The perils of "correcting" Prabhupada's books

Some time ago, I had an interesting experience that, for me, highlighted some of the perils of editing and trying to "correct" Srila Prabhupada's books.

Some time ago, I had an interesting experience that, for me, highlighted some of the perils of editing and trying to "correct" Srila Prabhupada's books.

I was invited to give a lecture on SB ŚB 2.2.25-26 to a group of Russian devotees. These are two verses connected with Vedic Cosmology, that narrate how a yogi progressing upwards can enjoy progressively larger lifespans as he goes up in the hierarchy of material planetary systems.

The first verse reads:

"This Śiśumāra is the pivot for the turning of the complete universe, and it is called the navel of Viṣṇu [Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu]. The yogī alone goes beyond this circle of Śiśumāra and attains the planet [Maharloka] where purified saints like Bhṛgu enjoy a duration of life of 4,300,000,000 solar years. This planet is worshipable even for saints who are transcendentally situated."

While life on our planet lasts just 100 years or so, life in Swargaloka lasts for 10,000 years for the demigods (3.6 million years of our time, since 24 hours for them equals 360 Earth days). When a yogi reaches Maharloka, however, he can live for an entire day of Brahma or 4.3 billion years.

Actually, according to other passages of Srila Prabhupada, the day of Brahma lasts for 4.32 billion years, and not 4.3, but we can understand that Srila Prabhupada just opted to use a rounded number, as he does in other verses.

In the Russian translation, however, the translators opted to correct the number. While the English edition reads "4,300,000,000 solar years", the Russian edition reads "4 320 000 000 солнечных лет".

In the next verse, however, things become a little more complicated:

"At the time of the final devastation of the complete universe [the end of the duration of Brahmā’s life], a flame of fire emanates from the mouth of Ananta [from the bottom of the universe]. The yogī sees all the planets of the universe burning to ashes, and thus he leaves for Satyaloka by airplanes used by the great purified souls. The duration of life in Satyaloka is calculated to be 15,480,000,000,000 years."

When the day of Brahma finishes, the fire emitted by Lord Ananta destroys all the lower planets of the universe (up to Swargaloka). Maharloka is not directly destroyed, but nonetheless, the heat incinerates all the inhabitants. However, the members who are sufficiently qualified have at this point the possibility of ascending to the next planetary systems (Janaloka, Tapoloka, or Brahmaloka), according to their level of qualification, where they can live longer. The lifespan in Satyaloka is extraordinarily long since it's tied to the life of Lord Brahma.

In the English version of the Srimad Bhagavatam, the number given for the lifespan of the inhabitants of Brahmaloka is 15,480,000,000,000 years (15.48 trillion years). In the Russian translation, however, another number is given: 311,040,000,000,000 years (311.040 trillion years).

I don't have clairvoyance powers to understand what exactly passed, but I have some suspicion.

An attentive reader will notice that the number given in the English edition (15.48 trillion years) is not correct according to the formula given by Srila Prabhupada in other passages. Srila Prabhupada explains that a day of Brahma lasts for 4.32 billion years (which he rounds to 4.3 billion years in many passages), and the same is the duration of his night. In this way, we calculate 24 hours of Brahma as 8.64 (rounded as 8.6) billion years. Brahma lives for 100 years of such days (360 x 100), and therefore we can calculate the life of Brahma as 311.04 trillion years (or 309.6 trillion years if we start with the rounded 8.6 billion years per day that Prabhupada uses in the previous verse)

We can see here that the translators/editors of the Russian edition noticed that the number given in the English edition didn't add up and decided to correct it to the number given by following the formula. It seems that they did that with the best of intentions.

There is however another detail here. Although Brahma lives for 311.040 trillion years, his life is divided into two parardhas or two halves. This is mentioned in SB 3.11.34 and a few other references. In his commentary to SB 3.11.37, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura mentions that at the end of the first half of the life of Brahma, the Universe is completely destroyed (including Brahmaloka) and all the great sages living there have to enter the body of Maha-Vishnu and wait to the reborn in the next Kalpa.

In this way, the life span in Brahmaloka is actually not 311.040 trillion years, but actually, only half of that, 155.52 trillion years (or 154.8 trillion years using the rounded numbers that Prabhupada is using in this passage).

We can see that the English edition gives 15.48 trillion years as the number, and the correct number, according to the calculation given by Srila Prabhupada is 154.8 trillion years. We can see that it is the case of a zero missing. I imagine that Srila Prabhupada recorded the correct number on the tape, but somehow one zero was lost in the process is typing, revising, and editing (which is not surprising, considering it is such a big number).

The translators of the Russian edition noticed that the number in the English edition was not quite correct and, with the best of intentions, decided to try to correct it. However, not aware of the whole calculation they actually put a different number that is not correct at all.

The number given (311.040 trillion years) doesn't take into account the division of the life of Brahma into two parardas, and also doesn't take into account that in the previous verse Prabhupada is giving a rounded number and that he just proceeded in giving the next number based on this previously rounded number.

The editors started by correcting the first number and then put a completely different number in the second verse. The original number was actually correct (just missing a zero), but not aware of the complete calculation the translators or editors replaced it with an entirely different number that is incorrect.

Again, I'm sure they did that with the best intentions, but this just highlights the perils of editing Srila Prabhupada's books.

Prabhupada explains many extremely complicated subjects in his books, and even apparently obvious "mistakes" often reveal some deeper meaning. I don't think anyone can claim to be learned and intelligent enough to do it without adding his own layer of changes and mistakes to the text. We can see that many very senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada have been advocating that the books should be just left as they were originally, or that editors should limit themselves to adding ending notes to explain difficult passages. Maybe it's time to start listening.