So, if you chant these mantras, at least one in one day, your life will be glorious. This mantra, bhāgavata-mantra, not only Bhāgavata, every Vedic literature is a mantra. Transcendental sound. So practice resounding this mantra. So we have taken so much labor to put in diacritic mark, all the words, word meaning, utilize it. Don't think that these books are only for sale. If you go to sell these books and if some customer says, "You pronounce it," then what you will do? Then he will understand, "Oh, you are for selling, not for understanding." What do you think? Eh? So therefore it is necessary now, you have got nice books, each and every śloka, verse, should be pronounced. Therefore we have given this original verse in Sanskrit, its transliteration with diacritic mark—these marks are universally accepted amongst the scholars. So all the scholars of Sanskrit, they agreed to use this mark for pronouncing Sanskrit language.
Diacritic marks
Expressions researched:
"Diacritic spelling"
|"diacritic mark"
|"diacritic markings"
|"diacritic marks"
|"diacritic signs"
|"diacritic transliteration"
|"diacritical markings"
|"diacritical marks"
|"mark Diacritic"
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)
- nyarundhann udgalad bāṣpam
- autkaṇṭhyād devakī-sute
- 5niryāty agārān no 'bhadram
- iti syād bāndhava-striyaḥ
- (SB 1.10.14)
Translation: "The female relatives, whose eyes were flooded with tears out of anxiety for Kṛṣṇa, came out of the palace. They could only stop their tears with great difficulty. They feared that tears would cause misfortune at the time of departure."
Prabhupāda:
- nyarundhann udgalad bāṣpam
- autkaṇṭhyād devakī-sute
- niryāty agārān no 'bhadram
- iti syād bāndhava-striyaḥ
- (SB 1.10.14)
You can practice this diacritic mark. English transliteration is there. It is not very difficult. Simply if you practice twice, thrice, four times, it will come exactly, the pronunciation. You have to learn the diacritic marks. Then it will be all right. Word meaning.
Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (leads chanting)
- śrī-śuka uvāca
- evam etan nigaditaṁ
- pṛṣṭavān yad bhavān mama
- nṛṇāṁ yan mriyamāṇānāṁ
- manuṣyeṣu manīṣiṇām
- (SB 2.3.1)
- brahma-varcasa-kāmas tu
- yajeta brahmaṇaḥ patim
- indram indriya-kāmas tu
- prajā-kāmaḥ prajāpatīn
- (SB 2.3.2)
- devīṁ māyāṁ tu śrī-kāmas
- tejas-kāmo vibhāvasum
- vasu-kāmo vasūn rudrān
- vīrya-kāmo 'tha vīryavān
- (SB 2.3.3)
Prabhupāda: So, anyone else? That's all right. So in this way, if you chant ten times, you'll get it by heart. It is not difficult. So we are giving this diacritic mark, English transliteration, only for this purpose—so that you can chant, you can vibrate these mantras. So practice. Here you hear, and in your leisure time, you practice. If you chant these mantras anywhere, you'll be honored. Sanskrit language is so nice. And direction, everything is there: purport, word meaning, and translation. So we are taking so much trouble in writing books not for simply making market. It is for you to read. Not that simply we go and sell books, and that ... If the customer says, "You read it first of all," then what you will say? You'll say, "No, I cannot read. I can sell only." (laughter) (Prabhupāda laughs.) Then what will be your position, if you say like that? "I can sell; I cannot read." Anyway, then? Word meanings? (Pradyumna reads synonyms.) So these are kāma, these material desires.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "This cosmic manifestation, the material world, is also Your body. By Your potential energy known as kāla-śakti, this total lump of matter is agitated, and thus three modes of material nature are manifested. In this way You become awakened from the bed of Ananta-Śeṣa, and from Your navel a small transcendental seed is generated, from which the gigantic universe becomes manifest. Exactly like the small seed of banyan tree, the lotus flower of the cosmic manifestation is grown up."
Prabhupāda: These verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are Vedic mantras. They're not ordinary wording, set of wording. It is not. Veda-mantra, saṁhitā. So every one of you must try to chant. This is required. Each verse of Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are Vedic mantras, veda-mantra. So simply by chanting them we become purified. So every one of you... There is diacritic marks, literation, transliteration, so everyone should try to chant the mantra. That is very beneficial. That is kīrtana. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya (SB 12.3.51). Everything is being chanted in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, with reference to Kṛṣṇa.
Purports to Songs
Prabhupāda: Karatāla, cymbal, this is also being sounded, all together.
Pradyumna: Madhura mṛdaṅga.
Prabhupāda: And the madhura, with sweet mṛdaṅga. You know, mṛdaṅga.
Pradyumna: Madhura means street?
Prabhupāda: Sweet.
Pradyumna: Sweet.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The mṛdaṅga vibration is very sweet.
Pradyumna: Bāje, sounding. Śunitai?
Prabhupāda: Śunite, to hear.
Pradyumna: Rasāla.
Prabhupāda: Rasāla, very relishable. All these sounds together, when vibrated, they are very relishable to hear. So make typed copies nicely, with diacritic mark, hard "a," and explain. And the sound is there, repeat. If you practice two, three days, it will be all right. Everyone will be able to sing, and it will be very nice.
Pradyumna: It's very beautiful.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything will come out nice, beautiful.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Allen Ginsberg: So I have been learning to notate music, in..., singing songs by William Blake which I've written a little music to. So those are, in a way, my guru's songs.
Prabhupāda: I can give you so many songs. (laughter) Just like he can read it.
Allen Ginsberg: Are there many songs in there?
Prabhupāda: Not there. There is diacritic mark. Can you read it?
Allen Ginsberg: No. I don't think.
Prabhupāda: This, Nitāi-pada...
Allen Ginsberg: Nitāi-pada-kamala koṭi candra suśītala.
Prabhupāda: Yes, you are reading.
Allen Ginsberg: Ye chāyāya jagata jurāya. Hena nitāi vine bhāi, rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi...
Prabhupāda: Dharo nitāi... Dṛḍha kori... You can read it. It is not difficult.
Allen Ginsberg: Se sambandha nāhi jār, bṛthā janma gelo tār. What meter is that in? Da-da-da-da da-da-da, da-da-da-da...
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Mohsin Hassan: Yeah, it seems to me this is the biggest problem, the cost of operations.
Prabhupāda: Never mind. Kṛṣṇa is giving. You have seen our publications?
Mohsin Hassan: No. I have seen the books. I have most of them.
Prabhupāda: Small Bhāgavata, chapterwise it is publishing. It is very scholarly. (aside:) Bring some chapters of Bhāgavatam.
Devotee: Yes. Prabhupāda, he has almost all of them.
Prabhupāda: You have got the chapterwise Bhāgavatam?
Devotee: Those little tiny ones, Śrīla Prabhupāda? The soft-covered ones?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.
Devotee: Like The Lord in the Heart? He has them.
Prabhupāda: He has got. There you will see how it is scholarly written.
Mohsin Hassan: Oh, yes. Wonderful.
Prabhupāda: So we are publishing all our books in a scholarly way so that professors, teachers, philosophers, they, they can read it. And it is very easily done. Word-to-word, Sanskrit word, English, and diacritic marks. So we are working very hard. So if it is introduced among the scholarly sections, professors, teachers, it will be very beneficial to the human society.
Mohsin Hassan: Do you do your printing in Japan and America?
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. I am... Whenever I travel, I travel all over, around the world.
Haṁsadūta: And another thing I wanted to ask you about, Prabhupāda, is that Maṇḍalībhadra, he wants to make your literature perfect, which is natural because we want to make the nicest presentation. But the devotees are saying that the translation... For instance, this Easy Journey to Other Planets, has been in the process so long, it has so many times been reworked, that it's no longer palatable to them. They don't even read it. They'd rather have the English version. So I know that Your Divine Grace has said you have full faith in his ability to do the work...
Prabhupāda: No, no. If you... you find out somebody else. He can also do.
Haṁsadūta: Because my opinion is that he's becoming overworked, it's becoming strained, so much so that we're not even able to bring it to the printer because he insists on making every time more and more corrections.
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) It never comes to perfection.
Haṁsadūta: It never comes to perfection. It can, you know. For instance, this little booklet, Easy Journey to Other Planets, one of the things that has been holding it up is because the diacritic marks, to get the diacritic marks in there perfectly... We took it to a professional composer. Of course, they're not experienced, so they didn't, at first they didn't want to do it and then... At any rate, my opinion was first let us print it without the diacritic marks, and then the second edition make it with diacritic marks. Improve it by editions rather than wait until it's completely perfect before we put it on the market because...
Prabhupāda: But if once it is made perfect, then it will be easier to print more and more.
Haṁsadūta: That's true, but see, what has happened is the entire sum has been lost...
Prabhupāda: He could not finish any one?
Haṁsadūta: No, not even the magazine was finished. The magazine before this recent one, I put it together myself from old magazines.
Prabhupāda: There are so many German students. They cannot do?
Haṁsadūta: They can do, but the thing is that you have said that he is the chief and unless it goes through him, it can't be printed.
Prabhupāda: No. No, no. No, no. No, no.
Haṁsadūta: Everything is bottle-necked around him.
Prabhupāda: Now, the important subject, he may do slowly, but...
Haṁsadūta: Like Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Others may be done by others. You print it. Even there is some mistake, that doesn't matter.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Jesuit Priest: Yes, but all I was saying was, isn't it difficult to get across at times what you can see the meaning in the Sanskrit, but you can't put it into acceptable English? You know what I mean. The idiom isn't the same.
Prabhupāda: We are giving every word, meaning. The book... Have you got any book? Bring it. You can see. Each and every word of Sanskrit we are giving meaning. Our mode of presentation is first of all we put the original Sanskrit language in devanāgarī character. Then we give English, Roman transliteration, pronouncing the same word by diacritic mark. Then each word is translated into English. Then we give translation, the whole. And then we give the purport. This is our way. So we are giving meaning of each and every word means we have got considerable knowledge of that word. Otherwise how we can give?
Professor: Do you use any grammar, Sanskrit grammar, when you study Sanskrit?
Prabhupāda: Sanskrit grammar?
Professor: Yes, how do they learn when they learn Sanskrit?
Paramahaṁsa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: We have given some hints.
Professor: Or do they learn from a text or...?
Prabhupāda: We have given some hints. In the last... You can show him, in the Bhagavad-gītā. Or Īśopaniṣad. The mode, how to read.
Professor: No, Sanskrit is quite difficult...
Prabhupāda: Yes, there...
Professor: Many forms and so forth.
Prabhupāda: Now, these boys, they did not know Sanskrit. By, by following the direction, they read very nicely these diacritic marks.
Professor: Yes. Oh, this is good.
Pradyumna: (indistinct)
Professor: But they don't learn how to inflect forms and so on...
Prabhupāda: Simply they have to learn the alphabet.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because they had very good tendency for learning Sanskrit to know so many things. That was their research. They knew it that in Sanskrit language there are so many wonderful things.
Dr. Patel: Now, sir, they say that in American universities also, many universities have started teaching Sanskrit.
Prabhupāda: Yes. In every school, every college, every university, there is Sanskrit. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break)
Dr. Patel: ...was the real man who, when he started studying Vedas, he realized that in Sanskrit language there is a huge literature of great importance. He spread the things in Germany. No, he was staying in England.
Prabhupāda: By international scholars' meeting these diacritic marks were discovered for studying Sanskrit. The diacritic marks which we use, that is international agreement of Sanskrit scholars.
Dr. Patel: Yes. Yes. Those marks. A, and a and u and ai and these dots. Yes, that is international. Nobody can claim. That is long back, sir. I think Max Muller's time.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: You are reading the transcription or original verse?
Hṛdayānanda: Transcription.
Prabhupāda: So this transcription is quite helpful in pronunciation, everything. Exact it is coming. The diacritic marks follow, you can pronounce exactly. Then?
Hṛdayānanda:
- nāhaṁ bibhemy ajita te 'tibhayānakāsya-
- jihvārka-netra-bhrukuṭī-rabhasogra-daṁṣṭrāt
- āntra-srajaḥ-kṣataja-keśara-śaṅku-karṇān
- nirhrāda-bhīta-digibhād ari-bhin-nakhāgrāt
"My Lord, who are never conquered by anyone, I am certainly not afraid of Your ferocious mouth and tongue, Your eyes bright like the sun, or Your frowning eyebrows. I do not fear Your sharp, pinching teeth, Your garland of intestines, Your mane soaked with blood, or Your high, wedgelike ears. Nor do I fear Your tumultuous roaring, which makes elephants flee to distant places, or Your nails, which are meant to kill Your enemies."
Prabhupāda: Now he'll come to the point in which he's afraid of. Next verse.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No, that, you do not take care. I said three times, "yaḥ." Now you simply saw "y-a." Why did you not see "y-a-ḥ"?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. I didn't realize it was spelled that way. It's my lack of learning.
Prabhupāda: Spelling... But yaḥ, you do not know, "So let me see how to this 'yaḥ.' Which yaḥ is there."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That I didn't know. I didn't know that. I mean, I know it's my fault. I was looking for y-a-s, and I should have seen y-a-ḥ. I was looking for ya śāstra, y-a-s, instead of y-a-ḥ.
Prabhupāda: So you know how to read phonetical.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Phonetical.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yaḥ. What is that mark? Diacritic.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: You must know thoroughly that, that how yaḥ is spelled. This is standard. Practice. Everything practice. (break) Y-a-ḥ... This is determined by the diacritic mark. But this, everything is there. So this was beginning... (break)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They know...
Prabhupāda: Good.
Correspondence
1967 Correspondence
I have not heard from you since a long time. I hope you are doing well with your new job. Now as I am going to send the Gitopanisad to India for printing, please see the 1st and 2nd chapters finally if there are any grammatical or spelling mistakes. Also mark the verses with diacritic signs as they are in Dr. Radhakrishnan's book. Mark the words in synonyms also. When you let me know that you have done it then I shall ask you to send it to India. With my blessings I hope everything is well there.
1968 Correspondence
Your eagerness to render service to the Lord is very much appreciated by me. Please get the copy of Sri Sri Brahma Samhita, and begin the transliteration. I think you know the diacritical marks for transliteration; please use them. Please send me full photostat copy of the original Brahma Samhita. I shall begin writing my own commentation after my Guru Maharaja. Gaurasundara will be helping me prepare this Brahma Samhita. After you finish transliteration of Brahma Samhita then we shall see for Srimad-Bhagavatam. Hope you are well.
Regarding diacritical markings, you may refer to the book First Lessons in Sanskrit Grammar and Reading by Judith Tyberg of the East-West Cultural Center published in 1964. Each letter should be transliterated in a careful manner so that one may be able to know the Devanagari character corresponding. Devanagari type characters will not be there in this new book we are preparing. Markings are as follows.
Please accept my blessings. I am very much satisfied with your transliteration and request you to transliterate the 2nd Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, and the original text is sent herewith. Please find. On your completion of the transliteration, the original copy may be sent directly to the following address: Hitsaran Sharma, Radha Press, 993/3 Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Delhi 31, India with the covering letter as follows:
"Dear Sharmaji,
Please accept my respectful obeisances. Under instructions from Our Spiritual Master, His Divine Grace, Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, I am sending herewith the transliteration of the 2nd Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam with diacritic marks. Kindly insert this transliteration in place of simple transliteration which is already with you. Swamiji has already requested you to collect some letters with diacritic marks and we wish you will kindly do the needful. Hope you are well. Thanking you in anticipation."
One carbon copy of the transliteration may be sent to me with a carbon copy of the covering letter to Hitsaran Sharma. The composition of the Second Canto is already begun. Therefore, the more quickly you send the transliteration to the above press is better.
. Now immediate task is that you revise the 1st, 2nd, 3rd volumes of Srimad-Bhagavatam. As soon as they are revised, we shall immediately print in one volume. Just we are going to print, volume one means canto one. So then you take up the second part, second canto, and keep along with you Pradyumna; he will help you in marking diacritic signs on the original verses, and be always in correspondence with me. And be seriously engaged in this task, and it will be a great service to Krishna. And try to finish the last act of Caitanya Caritamrta also.
Regarding the diacritic marks, there are many systems and I do not know which one of them is the standard, but I think the system followed by Dr. RadhaKrishnan in transliterating the Bhagavad-gita is the approved. You are reading Hitopadesa, and you will know from this that the author of this book, Visnu Sharma, compiled this book for some grown up princes in order to teach them Sanskrit in a short cut way. So you have to follow that way and do our main work and at the same time.
1969 Correspondence
So far as devanagari character is concerned, you can correspond with Remington Typewriter Company. In India, in most of the government offices devanagari type is used for correspondence, and Remington Typewriter Company has got contract with the government to supply the typewriters. So I am sure they can supply you with a devanagari typewriter. I am expecting this printing of our literature, especially Srimad-Bhagavatam, with devanagari type and diacritic transliteration will be completely entrusted to you. So you cannot type everything from the IBM. That is not possible. In the IBM machine you shall do the English work and the diacritic transliteration work. So far as the devanagari type is concerned, you have to do it with the help of another machine, and either you will have to paste on the lines or adopt some other device so that they can be joined. That shall be the process. But if we publish our Srimad-Bhagavatam exactly in the way I have already begun it, it will be a unique contribution. The scholars only require diacritic marks. Then it is all right. That should be very correct and standard. If there is devanagari character it is still better. Otherwise, correct transliterations will do. So you think over this matter seriously and train your wife for composing, and help her to the best possible way.
I understand that the machine is already in the IBM office in Columbus and it will be delivered by the 22nd instant. I do not know why you arranged for rental payment. You say "if the machine works satisfactorily." Does it mean that there is chance of the machine not working satisfactorily? Now if you make experiment for the first month, does it mean that if the experiment fails we lose the first month's rental? I could not follow what does it mean. In the beginning we thought and consulted in so many ways and then settled up to purchase the machine. Why have you now decided to rent it and make an experiment? This is puzzling. I think the machine must work satisfactorily, and therefore, from the beginning you can purchase it as already settled up. Thus you can purchase without delay, and upon receipt of the machine you immediately begin composing the book, Nectar of Devotion. If there are no diacritic marks, we can put the diacritic marks by pencil carefully. That will not be difficult. So immediately on receipt of the machine the book composition must begin. I am asking Hayagriva to come to Columbus along with his wife immediately to begin the work. I am very much anxious to get my books somehow or other, so don't delay the matter. Immediately you should not bother about the Sanskrit typewriter.
I am sorry the NOD manuscript has not yet reached. This is another ill luck that the Post Office has not delivered. So whatever you have got finish it. If the manuscript does not reach, then we will will have to rewrite it again. If there is such need, I shall send you the duplicate. If it does reach, however, please inform me immediately. Your idea that our books should be read by scholars is quite appropriate. Without following the diacritic marks according to scholars they will think it inefficient. Yes, we want that businessmen, economists, religionists, students, etc. will all be carrying Bhagavatam and Gita. Yes, do every word of our books meticulously and perfectly accurately transcribed so the most erudite and deep thinking men of the world can enter into the intricacies of meaning in each verse. Your idea is nice. Please help all our literatures in that way and Krishna will bless you. Never mind what has been done in the past. You follow these principles steadily, chant Hare Krishna, and everything will be all right. There is no question of being frustrated. Regarding Nectar of Devotion, although it has been little procrastinated, things should be done slow but sure. Your questions certainly are not stupid. They are very intelligent questions and I am just pleased to discuss all these matters threadbare. I quite approve of your way of thinking. So do the work and Krishna will help you.
I have duly made corrections on the Isopanisad glossary you had enclosed, and I shall send it to Brahmananda as requested by you. I want that in all of our books, magazines and other writings the scholarly presentation be given in all instances, so for every Sanskrit word there must be the appropriate spelling and diacritic marks. Regarding your question about BTG containing more than one essay by me in certain issues, you may use your own judgement in this connection.
Regarding Isopanisad, enclosed please find the glossary that Satsvarupa has sent to me for making corrections. From now on all of our writings should be presented in the scholarly manner, so all spelling and diacritic marks must be done correctly. I have already sent you the corrected page which you sent me and now the glossary is also corrected. I do not think there is any necessity for any dedication on Isopanisad because it is a small book.
For layout work I have already asked Aravinda to come to Boston to do that work. So these two devotees will be posted in Boston for the time being to centralize the activities. Then we shall see how to pick up further men. For editing the Sanskrit words you can send me a list of the words, and I shall send you the correct diacritic marks. You write that you shall send me your changes for the Krsna manuscript pages here with me, and upon receipt of them I shall do the needful. Please also send carbon copies of the tapes you have edited in the past few months. By separate post a new tape is being sent to you.
I want to know if Nectar of Devotion is coming along at proper pace. So you will kindly manage in Columbus that the printing matters are substantially ready for the press. The press may not sit idly for want of printing matter. Then it will be very nice from all sides. Pradyumna is in charge of making the diacritic marks nicely, so I shall be glad to know if he is doing that work according to plan. Recently I received one letter from Arundhati that she wants to work very hard. So Syama Dasi should also do this as it was previously programmed. The main point is that the press should not sit down for want of printing matter. That you will kindly manage.
Here some respectable friend has promised to publish my book, Krsna, in two parts. The manuscript is also ready. So after Nectar of Devotion, I want to take up this work immediately. Formerly the plan was that Arundhati and Syama Dasi combinedly will compose at least 20 pages daily under the guidance of Hayagriva and Pradyumna; Pradyumna will be responsible for the diacritic marks and Hayagriva for correct English and grammatical composition. This was the arrangement. The press is ready, the manuscripts are ready, but I find from your department things are not up to the standard. So please let me know what is the position whether it is possible for you to take this responsibility. If you take the responsibility, what is the difficulty that things are going so slowly? I shall await your reply to this letter and shall thank you very much in anticipation.
So far as Krsna is concerned, I understand that you did not keep any copy of the manuscript. Generally it is the custom to make at least four copies, so how is it that you have neglected this? In the absence of a second copy it is risky to send you our copy in the mail. Therefore, I am personally glancing over and putting the diacritic marks in the Sanskrit words. Besides that, one respectable friend has promised to get this printed immediately. In my previous letter I asked you to give quotation for this Krsna book. The size should be 7" x 10". I understand that is the standard size of this kind of book.
1970 Correspondence
With diacritical marks, one copy should come to me for my record.
Now what I want is that one tape in two days must be finished for being composed. This does not mean that one tape has to be finished so quickly, but the arrangement should be made in such a way that after some time the process will produce at least fifteen tapes completely in one month or 30 days. The process should be in the same way as I have suggested for painting of the pictures. The process is like this:
Suppose on Monday you receive the tape number 17, let it be transcribed in two days by someone "A." Then in the next two days (days 3 and 4) someone "B" edits it. Then in the next two days (days 5 and 6) another "C" edits it for the second time. Then Mr. "D" gives it the diacritical marks, and then it is ready for composing.
With diacritical marks, one copy should come to me for my record. The idea is that this #17 tape takes 7 days to the point of composition. In the meantime, tape #18 is coming into the process just in the same order. So I receive the final copy of tape #18 just 2 days after receiving tape #17 copy. If you follow this process, then ultimately we shall be finishing one tape in two days.
Regarding composing our literatures, diacritic marks will carry weight amongst the scholars, so for the present moment you can do this: wherever a word is required with diacritic mark, or when a verse is needed, since you are translating from our literatures already printed in English language, simply cut the word or verse from the English edition and past it on the layout in the correct place in the text. They are already using this system in Boston for printing the Devanagari script, and the result is very good.
1971 Correspondence
All of you there push on this movement in Germany which is the best country in Europe. The most intelligent class of men are there. Try to convince them about our philosophy. The German scholars are especially inclined toward Indian philosophy. There are many learned scholars well versed in Sanskrit. So our books with diacritic marks and original Sanskrit verses must be very much appreciated by all schools, colleges, libraries and the general public. So develop the press there very nicely. The press already has been declared as the greater mrdanga.
Diacritical marks must be maintained. These are internationally accepted by all scholars, so I want they should remain. If they are a botheration, then leave out the Sanskrit words altogether, or wherever there is Sanskrit word keep the English spelling or pronunciation in brackets following it. For example: "KRSNA (pronounced 'Krishna')." If you are printing children's books you may avoid Sanskrit words. But in my speeches there must be Sanskrit. This changing from one standard to another is not good—either avoid Sanskrit, put English pronunciation in brackets, but use the diacritical marks wherever there is Sanskrit.
In reply to Jayadvaita's questions, henceforward the policy for using diacritic markings is that I want them used everywhere, on large books, small books and also BTG. If there is any difficulty with the pronunciation, then after the correct diacritic spelling, in brackets the words "pronounced as _", may be written. So even on covers the diacritic markings should be used. We should not have to reduce our standard on account of the ignorant masses. Diacritic spelling is accepted internationally, and no learned person will even care to read our books unless this system is maintained.
| Page Title: | Diacritic marks |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Laksmipriya |
| Created: | 17 of May, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=5, Con=8, Let=20 |
| No. of Quotes: | 33 |