From: "Ramlal Sharma"
To: am-global@earthlink.net
Subject: Helping or Hurting...
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2008 23:00:57
Baba
NEW AUDIO FILE ON BLOG: PS SONG #883
The audio file of this below Prabhat Samgiita #883 is now on our AM-GLOBAL Blog (http://www.am-global-01.blogspot.com/). So be sure to carefully review the below purport and listen to or download the song. Then you will have the complete package for this Prabhat Samgiita. For those interested in the word and line meanings, kindly write us: am-global@earthlink.net
PS Intro: When a sadhaka's mind is ensonced in bliss then everything & anything seems blissful to that bhatka. In contrast, when the mind is dry then everything & anything appears to be dreary and dry. When any sadhaka does sadhana sincerely, then the feelings expressed in this below song naturally arise in the sadhaka's mind and they will actually feel that this entire world is full of bliss. All because their mind is in an extremely devotional and blissful flow. Without proper sadhana, then everything expressed in the below song will just be theoretical only. To experience Prabhat Samgiita, one must be sincere in sadhana.
"Tava a'gamane udvela parama'n'u a'nande dhara' holo ye a'tmaha'ra'..." (PS 883)
Purport:
Baba, by Your grace, You have come. With Your divine arrival, each and every atom in this universe is ensconced and charmed by Your presence. The entire world has become lost in the bliss of getting You. O' my Dearmost, everyone is enthralled by Your grand arrival. The effulgence of the crimson dawn tells the flowers to pour more and more nectar. Baba, because of Your arrival, everyone & everything is floating in divine bliss.
O' Divine One, because of Your advent, the nectar of devotion is pouring in hundreds and hundreds of directions, and that is making everybody restless for You. Due to Your irresistible attraction, due to the pouring of Your nectar, everyone yearns for You. Baba, Your overflowing love, Your unconditional love, is showering ceaselessly and spreading the effulgence of devotion in each and every nook and corner of this universe. Baba, because of Your arrival, there is sweet music all around. In the lonely place, through the sound of chirping, someone is singing with great joy and happiness. O' Baba, Your arrival is unparalleled.
Baba, because of Your grace, today, on this pre-winter morning, the coo-coo bird is singing its most beautiful tune in this off season, because usually, the coo-coo bird only sings in the spring. In the forest, all the wild deer are taking notice and watching for Your presence. The entire natural world is charmed by Your arrival. Baba, by Your grace, today Your divine songs, which are saturated in beauty and melody, have been brought in the basket of tunes, by Your divine compassion.
Baba, You have come...
IS THE WAY THE EDITORS
ARE TRANSLATING BABA'S SHLOKAS
HELPING OR HURTING OUR UNDERSTANDING
OF BABA'S DISCOURSES
Namaskar,
Nowadays mroe and more, everyone is realising the way in which some of the
translations have been done for the shlokas in our various AM books. For
example in Baba's Namami Krsna Sundaram book there is one section where
Baba recites a Bengali poem in His discourse and thereafter a translation
of this poem is given by the editors. The actual Bengali poem reads as
follows:
"Man gariiber kii dos' a'che!
Tumi ba'jikarer meye shya'ma',
Yeman na'ca'o temni na'ce."
(NKS, '97 Edition, p.182)
And here following is the translation as given by the editors:
"[How could one fault this poor mind? You are the magician's daughter, I
dance as You make me dance.]" (NKS, '97 Edition, p.182)
THE ODDITY OF THE ABOVE SHLOKA AND ITS TRANSLATION
After reading this Bengali poem and the editor's translation in the Namami
Krsna Sundaram text, a few points of question arise whichn are noted below.
Firstly, in the Bengali poem the term Shya'ma' is used and Shya'ma' is one
dogmatic deity of the Hindu religion. But we Ananda Margis don't follow any
God/Goddess worship, "devi worship", or "shakti puja", etc. This is Baba's
teaching.
However the deity Shya'ma' is but one of the hundreds of Hindu gods and
goddesses which have been invented. Means over the course of history of the
Hindu religion, countless such deities have been created. So this Shya'ma'
is an imaginary figure; but, innumerable Bengali dogmatic people worship
this Shya'ma' deity. And many dogmatic people link her with Lord Shiva.
So this is a curious point because we know that Baba's teachings are 100%
dharma. They are perfect and pure. So then the question comes how is it
this dogmatic Bengali poem has appeared in His Namami Krsna Sundaram book.
Plus there is the matter about the integrity of the editor's translation of
that Bengali poem.
For instance, in the editor's translation of the sloka, it is stated that
by the grace of the "magician's daughter" various things happened. However
when we Ananda Margiis know everything happens by the grace of God, then
what is the need of this "magician's daughter"? There is no question of the
"magician's daughter" doing anything.
In all His teachings, Baba guides that only one God is there. And yet here
in the editor's translation there is a second god. Means we Ananda Margiis
know that there is only one Supreme Controller, and He makes everybody
dance. But in the editor's translation, how is it that this "magician's
daughter" got the supreme authority to make others dance. So what is told
in the editor's translation of the sloka is pure dogma.
Of course in these sorts of dogmatic religious slokas there are not one but
hundreds of gods and goddesses. But we Margis know this is just the dogma
of Hinduism. So it is looking like our the editors/ publishers of this book
were involved in something peculiar.
Thus the question still persists about why the sloka and its translation
have been given by the Publication Dept. At one seminar some family acaryas
and senior margiis have given the following analysis.
BABA'S USE OF EXAMPLES
In all Baba's discourses, He is explaining His Ananda Marga philosophy.
When Baba wants to make any point more, then He gives examples. These
examples may be from history or from a poem, or from the old scriptures.
Anything which the audience will understand well.
To that end, when Baba is giving a discourse in Bihar then He will give an
example which is known to the local audience there. And if instead He is
giving His discourse in Bengal, then according to the understanding of that
particular audience, He will give the example. And similar is the case in
overseas countries. So depending upon the local environment Baba gives
appropriate examples to illustrate His point. And of course sometimes Baba
gives universal examples which all can easily understand.
BABA'S IMPORTANT RULE ABOUT HIS USE OF SLOKAS
In Subhasita Samgraha part two Hindi edition, in the beginning of the book
Baba has written a special author's note. There Baba clearly mentions that
in His books, His intention is not to explain or write commentary of the
sloka which He cites in His discourse. But rather, He has given slokas from
which, just one word or a few words are useful to illustrate the AM
philosophy in that very discourse.
This above is one very important point, which Baba Himself has given in the
beginning of SS-2 Hindi edition.
The sense is, that when Baba cites a sloka, His intention is to use the
sloka or some part of it, to explain AM philosophy. Baba's purpose here is
to make clear the AM teachings. And to fulfill that purpose, He makes
example of parts of various slokas.
In many cases Baba gives a sloka to illustrate His point and then, He
explains more about the matter than what has been written in the sloka
itself.
Other times He takes one word from the sloka from several thousand years
ago and explains that, ignoring the rest of the sloka He has just cited. In
either case, this shows how Baba's purpose is to highlight AM philosophy.
So whatever section of the cited sloka serves Baba's purpose, He takes help
from that part only.
Plus He has told the following in His Ananda Vacanamrtam series
Baba says, "I am not using the exact vocabulary of the slokas. I just want to
amplify the truth." (AV-2, p.34)
MORE ABOUT HOW SLOKAS ARE USED
Suppose He chooses a sloka from the vedas, to explain or give an example
during His discourse. He will say the sloka during His discourse. And then
from that sloka which He gave, He will take one word only and He goes on
explaining far more than what has been expressed in that sloka. So such
things happen when the explanation of the sloka is limited. But He goes on
explaining more and more. Because to give more explanation is needed for
making that very point which He wants to tell related with AM philosophy.
It is sometimes the case that the rsi who made the sloka, did not have the
depth of understanding which was required for making the point of AM
ideology which Baba is giving. So in that case the sloka literally says
something very limited. And Baba explains far more than that.
So the conclusion is, sometimes He takes just a few words from the sloka
and the rest he does not touch. Because that other aspect of the sloka had
some dogmatic meaning and was off the mark. And sometimes Baba explains
more than what has been written in the sloka because He feels further
elaboration is needed for society to benefit from the teaching.
HOW THE CONFUSION CAME:
ABOUT THE EDITORS INSERTS
But the main problem comes when sometimes the editor translates the entire
sloka and prints their own purport of the line by line meaning of that
whole sloka of those dogmatic religious books and treatises.
Whereas Baba cited that sloka intending to teach only one particular word
of the sloka. And if with the intention to teach one word, Baba cited that
very sloka. And then the editors print the whole dogmatic literal meaning
of in the book -- when Baba did not Himself give the meaning in the
discourse-then it creates more confusion. Just like in the above Bengali
poem translation, it happened. Here it is again.
"Man...na'ce."
That time when Baba actually delivered the discourse then He did not give
any translation of the sloka, and went on to talk about His own point of AM
ideology. But in the printed version of the discourse, the publishers
translated and printed the literal meaning of the sloka. They wrote:
"[How could one fault this poor mind? You are the magician's daughter, I
dance as You make me dance.]"
So by this way anyone can see that the editor's translation goes off the
mark. Because Baba's whole entire in purpose in citing the Bengali poem is
to show how since several hundred years this idea was there in the people's
mind, that everything is controlled by God.
And it is Baba's way of speaking, that when He is giving any discourse then
He cites local examples for the audience.
So those local people hundreds of years ago, they had their own dogmatic
way of expressing the idea that God is controlling everything. Baba did not
want to give any attention to the details of their dogmatic understanding;
only He wanted to show that they had this deep belief that God controls all.
And that is why Baba cited that Bengali poem: To highlight the fact that
that people understood that God is One and the Supreme Controller.
But the publishers printed their literal translation of the sloka and by that
way, they introduced elements that are going against AM teachings and the
meaning of the discourse. Naturally then anyone reading those editor's
translations will get confused.
DOGMATIC UNDERSTANDING OF OLD
Because those dogmatic people were thinking that Shya'ma' deity is the God,
and that Shya'ma' is linked with Shiva, so that's why the "magician's
daughter" in their dogmatic understanding, is doing everything. For that
reason they composed the sloka like this hundreds of years ago. But Baba's
sense was only to show that since hundreds of years this idea was there in
the people's mind that everything is controlled by God.
So here there was no need to translate all of this about "Shya'ma'" deity
and the "magician's daughter". Unnecessarily, those who published the book
printed all of this. Which is completely confusing and side-tracking for
any reader of the discourse.
By Baba's grace in the due course and with the sincere input of one and
all, we will step by step clear up all these matters regarding the
integrity of our AM books.
BABA'S BLESSING
Baba says, "Human beings will certainly achieve rapid progress...human
beings have no reason for despair...they must march ahead vigorously with
firm steps, keeping a synthetic goal ever before them. Caraveti, caraveti--
'March forward, march forward'." (AFPS-4, p. 6)
Namaskar,
Ramlal
Note 1: On numerous occasions Baba teachings express far more than was
given in those old slokas from centuries past. One excellent example of
this is His lengthy discourse on the Guru Puja sloka as given in Ananda
Vacanamrtam-3.
Note 2: It is not just in Namami Krsna Sundaram but there are numerous
examples from various books where the editors gave a translation of slokas
that went against the spirit of AM teachings and Baba's discourse.
