Distortion In Yoga Psychology Book - 2

Moderators' Note: Those who want to keep our Bábá's discourses at the highest standard, they should read this posting. And those who give most priority to their communal, racial, and linguistic superiority instead of Neohumanistic values, and do not care about Bábá's teachings or maintaining the standard of His discourses, should please not read the below. This letter is the second in a series which raises a very sensitive issue needing unbiased reading in order to understand fully.

Moderators' Note 2: H and EC groups do not publish their own original books but rather only reprint the books which the Tiljala group publishes. Because of this, H and EC groups are not considered responsible for the below-discussed distortion. For this reason only our Tiljala Publishers' work is being discussed here. In the future if H and EC groups commit similar mistakes, they will also be held responsible.


Date: Tue 13 Aug 2013 10:34:12 -0000 (GMT)
From: Biresh Mitra <m_mitra@link-net...>
Subject: Distortion In Yoga Psychology Book - 2
To: ananda-marga-discourses-1@yogasamsthanam.net


Bábá

Distortion In Yoga Psychology Book - 2

Respected Má́rgiis, Dádás and Didis,
Namaskár.

Last week a matter was raised concerning serious distortion in our Yoga Psychology book (1). Near the end of the discourse, Bábá is discussing techniques for memorizing.

Carefully Highlight One Language

Suppress English & Hindi

In that discourse Bábá illustrates two techniques writers use, consonance and assonance, to make the poems they write remain in one's mind. Bábá gives some examples of English sentences, Hindi sentences, and finally of Bengali sentences. The Tiljala Publishers relegated the English examples to lowest importance by hiding them amidst many other sentences in a large paragraph. They furthermore translated the Hindi sentences into English leaving no trace of the fact that these sentences were given by Bábá in Hindi. Like the English language examples, the Hindi examples—translated in English—were given lowest status by hiding them amidst many other sentences in a large paragraph. Whereas in stark contrast the Bengali poem Bábá recited, our Tiljala Publishers wrote in Bengali using Roman script, instead of translating. And they placed this Bengali language example prominently alone as its own paragraph.

English and Hindi Given Low Status

Hindi Sentences Translated Improperly

In the letter last week, the first of Bábá's two Hindi sentence examples was presented, and it was seen that the sentence was (a) translated into English without being left in its proper Hindi as intended by Bábá; and (b) improperly translated into English. Our Tiljala Publishers could easily have written the Hindi sentence in Roman script—as they did for the Bengali example—but they did not do so. Instead they translated the Hindi sentence into English, and completely distorted the translation.

It should be noted here that Bábá's purpose was to show the repetition of similar sounds, and for that writing the Hindi sentence in Roman script would have been perfectly adequate. After all that is what they did with the Bengali poem which followed directly afterword—typed it in Roman script and placed it in the English discourse for all to see, that Bábá gave the example in Bengali.

Now the second of Bábá's two Hindi sentence examples will be presented.

Yoga Psychology Book:

Ludicrous Translation of Second Hindi Example:

Intent to Neglect and Distort

Bábá gave not one Hindi sentence example, but two. And our Tiljala Publishers did the same thing the second time—translated the sentence into English in a highly distorted fashion, and left no trace that the sentence had been given by Bábá in Hindi. Here below is the second Hindi example which Bábá gave to illustrate a repetition of sounds:

"ज़ुम्मा के दिन एक जुलाहा ने,एक जूतेवालों को ज़ोरदार पीटा |” Here below we provide the transliteration into Roman script, to show Bábá's play on sounds. The “j” sounds are highlighted so it will be easier to understand Bábá's intentional repetition of sounds—

“Jummá ke din ek juláhá ne, ek júteváloṋ ko jordár piit́á.”

Here Bábá is showing the play on words using the sound "ja", and he even comments about it afterward how "ja ja ja ja" is coming over and again in the sentence. But the Tiljala Publishers changed it into an English sentence, completely changed the meaning of the sentence, and made it a play on the "s" sound rather than the "ja" sound!

Here is the true English translation of Bábá's Hindi sentence: “On Friday, a weaver severely beat a shoemaker.” And here is how the Tiljala Publishers translated the sentence: “And on Sunday a shoemaker severely assaulted a saintly person with a shoe.” Bábá said Friday, and they changed it to Sunday; Bábá said a weaver hit a shoemaker, and they changed it to say a shoemaker hit a saintly person. They left out the weaver who did the hitting, and changed the victim from a shoemaker to a saintly person. What right do our AMPS Publishers have to take such liberties? And the most egregious thing about this is that they never do this sort of outrageous behavior with Bábá's Bengali sentences. It is only with Hindi and English. With Bengali they are very careful to lovingly preserve and protect; with Hindi and English they take every opportunity to neglect and distort.

Here are the key words of the Hindi sentence Bábá used to illustrate the play on the sound “ja”:

ज़ुम्मा= Jummá, Friday
जुलाहा= juláhá, weaver
जूतेवालों= júteváloṋ, shoemaker
ज़ोरदार पीटा = jordár piit́á, severely beat

Even An Ounce of Neohumanistic Feeling

Would Yield Same Treatment to Bengali, English, and Hindi

If the Tiljala Publishers had had an iota of concern to preserve the integrity of what Bábá had said in this second Hindi sentence, they could have easily done so. And anyone reading the transliteration would recognize the repetition of the sound “ja” which Bábá wanted to demonstrate. Indeed, this is our Tiljala Publishers' standard practice with Bengali. Following the two English examples buried and sequestered in a paragraph, and then the two illegitimately translated Hindi sentences, comes Bábá's recitation of a Bengali poem illustrating the same principle of sound repetition. And our Tiljala Publishers faithfully transliterated it into Roman Script. Couldn't they have done the same with the Hindi sentences? Evidently it was beyond their sensibilities to do the needful.

Had Ten Chances To Rectify Distortion

It is notable that this discourse has been reprinted in five separate Ánanda Má́rga books, with various numbers of editions and reprintings. (1) As such, if proper editing and revision were occurring with the republishing of discourses, then our Tiljala Publishers had at least ten opportunities to rectify this matter by putting the two Hindi examples back into their rightful original Hindi and formatting all five examples—English, Hindi, and Bengali— giving similar stature to each by assigning separate paragraphs in the text layout. But none of this was done. And that only confirms our Tiljala Publications' explicit goal of using Bábá's books to highlight the Bengali language, and their reticence toward fixing the distortions they themselves have introduced into Ánanda Má́rga scripture.

Ánanda Marga Scripture Not Being Protected

Therefore Responsibility Falls to Ánanda Má́rgiis

Bábá says, “The scriptures containing spiritual injunctions must be totally flawless.” (Namah Shiváya Shántáya, Disc: 14) So as Ánanda Márgiis, we must take this very seriously and work together to make the printed version of Bábá's discourses perfect. By such examples as the above, it becomes clear we cannot merely sit back and expect that with time the Tiljala Publishers will fix everything. First, with distortions such as those illustrated above, there is every proof of intentionality. When something has been intentionally distorted, then one cannot expect those who brought about the distortion to turn around and rectify it. And second, twenty-three years have passed since 1990, with no sign of fixing the discourses going on. The Tiljala group whatever they spend all their time and resources on these days, if instead they had utilized these in fixing Bábá's discourses, then their efforts would have been worthwhile. When our Publishers are wasting their time and money in self-serving pursuits such as group fighting, then it falls upon Ánanda Má́rgiis to come forward, create pressure for change, and help in the rectification of our scripture.

Volunteers Needed

We make a special request for volunteers to help in this work of producing and reviewing the “as is” discourses. Márgii volunteers are needed from all countries around the world, to help with translating the “as is” discourses into the various languages, and also to help with translating postings about distortions so that all Márgiis around the world can be made aware. Comparing the “as is” discourses to the discourses published by our AMPS is a big job, and help here is also needed. We welcome a hand from any and all who are inspired and interested to serve in the protection of the discourses of Lord Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrtiji.


Namaskar,
Biresh Mitra


Footnotes.

1. The Faculty of Knowledge – 4. 25 May 1980, Calcutta.
Published in:
A Few Problems Solved Part 7
Ananda Marga Philosophy in a Nutshell Part 5
Discourses on Neohumanist Education
The Faculty of Knowledge
Yoga Psychology

1A.  Click here to read the posting from last week on the same subject. It is located on our blog.

2. Click here to see the actual text of the end of the discourse, as well as its text layout as given in the Electronic Edition.


Note 1: In order to produce “As Is” discourses, there is a need for audio cassettes of Bábá's discourses. These are treated with the utmost of care as we do the job for which the recordings were made: discourse transcription. So any who have recordings of Bábá's discourses are encouraged to contact us in order to get the recording transcribed in “As Is” fashion.

Note 2: This Ánanda Má́rga Discourses Network does not have any agenda against any group. Its only goal is to repair and protect Lord Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrtiji's holy discourses so they will remain for the present and future humanity.

Note 3: Bábá has clearly explained that there must not be any difference in the way we see the various languages of the world: all languages perform the same function of communication, and all languages are to be respected on the same footing. In the case of Bábá's discourses, He has used three languages Bengali, English, and Hindi and all three are to be equally valued as the languages of our Ánanda Má́rga discourses. In this spirit, Bábá says: "As all languages of the world are fundamentally one and the same. Consequently, all languages should carry equal importance and equal respect. Keeping all these points in mind, we should look deeply into the question of language problems." [The Language Issue. A Few Problems Solved Part 9, Calcutta 1981.]