Prabhat Samgiita Translations: Volume 2 (Songs 101-200): Prabhat Samgiita Translations, #2

By Abhidevananda Avadhuta

Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (aka Shrii Shrii Anandamurti) is widely deemed to have been the preeminent spiritual master of the 20th Century. Among his many and varied achievements, he also gave 5018 songs, most of them in Bengali and all of them in the last eight years of his life. That collection of mystic music is known as Prabhat Samgiita. This book contains the English translations by Acarya Abhidevananda Avadhuta of Songs 1-100. It is Volume 1 of Abhidevananda's projected series of fifty 100-song volumes. (For the actual lyrics of the songs in their original language, see the series entitled "Prabhat Samgiita" and not "Prabhat Samgiita Translations".)

• Language: English
• Publisher: AmRevolution, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393922896

Book preview

Prabhat Samgiita Translations

Volume 2 (Songs 101-200)

Abhidevananda Avadhuta

A wonderful exposition of Baba's voluminous mystical work. With Abhidevananda's impeccable English and attention to both context and detail, these are far and away the best translations of Prabhat Samgiita ever done, bar none.

Ac. Bhaskarananda Avadhuta, author of Glimpses of a Mystery

Very fine translations of Prabhat Samgiita which are both accurate and poetic. Undoubtedly, the best translations by far to date.

Ac. Gunamuktananda Avadhuta, P.R. Sarkar Institute

© 2016-2020 Abhidevananda Avadhuta

Graphic on cover by Tadeusz (Trilokesh) Majewski

Published by AmRevolution, Inc.

First Edition: 2020 January 8

Preface

Prabhat Samgiita is the collection of 5,018 songs composed by Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, also known as Shrii Shrii Anandamurti and affectionately addressed as Baba. As the translater of this book’s songs feels privileged to have been and to still be a disciple of the songs’ composer, all further references to him (other than in formal citations) will be simply as Baba.

The first song of Prabhat Samgiita was given on 1982 September 14. The last song was given on 1990 October 20 (less than 24 hours before Baba's physical departure). All of the 100 songs that appear in this book were given over a period of roughly two months from 1982 November 11 to 1983 January 14. Most of the songs in this book were given in Kolkata; and most of those songs were given in Baba’s Lake Gardens residence, known as Madhumálaiṋca (sweet flower garden). In  the second half of this century of songs, a good number of songs were given at Anandanagar and thereafter in Ranchi.

Baba's songs cover a multitude of themes and genres. There are devotional songs, mystical songs, and revolutionary songs. There are folk songs, children's songs, women's songs, and ballads. There are wedding songs, birthday songs, seasonal songs, and festival songs. Regardless of the theme or the way it is expressed, in every song there is a strong spiritual undercurrent, expressive of Baba's personal philosophy of Neohumanism.

Most of the song lyrics are in Bengali or a Bengali dialect.[n1] Nevertheless, the lyrics of over 40 songs are in other languages (including English, Samskrta, Hindi, Urdu, Magahi, Maithili, and Angika).

The melodies of Prabhat Samgiita represent most, if not all, of the major and even minor classical and folk styles of India. However, these Indian musical styles are often blended, occasionally for the first time, with musical styles from different parts of the world and different historical eras.[1,2] In addition, Prabhat Samgiita introduces many melodies that are original to Baba.

As Baba rarely gave titles to his songs, the songs are generally referenced by their first line. In other words, the first line of each song is usually treated as the song's title. On the rare occasions when the first line of more than one song is the same or similar to the first line of one or more other songs, the songs may be distinguished by the song number or the second line of the song. In this book, wherever identification of a song on the basis of the first line alone might be ambiguous, that song is distinguished by adding the second line of the song, customarily separated from the first line by a comma.

All of the material in this book (and more) will eventually be available free of charge on Sarkarverse. There may even be some corrections and updates there. Proceeds from the sale of this book will be used to support Sarkarverse and its affiliated projects, primarily PROUT Films.

Notes

Bengali is the sixth most-spoken language in the world. Its script is the sixth most-common script. The Roman script notation for Bengali used in this book was developed by Baba himself. For details on the notation, see Roman Bengali transliteration.

References

Sarkar, Shrii Prabhat Ranjan (1993) Acarya Vijayananda Avadhuta, ed. Prabhat Samgiita Volume 1 Kolkata: Ananda Marga Publications ISBN81-7252-041-7

Sarkar, Shrii Prabhat Ranjan (1994) Acarya Vijayananda Avadhuta, ed. Prabhat Samgiita Volume 1 (in Bengali) (2nd ed.) Kolkata: Ananda Marga Publications ISBN81-7252-082-4

Introduction

There have been several translations of Prabhat Samgiita over the past 35 years since Baba gave his first composition. None, however, have been as well-considered or as well-researched as these translations by Ac. Abhidevananda Avadhuta (Dada).

Prabhat Samgiita is a treasure trove of subtle devotional nuances that can only be deeply experienced and absorbed in the listening devotee’s heart. Such profound and intimate spiritual bháva can never be translated into any language as it lies beyond the world of words in an eternal sphere of cosmic inspiration. In Song 1745, Baba beautifully describes this realm.

The songs of Prabhat Samgiita are Baba’s