Page 41 - SBV (English)

Editorial Notes xxxix

cited text were still unfound. Hopefully any discrepancies will eventually be
*
corrected through further perusal, by myself or others, of the magazines produced
by the Gauòéya Mission during the manifest presence of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta
Sarasvaté—although unfortunately that vast trove is nowadays largely unread by
and unknown even to most of his discipular followers.
As was obviously done by devotees from whom anecdotes were culled,
occasionally I too paraphrased or added explanatory words into recorded speech
to elucidate the speaker’s intent. And in a few cases of incomplete or unclear
evidence, I ventured to extrapolate the apparent meaning, without introducing
yarns befitting a biographical novel.
Because the terrestrial activities of even transcendentally situated persons
must be considered in relation to the milieus in which they appear and interact,
this book offers asides on customs, practices, and attitudes within traditional
Hindu society, and on religious, social, and political trends, especially in
Bengal, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While many of
these cultural traits remain extant today, herein they are discussed in the past
tense, and because of the limited compass of this work they should be taken as
generalizations. In researching these topics, I consulted some secular academic
sources, despite being wary of their prevalent anti-devotional tilt. And since
Bengali and Oriya culture are cognate, what is stated about the culture of Bengal
may be understood as broadly applicable also to that of Orissa.
I have treated philosophical and polemic issues only summarily, for
comprehensive analysis would necessitate supplementary volumes. The coverage
of diverse apa-sampradäyas not only underscores Çréla Sarasvaté Öhäkura’s
mordant opposition to them, but additionally provides pertinent insights into
perennial deviations within the Vaiñëava world. Yet, being a summary, it is far
from a definitive delineation of the innumerable varieties and nuances of belief
and practice in the apa-sampradäyas.
Much of the material presented in this work was derived from spoken or
written Bengali. Having undergone inevitable alteration through translation,
the English renditions necessarily fail to convey the full flavor and depth of the
original; particularly Çréla Sarasvaté Öhäkura’s extraordinarily rich, incisive, and
forceful language defies satisfactory transposition into English.

* Many passages culled from Sarasvaté-jayaçré, or told by Jati Çekhara Prabhu, have
deliberately been left unreferenced, so as not to increase the already inflated number of
references in this book.