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Add or subtract

Expressions researched:
"addition or subtraction" |"no addition no subtraction" |"add or subtract" |"adding or subtracting" |"add anything or subtract anything"

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Madhya-lila

I am submitting that I personally have no desire to add or subtract anything. I have only written what I have heard in the disciplic succession because I am dedicated to the lotus feet of previous ācāryas like Svarūpa Dāmodara, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and Rūpa Gosvāmī.
CC Madhya 2.93, Translation and Purport: I worship herewith the lotus feet of all kinds of devotees, both advanced and neophyte. I request all of them to be satisfied with me. I am faultless because I have written herein whatever I have understood from Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī and Rūpa and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmīs. I have neither added to nor subtracted from their version. According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, there are three kinds of devotees, known as bhajana-vijña (experts in devotional service), bhajana-śīla (devotees engaged in devotional service), and kṛṣṇa-nāme dīkṣita kṛṣṇa-nāma-kārī (initiated devotees engaged in chanting). The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta begs the mercy of all these devotees and asks them to be pleased with him. He says, “Let the neophyte devotees—the devotees who are very expert in arguing though they have no sense of advanced devotional service, who think themselves very advanced because they imitate some smārta-brāhmaṇa—let such devotees not be displeased with me, thinking that I have committed errors in this regard. I beg their pardon with great humility, but I am submitting that I personally have no desire to add or subtract anything. I have only written what I have heard in the disciplic succession because I am dedicated to the lotus feet of previous ācāryas like Svarūpa Dāmodara, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and Rūpa Gosvāmī. I have only written what I have learned from them.”

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

We are teaching Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as it is spoken by the authorities. We don't add anything or subtract anything.
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973: So this is the process of understanding: you have to become dear friend of Kṛṣṇa. Then you will understand Bhagavad-gītā. Otherwise, for thousands of years you may go on reading Bhagavad-gītā; you will not learn even a word of it. That is the secret. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg. 4.2]. So our business is... We are teaching Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as it is spoken by the authorities. We don't add anything or subtract anything. Kṛṣṇa says man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. This is the process. Man-manāḥ: "You always think of Me." And we say, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma... If you chant somebody's name, your friend's name or your relative's, immediately you remember the person. It is not very difficult. If you hear in the telephone somebody speaking, as soon as you hear the voice, you can understand, the other side, the person is there. So the chanting process means to always think of Kṛṣṇa, twenty-four hours.
That is the spiritual master. Who does not add or subtract from the talks of Kṛṣṇa, he is spiritual master.
Lecture on SB 6.1.14 -- Bombay, November 10, 1970: No, I am speaking not of you. I know what you are doing. But we should corroborate. But as a preacher we should simply speak the real truth. There is no question of corresponding with your ideas and another idea, no. We... Whatever we know, whatever we have heard from our authorities we'll speak. That's all. It may be somebody may know better than me. That is another thing. But I have to present what I have learned from the authority. That's all. And our authority is Kṛṣṇa, mainly. Yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upa... That is the spiritual master. Who does not add or subtract from the talks of Kṛṣṇa, he is spiritual master. One who adds and subtracts according to his whims, he is not spiritual master. He is not bona fide spiritual master. "I, my opinion..." "I give this interpretation..." He is not authorized. You are lawyer, you know better than me. In your law court you cannot change the law by your opinion. That is not possible.

Festival Lectures

Your friend has sent you one hundred dollars, and his business is to hand over that one hundred dollars as it is, without any change, without taking one dollar from it, no, or adding. No addition, no subtraction. His honesty, his perfection, is that he delivers you that hundred dollars which is sent by your friend. That is his honest..., perfection.
Sri Vyasa-puja -- New Vrindaban, September 2, 1972: So your senses are imperfect, you are cheating, you are illusioned, and you commit mistake. How you can give perfect knowledge? Therefore we don't accept any knowledge from an imperfect personality. Because that is imperfect knowledge, what is the use of that knowledge? Theorizing. No theory. We want to know fact. That is perfect knowledge. So that perfect knowledge can come from God. And one who distributes that knowledge exactly as God has said, he is perfect. Just like a post peon comes and delivers you, say, one hundred dollars. So he is not delivering that one hundred dollars. Your friend has sent you one hundred dollars, and his business is to hand over that one hundred dollars as it is, without any change, without taking one dollar from it, no, or adding. No addition, no subtraction. His honesty, his perfection, is that he delivers you that hundred dollars which is sent by your friend. That is his honest..., perfection. He may be imperfect in so many others ways, but when he does his business perfectly, he is perfect. Similarly, our, this Vyāsa-pūjā means we receive perfect knowledge from Kṛṣṇa through the agency of spiritual master.

Correspondence

1970 Correspondence

They are not my words, as I have repeatedly informed you that I am simply the bearer of the message from Lord Caitanya through the disciplic succession and I do not make any addition or subtraction.
Letter to Bhagavan -- Los Angeles 10 January, 1970: I also thank you very much for your appreciation of my books and letters and for my speaking in the meetings. They are not my words, as I have repeatedly informed you that I am simply the bearer of the message from Lord Caitanya through the disciplic succession and I do not make any addition or subtraction. Similarly, if you all carry these words successively, then the transcendental parampara system will be exactly maintained and people in general will be benefited. I am very much obliged to my disciples because they are realizing the importance of Krishna Consciousness Movement and it is very much encouraging to me. Please, therefore, continue the standard of understanding. Read regularly our books and try to expand and preach the philosophy as far as possible.
you must understand the purport and reproduce it in your own language. That will be very good, but someway or other if in some way you present the purport of Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita that will be also very good. The idea is that we should not make any addition or subtraction of mental speculation.
Letter to Dinesh -- Los Angeles 22 January, 1970: I am very pleased to learn that both you and your wife have been lecturing on Krishna Consciousness at the George Washington University and there was good response to your program. You simply read our books and if you simply reproduce the purport of Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita, people will take it very seriously. So, of course, you must understand the purport and reproduce it in your own language. That will be very good, but someway or other if in some way you present the purport of Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita that will be also very good. The idea is that we should not make any addition or subtraction of mental speculation, but we should endeavor, even if we do not fully understand from our present platform, to present simply the philosophy as we have received it directly and realized it by practical experience.

1975 Correspondence

If he repeats without adding or subtracting anything, then he is qualified as guru. Actually there is only one guru—Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So those who simply repeat His words, they also become guru.
Letter to Mr. Himtsinh J. Bhatia, Mrs. Manjula H. Bhatia -- Bombay 23 November, 1975: I thank you for your service in helping to push on this mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Our mission is that especially those who have taken their birth in India that it is their responsibility to become perfect in the science of Krsna Consciousness and to deliver everyone in the world. In this way everyone is expected to become guru. But how to be a guru? It is said that one simply has to repeat the instructions that Krsna has given. If he repeats without adding or subtracting anything, then he is qualified as guru. Actually there is only one guru—Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So those who simply repeat His words, they also become guru. But of course a guru never thinks himself as being God. He only thinks himself as the servant of the servant of the servant: gopi bhrtya pada-kamalayo das dasanudasa [Cc. Madhya 13.80].

Unknown date and place

Gaurasundara's drawing is done under my dictation, so it is authoritative and is perfect also. You can make improvements on that basis, but don't add or subtract anything.
Letter to Artists 1 -- Unknown Place: Gaurasundara's drawing is done under my dictation, so it is authoritative and is perfect also. You can make improvements on that basis, but don't add or subtract anything.
Page Title:Add or subtract
Compiler:Visnu Murti
Created:29 of Oct, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=1, OB=0, Lec=3, Con=0, Let=4
No. of Quotes:8