"These are descriptions of Lord Krishna by a pure devotee," replied Nimai. "If anyone finds any mistake, then he is a sinful offender..."

Grammatical Mistakes

Dear assembled devotees, all glories to Srila Prabhupada. Please accept my obeisances.

Over the past few years there has been an ongoing debate over changing Srila Prabhupada's books. I personally support the 'no change' group, and feel that not one word of His Divine Grace's books should be modified.

Recently, I have come across a nice segment from Chaitanya Bhagavat by Sri Vrindavana dasa Thakur, Adi Lila Chapter 11. Here, the Supreme Lord Himself states His position on changing the literatures of His pure devotee. Please consider the conversation between Lord Chaitanya and Ishvara Puri below... the Lord's order is crystal clear.

Lord Chaitanya visited Ishvara Puri every evening after teaching his students. Ishvara Puri was always glad to see him. Although he did not know that Nimai was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his love and affection for him flowed unrestrained. He spoke affectionately to the Lord, "I know you are a great scholar. I have written a book about Lord Krishna. I want you to go through it and find the mistakes. This will please me very much."

"These are descriptions of Lord Krishna by a pure devotee," replied Nimai. "If anyone finds any mistake, then he is a sinful offender. The pure devotee never writes anything from his imagination, devoid of a scriptural basis. These writings are bonafide and always pleasing to Lord Krishna. When offering obeisances in the temple an ignorant person might make a grammatical mistake in addressing Lord Krishna while a learned scholar would address him using proper grammar. But the Supreme Lord Krishna accepts both their obeisances. The Supreme Lord is not impressed with mere learning, but He is supplicated by the inner mood of surrender of the living entities. Whoever looks for faults in your writings is actually at fault himself because Krishna is fully satisfied by the writing of this pure devotee. Whatever you have written is an expression of your love for Krsna. Who has the audacity to find some discrepancy in it?" [Chaitanya Bhagavat, Adi Lila, Chapter 11
by Sri Vrndavana dasa Thakura]