Bhagavad Gita Kouma Li Ete: A translation of Bhagavad Gita As It Is!

For more than about four and half years, we have been involved in the translation of Bhagavad Gita As It Is into the lingua franca of Mauritius, a place where I was born. What follows is an interview as queried by Kovillina Durbarry, a Week-End Journalist. The latter then translated this into the Mauritius media lingua: French although readers will find that the last question is as per Kreol Morisien as is spoken by over 90% of residents in Mauritius and also widely spoken across the six continents where the Mauritian Diaspora exist.

To begin with when was the idea of translating BGKLE born? Did you translate directly from Sanskrit?

Translating began in December 2019 when the first words were written down following years and years of reading Bhagavad-Gita in English which was started using N/NN system from which we swiftly moved from later as we wanted to align with the orthography being taught in the Mauritian Educational system /the pioneering work of The Academy of Kreol Morisien (KM) and the monolingual KM dictionary of Professor Arnaud Carpooran.
The process of translating as mentioned above was done via the initial works of the Founder Acarya of ISKCON A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who did all the translation from Sanskrit initially in English. Later on, his English version was itself translated in 60 other languages either by his disciples mostly or with BGKLE done by his grand-disciple.

How did the translation process go?
First this involved the help of an editor, Raumesh Chandra Coceal with whom we worked incessantly on this project for over four years.
Working as a small team (including an anonymous personality) we kept to the spirit of adhering to the fideistic aspect as well as ensuring a flow in the way we use Kreol Morisien . As it is there is not much non-fiction literature to use as a bench mark in KM. If anything, BGKLE may well have set this standard in that we used several techniques to ensure that the literature we used make a reading of BGKLE with fluidity without having to unduly use pleonasm which may be easily done. To be precise, with BGKLE the aim was to also show that KM is as beautiful as a lingua as any established language whether English/ French/ Hindi or any other ancestral language.

You actually keep several terms in Sanskrit….why not translate them? Was it to maintain the sacredness of certain terms?
Sometimes it was almost difficult to translate a term directly: Take for instance ‘atma’ (soul) and ‘deva’ (demi-god) when initially done from the Sanskrit posed no problem into English but when tried doing so in KM poses all sorts of difficulties. So, the adoption of the Sanskrit terms was preferred in both cases, whereas a direct literal translation may have produced a negative connotation. Or we used the multilingual nature of the Mauritian entity by virtue of which we may adopt a term easily in our still evolving lingua of KM… as we venture more in the realm of literary/ philosophical/ theological exposure!
We may also point out that Sanskrit terms on their own may not reflect sacredness per se but only when associated with the Supreme Personality and in our case, this is Krishna to be precise.

In BGKLE, you speak of “laz de Kali,” referring to the modern age? What do you think of the current world?
In the age of kali, we are are all affected by the contamination of the material world as characterised by lust, anger and greed and how these may reflect in a person easily affected by these qualities. On the other hand, one always as a reflective being has a choice to move away from the contaminated nature of the world and the message of BGKLE for sure helps one to understand what to do and importantly what not to do. And one may easily learn how to move away from the state of this world by checking it all out in BGKLE!

Do you think that BGKLE belongs to just one group of people?
Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-Gita whether in its original version in English or in its 61st BGKLE translation clearly states “napa destine a enn dimounn, sosiete, ou kominote an partikilie me a tou antite.” Indeed, I recalled presenting an actual copy at the launching of BGKLE, noting that this was aimed at “the people of Mauritius or wherever the Mauritian Diaspora exists across the six continents.“

Can you talk about the universal appeal BGKLE?
Following from the earlier question, BGKLE makes one aware about the self, the other and the supreme and it is verily a question of exploring this relationship in question independent of religion or culture. This question is of understanding that aspect service of being at the centre of oneself. Transcendentally, life is not about outdoing of the other and the question of me-ism unlimited but that of realising that one is in relationship with any other in the mode of realising that “the constant companion of the living entity and the rendering of service is the eternal religion of the living being, “ as Srila Prabhupada puts it in its real sanatana dharma or realising one’s svarupa mode and eventually shifting this service towards the “Tou-Konple,” as in BGKLE.

Several intellectuals and scientists say they have been inspired by the Bhagavad-Gita. If you have to recommend, what would you tell others ?
“Size Bhagavad-gita inplik konpreansion sink verite debaz. Dabor, sians Bondie explke e apre pozision konstitisionel antite vivan, jivas klarifie. Ena Isvara, ki vedir saki kontrole, ek ena ousi jivas, antite vivan ki sou kontrol. Si enn antite vive panse ki li lib e pa sou Kontrol, savedir li napa rezone. Antite vivan kontrole dan sak fason, sirtou dan so lavi kondisione.
Bhagavad-gita baze lor isvara, siprem ki kontrol tou, e jivas, antite vivan kontrole. Prakriti ( natir materyel) e letan ( dire lexistans antite liniver swa manifestation natir materyel) e karma (aktivite) tou egalman diskite. Manifestasion kosmik ranpli avek diver aktivite. Tou antite vivan angaze dan diferan aktivite. Depi Bhagavad-gita bizin aprann kisann-la Bondie, Ki ete antite vivan, prakrti ki ete, manifestasion kosmik ki ete, kouma li kontrole par letan, e ki konstitie aktivite antite vivan.”