Page 40 - SBV (English)

xxxviii Editorial Notes

Naturally, I generally accorded greater legitimacy to old printed records
than to recent or oral sources. Especially all that was printed during Çréla
Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté’s manifest presence is particularly valuable due to
being enriched by Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté’s characteristically deep
philosophical explanations, the details of which his contemporary biographers
were mindful to record. Given that Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté paid
keen attention to his disciples’ writings (mostly published in magazines), and
that the writers and producers of his magazines were highly qualified and
faithful to Bhaktisiddhänta-väëé, and that many articles were drafted at Çréla
Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté’s specific behest or directly based on his kathä, I have
accorded authoritativeness to such writings as if they had been composed by Çréla
Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté himself. However, even old published documentation
can be inaccurate or incomplete, to the extent that apparently some entire
noteworthy incidentsin Çréla Sarasvaté Öhäkura’s life were hitherto deliberately

never featured in print. *
Nonetheless, the nigh inevitability of errors and inconsistencies in
recorded anecdotes does not necessarily invalidate them. As His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda said to an artist disciple who was
minutely questioning him about a scene described in his books: “We are not
archaeologists.” The same principle applies to this endeavor; we are not historians
in the academic sense.
Still, having had this manuscript thoroughly reviewed by two scholarly
devotees conversant with the history of the Gauòéya Maöha and the teachings
of its founder, I am confident that the reportage is free of gaffs—although at the
time of publishing, a few points remained unresolved, and references to some

inventory of mythology concerning Çréla Sarasvaté Öhäkura, for further investigation
revealed that several of the anecdotes related therein were flights of fancy rather than
factual events.
* An example of inaccuracy in old documentation: Parama Gurudeva Prabhupäda Çré
Çrémad Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté, published by a disciple of Çrépäda Auòulomi Mahäräja,
quotes Auòulomi Mahäräja (p. 37) as averring that an account in Sarasvaté-jayaçré (p. 171)
of his being initiated on the same day as Paramänanda Prabhu, Vaiñëava Prabhu, and
Madhusüdana Babu is incorrect, for they were initiated before him. And even within
the text of Sarasvaté-jayaçré there are contradictions between the narratives of different
contributors.
For why certain noteworthy incidents apparently were never previously featured in print,
see vol. 1, p. 306.