David Crick: Tolkien and the Gita As It Is--“Rings” and Parallels

I think the readers of the Gita Changes web site will find the following article insightful:

http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/tale.html

The above article details changes/errors/corrections made during the editing and publishing of The Lord of the Rings books during Tolkien's lifetime.

Furthermore (since then), to mark the 50th Anniversary of the publishing, Christopher Tolkien and others have released a revised edition of Lord of the Rings, which includes:

"hundreds of small corrections that have been approved by Christopher in order to achieve the author's desires and ensure perfection." (emphasis added)

http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/reviews/nowavailable.htm

The parallels between Lord of the Rings and the Gita As It Is are not only true of their editing, but also of their readership. Both came into popular consciousness around the same time, and both, I'm sure, have readers who hold significant memories of their first encounters with the books, and who cherish yellowed, dog-eared copies of the originals.

While I would not discount the literary merit and genre-spawning nature of Tolkien's works, Srila Prabhupada's books hold even greater significance due to their spiritual nature. Ensuring their correctness is therefore of even greater importance, since they form doctrine.

On a more personal note, I wish to quote a passage from Lord of the Rings. In response to Legolas the elf's concern at the prospect of Dwarves visiting Helm's Deep, Gimli replies:

We would tend these glades of flowering stone, not quarry them. With cautious skill, tap by tap--a small chip of rock and no more, perhaps, in a whole anxious day. . .

It is exactly this kind of loving and respectful care that I see in the "Gita Changes" PDFs that you are now publishing on BBTedit.com.

My sincerest thanks for your wonderful historical and continuing service.

Hare Krishna.
David Crick

[David Crick offers his skills as a photographer in service to Bhaktivedanta Manor and the London Radha-Krishna Temple.]