[ click on letter to enlarge
] [ August, 1969, Bombay,
India ]
Swami Muktananda’s letter of
acknowledgement
In August, 1969, Swami
Muktananda formally and publically
acknowleged Adi Da’s Spiritual Accomplishment in a open letter
(pictured above left) written in his own hand in the presense of Sri
Adi Da and between fifty and one-hundred others.
The Marathi language was Swami Muktananda’s native
tongue, and the letter, written in Hindi interspersed with Sanskrit,
presented many problems for interpreters and translators. This page
presents the four most important versions, in their relative
historical order, with commentaries.
The first
initial rough translation was prepared
by a group of Swami Muktananda’s aides, and due to the difficulty,
took over two weeks before it was given to Sri Adi Da. As later
translations would show, it contains added and missing elements, and
does not, for whatever reasons, convey the full content and intent of
Swami Muktananda’s message. 1
In the late 1970s several scholarly translations
were commisioned and although in some respects they were better than
the 1969 translation, they were limited by their academic approach.
In 1984, an Indologist and scholar of various Adepts, with
sensitivities to spiritual terms, meanings and issues, brought forth
another translation; [ A.
J. Alston translation ] which was
published in the essay “The Order of Free Names” in The
Illusion of Relatedness (1986); with Sri
Love-Ananda’s translation and commentary.
In 1989, a definitive word
for word transliteration was obtained
from a former translator for Swami Muktananda who had lived with the
Swami for many years and not only read his handwriting with ease, but
was also familiar with his use of words and manners of
expression.
In 1995, The
Order of My Free Names was published with
an updated rendering of the letter and further exposition by Sri Adi
Da: [ letter
] [ essay
excerpt ]
note to the reader
1. For a more in-depth history and commentary see
Appendix A: The
Translation of Swami Muktananda’s
Letter from The
Order of My Free Names (1995)
]