Resend - other copy incorrect Hi, I am already acquainted with Dana Sawyer, thanks. He sent me a very interesting essay to read on his meetings around Rishikesh. I liked his no-nonsense style and his humour, I hope he gets around to publishing such stuff. As for his being fluent in Hindi, I wonder if this is correct?
With regard to the source material. The few quotations I have offered lately are from 'Shri Shankaracharya UpadeshAmrita'. I have read other translations of 'Shri Shankaracharya UpadeshAmrita' so yes, I am confident that I know what Guru Dev is saying. But I look forward to seeing more translations, as it will be interesting to compare, I am not in competition with anyone. Last year(?) or the year before (?) I translated 'Amrit Kana', the book of quotations compiled by MMY, and published just after Guru Dev's meeting with Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in December 1950. As yet though, I have ommitted to complete my translation of the introduction (by MMY), which is largely written in praise of Guru Dev, a quote from katha-upanishad, a tale from the Puranas (as I recall), and a description of the meeting with Radhakrishnan. Actually there was a speech in English too. I posted it before on the internet but why not put it out again? One of Radhakrishnan's associates, I think it was American Professor Paul Schilp, had this to say about Guru Dev:- 'To-day we are here to do homage to his Holiness, Shri Jagatguru Shankaracharya Ananta Sri Vibhusita Swami Brahmananda Saraswati of Jyotirmath, Badarikasram - the Superman, the seer, the sage, who is one of the few rare individuals amongst the billions of the citizens of the world, whom we would unhesitatingly choose if and when we would be called upon to describe the spiritual and cultural capital of our nation, if and when the world would feel the need of evoking the part our nation can play in it, who is beyond any controversy, one of the rare few who have contributed and can still contribute something to universal peaceful progress, who have risen by their talent and genius above their fellow countrymen, above their fellowmen of the world and have thus gained a place for themselves at the head of humanity, at the extreme spearhead of civilization. Standing here at a time when everywhere in the world everybody feels not a little bewildered at an immense increase in the sense of human power, we can hardly exaggerate the necessity of teachers like his Holiness the Jagatguru. You will pardon me if I venture; at this assemblage of eminent philosophers, to refer to an aspect of our Hindu Philosophy which seems for the time being, to be too much belittled by the power- intoxicated world. Our Vedic philosophers.... .... The civilized world today is indeed in an age of spiritual chaos, intellectual doubt and political decadence. Civilized man today no doubt has acquired immense scientific and mechanical resources, but seems hopelessly to lack the wisdom to apply them to the best advantage. This is way we witness a growing sense of frustration seizing every mind almost everywhere. The whole world seems to be suffering from an epidemic of hysteria................. We do not know which way the truth lies. Perhaps even here it will be true to say that every truth, however true in itself, yet taken apart from others, becomes only a snare. In reality, perhaps, each is one thread of a complex weft, and no thread can be taken apart from the weft. But this much seems to be certain that there is this paralysing fear and alarm almost everywhere in the world-everywhere even the most powerful mind have not succeeded in escaping it altogether. Everywhere humanity is beginning to feel that we are being betrayed by what is false within, - we are almost giving way to find ourselves spiritually paralysed. This indeed is a deadly malady. The patient here must first of all be brought to see that he is sick and to want to get well and to do of himself what is needed to get well. Perhaps something is away both with the heart and the brain. The world needs philosopher-teachers like His Holiness Shri Jagatguru Shankaracharya who can reveal the world of values and can make us realize that, that is the real world. The world badly needs guidance to a creed of values and ideals. The world needs a teacher who can dispel our fears and can remove all sense of frustration or least in so far as it is only an internal malady. We need a teacher who has succeeded in gaining for himself freedom to be along, who does not require any power, who can cure both heart and Brain. We are in an age in which the meeting of the traditionally alien cultures of the Orient and the Occident has become inevitable. We need a teacher with sufficient gift of intellectual imagination and divine inspiration who can help the smooth working of this meeting, the working out of this meeting in such a way that the values of each civilization complement and re-inforce rather than combat and destroy those of the other. We cannot avoid the sight of conflicting economic, political, religious, artistic and other ideological doctrines and the consequent fear and feeling of helplessness, We need a teacher who can teach us how to get out of the crisis in valuation in this realm of conflict, who can teach us how to avert the danger of spiritual paralysis facing us. His Holiness Sri Jagatguru Shankaracharya, having gained the freedom to be alone, did also fully realize the means of escaping from loneliness. In these days of doubts and difficulties if we can at all safely turn our eyes for guidance to any one it should be to this superman the overpowering influence of whose genius appears indeed in the light of divine inspiration, the superman who has succeeded in ridding himself of any ambition for power. Saintly guidance from a seer like Sri Jagatguru alone can ensure an abiding peace.' --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Mason" <premanandpaul@> > wrote: > > > > 'Bhagavad' is the word used in the text (I just double-checked). But > > of course the transcriber could have misheard or indeed the > > typesetter might have mispelled the word. But either way, Bhagavan or > > Bhagavad, same really, means 'Lord' or 'God' or 'OMnipotent One'. > > > > I wouldn't describe myself as 'fluent', no, but on the other hand I > > do check every single word and the words I don't know I look up in > > one of my dictionaries, I use four different Hindi dictionaries > > (Allied, Oxford, National & Bhargava's), and a M-W Sanskrit 'slab'. > > Any new definitions get added to a database, which enables me, with > > the help of MSaccess, to offer text and get a list of all available > > words related to the current translation. This can be really useful > > when Guru Dev uses obscure terms which he sometimes does. > > > > Although it would be preferable to be really fluent, the downside of > > a fluent speaker is that they are unlikely to look up commonly used > > words & as a consequence can miss an obscure meaning. > > Thanks. I laud yours and others, such as LB's, efforts. Its valuable > to me. The more I read, some pretty fundamental quetions arise. See > adjacent posts. > > However, my sense of your process,and that of LB's editing of his copy > of the material (its the same "source" -- hindi manuscript -- for both > of you,correct?), is that while its thorough and meticulous, it may be > subject to the "poetry" effect of Bly and ? mentioned in posts a few > days ago regarding arabic / sufi poetry. > > That is, do you you have a sense of what SBS "must" have meant, and > the 2-20 meanings in the dictionary for each word are chosen to jibe > with that "must be" area of meaning? What if your feeling is wrong? > Then again, translators not having that "must be" feeling may produce > "disasters". > > And what about idioms, yogi slang :), and regional meanings of the > words? If one is either not fluent in hindi, and/or not intimately > current on the syntax and venacular of yogis and swamis 1920-1950, can > some meanings be missed? > > These are simply observations/ questions. Not criticisms of your efforts. > > > > However, if > > anyone knows anyone who can help on this project I would be very > > happy to hear from them. > > I have a "virtual" foundation (that is, it is still an intent, a > bubble (of bliss)) at this point, but it is making progress, sprouting > nicely. My intent, among other things, is to support research like > this, and work others do on swami / dundee traditions. And other things. > > Perhaps the virtual bubble blooms, perhaps not. Its a personal intent, > but not so much in my hands. If it appeals to you, mentally, or on > paper, articulate what you need, the costs, duration, and intended > "work product". Perhaps your "pull" will make my "push" flow into > manifest form. > > By the way, Dana Sawyer, who has posted here a bit via Rick, is fluent > in Hindi, is a professor of Asian Studies, and having interviewed > hndreds of swamis and sadhus, must have a feel for their idioms/slang > etc. He may be a great resource for your work. Rick could probably > facilitate intros. > To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
