"Be Engaged in War"

Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:43:28 -0000 (GMT) From: Singh_Manindra Subject: "Be Engaged in War" To: AM-GLOBAL Baba "Toma'r ka'che ca'i na' kono ma'n, ca'i na' kono yash..." (P.S. 825) Purport: Baba, by Your grace I am not asking for any name, fame, or prestige from You. These type of desires I do not have. By Your grace, I do not want to plunge myself into the vanity of all those worldly things. Rather I want to keep my mind exclusively focused upon Your lotus feet. This devotional longing I have. Baba, since the crimson rays of the dawn, You have colored my days with the rainbow color. You have decorated everything. It is Your grace. When evening falls, then I feel Your proximity and Your divine dance. I see Your liila in the form of countless stars shining in the sky. Baba, all the time You are with me-- in all the spheres of my life. You make everything charming and colorful. What You have graciously done for me, that is enough. You have granted me everything. By hearing the chirping of the birds, I listen to Your songs. In this way, I feel Your blissful presence. And when the sky is covered with clouds and by the dance of the peacock, You create beauty in my life. Baba, everywhere I feel Your divine grace-- Your eternal presence in this divine liila. You are behind each and every expression of this universe. You are in every form. Everywhere I feel Your presence. I am never alone. In my good days and bad times, always You are with me. And in this way everything becomes meaningful and joyful. Baba, it is Your grace...

== "BE ENGAGED IN WAR" ==

Namaskar, Our AM scripture needs our distinct help and attention. This letter details how rampant sloppiness and ineptness in our Publications Dept has led to wide-spread misrepresentation of Baba's divine teachings. Please note that the specific case outlined below is not an isolated example but rather is one of innumerable distortions which are the result of improper methods and repeated failures by those in our AMPS Publications office.

GURU'S WORD IS MANTRA

As we all know "mantra mulam gurur va'kyam"-- the word of Guru is mantra. Thus when our Baba is the Sadguru, every disciple, nay the entire humanity, will key into His each and every syllable. Because internally everyone desires His divine guidance in hopes of attaining spiritual realisation and establishing peace on this earth.

GURU'S WORD IS MISREPRESENTED BY PUBLICATIONS DEPT

Naturally then we must be vigilant to keep all His divine scriptures as accurate representations of what He has actually said. Not even one word should be wrong as that could invite disaster-- such as in this below described case. Here are the details. On the morning of 27 November 1978 in Mumbai (Bombay) during His general darshan, Baba graciously delivered His historic discourse titled "DHARMAKS'ETRA AND KURUKS'ETRA". The discourse was given by Him in English with a few words in Hindi. The discourse itself is not very long and stands as just a few printed pages. And in one culminating section of the discourse Baba delivers very specific guidance about how one should proceed in life. And tragically that very guidance was totally misconveyed by the publications team. Here below is the critical and systemic error.

"BE ENGAGED IN WORK" NOT "BE ENGAGED IN WAR"

At one particular place in the discourse Baba is very carefully revealing the meaning of the term, 'kuruks'etra'. And here below is the first printed version in English of that exact section which was released by our Publications department. Baba says, "Kuruks'etra means the field that is always saying: 'Do something, O person, do something. Don't sit idle -- do something. Be engaged in war'." (AV-5, Disc #116, p.87) So here in the printed text it is clearly written that Baba says "Be engaged in war"-- this is Baba's guidance to the humanity, or so the book says. And again, as a reminder, this discourse was originally given by Baba in English twenty eight years ago in 1978. And in 1987 it was first printed in Ananda Vacanamrtam 5. Thus the discourse has been in print 20 years. And since that initial printing it has been reprinted in at least three other books in English: [1] Karma Sannyasa pg 36 (1988); [2] Discourses on Krsna and the Giita pg 79 (2000); [3] Discourses on Krsna and the Giita pg 80 (2004). Plus it has also been electronically published in ZY Find multiple times, including the latest 2006 edition. And in all those instances, over the course of 20 years, those publications personnel printed Baba's guideline entirely wrong. The Publications Dept printed:

'Do something, O person, do something. Don't sit idle -- do something. Be engaged in WAR'

When in fact Baba's real words are:

'Do something, O person, do something. Don't sit idle -- do something. Be engaged in WORK'

Thus Baba's divine teaching is 'Be engaged in WORK' but the Publications team wrote 'Be engaged in WAR'. Thus the whole thing is a total misfire and for years and years the mistake was never caught even though the discourse has been reprinted multiple times. Always the same critical mistake has appeared: "Be engaged in WAR". And still to this very day it is like that. The whole thing makes a total mockery and embarrassment of Baba's holy discourse. Unsuspecting readers and the common public will naively think that our Sadguru wants that the whole humanity and this struggle torn earth should engage in WAR. When in reality Baba is giving us the dharmic guideline to "be engaged in WORK". Needless to say there is a heaven and hell difference between "War" and "Work".

THE BLATANT ERROR DOES NOT END THERE HINDI AND BENGALI EDITIONS ALSO DISTORTED

However that is not the be-all and end-all of the mistake. Because as was noted above, the discourse was originally given in English. So that incorrect English version was used as the basis for the Hindi and Bengali editions. Thus the Hindi and Bengali editions also proclaim: "Be engaged in War". Specifically the Hindi version says, "yuddharat raho" meaning, 'keep engaged in war'. The term 'yaddharat' means 'engaged in war' and 'raho' means 'keep'. Hindi readers can reference: AV-5, p.142, Edn '97. Because that is where the distortion occurs. And there they will see that the guideline mistakenly says, 'Be engaged in WAR'. Likewise the same problem occured with the Bengali text. It was also based on the faulty English version so that led to the Bengali edition also being distorted. Specifically the Bengali version says, "samgra'm karo" meaning 'be engaged in war'. The term 'samgra'm' means 'war' or 'battle' and the word 'karo' means 'do'. Bengali readers can reference AV-5, p. 170 Edn '97. Because that is the where the distortion is printed. And there they will see that the printed discourse wrongly proclaims, 'Be engaged in WAR'.

AN ENDLESS STREAM OF MISTAKES

Thus the whole blunder has turned into a systemic problem. None can claim that it is but a simple printing error and that during the next printing it will be corrected. It is not like that at all. Rather due to extreme laziness and disinterest, the same mistake gets reprinted again and again until it gets printed in every single language in the wrong way-- thus giving the wrong guideline to the entire humanity. Because as we know the Ananda Vacanamrtam series of discourses has been translated into so many languages like Spanish, French, German, Chinese etc. And in each edition the same wrong guideline is given, 'Be engaged in war'. All because of faulty techniques employed by our Publications department. They never revisit or check the original cassettes to see what Baba's actual words were. Just they reprint the old sloppy version and put a new cover on it and make the false show that the discourses are getting better and better. When the truth is that they carry the same wrong mistake. And that is spreading all around the globe.

JUST LIKE THE STORY OF GANDHARBA SINGH

The entire blunder by the Publications Department is just like ridiculous scene which unfolds in one short story, 'Gandarbha Singh is No More' (Ref: Sarkar's Short Stories, part 1). In that tale one simple villager is crying profusely about the death of the 'great Gandarbha Singh'. And little by little all the royalty of the King's palace is also mourning the death of the great Gandarbha Singh-- without ever knowing who Gandarbha Singh was. But in their stupidity and inane approach they keep spreading the news all around and all are shaving their heads to mourn the tragic loss of the great Gandarbha Singh. Finally, in the end, seeing that everyone in the King's royal palace has shaved their head, the Queen shows her worthiness by asking who is Gandarbha Singh and it is found out that Gandarbha Singh was the trusted and aged donkey of that villager.

SAME THING IS HAPPENING WITH BABA'S DISCOURSE

So just how the above false fact inanely circulates throughout the entire kingdom about the death of the great Gandarbha Singh, similarly the same type of ludicrous nonsense is going on with our Publications Department. Initially someone half-heartedly listens to a discourse and wrongly puts in print that Baba says, 'Be engaged in WAR'. And then without any checking, that wrong transcription gets spread into more books and then gets translated into other languages until finally the whole earth has the wrong guideline from Baba. With the result being that everyone thinks that Baba wants for the whole humanity to 'be engaged in WAR'. Thus the same silly and senseless mistake is getting propagated all around just like as happened in the tale about Gandarbha Singh. This is the credibility of our Publications Department these days. And do not forget that the electronic versions also carry this mistake-- 'Be engaged in WAR'-- thereby preserving the wrong teachings for ages and ages. And the worst part is that even after raising the matter with the Publications Dept they are still not going to fix it. This they never do. They do not print an errata page informing everyone of the error, nor do they send out an e-mail to all margiis, nor do they do anything to repair the error. Just the problem sits there and gets multiplied until all over the globe it is proclaimed, 'Be engaged in WAR'.

AM SCRIPTURES MUST BE CORRECTED

By the above case, it is clear that our AM published books of Baba's discourses must be completely overhauled in order to ensure that they are pristine and perfect. Because the mistake about 'be engaged in WAR' is not the only problem. Rather the discourses are riddled with hundreds and thousands of such problems. And these critical errors will get multiplied and spread throughout the universe if we are not careful. Because at present our Publications Dept uses a totally faulty method for reprinting discourses. Only they want money in their pocket and prestige added to their name-- they never think about the accuracy of the discourses. And for that reason wrong things get printed over and over again. That is why in every language around the globe Baba's guideline is wrongly printed as 'Be engaged in WAR'. When of course the reality is 'Be engaged in WORK'.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION

The best solution is for all of Baba's discourse cassettes to be spread amongst our entire Marga community. All margiis should have easy and free access to all of Guru's original discourses. Then these publications errors can be corrected. That is how this error was found about 'WAR'. One local margii has the discourse and a few of us listened to it one day and we found this outrageous problem in our printed books. Here the point is that if the original audio versions are available to all margiis then we will be easily able to correct all the problems. This is the best solution-- the only solution. But this also those Publications Dadas and factional heads do not like to do-- for reasons best known to them. But if we push again and again, then they will have to one day respond and make the discourses available. This is the only way.

BABA'S BLESSING

By Baba's grace let us make His discourses perfect so that the earth will be full of sweetness-- not WAR. Baba says, "...This Goal provides inspiration, supplies the means for forward movement and makes the little lamps infinitely effulgent...it will make the earth ever full of sweetness..." (Ananda Vanii #67) Namaskar, Manindra

Note 1: NEW BOOKS ARE NOT "NEW"

Many gullible people think that whenever a new book is published then it is entirely clean and perfect. But in reality it is just a new cover and the same old problems that occurred under Sarvatmananda's crooked regime are getting multiplied over and over again. So the new books coming out now are not polished and error-free. They contain all the same garbage mistakes because the publishers never refer back to the original audio cassette. So their whole working style is faulty. That is why no new book is really new but rather is a re-hash of the same old mistakes. Every margii should be aware about this fact.

Note 2: THIS GLOBE IS TIRED OF WAR

Due to world wars and due to terrorism this entire earth is tired of war. Nobody wants war. That is another reason why we should fix the printed version of Baba's aforementioned discourse; because when members of the public see that our AM books indicate that Baba is prescribing for people to 'be engaged in WAR', then they will not be attracted to AM. Rather they will think we are like radical Muslims who cry out for 'jihad-- holy war'. This is the wrong impression people will get by seeing our error-filled publications. Let us do something to correct this system-wide problem.

*************************************** Think on This

Baba says, "You are social beings. One cannot live in isolation. When you feel thirsty, you can't manufacture a spade, dig a well, and draw water yourself. One person will make a spade, another will add the wooden handle, and another will dig the well -- this is how we work collectively. This is the way for human beings to live. In all spheres of human existence, in the aesthetic sphere as well, humanity should live collectively. You should live in unison. You should vibrate together to the same music. You should move in a common psychic flow. You should fight collectively against your common enemies. Unitedly you should face all problems, mundane and supra-mundane. In a word, you must reflect the spirit of harmonious collective living in conformity with the spirit of the Vedic mantra sam'gacchadhvam' sam'vadadhvam." (5 April 1981) Note: This above Baba's teaching is the special guideline for arousing social conscious-- which is lacking these days in the society. It is commonly known that some margiis and wts have gone far off from this above Baba's teaching.

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