Watch a video podcast of Sita-pati and David Jorm discussing the annotations issue.
Here is the second of three comments that I submitted to Dandavats.com before the right to discussion and expression was revoked there.
I think we all know deep down that people have problems with ISKCON not because of what the books say, but because of what devotees have done. Out of 100 people 1 will read the Bhagavatam, the other 99 will read the devotee. That’s why Srila Prabhupada opens the Bhagavatam with a sketch of the life of Lord Caitanya, the ideal preacher of the Bhagavatam. People by and large, if they do know of controversial statements in the books, know of them not because they’ve read them, but because they read newspaper and internet articles about what devotees have done.
No-one had such great problems with Srila Prabhupada saying things at the time he said them because of his personal behaviour. He never used any of his own statements to discriminate against women, black people, or gays. He never used them to justify child abuse or rape.
Of the people who have bought and read the Bhagavatam around me in the last decade, no-one did it because they intellectually accepted everything in there at once. They did it because of the personal influence of people who embodied the Bhagavatam principles - devotees.
Trying to write around Srila Prabhupada words in his own books is not the answer. Trying to live following his example is the answer. Changing the books is an impersonal approach. A “voice from the sky” meta commentary on Srila Prabhupada’s commentary is impersonal, and the idea repels me. As a strategy for dealing with our PR ills it seeks to address things on a global, impersonal level, rather than at the local, personal level where change must ultimately take place.
My understanding of the role of the GBC is that it is to make sure that members of ISKCON are reading and following the books, rather than to change them to suit public opinion.
Without ideal preachers of Bhagavatam no amount of rewriting can change the situation, and with ideal preachers no amount of rewriting is necessary.
Word
Word