I was very happy when I found an original, 1968, Macmillan edition of Bhagavad Gita As It Is. The book is truly a slice of history with its appreciations by Alan Ginsberg, Tomas Merton, and Denise Levertov. This edition is considered "abridged" because the publishing house thought it was a little too long. Srila Prabhupada did the editing himself. You might say it is the "essential" edition of Bhagavad Gita As It Is. There is no artwork inside or on the back cover, and the author's name is given as "Swami A.C. Bhaktivendanta".In 1970, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada published his unabridged edition; also with Macmillan.
On this blog I work mostly with the latest edition of Bhagavad Gita As It Is but, every now and then, something sounds a little funny to me and I go and look up the sloka in the 1968 edition. I have seen changes that don't seem to make any difference and I have seen ones that have left me wondering what was wrong with the old version. I don't usually weigh in on this controversy because I believe that Krishna speaks through all of the editions of Srila Prabhupada's classic.
Still, I also believe that an up to date list of the changes that have been made should always be available to the reader. With this in mind - here is a link to the latest article:
http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/editorials/04-10/editorials6015.htm
This is not the original 1968 edition.
ReplyDeleteI do have the very original by "Swami A.C. Bhaktivedanta".
As you may notice, the Gita that you see here on the photo is by "His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada", hence a later edition.
Good Eye my friend. When I pulled this photo from the internet I did not look to closely at the Author's Title. I am happy to say that my actual copy also reads "Swami A.C. Bhaktivedanta" It is a first edition, fourth printing - 1970
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