Moderators'
Note: H and EC groups do not publish their own original books but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.
From: Bhakti <bhakti@ren....>
To: ananda-marga-discourses-2@yogasamsthanam.net
Subject: Only Bengali Sweets Mentioned: Mumbai and Ludhiana Sweets Removed
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 15:21:46 +0530 (13:00 EDT)
From: Bhakti <bhakti@ren....>
To: ananda-marga-discourses-2@yogasamsthanam.net
Subject: Only Bengali Sweets Mentioned: Mumbai and Ludhiana Sweets Removed
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 15:21:46 +0530 (13:00 EDT)
Bábá
Náma Kevalam
Only
Bengali Sweets Mentioned:
Mumbai
and Ludhiana Sweets Removed
Distortion
in Ánanda Vacanámrtam 12: Part-C
Serious
Errors in a Passage
Namaskár brothers and sisters,
On 8th June of the year 1979, Bábá delivered a Hindi discourse in Mumbai. (1) In this discourse, Bábá presented a very intricate devotional topic in a simple to understand style. The original Hindi discourse given by Bábá was never published. AMPS Publishers translated this discourse into English and published it in Ánanda Vacanámrtam part 12 (henceforth, referred to as AV12), first in 1980 and then in a highly touted second edition in 2008. (2) There are a large number of deviations in this English translation from the original discourse given by Bábá.
This article is the third of a series in which each of the deviations will be analyzed and presented to Ánanda Márgiis across the globe. Some of the deviations are of extremely serious nature and completely mar the essence of Bábá’s teachings.
Color Coding
Violet color means text published by AMPS Tiljala group.
Red color means frankly distorted term published by AMPS Tiljala group.
Green color means original As-Is Hindi transcription from Bábá's recording. The translation of this into English by me is also given below in green.
Excerpt from Discourse Full of Distortion
Here below is a paragraph taken directly from the Tiljala AMPS publication of the discourse.
Behind all phenomenal, actional, faculties lies the noumenal entity. And behind even this noumenal entity [there is an entity] that may be called “supra-noumenal”. Everything that comes within the scope of time, place and person is charming. So noumenal entities also undergo metamorphosis. If you research the noumenal causes, you will discover the root cause behind all actions. What is noumenal in the first phase becomes phenomenal in the next phase, and so on.
The above paragraph and the one that was supposed to follow it contain multiple distortions which are outlined here, and then detailed below. In brief:
- Deviation One: the word charming is an
extreme distortion.
- Deviation Two: the paragraph which
follows the above para in Bábá's recorded discourse is totally
missing from the Tiljala publication.
- Deviation Three: the above paragraph is
a mere summary written by the Tiljala Publishers, rather than an
actual translation of what Bábá gave in Hindi.
True Paragraphs from Original Discourse Delivered by Bábá in Hindi
This is the exact transcription of the original passage from the recording of Bábá's discourse.
“तो, यह जो phenomenal के पीछे noumenal है; वह भी moving, वह भी चलमान है, वह भी चलत है | तो, तुमको actional world के पीछे noumenal cause मिला | अब noumenal cause के पीछे तुम जाओ, देखो वह जो noumenal है, उसके पीछे और एक super-noumenal काम कर रहा है | ठीक | कैसे ? वह भी देश-काल-पात्र पर आधारित है |”
"जैसे यहाँ तुमको हम समझाने के लिए बोलते हैं—"श्रीखण्ड अच्छा लगा, ठीक है |" तो, तुम्हीं अगर चले गए लुधियाना, तो तुम श्रीखण्ड से अधिक पसन्द करोगे राजमा | राजमा, राजमा | “देश"के अनुसार बदल गया | तो, तुम्हारा noumenal जो entity है, it has undergone certain metamorphosis. Change हो गया उसमें—दैशिक परिवर्त्तन आ गया | तो, ये जो noumenal causes हैं, तुम इसको लेकर research करो |”
Translation of Above Original Hindi from Recording into English
For those who cannot read Hindi, the meaning of the above sentences in English is as follows. Here, I have translated in a very careful, literal way so readers will understand the exact meaning of what Bábá has stated:
“So, this noumenal, which is behind phenomenal; That is also moving, that is also on the move, that is also mobile. So, you found a noumenal cause behind the actional world. Now, you go behind that noumenal cause, see there is one more super-noumenal working behind that noumenal. Right. How ? i.e. In what sense is it so? Well, that noumenal is also based on time, place, and person.”
“Like here, to make you understand, suppose you say – ‘I like shrikhand best, it is good.’ So, now if you yourself went to Ludhiana then you may decide you like Rájmá more than shrikhand. Thus, Rájmá has changed according to ‘place’. So, your noumenal entity has undergone a certain metamorphosis. A change has come in the noumenal entity due to change in place. So, these noumenal causes, you should research them.”
Deviation One: Use of Word “charming” by Tiljala AMPS Publishers
In the following sentence“Everything that comes within the scope of time, place and person is charming.” The word “charming” just pops up suddenly. There is no relevance of the word charming in the context of this whole discourse, let alone this paragraph. Let us see why it is so.
One word is not on its own; it is part of a sentence which is in turn part of a paragraph, which is in turn is part of an expression of an idea. So when one pivotal word is wrong like this, it has a negative effect on the entire idea.
One of the central ideas of the discourse in AV12 and this very paragraph is that the world is caláymán (ever-changing). The way we can ascertain the ever-changing nature of anything is by looking at the fact that, that particular thing is dependent on time, place and person. Here, the Publishers have confused the idea of being “ever-changing”, replacing it instead with “charming”. They have Bábá saying that everything that comes within the scope of time, place, and person is charming instead of ever-changing.
The shocking thing is that despite two official editions one in 1980 and then the next amidst great pomp and show in 2008, this error still lurks in the discourse. Such confusing errors are extremely misleading for readers; that these errors can remain in a discourse over several editions is not good and indeed extremely disturbing.
Deviation Two: Exclusion of a Running Example on Favorite Food Item “Shrikhand” by Tiljala AMPS Publishers
Bábá has earlier in this discourse given an example of shrikhand, a dessert made of yoghurt popular in Mumbai where this discourse was delivered. That section is eliminated from the Tiljala Publication and has been discussed in an earlier posting. (3) Bábá explained in that passage that sometimes someone may like to eat the sweet rasagolla, whereas at other times they will prefer their local sweet (that of Mumbai), shrikhand—and this change in preference is brought about due to changes in mind itself. So the noumenal cause of selecting a particular sweet—the mind—changes with time.
Bábá further demonstrated in that passage, that even people in Mumbai will not like to eat shrikhand every day all the time—they will prefer variety. Thus through this simple example Bábá showed that taste preference as a noumenal cause of food selection is dependent on time and therefore relative and changeable rather than absolute, permanent, fixed.
In the current portion of the discourse Bábá now continues another aspect of the same example to describe the influence on mind of change in place. Bábá shows that a person takes an action of eating a particular item like shrikhand because the desire to eat that item stems from a particular point in his or her mind. So, it appears that, that desire is the noumenal cause behind taking the action of eating shrikhand. However, Bábá is telling that if a person lives in Mumbai he may like shrikhand more but if he himself goes to live in a different place like Ludhiana (a city in Punjab state of India where people like to eat Rájmá), he may like to eat some other sweet instead, Rájmá in case of this example. Bábá is giving this simple example to describe the influence of place on apparent noumenal entity. AMPS Tiljala publishers have omitted this running example throughout the discourse.
Here again is the translation from the Hindi recording of Bábá's example. This has been completely left out of the Tiljala Publishers' English discourse:
“Like here, to make you understand, suppose you say – ‘I like shrikhand best, it is good.’ So, now if you yourself went to Ludhiana then you may decide you like Rájmá more than shrikhand. Thus, Rájmá has changed according to ‘place’. So, your noumenal entity has undergone a certain metamorphosis. A change has come in the noumenal entity due to change in place. So, these noumenal causes, you should research them.”
Bábá's Main Teaching Left Out of Tiljala Publication
So here in the above two translated paragraphs from the original Hindi, Bábá has given two important phases of a teaching—
- Bábá first
teaches a principle: An apparent causal entity—a person's mind—is
actually in turn influenced by “change in place”. Ultimately the
Supra Noumenal Entity i.e. Parama Puruśa is the cause behind
everything it is true. But in the above passage left out by the
Tiljala Publishers, Bábá is explaining that there are
intermediary noumenal causes as well. Here Bábá teaches that
although it appears a person is the cause of their own taste
preferences, but in reality “change in place” is a higher
intermediary noumenal cause, which results in change in taste
preference in a person's mind.
- Then Bábá
gives the example of a person moving from Mumbai to Ludhiana to
illustrate that due to change in place there is resultant change in
a person's taste preferences. This example is given to illustrate
the principle that “'person' as an apparent noumenal entity (i.e.
here a human being's taste preferences) is in turn subject to the
higher noumenal entity, “change in place”.
Bábá's two paragraphs—the first para explaining the principle, and the second providing the example—the points in both are completely left out of the published discourse.
Bengalization of Sweets
Only Bengali Sweets Mentioned:
Mumbai and Ludhiana Sweets Removed
Of the three sweets mentioned in this discourse by Bábá—rasagolla of Bengal, shrikhand of Mumbai, and Rájmá of Punjab—the Tiljala group has included Bábá's mention of the example about rasagolla. So the beginning of this running example was included. But then the entire development and flourishing of this example through the discourse, where Bábá discusses sweets in Mumbai and Ludhiana, is removed altogether. Here our Tiljala Publishers have again demonstrated their Bengali sentiment. Otherwise why did they not keep the section about Mumbai sweets and eliminate the section about West Bengal sweets? It is obvious that they wish to see the pracára i.e. propagation and fame of their own state's sweets, which is reflective of narrow groupist sentiment.
This is yet another example that our Kolkata group wants to show that Bábá's prime interest was in showing the greatness of Bengali culture. In this way the Tiljala Publishers try always to sculpt what they print in such a way that it makes it look like Bábá talked mostly about Bengal. They want that future generations will come to believe this was Bábá's main goal: to propagate the greatness of Bengal. Otherwise what was the need to remove Bábá's simple stories involving the sweets of other areas. It is conspicuous deletion of all things non-Bengali.
And this is a systemic problem, pervading the publications of Bábá's discourses by Tiljala group. A recent prior posting to this Network pointed out how in another discourse Tiljala group highlighted Bábá's recitation of a Bengali poem illustrating techniques of sound repetition, and they suppressed Bábá's use of similar examples in Hindi and English to illustrate the same techniques. (4)
Deviation Three: Entire Passage is Rewritten Rather Than Translated.
Here is one critical point: our AMPS Publishers have a duty to reproduce in print what Bábá has said in His discourse. If the book is printed in the same language as the discourse, then it should be verbatim “As Is”, i.e. exactly what Bábá has said. And if the book is a different language as here, then the translation should be faithful and correlate closely, sentence by sentence. Just because a book is printed in translation does not give the Publishers right to freely remove passages altogether, and print others in mere summary.
Yet in this discourse such license has been taken. If you look at the two paragraphs transcribed from the original Hindi recording, the first has been recreated in mere summary, and the second paragraph eliminated altogether.
Looking at the first paragraph: there is no correlation between the sentences in Bábá's original Hindi passage, and the sentences in the so-called translation printed by Tiljala group. The Publishers have wholly re-written and thereby presented a mere summary of what Bábá stated, paraphrasing Bábá’s teachings rather than translating them. In the course of so doing, they have also introduced content into the para from other parts of the discourse, so that it is almost completely unrecognizable.
By summarizing and paraphrasing rather than translating, the translator has transgressed his rights as translator. He has throughout authored his own sentences rather than translating Bábá's. There is nothing wrong in interpreting shástra and making it palatable for the masses if the original version is highly condensed in meaning. But in such a case the readers are entitled to know that what they are reading is an interpretation or explanation, and not the translation of Guru’s words.
So the published version of this discourse in AV12 is an interpretation or explanation or summary of Bábá’s discourse—not a translation. This is an all-important fact, that the Tiljala published so-called “discourse” is really a summary and explanation of what Bábá said, rather than what Bábá actually said. These are not Guru's own sentences, Guru's own words.
This should be made clear by the AMPS publishers to avoid confusion and misunderstanding as to what Bábá has really said versus what is the Publication Department's interpretation. Otherwise Márgii readers, seeing such a sentence as “Everything that comes within the scope of time, place and person is charming,” will be confused as to what Bábá wants to say.
Conclusion: Passage Full of Distortions and Deletions
In this posting several distortions in the AV12 discourse have been brought to the notice of general Márgiis.
Firstly, a gross and misleading distortion has been created by use of the word charming. This distortion has persisted through two editions of the AV12 book.Bábá is telling that everything in this created Universe comes within the scope of time, place, and person; everything is changing and transitory. And in place of transitory, the Tiljala Publishers placed the word charming.
Secondly, Bábá's important and colorful example using local sweets to show the influence of change of place on apparent noumenal entity, has been excluded by the AMPS Tiljala publishers.
Thirdly, it is noted that the discourse published in AV12 by AMPS Tiljala publishers is actually an interpretation or summary of Bábá’s discourse instead of Guru's own words. However, this fact is not being communicated to the readers. The published discourse is introduced to the readers as Bábá’s own words. An excerpt from the transcript of Bábá’s As-Is Hindi discourse is provided in this posting for reference.
As Ánanda Márgiis it is our duty to understand, appreciate, internalize, and propagate Bábá’s true teachings. In order to fulfill this duty, that Ánanda Má́rga scripture which we study and propagate, has to be proper. If our scripture itself is distorted, then what we learn and propagate will itself be distorted. So when we see that our shástra is indeed full of errors introduced by our Publishers, then it becomes our duty to point this out and put pressure to get our books fixed. This will prevent people from getting misguided and thereby true pracára of Bábá’s teachings can take place.
Sincerely,
Bhakti
Footnotes.
1. “Towards the Noumenal Entity.” Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 12. 8 June 1979 evening, Bombay.
2. Highly Touted
The 2008 edition is highly touted as having been checked, revised, and upgraded by Ác. Sarvátmánanda Avt. Yet there are a large number of deviations in this English translation, from the original discourse given by Bábá.
First published in Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 12 in 1980, this text was republished in 2008 as part of a much celebrated project taken on by a special NY and Berlin Sector team in the Kolkata Publishing Department; Kirit ji was a member of this overseas team. Despite the involvement of this senior team and the supervision of Ác. Sarvátmánanda Avt, the new 2008 edition is afflicted with numerous distortions and flagrantly missing text.
3. For those who missed my first posting on this subject, they can read further detail on how the Tiljala Publishers removed the first part of Bábá's example about shrikhand by clicking here. In this posting, exclusion of an important paragraph from the discourse was discussed.
4. Bengali Highlighted, English & Hindi Supressed
Click here to see howin another discourse Tiljala group highlighted Bábá's recitation of a Bengali poem illustrating techniques of sound repetition, and they suppressed Bábá's use of similar examples in Hindi and English to illustrate the same techniques.
5. See a Scan of the Passage under Discussion
Click here to view a scan of the concerning passage of this discourse as published by the Kolkata group—with the distorted sections highlighted in red.
From the Moderators—
Moderators Note 1.
Request
for Volunteers
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.
Moderators Note 2.
Need
for Audio Recordings
Moderators Note 3:
Only
Goal of Ánanda Má́rga Discourses Network:
To
Protect Bábá's Discourses
Moderators Note 4:
Fix
Bábá's Discourses Now or Never
If we remain passive onlookers and do not fix the negative trends of introducing distortion into Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrtiji's discourses and do not bring the printed discourses up to the proper standard now, it will become impossible to change this in the future. And even if in future some sincere Ánanda Márgiis will try, they will be treated as enemies. Because this is the way religion works. Today one cannot teach the devotees of Lord Krśńa that He has nothing to do with cows; they will never believe it. In the same way, Ánanda Márgiis will become used to the wrong teachings in our AM books and they will not like to give them up. They will think that whatever was there at the end of the twentieth century, that was the gold standard for all time. And it should be kept and maintained. So we don't have any time: it is either now or never. The clock is ticking: If we do not get Bábá's discourses fixed now, it will be impossible to do so later. And that will cause bloodshed and more division on the basis of the various versions of Bábá's teachings and their explanations. History bears testimony to this, that all the religions have similarly broken into multiple factions, groups and subgroups on the basis of differences in scripture interpretations. Bábá wanted to eliminate such problems, and that is why Bábá's discourses are recorded. But unfortunately, those recordings are not being published properly. This matter is very serious.
