What is Vrindavan? Who is Radha? Who is Krishna? Who am I?
Where am I? What is this all about?
Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Vrindavan is His kingdom, the
spiritual world. This website provides you with a little insight into the most
superior and holy kingdom of Krishna and the residents of Vrindavan living together
with their King Sri Krishna and His Queen Srimati Radha.
To learn about Krishna and spiritual life the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada are foremost. You'll probably find this two books most helpful:
Bhagavad-gita As It Is -
teaching the ABC of spiritual life
Krishna - The Supreme Personality
of Godhead - describes the life of Sri Krishna
Quotes are from:
CC = Caitanya-caritamrita (translation and commentary from A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
NOD = Nectar of Devotion (from A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
SB = Srimad-Bhagavatam (translation and commentary from A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada)
SGGSP = Sri Gaura-Govindarcana-Samarana-Paddhati (Dyanacandra Gosvami/translated
by Haridhama dasa)
SSRKGD = Sri Sri Radha-Krsna-ganoddesa-dipika (Rupa Gosvami/translated
by Kusakratha dasa)
Pictures are from various artists
and the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
COPYRIGHT
Any and all BBT images and written materials are (c) 1972 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
All rights reserved. All such materials are published pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C.
Section 107, Fair Use Exception.
Site articles are copywritten to their respected authors. All rights reserved.
All authors retain their ownership of their own articles. Authors are fully and
solely responsible for the content in their articles.
This website is for information and education only.
The copyright for translations and pictures belongs to the respective authors
and artists. Art and translations are used on this website without expressly permission,
pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, Fair Use Exception
The books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada are available from the Bhaktivedanta
Book Trust.
Sri Gaura-Govindarcana-Samarana-Paddhati is available online as pdf file.
Sri Sri Radha-Krsna-ganoddesa-dipika is available from the Krsna Institute.
The people behind this website are:
Webmaster and Publisher - Urdhvaga prabhu
For any Questions Contact: srikrishna1008@aol.com
Many thanks to the humble devotees on the net for their encouraging
mailings. This website exists only due to your kindness.
--------- Original Message -----------
From: BBTI Internet Copyrights Office
Email: copyrights2@bbti.org
To: info@vrindavan.de
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 10:39 PM
Subject: BBTI copyrights
Dear Urdhvaga prabhu,
Your website, vrindavan.de, is very nice, but you are using several copyrighted
BBTI
pictures. You mention their copyrights on your information page, which we appreciate.
However, we would prefer that you contact us so that we have a record of what
materials are being used and by whom. There is a form that we ask everyone to
fill out for this purpose at http://www.bbti.org/form.html
While we are usually generous with letting ISKCON devotees use such
materials for preaching purposes, we do have procedures for their use.
Please contact us to resolve this matter.
Looking forward to your response,
Jiva Dasa
BBTI Internet Copyrights Office
USA, Feb 19, 2001 (VNN6569) — Letter to: Dinesh
BY A. C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA
New Vrindaban
10 June, 1969
69-06-10
My Dear Dinesh,
Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated
June, 6, 1969 and the copy of the agreement which you sent. The
first thing is that I have already given you my word, so there is
no need of an agreement with me. My word is final agreement, but
if you want it for business reasons, I have no objections to sign
it. But the wordings are not always clear. Another thing is although
I have brought this Sankirtana Movement to the Western World we
cannot make it copyrighted. The Sankirtana Movement is not
my invention. So how can it be copyrighted? Besides that, as
you will find in the album of my previous recording, the chanting
of Hare Krishna is going on since time immemorial. So Hare Krishna
cannot be copyrighted, although the tune in which I sing with
my disciples, that may be made copyrighted. I have no objection
to sign this agreement, but don't be misled that the chanting
of Hare Krishna or Lord Caitanya's Movement can be made copyrighted.
Iskcon Idiot Ajita Das Wants To Copyright Krishna's Holy Name
lnternational Society for Krishna Consciousness
Founder Acharya : His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
To: Giriraja Govardhana Gaudiya Math
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness Inc is disappointed
that your Organisation seems to have decided upon a course of action
that is likely to cause divisiveness and certainly confusion in
an area of religious life where we think it is more appropriate
to aim for harmony and cooperation. If the end result of your actions
is that people will be confused about the relationship between our
organisations then that, in our view, is not in the interest of
either party.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness Inc has worked
for many years in Australia to establish both a reputation and goodwill
in the words HARE KRISHNA as a means of identifying our organisation
and what our organisation does in both a religious and commercial
sense. The end result of this is that we believe that people in
Australia use the words HARE KRISHNA to distinguish our organisation
so these words have become part of our identity in both a material
and spiritual sense. In fact The International Society for Krishna
Consciousness Inc is the registered owner in Australia of the trade
mark HARE KRISHNA in relation to "religious education, seminars,
lectures; educational entertainment and information services of
a religious nature" in Class 41 (registration 745346) and so
any use of the words HARE KRSHNA in a trade mark sense by an entity
that is not authorized by us in relation to such services would
infringe registration 745346.
We believe that we are obliged to defend the intellectual property
rights that we have built up over the years and also act to do what
we can to prevent deception and confusion arising through the misuse
of our trade marks or any attempt to sow confusion in the minds
of our supporters. We would certainly like to make it quite clear
that we do not either agree with or condone the use of the words
HARE KRISHNA in the way that we have seen. We would be extremely
reluctant to enforce our legal rights but prefer to voice our concerns
to you in a spirit of fraternity hoping that you will appreciate
that your actions are inappropriate and counterproductive and that
you will accordingly cease use of the words HARE KRISHNA in a way
that is both contrary to the trade marks legislation and which would
have the consequence of leading to deception or confusion.
On behalf of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Ajita Das
President
---------
Jan 10, GERMANY (SUN) —
A reply to the question, “How were the copyrights
transferred to the BBTI?”
First of all we have to understand that the
BBTI is an impostor organisation and has nothing to do with Srila
Prabhupada’s original BBT. The BBTI just tries to control
the BBT, that’s all.
ISKCON
and Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. (BBTI) are NOT
the authentic Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) founded by Srila Prabhupada
for publishing his phenomenal works. Srila Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta
Book Trust (BBT) is a legal trust and has no connection with ISKCON
and the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc., (BBTI) a California
corporation formed in 1988, 11 years after Srila Prabhupada departed
from this world. Srila Prabhupada established the Bhaktivedanta
Book Trust in 1972, and in 1974, appointed Hansadutta dasa BBT trustee
for life with these words: “The temples may go, the devotees
may go, but my books will live forever.”
So, how then were the copyrights transferred
to the BBTI? They never where. Hansadutta did NOT “signed over”
the copyrights to the BBTI, he only resigned as a trustee.
What Hansadutta did was to resign
officially from his post as the BBT Trustee, to which Srila Prabhupada
has appointed him life-long (even in writing). The so-called copyrights
are still with the BBT, but the problem is that the original trustees
of that Bhaktivedanta Book Trust have either resigned or fallen
away, so the book trust (BBT) itself is not functional at present,
being bereft of its original trustees. That is the real issue and
problem. Legally it is very questionable if the bogus BBTI can take
over the BBT by getting their own man signed in (into the BBT) with
the help of Hansadutta’s resignation.
Because of Hansadutta’s official
resignation as a BBT Trustee (at the court case) the bogus BBTI
now thinks to put their own man into the BBT and thus control everything.
The BBTI is an illegal impostor
corporation created by ISKCON, which has absolutely no legal rights
over Srila Prabhupada’s books. They just want to usurp
the BBT and control all of the money and printing. The court case
against Hansadutta was to contest Srila Prabhupada’s own originally
created BBT in court, trying to degrade Srila Prabhupada to a mere
scribbling of ISKCON and a hired servant of the BBT-I Inc. By suing Srila Prabhupada’s lifelong
appointed trustees, the bogus BBTI managers thought to get the control
over the BBT.
That Hansadutta has resigned from
being a BBT trustee is unfortunate, but it does not mean that automatically
the bogus BBTI has the printing rights. This is not the case. The
rights are still with the BBT only, which at present is disintegrated
because it has no more functional trustees. So the BBTI is NOT Srila
Prabhupada’s BBT at all and they absolutely have no claim
to the copyrights on Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Unfortunately Hansadutta agreed to
a court settlement in which he was offered by ISKCON/BBTI to privately
print books outside of ISKCON if he officially resigns as BBT Trustee,
and this Idiot (by the advice of his lawyer Gupta) went for it.
He betrayed Srila Prabhupada by resigning from his service personally
given to him by Srila Prabhupada (to print original books as BBT
Trustee).
Srila Prabhupada wanted the BBT to
be separate from ISKCON, but Hansadutta being a BBT Trustee resigned
from his post, playing the original BBT into the hands of ISKCON
GBC-clones, with Dryadwaita Swami on their head, who is perverting
all of Srila Prabhupada’s original translations, without being
checked by anybody.
Hansadutta voluntarily renounced the
Sacred Trust as lifetime GUARDIAN of Srila Prabhupada’s books
for the right to print books outside of ISKCON for personal profit,
in any way he likes, with no checks and balances, just to make quick
bucks with his own privatised company, by his personalized rights
to privatise Srila Prabhupada’s books, for himself only. How
selfish. How foolish. How unfortunate. What an idiot. What a fool.
The only non-negotiable thing was
for him to remain Srila Prabhupada’s BBT Trustee as per his
order (as his re-established BBT trustee). As BBT Trustee, it was
his fiduciary responsibility to fight an appeal to uphold Srila
Prabhupada’s original BBT Trust, with himself as his appointed
trustee.
By appointing Hansadutta as a BBT
trustee, Srila Prabhupada knew very well that despite his bad habits
and artificial fall-downs, he still had the POTENTIAL to save His
BBT from the inevitable book changers and political managers that
rushed to change His books even before He went into His final Samadhi.
Srila Prabhupada’s original
books are not separate from ISKCON so that the BBT Trustees would
have the power to demand the purity and obedience to Srila Prabhupada
before licensing publishing rights to any branch of ISKCON. In that
way, the BBT Trustee was created as the ultimate watchdog of the
standards of ISKCON.
But Hansadutta has rejected his service
of protecting the integrity of Srila Prabhupada’s book-setup,
by not getting a court settlement of being re-established as Srila
Prabhupada’s appointed BBT Trustee. On the opposite, he gave
up his post to the KING of the book-changers, Jayadwaita Swami.
Not only will the BBTI now NOT be forced to rectify the changed
books of the Pure Devotee, but the book-changing fox has been locked
in with the chickens! It is hilarious, one does not know if to laugh
or cry. Srila Prabhupada wanted him, as his BBT Trustee, to protect
his books but he has betrayed him by selling out to the greatest
demon and book-changers for a cheap settlement of personal publishing
rights.
This is most fatal:
In the settlement it is stated: “Hansadutta
Dasa, Veda Guhya Dasa, Bhagavan Dasa, and Dasa Dasanudasa Dasa Dasi
have voluntarily stepped down from any role they might have had
as trustees of the 1972 trust. And all concerned have agreed that
now the (new) trustees (of the BBT) will be four trustees from the
BBT-I International: Brahma Muhurta Dasa, Naresvara Dasa, Svavasa
Dasa, and Jayadvaita Swami.”
So, that means the new BBT trustees
are now Brahma Muhurta Dasa, Naresvara Dasa, Svavasa Dasa, and Jayadvaita
Swami, and the bogus BBT-I trustees are also Brahma Muhurta Dasa,
Nerdesvara Dasa, Svavasa Dasa, and Jayadvaita Swami.
The settlement further states: “With
the validity of the California trust now reaffirmed, all parties
agree that the rightful beneficiary of the trust is the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness”. “The BBT-I will
continue handling the active side of the BBT operations” (What
is that meaning??)
Sounds really bad, and this scum Naresvara
(a real nerd) also called Nerdesvara helped destroy the Singapore
printing. WOW, the worst scum’s Jayadvaita, Nerdesvara and
Svavas controlling the BBT as well as the BBT-I. Unbelievable!
However, since Hasadutta did not get
the printing license (because it was given to Gupta) he has rescinded
his resignation as BBT Trustee. Hansadutta on his website wrote
the following:
“This is to notify you that inasmuch as your
organization has never given me a license to print the original
books of Srila Prabhupada but rather the license has been given
to Krsna Books Inc. the formation of which has been proven in court
proceedings to be a fraud practiced by my attorney Joseph Fedorowsky
(See California State Bar Complaint Case No. 99-0-11217, See Overview
of Complaint attached as Exhibit 1).
Also none of the Settlement monies
were paid to me other than to cover whatever obligation I may have
had to Mr. Fedorowsky.
This leaves me no alternative than to rescind the settlement agreement
and withdraw my resignation pursuant to which you were appointed
trustees of the trust and I must reassert my position as trustee
of the trust.
Since the Settlement Agreement has
been invalidated I have no alternative but to reassert my duties
as trustee. I will now perform my responsibilities as trustee.”
Also Madhudvisa wrote to Locanananda
the following:
“BBTI is not even the “BBT”
Prabhupada established. It is simply ISKCON operating under another
name. They have nothing to do whatsoever with Prabhupada’s
BBT. It is simply a con. They are not the BBT and, as Hansadutta
Prabhu’s case has proved, THEY HAVE NO CLEAR CLAIM TO THE
COPYRIGHTS OF PRABHUPADA’S BOOKS. So the copyright issue is
not relevant. BBTI have no clear claim to the rights to Prabhupada’s
books at all. Nothing has changed since Hansadutta’s case
except Hansadutta “signed over” the copyrights to the
BBTI… But it is very unlikely that Hansadutta had the copyrights
of Prabhupada’s books in his possession so his “signing
over” of the copyrights to the BBTI is completely bogus also.
So the BBTI is NOT Prabhupada’s BBT at all and they do not
have any clear claim to the copyrights on Prabhupada’s books.
So these sentimental arguments that
the “BBTI should do it” are not very relevant. THE BBT
PRABHUPADA ESTABLISHED NO LONGER EXISTS (due to NO original trustees).
So now the sincere disciples of Srila Prabhupada
have to “do the needful” and get Prabhupada’s
original books back in print and distribute them, perhaps by reestablishing
the REAL BBT. This action alone can force the BBTI to print
Prabhupada’s original books also as in the presence of Prabhupada’s
original books there is no market for their adulterated versions
of many of Prabhupada’s books they print [NOT all of them
are changed--BBTI still publish some original pre-1977 books as
well]
Actually if we like it or not, but
we now have to work with Gupta, since he holds the court approved
license, to print original books. Actually Gupta has to sue now
the bogus BBTI for printing unauthorised Books.
Urdhvaga das (ACBSP)
--------------
Hansadutta das reply to this letter:
http://hansadutta.com/KRSNA_WORLD/2010/08/01/what-happened-to-the-bbt/
