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refining. It was then that I began to see the need for a note. The need to tell the readers that I am aware that at times they may be reminded that they are reading a translation.
Acharya Mahaprajna writes in Hindi (and Sanskrit) with great clarity. His sentences are short and his style direct. I have also observed that he only suggests, he never forces his view. He may assert his belief, but his language is conscious of relativity even in expression. He treads on ideas and counter ideas with the sensitivity of a classic Jaina monk. In sentence construction, for example, Acharyashree often resorts to passive voice. I have tried to retain it so because even if the sentence in English is not smooth to read, there comes about a subtle change of meaning if one changes it to active voice. Our concern, and now as I talk as a reader, is with the contents of what he is saying. To be able to wonder, “Does he mean it this way or that...?” To be able to use words only as line drawings and fill in the colour ourselves with the spirit that overrides the writing.
This exercise has been an ambitious attempt to capture that subtle element of, if I may coin a new word, “non-expression” in his communications.
Acharya Mahaprajna
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