Mayavada Fallacy - Narasimha (To Lakshmi)

[Guest guest]

Namaste Lakshmi,

 

> Hare Krishna> Dear Narasimha,> Ive read the ongoing debates...> so basically

Narasimha are you saying that YOUR translations of > these slokas here and

there are better or more "correct" and > qualified, than A.C.Bhaktivedanta

Swami Prabhupada translations as > they appear in Bhagavad-Gita As It IS, and

Srimad Bhagavatam > translated by him also?> In otherwords, do you believe you

are more qualified to translate > and give more accurate translations, so that

people should take your > comments to heart, over and above Srila Prabhupada?>

Eager for your reply.> With Best Wishes,> Lakshmi

 

I can understand some people's indignation at my suggestions. But I too, like

millions more Hindus, would be indignant in the same way reading the

insinuations against Adi Sankara. Scriptural saying that he would stop

destructive and non-Vedic illusionism and establish the supremacy of Brahman

was misinterpreted to dismiss him as an illusionist who violated Vedic thought.

 

Whether I am "more qualified" or less qualified than Srila Prabhupada to

translate verse on Adi Sankara is immaterial. A "more qualified" person can

sometimes do a poorer job for various reasons. The only issue is which

translation is more tenable. Perhaps, you can give the prati-padaartham

(word-to-word meaning while arranging of words in a sentence order) using your

interpretation and I can give mine and the learned can decide for themselves

which is more tenable.

 

Perhaps one has the right to question if I am qualified to translate in the

first place (note that I am now not talking about "more qualified" or "less

qualified"). My basic qualification is that I know the Sanskrit language. I

passed "Sanskrita Bhasha Kovida" examination conducted by Bharatiya Vidya

Bhavan when I was 10 and "Sanskrita Bhasha Visarada" examination with

distinction when I was 11. In my childhood, I learned Sanskrit from my mother,

father and many classical texts. So I am comfortable with the Sanskrit language

and hence, I would submit, basically qualified to translate Sanskrit texts.

 

I have the greatest regard for Srila Prabhupada. As a bhakta, he was second to

none. But the way Adi Sankara was dismissed using scriptural misquotes is most

unfair.

 

May Jupiter's light shine on us,

Narasimha