About Distortions in "The Birthright of the Microcosm" - Part One

Baba

Namaskára Respected Márgii Brothers and Sisters,

Here we introduce the second Ánanda Márga Discourse of this network, which has been prepared in “as is” fashion—that is, exactly as spoken by Lord Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrtiji. The discourse has been titled by the AMPS Publishers as “The Birthright of the Microcosm”, and printed in Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part Three*.

We have divided this presentation into a series of four postings:

1. Introduction to the Errors in “The Birthright of the Microcosm”, Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part Three.
2. Detailed Presentation of the Errors in the English Language Edition
3. Detailed Presentation of the Errors in the Hindi Language Edition
4. The “As Is” Discourse and the Published Discourse

Here follows the first in a series of four. This posting introduces concerning errors in “The Birthright of the Microcosm”, Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part Three.

Major Error in Publication

The original sound file of the discourse “The Birthright of the Microcosm” is commonly available, and after listening to it a major error was discovered in the printed discourse from Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part Three. The last three paragraphs of Bábá's spoken discourse are missing, and in their place the final paragraph of the published version is written from beginning to end by our AMPS Publishers and not given by Bábá at all. This in itself is not a matter to be ignored. Lord Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrtiji has given a discourse, and it is the duty of our AMPS Publishers to faithfully bring His full discourse in print. It cannot be said what may have been the motive or reasoning behind such a decision, to remove the last three paragraphs of Bábá's spoken discourse and replace them with one paragraph entirely of their own composition.

Error Not Acknowledged in Publication Notes

As consequential as the action itself of writing the last portion of the discourse themselves, is that the AMPS Publishers did not express or make known what they had done. If the AMPS Publishers had a reason for removing the last three paragraphs of what Táraka Brahma had spoken and replacing them with a paragraph of their own composition, then they were obligated to put a note about that in the publication. But instead, the AMPS Publishers placed their self-composed paragraph there as though it were part of Bábá's discourse—and allowed for the inevitable misunderstanding on the part of all readers that these were Bábá's actual words. So it is a serious point that honest transcription was not carried out. Devotees read this discourse thinking the words are Bábá's, but the final three paragraphs of the recorded discourse have been removed and in their place is a final paragraph written wholly by the AMPS Publishers.

Honesty and sincerity are needed in the publication of Bábá's discourses.

No Traceable Record of the Distortion

Another serious consequence of our AMPS Publishers’ dealing here is that because there was no note documenting the removal of the final three paragraphs, so there was no way for anyone to know about it. As a result, the printed discourse could not be repaired in all these years. The book was printed in 1981, thirty-two years ago. In the absence of documentation, no one could know of the missing last three paragraphs from Bábá's spoken discourse, or the false final paragraph of the printed discourse. How many years might have passed before someone listened to the original recording again and realized the distortions that had been introduced?

It should be noted that this is not a unique occurrence in the published discourses. Indeed, the next ten discourses which we have lined up to send to you are unfortunately similar in this way.

Original Sound Recording Not Corroborated with Subsequent Editions

The problem of course did not end with the first printed edition of the discourse. It was passed on into all the subsequent English editions, and was also translated with the very same defect into Bengali and Hindi, and printed in that way over the course of multiple editions in those languages as well.

The discourse was first published in English (Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part Three) in 1981 with the above distortion. It was then translated into Bengali with the same errors, and from there translated into and published in Hindi in 1995—again with the false final paragraph and missing three paragraphs from the sound recording. New editions were published in Bengali in 1997, and in Hindi in 2004, still with the same errors. New English editions were published in 1986 and again in 2004, plus the four consecutive English Electronic Editions—each time with the same distortions.

Here is a record of the subsequent publications where this discourse has been printed in English, Bengali, or Hindi each time with the very defect described above:

Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part Three Editions, English, 1981 & 1986; Publisher Ác Náráyańánanda, Calcutta

Ánanda Vacanámrtam Parts 1-3, 1995 Edition Hindi, pp.184-187; Publisher Ác. Vijayánanda Ávt, Calcutta

Ánanda Vacanámrtam Parts 1-3, 1997 Edition, Bengali, pp.189-192; Publisher Ác. Vijayánanda Ávt, Calcutta

Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part Three, 2004 Edition, Hindi; Publisher Ác. Rupátiitánanda Ávt, Ánanda Nagar

All Electronic Editions from the first up to the fourth and final Edition 7.5; Publisher Ác. Sarvátmánanda Ávt, Calcutta

The fact that the last three paragraphs of the recorded discourse are missing not only from the first edition but from all subsequent editions and in all languages, shows that the AMPS Publishers never checked the sound recording against the printed version in preparing subsequent editions. They simply reprinted what had been printed earlier, and called it a new edition.

New Editions are Not Edited but Just Reprinted

By this it is proved that nothing changes from one edition to the next. It is called a new “edition”, but there is no “editing” involved in it; it is merely a re-printing, and the mistakes made in one edition are passed on to the next.

This is extremely dangerous, as with the passage of time, time itself becomes a mark of validation in the eyes of people. Unfortunately, thirty-two years have passed with nothing having been repaired in this discourse. Ultimately as one hundred or two hundred years pass, readers and editors equally tend to make the critical mistake of accepting that if after so many years there are still changes in the printed version compared with the sound recording, Baba must have wanted it that way. After all, the books have passed the test of time.

In order to prevent this sort of permanent distortion of our Ánanda Márga scripture, it is essential that our AMPS Publishers take responsibility for comparing what has been printed in past editions with what Bábá says on the recording. This way the AMPS Publishers can confirm the two match up prior to printing—and if there are errors they can be repaired in the new edition.

Discourse Misnamed by Our AMPS Publishers

There is yet another important consequence of the distortion introduced by the AMPS Publishers in the final paragraphs of this discourse: The discourse got misnamed by the AMPS Publishers as a result of their erroneous transcription practices. As mentioned, they wrote their own concluding paragraph to replace the last three paragraphs on the recording. In this process, they used a word twice in the closing paragraph—“birthright”—which Bábá never used in the entire discourse. And they then used the content of this erroneous, self-authored final paragraph, as the basis for naming the discourse. Thus the main title theme—“birthright”—is a word which Bábá Himself never even spoke.

Bábá personally gave titles to His DMC and RU discourses. With other discourses such as general darshans, He left the job of title-giving to the AMPS Publishers. It is important to note that by the sorts of titles Bábá gave to His DMC and RU discourses, He has taught us that a discourse title should (a) clearly reflect the main theme of the discourse, and (b) itself contain the actual language used in the discourse. By giving the title “The Birthright of the Microcosm” the AMPS Publishers have adhered to neither of these rules. “The Birthright of the Microcosm” is not the main theme of the discourse, and this word “birthright” is not used by Bábá anywhere in the discourse. The reason for our AMPS Publishers' distorted title is clear: they followed the theme of that final, distorted paragraph which they themselves had written. So this is a serious ramification of wrongful transcription practices.

Here is our suggestion for a title for this discourse. The title both (a) reflects the main theme of the discourse, and (b) includes the language of the discourse:

“Brahmacakra, Jiiva and Exploitation No More”

Discourse Contains More Distortions

Please note that in addition to the missing final three paragraphs, there are numerous other mistakes and distortions in the remainder of the published discourse. We picked out some of those and will present them in a separate posting in the coming days. There are however other mistakes as well, which you can pick up by comparing the “as is” transcription with the published version which will follow this posting in the next days.

We welcome your thoughts and comments.

In His service,

Ciranútana

Ánanda Márga Discourse network Editors

*Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part Three has been published by our Ananda Marga Publications, Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, Tiljala, Calcutta 700039. Henceforth they will be referred to as “AMPS Publishers”.