ÁV23 Discourse “Knowledge and Progress”: Lahore Example Drastically Summarized

Bábá

The discourse Jiṋána aor Vikásha (Knowledge and Progress), originally given in Hindi by Bábá on 20^th November, 1966, has been published only in brief summary in English by the Tiljala Publishers. (1) The original Hindi discourse given by Bábá contains 3842 words while the English version printed by the Tiljala group has a word count of only 2577. So the printed English version has 1300 words less than the original Hindi Bábá spoke.

During the discourse Bábá used Lahore, the old capital of Punjab state, to illustrate three types of error in sources of mundane knowledge: (1) The book in which it is printed that Lahore is the capital of Punjab may be outdated; (2) There may be a printing error in the book; (3) There may be something wrong with one's eyesight causing one to misread what is in the book.

Bábá dedicated a separate paragraph to each of these three points, illustrating them in a story-like fashion. However the Tiljala Publishers summarized all three in brief fashion, and collapsed the second and third points into one paragraph. Here we examine the second of these three points.

The two scans below are of the same discourse, although they were named differently at the time by the Tiljala Publishers. The area outlined in red shows the sentences which pertain to the second source of error, that of a printing mistake in the word “Lahore”. The example in the newer of the two printings, the lower scan of Ánanda Vacanámrtam, contains 3 sentences, with 34 words. That is as compared to the actual Hindi spoken by Bábá on this point, which contains 13 sentences with 95 words.

Note that in both scans there is a sentence in between the two highlighted sections. That is the third type of error, wedged by the Tiljala Publishers into the paragraph about the second type. It should have been given its own separate paragraph in full expanded form as Bábá spoke it.

Here below are the scans of the Tiljala Group's two publications showing the drastic summary of the second Lahore point. Clicking on the scan will enlarge it and bring it into clear readable view. Remember that both these scans are of the same discourse, although they were named differently by the Tiljala Publishers.

Here below is the actual Hindi passage to give a sense of the rich detail in which Bábá gave this passage:

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“As Is” Transcription of Original Hindi starts Here. Text shown in green. This section given directly by Bábá is printed in mere summary in the Tiljala English publications (shown in the above scans).

अच्छा, दूसरी बात यह है क्या ? Source of knowledge में और एक प्रकार का दोष रह सकता है | मान लो printing mistake है | उसमें लिखा हुआ है—"लालोर" | तुम, लोगों से कह रहे हो कि—"लालोर is the capital of पंजाब" | और तुम एक gentleman हो | और, लोग आड़ में हँस रहे हैं कि—"देखो, क्या कह रहा है ? Educated man है, सामने तो बोल नहीं सकते हैं | मगर यह 'लालोर, लालोर' क्यों कह रहा है ?” तुम पढ़े थे "लालोर" | Due to printing mistake | तब क्या होगा ? तुम्हारी इज़्ज़त ? एकदम prestige punctured |

[बाबा मुस्कराए |]

[हँसी]

“As Is” Transcription of Original Hindi ends Here.
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Here is a line-by-line translation of Bábá's original Hindi passage into English:

English translation of the “As Is” Hindi Audio Passage

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Segment of Translated “As Is” Discourse Begins Here:

And another thing—there is another sort of error that occurs due to defects in the source of knowledge. Suppose there is a printing mistake, in which it is written “Lálore” [instead of Lahore]. You are telling people that, “ Lálore is the capital of Punjab.” And you are a gentleman [i.e. a cultured person]. And around the corner people are laughing, that “Look, what is he saying! He is an educated man; I can't point him out openly. But this 'Lálore, Lálore,' why is he saying it?” Due to a printing mistake—you had read “Lálore”. So what will happen now? What will happen to your prestige? It has been completely punctured.

[Baba smiles]

[Margii Laughter]

Segment of Translated “As Is” Discourse Ends Here 
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Footnotes.
1. “Knowledge and Progress”, Subháśita Saḿgraha Part 19, 1992.

Published as “The Real and the Unreal Knowledge” in Ánanda Vacanámrtam 23, Tiljala, 1994.