And please don't forget the samit-panih part

March 6, 2002

At 07:19 AM 3/6/2002 -0800, M. Tandy wrote:

>On Wed, 6 Mar 2002, Braja wrote:

> > There's no reference to the entire saying other than this room conversation

> > anywhere on the VedaBase.

>

> I think I'd rather go with oral tradition on this sort of thing in

>general--provided the source is reliable and very close to Srila Prabhupada.

>There's a real danger of rewriting history--if not siddhanta too--on the

>basis of anyone and everyone's creative theories or folio-pecking discoveries.

>The Folio isn't perfect, and it is mediated. We're an oral tradition. Evam

>parampara-praptam. Gurum evabhigacchet.

It's a catchy slogan and seems to have broad appeal. We also should be wary

of rewriting history and siddhanta on the basis of so many "Prabhupada

saids." Here's one you won't find in VedaBase: in an initiation letter to

Sadhanananda prabhu, Srila Prabhupada told him that his disciples will say

that "Prabhupada has said this or that." Prabhupada called it simply

another form of cheating. "If it is not in my books," he wrote, "I did not

say it."

We should be eager to share our realizations with each other, but, as the

header implies, those realizations will be based on intense hearing and

chanting, done in a service mood--ready to serve as the guru pleases.

Babhru das

March 12, 2002

> I've discovered a few, while I've had the written word before me and

> checked something on folio, and on folio it has been completely different.

> A lot of things are also simply missing.

>

> The 'creative theories' theory has always been a problem, hasn't it? I

> think the folio is the "tool de jour" for those interested in taking that

> path...

I agree. I personally don't like it when people offer screeds of proofs.

However the folio does have its advantages. I often use it when I don't

understand something. For example, I read something which causes me to raise

my eyebrows, and so I check on the Folio to see what SP's point of view was.

Mostly I use it to check the sanskrit for my transcription seva.

-Rama

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