[Note:  This email letter by Mukunda dasa which talks about book changes in the C.C. only includes the discussion about the editing changes made to CC Madhya 19.157.   His argument and interpretation of how this change impacts Iskcon and other groups was removed.  If you want the full version of this email, contact Mukunda dasa directly.]

From: Mukunda dasa [mailto:pss_108@yahoo.co.uk]
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004

Subject: "STICK TO THE SOCIETY" ANOTHER OFFENSIVE MAD ELEPHANT BOOK CHANGE.

"STICK TO THE SOCIETY" ANOTHER OFFENSIVE

 MAD ELEPHANT BOOK CHANGE.

Devotee:  In your elaborate study you have missed reading the following statement of Srila Prabhupada:

 “..Even if one thinks that there are many pseudo devotees or nondevotees in the Krishna Consciousness Society, still one should stick to the Society; if one thinks the Society’s members are not pure devotees, one can keep direct company with the spiritual master, and if there is any doubt, one should consult the spiritual master.”

 -Cc madhya19.157

Mukunda dasa:  … I have the original Caitanya Caritamrta, in which Madhya 19.157 reads: 

“If one thinks that there are many pseudo devotees or nondevotees in the Krsna Consciousness Society, one can keep direct company with the spiritual master, and if there is any doubt, one should consult the spiritual master.”

[Original C.C. Madhya 19.157]

Mukunda dasa: NO STICK TO THE SOCIETY!!! The following sentence was added "still one should stick to the Society; if one thinks the Society’s members are not pure devotees" It is very interesting to note that they add the word even at the beginning of the paragraph. This gives strength to their cheating suggestions: "Even if you have sussed us out that we are not pure or that we are actually the envious non devotees in the Krishna Consciousness Society STILL YOU HAVE TO STICK TO THE [OUR] SOCIETY... Prabhupada says so!!!"

P.S. Please read the whole purport [unchanged] from which you quote [C.C. Madhya 19.157]:

TRANSLATION: "The gardener must defend the creeper by fencing it all around so that the powerful elephant of offenses may not enter.

PURPORT: While the bhakti-lata creeper is growing, the devotee must protect it by fencing it all around. The neophyte devotee must be protected by being surrounded by pure devotees. In this way he will not give the maddened elephant a chance to uproot his bhakti-lata creeper. When one associates with nondevotees, [in the Krsna Consciousness Society] the maddened elephant is set loose. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said: asat-sanga-tyaga,--ei vaisnava-acara. The first business of a Vaisnava is to give up the company of nondevotees. [especially in the Krsna Consciousness Society] A so-called mature devotee, however, commits a great offense by giving up the company of pure devotees. The living entity is a social animal, and if one gives up the society of pure devotees, he must associate with nondevotees (asat-sanga). By contacting nondevotees [in the Krsna Consciousness Society] and engaging in nondevotional activities, a so-called mature devotee will fall victim to the mad elephant offense. Whatever growth has taken place is quickly uprooted by such an offense. One should therefore be very careful to defend the creeper by fencing it in--that is, by following the regulative principles and associating with pure devotees.

 [Even] If one thinks that there are many pseudo devotees or nondevotees in the Krsna Consciousness Society, [still one should stick to the Society; if one thinks the Society’s members are not pure devotees, ] one can keep direct company with the spiritual master, and if there is any doubt, one should consult the spiritual master. However, unless one follows the spiritual master's instructions and the regulative principles governing chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord, one cannot become a pure devotee. By one's mental concoctions, one falls down. By associating with nondevotees, one breaks the regulative principles and is thereby lost. In the Upadesamrta of Srila Rupa Gosvami, it is said:

                      atyaharah prayasas ca

                      prajalpo niyamagrahah

                    jana-sangas ca laulyam ca

                    sadbhir bhaktir vinasyati

   "One's devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required, (2) overendeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to attain, (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters, (4) practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically, (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Krsna consciousness, and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements."