RE: Kali Sahasranam

[Guest guest]

Dear List,

It was very special chanting Kali's name with Shree Ma's tape and

knowing, all over the world, others were also offering their praises

to Shri Kali. Today I will begin my Mother Earth Sankalpa..again, with

the support and upliftment of Shree Maa and Swamiji and everyone here.

There is something I wanted to say: I had not meant to create

confusion with my posts about tarpana and Pitru Paksha and I realize

that I have done so by not being clear. I apologize to anyone I may

have confused by not thinking more carefully before I posted

information. This is a site where we have a resident Swami to teach

the fine points of puja sadhana and a Guru who is open-hearted and

enthusiastic in supporting our efforts to learn. It is Swamiji (and

certainly not me) who should be giving any advice about how, when and

why to do things. Again, please accept my apologies for any confusion

I may have caused in the enthusiastic sharing of my own experiences.

 

with love to all and best wishes for a fruitful Mother Earth sankalpa,

sadhvi

[Guest guest]

>>"Swamiji's point is to consistently use the meaning that conveys

the highest

ideal. In the

context of the Kali Sahasranama, He has consistently translated

shukra to mean

purity. If

you read the Kali Sahasranama, th word shukra appears at least 34

times. As an

exercise,

if you like, use other meanings instead of purity. Most other

meanings don't

even make

sense.

 

It is not which of the two, purity or seed, is better or higher in

life, in

general. Every word

is God's word. It is about which meaning which inspires us the most,

in the

context of THIS

PARTICULAR SCRIPTURE.

 

with love and prayers,

srini"<<

 

Dear Srini,

Thank you for clarifying and, of course, I am understanding what

you are saying here...about Swamiji and his approach to translation.

If you have ever sat in a room with a group of Sanskrit scholars

arguing over the many, many meanings of a word, it's quite an

experience. As you say, there must be a consistent point of view

when you are doing a translation..and Swamiji's point of view is

always (in my experience) filled with wisdom, bhakti and the

experience of doing the pujas he has so generously translated for so

many practitioners. I think, though, that my point was that each

approach to translation might have to do with the practice or

spiritual focus of the translator...so the Kali Sahasranam, as

translated by a Sri Vidya practitioner, might consistently translate

shukra as sperm..and there would be other times in the translation

of this Sahasranam that words would be translated that, in terms of

Sri Vidya, make perfect sense..since the Sri Vidya has alot to do

with "materials and methods". So the meaning makes "sense" depending

upon the context you are seeing it in. That was what i meant

by "value judgements" about translations...The thing about Sanskrit,

as supremely ignorant as I am about the subject, is that each word

can have multiple meanings...something like "kula" for instance ,can

mean many different things, depending upon the context. None of the

meanings are inherently better than others. I think I may not have

been clear in my post. Thank you very much for responding so kindly.

 

sadhvi