. So please see that editorial work is done very nicely
- If you accompany me, that will be a very nice thing. I want your company always for editing my writings very nicely, but because you have to work for maintaining New Vrindaban, so let us see what Krishna desires in the future
- If you can do this, it will be a great service. I wanted therefore a combined editorial board. Unfortunately, you have to do everything yourself
- If you do not want to give your time and energy full time for translating and editing the Hindi work, unless there is some compensation of money, then what can I do?
- It has now been arranged that Geetopanisad shall be now printed in India and therefore you are requested to send me back all the corrected forms of manuscripts on receipt of this letter
- It is my confidential advice to you that if he feels any difficulties for money, you may discriminatingly help him, and he should continue as the managing editor
- It is not our philosophy to print errors. Of course, our spiritual subject matter is transcendental and therefore it remains potent despite mistakes in grammar, spelling, etc
- It was very nicely done and the cover is very attractive, but one thing is that my picture has come out very black. There are so many pictures, and if that one was so black, you should not have chosen it
M
- My future contemplation is to have tours all over the world for 6 months, and sit down in a nice place for the balance 6 months, for training boys and girls as well as editing our publications
- My only request to you all is that the two tapes, regularly sent every day must be finished being transcribed, edited, composed, layed out and printed all in one week. In this way two tapes daily must be ready for printing. Then it will be nice
- My plan is that personally I shall try to retire from active participation, but I want a place where I can live with at least 15 devotees engaged in editorial work, recording work, photographic work, painting work, etc
N
- Nitai may correct whatever mistakes are there, but the corrected material must be sent to me for final approval. So reprinting the volumes will have to wait until the mistakes are corrected and approved by me
- Now coming to the question of Gitopanisad, I am sorry that the book is not yet ready for printing although I have finished the book I want to get it immediately printed either there in U.S.A. or in India but the editing is not yet finished
O
- Others may be done by others. You print it. Even there is some mistake, that doesn't matter
- Outdoor kirtana must be done, even at the cost of suspending all editorial work. That is your first and foremost business. Temple worship is not so important. If need be, the whole temple can be locked, but the outdoor kirtana cannot be stopped
R
- Rayarama's one qualification that he is fully surrendered to Krishna and his Spiritual Master is the first class recommendation for his editing any one of our literature; editing of Vedic literatures does not depend on academic education
- Regarding Easy Journey to Other Planets if you like this book just edit it nicely and we shall get it printed here with addition of my chanting essay. Now I am trying for printing arrangement and this book also can be nicely printed
- Regarding the English editing discrepancies, that how can I know? Let them point out which part and on which page so I can see
- Regarding your proposed program of editing, the Bhagavatam First Canto is already edited, so when making final typing, you shall simply see it for proofreading. I do not think that you need take too much burden because you may fall ill with too much work
S
- So far your telling me that some devotees consider that because there may be some grammatical discrepancies in my Srimad-Bhagavatam, first canto, then they may also be allowed to translate with errors accepted, that is just like imitating Raslila
- So your efforts in the matter of our Sanskrit editing are effectively improving our books more and more with scholarly standards. All your work and programs are approved by me as you have listed them
- Suppose on Monday you receive the tape number 17, let it be transcribed in two days by someone "A." Then in the next two days (days 3 and 4) someone "B" edits it. Then in the next two days (days 5 and 6) another "C" edits it for the second time
T
- The bearer of this letter, Jagannatha das brahmacari is coming to Mayapur to work on the CC manuscript. Hopefully, he will finish editing work on the Antya-lila by the Festival at the end of March. Please give him all facilities in this connection
- The system is: whatever authority has done even there is mistake it should be accepted
- This too much editorial work on Gitopanisad has created some misunderstanding between the editorial staffs
- Too much editing is not required. If Satsvarupa has already edited it, there is no need of further editing
W
- We are not meant for presenting any literary masterpieces
- We cannot water down the philosophy to make it more palatable. Our books must remain as they are
- We have to edit in such a way, present our literature in such a way that it will be gospel truth
- We have to give more stress on our spiritual side than the scholastic side. But at the same time, if our books are presented in a scholarly way, that will be very nice. So you use the best part of discretion and do the needful
- We have to see that in our book there is no spelling or grammatical mistake. We do not mind for any good style, our style is Hare Krishna, but, still, we should not present a shabby thing
- We must have our books printed, we have wasted much time in the matter of editing and finding out a suitable publisher
- Why he should be given this business? He's such irresponsible man. He should not be given any responsible work. Our first business should see how he is advanced in devotion. We don't want so-called scholars
Y
- You are noting down the mistakes and...? Noting down the mistakes, yes
- You have to understand our philosophy perfectly, follow the regulative principles, and then in fact you can edit our books and papers
- You say that you can edit any amount we can supply, so I take that as a challenge and I shall try to see if you can keep up with me