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If the language is found difficult, the reader will see that the discussion of such subjects as Religion and Science could not be couched in simpler language. When we found no word in Gujarati to express a thought, we could not help seeking help from mother Sanskrit. Sometimes we had to use strange words for non-Gujarati thoughts. To be brief, a whole year has been devoted to making the book as readable as possible; a single page has taken weeks to be done; for a single word we have often had to seek aid from learned friends. Indeed, we have had to turn our blood into water in interpreting father Max-Müller to our people.
In the words of the intelligent and appreciating Editor of Rast Goftar, Max-Müller is 'like a Prophet.' Indeed, his keen vision seems to have penetrated, as if it were, the great mystery of our life. His words feel like inspired, it is for individual critics to ascertain what truth underlies them. We know that some great thinkers do not accept his theory; still, none of them has denied that his powers of expression are divine. My first object is to give my Aryan countrymen the benefit of his lucidly argued theory. In this connection the author's genius is like the brilliant Sun--the translators' minds are like a flickering lamp. In the field of expression the author's thoughts flow into the Ocean--the translators' into a small well. To render Max-Müller's thoughts and words into Gujarati is like diverting the vast expanse of the ocean into a narrow channel. The idea may appear 'an empty boast; and if the realisation of it so far is found of no use to the public, I shall feel the result as punishment for my rash enterprise. The whole effort seems to me to be like that of a sage speaking his thoughts by the mouth of an infant.
Be this what it may-I, for my part, feel as if I had acquired some merit even by this indifferent performance. This little volume, and the Sanskrit, Marathi, Bengali, Hindi and Tamil that will follow, are to my mind, a Samarpana (a pious dedication). Every man has some ambition; this is part of my
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
