Any hagiology is an exercise in hermeneutics. No spiritual stalwart is entirely unbranded. He has his link with ancients their scriptures and legends. A fact-finding biographical critique such as Dr. Majumdar's work has little scope for any exegesis of the spiritual doctrine. Can we assume a knowledge of yoga philosophy in every reader? Since we cannot, the translator had to add notes on these rather esoteric matters. In view of the overall accent on scientific positivism which marks the intellectual of the day, it is felt the notes of the above kind would be surely non-trivial. Let us clarify a basic problem of an abridged translation. The translator must supply some missing links-which must be missing for the very reason of abridgement-in order to restore some savour of the original. On either count a flat cribbing is ruled out.
The translator himself being a believer in Lord Chaitanya's Avatarhood, there may creep in some difference in degree between the original and the translated version, which difference is purely one of the degree of bhakti for the Lord and has nothing to do with objective treatment of his outer life, in respect of which the translator has always echoed the voice of the author. The poems and verse-distichs have been rendered into English with maximum faithfulness compatible with euphony. In fine, the translator feels rather apologetic in that he ventured into a leviathan with scarcely any competence therefor. If the devotee or the scholar would bear with the foible of translation itself, they would not be losers. The charm of Dr. Majumdar's work will be for him to enjoy.
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