Response below. --- 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". ******** When I first starting working on the translation, I sometimes went by the "must have meant" method. Early in the game I realized that was unsatisfactory. I realized that I could render a paragraph that would read OK to most readers, but which could be wrong. To that end, I aquired more professional help and outside consultants with "subject matter expertise". (They will be credited in the book.) The goal of my work has been to render, insofar as possible without distortion or speculation, WHAT HE ACTUALLY SAID. Nothing more, nothing less. ******** > 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? ******** Brahmanandaji spoke vernacular hindi with a slight flavor that the translators described as somewhat regional or antiquated, yet eloquent without being elegant. Although there are occasional obscure idioms (annoted in the text), for the most part his delivery is dirt simple. For some of the discourses I have had as many as 4 original translations to work from, and a minimum of 3 for the entire set. I have found little disagreement or variation. Some of my TM based readers have suggested alterations based on TM doctrine (we know what this word must really mean) but I have generally not found such alternations to be justified by the context. In cases where doubts arose, I made it my business to get second and third opinions. There is no such thing as a perfect translation, but the one I am offering has survived profound scrutiny, and I am confident that it reflects WHAT HE ACTUALLY SAID. L B S 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/
