BÁBÁ
Distortion: glitch in “A Guide to Human Conduct” book
Namaskár,
In Ánanda Márga publications, there are varieties of mistakes. And these mistakes have not originated in Bábá's recorded discourses. Rather, later on they came due to various flaws in the Publications department. Among the mistakes that arose therefrom, some are minor and some are extremely serious. And these misguide readers. Here is one such example.
See the para below highlighted in yellow. This is from the 2009 Electronic Edition. Please pay attention to the word in parenthesis, where our Tiljala Publications has mentioned the term "Judge".
Here “Kázii” is family name, not post name
In “A Guide to Human Conduct” it is printed-- “No one would accuse the very incarnation of love, Shriiman Maháprabhu, one of the great revolutionists in the social and spiritual world, of adopting ways associated with hiḿsá; but he too pounced like a lion on the tyrant Kázii (Judge). If hiḿsá and use of force were synonymous, Maháprabhu, the incarnation of mercy, certainly would not have done so.” (1)
If you read the above yellow para, it gives the idea that Caetanya Maháprabhu attacked the Judge--and that Bábá condones the attack on the judge. But that is far from the truth. Bábá does not appreciate attacks on the judiciary. Here Bábá is referring to the Muslim ruler Chand Kázii / Kázi. Chand Kázii / Kázi was governing a place called Navadwip, in the kingdom of Nawab Hussein Shah, and Chand Kázii was a tyrant, and was exploiting the society in all kinds of ways. So Caetanya Maháprabhu and his followers challenged Chand Kázii. Here, Bábá is appreciating the stand of Caetanya Maháprabhu, that if anyone is exploiting the society, and you use force against them, that is not hiḿsá.
Family name not to be translated
Due to superficial or pseudo knowledge about the subject, certain editors in the Publications department translated the family name Kázii as "Judge". You know, family names are just names and are not meant to be translated; their translations do not hold any value. Due to this blunder, Bábá's teaching went astray for readers. In that way, something which in its original form was Bábá's teaching, becomes poisonous due to distortion. Bábá's message is to fight against injustice. And due to distortion here, this teaching became mutated into the teaching that Bábá's followers should attack the Judiciary.
Namaskar,
Rekha Basu
Note 1: In new books published by our Tiljala Publishers, they use square brackets [ ] for editors’ insertions. But in the old books, parentheses ( ) are used for editors’ insertions. This creates confusion, because readers will think that what is in the round bracket ( ) is the Author’s words, the Author’s parenthetical comment. But it is not the Author’s, rather it is the editor’s. If you read other early publications you will find this to be the case. And by the current context it is obvious also, as Kázii was a ruler and exploiter.
Note 2: The above yellow section, from the GHC book, is referring to the following history-- Chand Kazi was a high ranking officer in the kingdom of king Hussein Shah in Bengal. During the time of Mahaprabhu, he was the ruler of Navadwip. (courtesy www.harekrishna…)
Note 3: In the past and at present also, in India the controller and governor of the district is called the “District Magistrate”. This is an exclusively administrative post, and has nothing to do with the judiciary. The judiciary is completely separate. Those who are deciding court cases are called “judges”. Due to this, those who are not aware about the Indian system, by the seeing the term “District Magistrate” they may become confused and think “District Magistrate” is a judicial post.
Ánanda Márga Scripture: Responsibility of Ánanda Márgiis
Bábá says, “The scriptures containing spiritual injunctions must be totally flawless.” (2) 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.
Márgiis have been pointing out to our TP, the distortions in our publications for years, but there is 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 not fixing the discourses, then it falls upon Ánanda Márgiis to come forward, create pressure for change, and help in the rectification of our scripture.
Note 4: In order to make Bábá’s teachings distortion-free, please forward this posting to the respected Tiljala Publications Secretary, dada Mantreshwarananda ji <Mantreshwarananda@hotmail.com>, and to respected dada Acyutananda ji, <acyutananda1@gmail.com>. As well, please send this posting to <hariishananda@gmail.com> and <acaryarudrananda@gmail.com>.
Longer version--
In “A Guide to Human Conduct” it is printed--“Consider the Mahábhárata. Mahápuruśa Shrii Krśńa had insisted to the Pandavas to take up arms against the Kaoravas, because the Kaoravas were aggressors (átatáyii) who had taken possession of the land by force. No one would accuse the very incarnation of love, Shriiman Maháprabhu, one of the great revolutionists in the social and spiritual world, of adopting ways associated with hiḿsá; but he too pounced like a lion on the tyrant Kázii (Judge). If hiḿsá and use of force were synonymous, Maháprabhu, the incarnation of mercy, certainly would not have done so.” (1)
Reference:
1. Tiljala Publications, “A Guide to Human Conduct”, 2009 Electronic Edition
== Links ==
Recent postings
