The Jaya-Haya Letters

Correspondence between Jayādvaita Dāsa and Hayagrīva Dāsa
about the editing of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, 1970–71

With an introduction and annotations by Jayādvaita Swami

In October of 1970, production of the first unabridged edition of Bhagavad-gīta As It Is was in full swing. The entire manuscript had been edited for English and Sanskrit, and the book was in the midst of typesetting, proofreading, and layout.

In the course of producing the book, Jayādvaita Dāsa, as the production manager, exchanged letters with Hayagrīva Dāsa, the editor, about various editorial questions. Some of those letters he saved, and here they are.

These letters should provide for interested readers some historical insights into the production of the book.

So as not to overburden the reader, we are publishing these letters in installments.

The letters include extensive annotations. To see these annotations, first download the letters, then view them with Adobe Acrobat Reader or another reader that shows attached notes. If you use a different reader—or your web browser—the annotations may not appear.

You can download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader—for Windows or Mac—from .

• Cover Letter alone (provides an overview and places the letters in their context.) (66 kB)
• Installment 1, with cover letter (1.4 MB)
• Installment 2 (3.4 MB)
• Installment 3 (2.6 MB)
• Installment 4 (1.3 MB)