Every book must hav a preface.
How n frm where the idea has come ; what and who were the inspiration ; to whom the writter/translator is grateful fr their whole hearted support and another very important aspect - the purpose of writing the book.
1) The idea of writing this book (now it is in form of blogpost ) has come up with an e-invitation of AstavakraGita hindi video discourse given in talks by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji (recorded and are being played in satsangs ) which was about to take place in a devotee's house in Kolkata.
I always believe n function to spread good into family, surroundings , and then to the society, my foremost concern was how can i do something fr the Bengali ppl who are very simple,very common like me and are not the scholars to understand this difficult scripture easily.
We, a handful of lucky ppl who came in contact with the master/s has gone through it. But what about the ppl who even don't understand where to go and to get the easy version in their mother tongue which could quench their thirst to get this knowledge and understanding at a time ?
I searched, but failed to find any bengali version which could hav been made available fr them.
We are bengalis. Live in such a land which has a rich culture and spiritual heritage presented once by Masters like Sri RamaKrishna and Swami Vibekananda. How the ppl of this holy-land should remain deprived frm getting this beautiful song of 'Self-Knowledge' ?
2) When i was about to start the work, i was passing through a tough phase in which,at a time my mother and my uncle who meant a lot to me, were critically ill and hospitalized,, i had to run between both d hospitals,clinics, blood bank, laboratories and medicine houses fr day after day ... The time was very appropriate too to go fr it , it was the test of my centredness, how n what amount of patience was there in mind, how i could able to cope up with the events unwanted and moreover in that state was i been able to keep in touch with that space called peace n nothingness frm where the poems the song might hav been come up sponteniously ?? Without effort. One of them got well another has passed away. Amidst all the religious function n giving nursing to another patient in home i was simply with the flow...
3) Inspiration was, who takes birth n die every moment. Who is new in every milisecond.That sacred thread which was unconditionally tied once, to bring an unique gift by another beautiful time,, to get tied n liberated at a time with the song of same conciousness...
4) One of the well known scholar and a friend on social media with unclouded brilliance, the renowned economist and professor is Dr. Bibek Debroy. Who has recently presented His piece of great work on Mahabharata.
Who else could guide me other than Him who has such a deep knowledge fr the subject and in the language of his own Bongo-Bhumi ??
I approched him to read the first chapter what i wrote.
He read n remarked. Critisized where it was needed. He told this reminded him of mangalkavya tradition. "Worth doing" He said.
With this unconditional guidance, first time the conversation between Astavakra and King has came in form of a series of Bengali Poems . How can one forget that He is with the name of the 'knowledge/wisdom' fr what we were to speak about. Man of the soil, of Swami Vibekananda not only supported but has inspired too...
He asked , "but will yu be able to sustain fr the actual gita ? Thats a tough bit" and another time when i was on chapter 15 he told "the work of yours is Fabulous. Yu should eventually print it."
I am not the doer of this work dada. It has just sprouted. And without your encouraging words i might not be able to move with that flow....
My heartfelt Gratitude to you and to the Masters. I conclude here with the first two lines of chapter 18 ,where the chapter started with the praise of the conciousness as a whole. Its a song which every seeker may sing with joy in praise of the Highest Conciousness.
ধন্য ধন্য কহি তারে ।
এই শাশ্বত পূর্ণ চৈতন্য শুদ্ধ চেতনারে ।।
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