Proposal to start posting Bhagavat Gita Bhashya

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Sat, 26 Feb 2000, Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:

> Ashish Chandra <ramkisno at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> > I have been reading a little of Acharya's Bhagawat Gita Bhashya,
> translation
> > by Shri A.G. Krishnan Warrier. While I have understood some of the
> portions,
> > I have had difficulty in understanding most of them, especially the
> sections
> > dealing with Jnana (haven't gone past Chapter 4). If the members
> here wish,
> > I would like to start posting the BGB. Transliteration might be a
> problem
> > but I will try my best. I will wait for the members' views on this.
>
> I am not sure if you are going to post only the bhAshhya or the
> translation by Sri Warrier also. Please do not post the latter. I find
> a disturbing trend of people copying whole sections from books without
> getting permission. Quoting small parts with attribution is one thing
> and posting entire articles (even with attribution) is something else.

According to the "fair use" provisions of international copyright law (The
Berne convention), it is legal to copy short passages ("short" being
rather vaguely defined) for educational purposes which this certainly is.
Copying entire articles or sections of a book is not allowed without the
express permission of the copyright holder.  Note this would only apply to
the translation.  The Gita and Shankaracharyas' Bhashya are in the public
domain.  After (I think) 60 years copyrights lapse and revert to public
domain.

Another technique you can use is to paraphrase the translation in your own
words.  That's allowed.  In fact it could be highly educational to sit
down with a Sanskrit dictionary and attempt your own translation, using
Warrier's for comparison.  The language of the Gita is relatively quite
simple and even the bhashya is not as complicated as some of
Shankaracharyas'  other works.

[...]

>
> My intention is not to offend anyone, I hope that's clear!
>

I also hope the comments above will not discourage Ashish from this
excellent project.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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