From: Bhakti
<bhakti@ren....>
To: Ananda
Marga Discourses <anandamargadiscourses@sunlink.net>
Subject:
ÁV12 Ltr #5: Omission + Unit Misrepresented As Cosmic
Date:
Thu, 5 Dec 2013 09:11:21 +0530
Bábá
Náma Kevalam
ÁV12
Ltr #5: Omission + Unit Misrepresented As Cosmic
Namaskár
brothers and sisters,
This
posting is the fifth of a series of postings about deviations and
distortions in the published discourse titled "Towards Noumenal
Entity" in the English book Ánanda Vacanámrtam 12. (1) This
discourse was originally delivered in Hindi by Bábá on 8th
June of the year 1979 in Mumbai. The original Hindi discourse given
by Bábá was never published. Tiljala 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.
Tiljala
Publishers Wrongly Understood Pivotal Paragraph – Mistranslation
Done.
In
this posting an important paragraph from the middle of the discourse
is presented. The main message of that paragraph was completely
missed—misunderstood and mistranslated—by the Tiljala Publishers.
The very first job of a translator is to carefully read and
understand the discourse to be translated. If the translator does not
understand what he is about to translate, the translation will go
awry—and that is what happened in this paragraph.
Paragraph
Drastically Summarized by Translators
A
translator's job is to accurately translate everything Guru has given
in the discourse. Everything Guru has said should be found in the
translation; the translator has no right to summarize i.e. take a
long paragraph with many details, and make it into a short paragraph.
Yet that is what the Tiljala Publishers did with this important
paragraph. First, as mentioned above, they wrongly understand the
main message of the para and passed that wrong message on in their
translation. And second, they completely removed the illustrative
details Bábá has given in the paragraph, choosing instead to give a
brief summary in their own words.
Excerpt
from Original As-Is Discourse
Here
below is the paragraph from the original Hindi discourse delivered by
Bábá. This As-Is version is carefully transcribed from Bábá's
original Hindi.
Color
Code
Green
color denotes
text coming from As-Is discourse.
-----------------
Excerpt from original Hindi discourse begins here
--------------
कहना
था यही कि जो कोई भी—एक चोर जो
काम किए,
एक
साधु दान किए,
एक
अच्छे आदमी दान किए,
अच्छे
आदमी अच्छे-अच्छे
काम किए,
तो
यह जो काम हो रहा है,
हर
काम का एक center
of action रहता
है तो |
मन
के एक विशेष कोने में वह वस्तु
है,
जिस
के चलते मन में काम हो रहा
है—बाहर में काम हो रहा है |
जैसे,
एक
nucleus
से
प्रेरणा पाकर electron
घूम
रहे हैं |
तो,
ठीक
वैसा ही जो कर्म होता है,
कर्म
के पीछे उस का एक चक्रनाभि है
| तो,
हम
को देखना है कि चक्रनाभि कौन
है,
कहाँ
है |
अगर
हम नहीं देखते हैं,
तो
हम व्यष्टि के प्रति तथा समाज
के प्रति अविचार कर बैठते हैं
|
-----------------
Excerpt from original Hindi discourse ends here
--------------------
Translation
of Excerpt from Original As-Is Discourse
Here
below is a literal English translation of the above passage for the
convenience of non-Hindi speaking Márgiis. Green
color is used to denote
that the below translated text corresponds to the above As-Is text of
the discourse.
-----------------
Translation of above excerpt begins here----------------------
“I
was saying that anybody – A thief who did his work [stealing], a
saint who gave donation, a good man who donated, good men who did
noble deeds, all of these works that are happening – each work has
its own center of action. In a special corner of mind, that thing
[noumenal cause] is there, because of which, some work is happening
inside and outside the mind. Just like an electron revolves around
its nucleus; behind each action there is its nucleus. So, we must
find where and who the nucleus is. If we do not seek [the nucleus],
then we do injustice to the individual and to the
society.”
-----------------
Translation of above excerpt ends
here----------------------
Bábá's
Message: Each Action A Person Takes Has a Cause
In
this paragraph, Bábá is explaining that each and every work that
a human being does in their life has a cause. In a corner of each
person's mind lies the cause, reason, motivating factor behind each
work they perform. That motivating factor in their mind Bábá
calls the “center of action”, “nucleus”, and “noumenal
cause”. In this discourse, these three terms are synonymous—they
refer to the reason a person takes a particular action. For example,
a person feels hungry, so they go and take food. Here the “center
of action”, “nucleus”, and “noumenal cause” behind the
action of taking food, is the person's feeling of hunger in their
mind.
The
Nucleus or Cause Behind a Person's Action
With
the above concept in mind, let us have a look again at the following
section from the As-Is discourse and its literal English
translation.
मन
के एक विशेष कोने में वह वस्तु
है,
जिस
के चलते मन में काम हो रहा
है—बाहर में काम हो रहा है |
जैसे,
एक
nucleus
से
प्रेरणा पाकर electron
घूम
रहे हैं |
तो,
ठीक
वैसा ही जो कर्म होता है,
कर्म
के पीछे उस का एक चक्रनाभि है
| तो,
हम
को देखना है कि चक्रनाभि कौन
है,
कहाँ
है |
अगर
हम नहीं देखते हैं,
तो
हम व्यष्टि के प्रति तथा समाज
के प्रति अविचार कर बैठते हैं
|
A
literal English translation of the above sentences is provided for
the convenience of non-Hindi speaking readers.
In
a special corner of mind, that thing [noumenal cause] is there,
because of which, some work is happening inside and outside the mind.
Just like an electron revolves around its nucleus; behind each action
there is its nucleus. So, we must find where and who the nucleus is.
If we do not seek [the nucleus], then we do injustice to the
individual and to the society.”
Here,
Bábá is instructing
that every action a person takes has a cause, and we should
investigate that cause—called the nucleus here—before making
judgment about the person taking the action.
Bábá
Gives Thief Example
To
illustrate the matter, in this discourse Bábá gives the example
of a thief. In some parts of the world, if a thief is caught stealing
then it is common for the government to punish the thief by cutting
off his hand. This is because they hold an opinion that a severe
punishment can deter a thief's action of stealing and set an example
for other thieves too to not to commit such acts.
However,
Bábá explains that if it is found upon investigation that the
thief was without food for several days and was compelled to steal
due to hunger, then punishing him by cutting off his hand will not
solve the problem.
If the thief
has stolen because he has been without food for three days and stole
under compulsion to get food—and if we cut off his hand without
having found this out, then we do injustice to him and to the
society, whose poor social structure is the true cause behind the
thief's action.
Society is the True
Cause Behind A Hungry Thief's Theft
Bábá
says here in the discourse that the actual guilty are society's
leaders, who failed to build a society that prevents hunger:
“अगर
वे भूखे थे,
इसके
कारण उन्होंने चोरी की;
तब
चोरी के पीछे वह चोर जितना
बड़ा ज़िम्मेवार है,
उससे
अधिक बड़ा ज़िम्मेवार हम लोग
हैं |
क्योंकि
हम ठीक से समाज नहीं बना सके,
जिसके
चलते उनको भूखा रहना पड़ा
|”
[Literal
English translation]: “If
he [the thief] was hungry, because of that reason he committed the
act of stealing; then behind the act of stealing we are more
responsible than the thief himself. This is because we could not
build a society, because of which he [the thief] had to remain
hungry.”
Instead of building
a social structure which addresses the hunger problem, beating a
hungry thief for his stealing action, will only worsen the problem.
This leads to further degeneration of an individual who is stealing
and thereby the entire society. That is what Bábá
means by saying,
“अगर
हम नहीं देखते हैं,
तो
हम व्यष्टि के प्रति तथा समाज
के प्रति अविचार कर बैठते हैं
|”
(“If we do not seek [the nucleus], then we do injustice to an
individual and to the society.”)
Society
Loses By Beating Thief Instead of Solving Hunger Problem
The
real harm to society is that the problem, which gave rise to the need
for this person to steal, will remain. And it will cause others—many
others—to be lacking food for the same reason, and they will also
be forced to steal. So the harm to society is that not only this
particular individual, but many other members of society will be put
in a similar position. By not fixing the problem which led to lack of
food in certain sectors of the society, many others will become
similarly afflicted and the problem of thievery will be on the rise.
And so long as society's response is to beat the thief, that will
only result in the creation of more and more who do not have food and
who have no option but to resort to thievery.
Severe
punishment such as beating is a quick-fix solution and may
temporarily suppress the act of stealing but will not eradicate it.
In fact, it may worsen the problem as it may make the person a
certified criminal. It is often said that a hungry man can do any
sin.
Better
Run Societies Have Less Crime
It
is a fact that a better managed society has a lesser crime rate.
Whereas, in an ill managed society, the crime rate is higher. In
today's world Somalia is an extreme example of a society (moderate
examples of the same prevail everywhere), which has become a breeding
ground for pirates and thieves due to mismanagement or ill
governance. Here, it must be said that it is not that the people of
Somalia are evil but it is the prevailing situation of abject poverty
and desperate hunger that is driving people to crime.
Bábá's
Command to Seek “Center of Action” & Seek “Nucleus”
Means:
We
Must Understand that Cause of Hungry Thief's Theft is Hunger
Many
people would not like to think about the root cause behind the action
of stealing described above. Bábá is telling that all such unit
actions have a cause (referred to as the noumenal cause, nucleus, or
center of action) and we must try to find the noumenal cause behind
every unit action we see around us. If a hungry thief steals, then it
is our duty to find out that he stole because he had no food. If we
do not seek this noumenal cause then we end up doing injustice to
both the thief and to the society in which he resides.
Blunder
by Tiljala Publishers – Unit Misrepresented as Cosmic
It
is highly unfortunate that the Tiljala Publishers could not
understand this central message given by Bábá in this discourse.
Where Bábá is explaining that we have to understand that behind a
hungry thief's theft is hunger, the Tiljala Publishers wrongly
translated that we have to seek the “Cosmic
centre and find out where lies the nave of that Cosmic wheel.”
Bábá is explaining about seeking the center of action, the
nucleus behind an action—and that means the nucleus in the
individual human
being's mind.
Bábá has not used the word “Cosmic” here. His example is
about a thief who steals due to hunger—and the Tiljala Publishers
misrepresent the entire section by “translating” that we need to
seek the “Cosmic
centre and find out where lies the nave of that Cosmic wheel.”
This example has nothing to do with the ultimate Cosmic cause behind
all things. Here Bábá is discussing the local cause in an
individual human's mind, that leads him/her to take an action. The
Tiljala Publishers' failure to understand this led to a tragic
mistranslation. Let us see what happened below.
Corresponding
Excerpt from Tiljala Publishers' AV12
In
this section, the corresponding excerpt from English translation as
done by the Tiljala publishers is provided. In
this section, the Tiljala publishers made an ideological blunder
which will be further described below.
Color
Code
Red
color denotes
text coming from the Tiljala translation
----------
Translation of above excerpt by Tiljala Publishers begins here
---------
All
activity, good or bad, has a centre of action, and actions are
controlled by the mental nucleus in the same manner as electrons move
around their controlling nucleus. We have, therefore, to seek that
Cosmic centre and find out where lies the nave of that Cosmic wheel.
If we do not seek it, we do harm to both individuals and
society.
-----------
Translation of above excerpt by Tiljala Publishers ends here
---------
Critical
Errors Made By Tiljala Publishers
Two
critical errors are made in this so-called translation of Bábá's
original Hindi:
- The Tiljala
Publishers summarized the first half of the paragraph thereby
leaving out essential elements which would have made the section
clear.
- The Tiljala
Publishers misunderstood the whole meaning of the paragraph,
mis-taking Bábá's words to refer to the Cosmic when they refer
to the unit i.e. the individual human being.
First
Error: First Half Para Summarized, Critical Elements Left Out
In
this paragraph, Bábá gives several specific examples to make very
clear His intent that the paragraph is referring to the actions
of individuals, and so the “center of
action” refers to the motivating factor in an individual's
mind that leads him/her to take a specific
action. In the paragraph, Bábá enlists the following actions:
एक
चोर जो काम किए,
एक
साधु दान किए,
एक
अच्छे आदमी दान किए,
अच्छे
आदमी अच्छे-अच्छे
काम किए,
तो
यह जो काम हो रहा है
[English
translation]: A
thief who did his work [stealing], a saint who gave donation, a good
man who donated, good men who did noble deeds, all of these works
that are happening
On
this basis, He goes on to explain that each of these works has a
center of action. In place of giving the specific examples Bábá
enlisted above, the Tiljala Publishers left them out and gave
extremely vague summary in their place:
All
activity, good or bad, has a centre of action
So
the Tiljala publishers use the phrase “good
or bad activity” for which
Bábágave
examples of stealing,
donating, etc. This “good or bad
activity” is unclear, undue summary of the specific examples Bábá
gave.
Bábá goes on to say:
हर
काम का एक center
of action रहता
है तो |
मन
के एक विशेष कोने में वह वस्तु
है,
जिस
के चलते मन में काम हो रहा
है—बाहर में काम हो रहा है
|
[English
translation]: Each
work has its own center of action. In a special corner of mind, that
thing [noumenal cause] is there, because of which, some work is
happening inside and outside the mind.
These
sentences are completely left out by the Tiljala Publishers. In these
sentences Bábá gives the essential link between the examples He
has given—the thief stealing, the saint donating—and His ensuing
discussion of “center of action” or “nucleus”. Here Bábá
makes clear that the “center of action” or “nucleus” refers
to the environment in the individual mind which leads to the thief's
theft and the saint's donation.
Leaving
out specific examples as well as the sentences linking them to the
center of action or nucleus—both these lapses lead the Tiljala
Publishers to seriously misinterpret what Bábá means by “center
of action”. By “center of action” here Bábá means the cause
or motivating factor due to which a thief steals, or a saint donates.
The Tiljala Publishers mis-attribute the terms “center of action”
and “nucleus” to mean the Cosmic, rather than the unit mind about
which Bábá is speaking. Let us see just what blunder they made,
below.
Second Error: Tiljala Publishers
Wrongly Translate “Center of Action”
to
Mean “Cosmic Center” Instead of “Individual Human Being's
Center”
The Tiljala Publishers
removed the individual examples plus the linking sentences in the
first half, and this led them to mis-attribute Bábá's whole
second half of the paragraph to the Cosmic rather than to the unit.
Bábá says:
जैसे,
एक
nucleus
से
प्रेरणा पाकर electron
घूम
रहे हैं |
तो,
ठीक
वैसा ही जो कर्म होता है,
कर्म
के पीछे उस का एक चक्रनाभि है
|
[English
translation]: Just
like an electron revolves around its nucleus; behind each action
there is its nucleus.
This
example of the electron revolving around its nucleus is being used to
illustrate how a thief's action of stealing is linked to its cause,
the thief's hunger—in the same way that an electron is linked to
its nucleus.
Because the Tiljala
Publishers condensed and summarized this whole section as seen below,
this meaning of the electron example in their version is not
clear:
“All
activity, good or bad, has a centre of action, and actions are
controlled by the mental nucleus in the same manner as electrons move
around their controlling nucleus.”
The
Tiljala Publishers themselves did not understand this teaching about
the electron and its nucleus. This is proved because they go on to
misinterpret it as an instruction to find the Cosmic nucleus, which
in this case is irrelevant and misguides readers:
“We
have, therefore, to seek that Cosmic centre and find out where lies
the nave of that Cosmic wheel. If we do not seek it, we do harm to
both individuals and society.”
The
above sentences in red are the culmination of a huge blunder in which
the Tiljala Publishers drove the translation in the opposite
direction of what Bábá intended. This type of error—that of
ideological nature—is the most serious type of scriptural
distortion because it misguides readers about what Bábá is
teaching.
Culmination
of Poor Translation: Bábá's Teaching Distorted
Instead
of the wrongly translated red sentences just above, Bábá
says:
तो,
ठीक
वैसा ही जो कर्म होता है,
कर्म
के पीछे उस का एक चक्रनाभि है
| तो,
हम
को देखना है कि चक्रनाभि कौन
है,
कहाँ
है |
अगर
हम नहीं देखते हैं,
तो
हम व्यष्टि के प्रति तथा समाज
के प्रति अविचार कर बैठते हैं
|
[English
translation]: Just
like an electron revolves around its nucleus; behind each action
there is its nucleus. So, we must find where and who the nucleus is.
If we do not seek [the nucleus], then we do injustice to the
individual and to the society.”
The
Tiljala Publishers completely misunderstand Bábá's above
sentences in green. These sentences are about the unit mind's
nucleus, and NOT the Cosmic Nucleus. Here Bábáis summarizing
about what He has expressed earlier regarding the thief example in
this discourse: when we find that a thief has stolen something,
before beating him we should find out what the reason for the theft
was.
The
Tiljala Publishers are saying that we should seek the Cosmic center
whereas here Bábá is clearly instructing to search for the cause
of any individual action (e.g., a thief’s action of stealing, when
he is caught after stealing) before interpreting that action
ourselves.
It
can be easily seen that the publishers have not adhered to their task
of translating the exact teaching given by Bábá. In doing so, the
worst thing that has happened is that the publishers have injected a
serious error into the discourse.
The
publishers drastically summarized and misrepresented the first half
of the paragraph, and that led them to misunderstand the unit for the
Cosmic in the second half of the paragraph. Both the distortions have
together distorted Bábá's beautiful teaching.
Conclusion
In
this posting, a serious distortion in Ánanda Vacanámrtam 12
published by Tiljala publishers is brought to the notice of all
Márgiis. The Tiljala publishers have misinterpreted the unit
nucleus as the Cosmic nucleus. Here, nucleus means noumenal cause of
an action. Bábá is
instructing that we should investigate the noumenal cause of any
action before making judgment about people taking those actions. For
example, if a thief is caught stealing then in some parts of the
world, it is common for the government to punish the thief by cutting
off his hand.
However,
if it is found that the thief was hungry for several days and was
compelled to steal due to hunger then beating and punishing him will
not solve the problem. By
not fixing the problem which led to lack of food in certain sectors
of the society, many others in similar situation (i.e., facing
poverty) will become similarly afflicted and the problem of thievery
will be on the rise. And so long as society's response is to beat the
thief or cut off his hand, that will only result in the creation of
more and more who do not have food and who have no option left but to
resort to thievery.In
fact, the actual guilty are society's leaders who failed to build a
society that prevents hunger.
The
Tiljala publishers did not understand this teaching and
misinterpreted it as an instruction to find the Cosmic nucleus, which
in this case is irrelevant and misguiding for readers. To make the
matter worse, the publishers summarized first few sentences and
skipped the examples given by Bábá. Both the distortions have
together marred this beautiful teaching.
As
Ánanda Márgiis it is our bounden 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.
From
the Moderators—
NOTES
ABOUT H GROUP— It is
regrettable that H and EC groups have no interest in Bábá’s
discourses, otherwise they would have become active in publishing
them from the original sound track instead of merely reprinting the
books which the Tiljala group publishes. The distortions introduced
by Tiljala group in their publications of Bábá’s discourses are
errors of commissional in nature. But let none make the mistake of
thinking that H and EC groups are innocent here; by their failure to
take interest in publishing Bábá’s original discourses, they
demonstrate a lethargy toward Bábá’s shástra which is highly
condemnable. H and EC groups’ failure to publish Bábá’s
original discourses is a failure of omission. The omissional error of
H and EC is every bit as serious as the commissional errors of
Tiljala group. And moreover, H group's publishing department merely
reprints the distortion-laden, error-filled books made by Tiljala
group, and puts their stamp on it. So they are supporting and
participating in the sins of Tiljala group.
Moderators
Note 1.
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—if we 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.
Ánanda
Má́rga is dharma—not religion—but we will face the same
opposition from within to change, when wrong teachings get
established.
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.
Moderators
Note 2.
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 3.
Need
for Audio Recordings
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.
Moderators
Note 4.
Only
Goal of Ánanda Má́rga Discourses Network:
To Protect
Bábá's Discourses
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.
