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” Śrila Prabhupada's books.

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Some time ago, I had an interesting experience that, for me, highlighted some of the perils of editing and trying to “correct” Śrila 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 Svargaloka lasts for 10,000 years for the demigods (3.6 million years of our time, since 24 hours for them equals 360 days on earth). 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 Śrila Prabhupada, the day of Brahma lasts for 4.32 billion years, and not 4.3, but we can understand that Śrila Prabhupada just opted to use a rounded number, as he does on a few other occasions.

In the Russian translation, however, the editors 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”. The meaning is the same, but the number is different.

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 Svargaloka. These are the planetary systems where life is centered around sensual enjoyment. The inhabitants are allowed to pursue their material activities during the day of Brahmā, but at the end they are destroyed, and all the souls involved there have to wait until the next creation inside the body of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣnu.

The inhabitants of the higher planetary systems, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka, however, are engaged in advanced spiritual activities and are thus spared from the destruction.

Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka are not affected. The inhabitants there are essentially deathless, allowed to live until the final destruction of the universe. They remain during the night of Brahmā, during which they offer prayers to Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣnu.

Maharloka is partially affected. The planetary system is not destroyed, but the fire makes it too hot for the inhabitants. They are thus forced to migrate to Janaloka, where they can continue living until the final devastation. The reason is that Maharloka is the abode of the Pajapatis, and thus, there is still sexual life there. At the end of the day of Brahma, the Prajapatis are forced to abandon this last vestige of material gratification to be promoted to the higher planetary systems.

The lifespan in Satyaloka (or Brahmāloka), especially, is extraordinarily long since it’s tied to the life of Lord Brahma. That’s what is described in the verse.

In the English version of the Śrīmad Bhagavatam, the number given for the lifespan of the inhabitants of Satyaloka 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). Again, the editors opted to change the number.

An attentive reader will notice that the number given in the English edition (15.48 trillion years) does not appear to be correct according to the formula given by Śrila Prabhupada in other passages. Śrila 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 × 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 appears not to add up and decided to correct it to the number given by following the formula.

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, Śrila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura mentions that at the end of the first half of the life of Brahma, the universe is completely destroyed (including Satyaloka), and all the great sages living there have to enter the body of Maha-Viṣnu and wait to be reborn in the next Kalpa.

In this way, the life span in Satyaloka 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). Brahmā lives for 311.04 trillion years, but even he assumes a new material body at the beginning of the second half of his life, leading to the situation described in the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where he wakes up on top of the lotus flower at the beginning of the current day, at first not knowing where he is or what he is supposed to do.

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 Śrila Prabhupada (using rounded numbers), is 154.8 trillion years. We can see that it is the case of a zero missing during the typing or editing of the book. We can imagine that Prabhupada recorded the correct number on the tape, but somehow one zero was lost in the process of production of the book, 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, possibly with the best of intentions, decided to try to correct it. However, not aware of the whole calculation, they ended with a different number that is not correct at all.

The number given (311.04 trillion years) doesn’t take into account the division of the life of Brahma into two parardhas 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 ended with 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 Śrila Prabhupada’s books.

Prabhupada carefully explains many extremely complicated subjects in his books. Much of it is very difficult to understand. If we read his books with the wrong mindset, thinking we know better than him, we will find many “mistakes” in perfectly correct passages, just because we can’t understand them properly.

Passages that appear strange or contradictory at first are usually passages of the text that describe something we don’t know. If we consider the text carefully and do our homework instead of rushing into accusing Prabhupada of being wrong, we can gradually deepen our knowledge of the text. That’s the proper mentality of a student of the scriptures. If we think we know better, there is no purpose in studying at all. Prabhupada didn’t appoint any of us as revisors.

Apart from that, I don’t believe anyone can claim to be learned and intelligent enough to “correct” Prabhupada’s books without adding his own layer of changes and mistakes to the text. We can see that many very senior disciples of Śrila 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.

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