Renunciation Through Wisdom
Sarva Bhavana Dasa: Regarding translating, Prabhupada gave me some wonderful instructions that I treasure and try to follow. He told me there are two ways of translating. One is literal and the other is bhavartha, to capture the spirit, to convey the deep spiritual and devotional mood of the acharya who wrote the original work. Prabhupada said, "I prefer bhavartha, to translate the spirit and mood of these writings rather than to translate literally. I want you to read the original bengali or sanskrit or hindi, understand it, formulate it in your own words and write it."
Once in Vrindavan when Satsvarupa Maharaj was there, Prabhupada told him, "You should edit Renunciation Through Wisdom, it is a very important book." And it truly is an incredible book, it's a gradual unfolding of the philosophy and purport of Bhagavad-Gita in which, in the original bengali writing, Prabhupada excelled himself. In english, Prabhupada wrote simply but his bengali writing was scholarly and erudite. To translate this work was quite challenging and every single day Prabhupada asked me to read the english translation to him while he read the bengali. He liked my work and that made me blissful.
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 3 by Siddhanta Dasa
Recently Added
Trending Today