Monday, November 12, 2007

karma concept: translation tragedy

I often come across people misquoting Bhagwadgita ascribing to it the quote "Do your duty; reward is not thy concern". Nothing could be farther from the truth. All that Lord Krishna said in the relevant quote was," You can only have control on your actions, and probably(actual Sanskrit word used was kadachan)not on results. Let not obsessive concern for results paralyze you." He could never have said not to be concerned about 'rewards'. He himself was, about winning the war.
Not only the defective English translation misrepresented the nuance of Karmic philosophy, it was retranlated into Hindi as 'karma kiye ja, phal ki ichha mat kar'confusing even Indians, in the land of Gita.