The Voice of the Silence, Mongolian and English edition
Regarding this new bilingual edition of the Voice, just published, here is some information about it that was written by Glenn Mullin:
H.P.B’s
The Voice of the Silence
A Bi-Lingual “English / Mongolian” Collector’s Edition
Translated by Degii Sodbaatar
Introduction by Doss McDavid
With H.P.B.’s English original being critically edited by David Reigle, adding
Sanskrit and Tibetan equivalents of technical terms
Paperback, $12.95
In his introduction to this new presentation of H.P.B.’s classic work The Voice of the Silence, Doss McDavid writes, “H.P. Blavatsky was one of those unique individuals whose influence extends far beyond their immediate circle of friends and their short lifetime on earth. She attracted the attention of the intellectuals of her time, inspiring people as diverse as Thomas Edison, William Butler Yeats, and Mahatma Gandhi. She was one of the principal founders of the Theosophical Society, an institution that has given rise to a host of offshoot organizations and left its traces in today’s art, literature, and vocabulary. She was the author of hundreds of articles and of five important books that have stayed continually in print since the time of their writing. While they could be studied for several lifetimes without exhausting their ramifications, the philosophy set forth in these books is very simple: the essential unity underlying all things, the cycles that manifest throughout the universe, and the perfectability of conscious life through evolutionary growth.”
In 2007, some forty-five members of The Theosophical Society travelled with Glenn Mullin to Tibet. The adventure was eventually produced as a documentary film, Journey to Blavatsky’s Tibet (http://www.questbooks.net/title.cfm?bookid=2102). A third of the group then when on to Mongolia.
The Mongolia visit inspired the formation of a small informal group of Theosophists in Ulaanbaatar, centered at The Nicholas Roerich House, where this early Theosophist lived and painted in 1926 and 1927. The visit also inspired the first translation into Mongolian of Blavatsky’s The Voice of the Silence, based on a critical edition of the English by David Reigle, and with an introduction by Texas Theosophist Doss McDavid. The result was published in 2010.
This Mongolian edition was something of a hit, and it was decided to bring out a bilingual edition, so that Western enthusiasts of Blavatsky’s work would have access to the modern treatments by Doss McDavid and David Reigle. In particular, it was felt that the addition of Sanskrit and Tibetan equivalents for the technical Buddhist words used throughout Voice would be of special interest to international readers.
For good measure, we included the Foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama to the 1989 edition.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Nicholas Weeks on
-
Where does one order this?
-
Permalink Reply by David Reigle on
-
It can be ordered from Quest Books:
http://www.questbooks.net/title.cfm?bookid=2345
The English "edition" of this book was originally prepared by me to help the Mongolian translator, Degii Sodbaatar, who is not a native English speaker, translate this book into Mongolian. So I changed all the Biblical English into normal English. I occasionally glossed an unusual English word in brackets, and maybe once or twice slightly changed the order of an unusual poetic construction to read more in normal English. Other than that, the English is unchanged from what HPB wrote.
The sacred language used by Mongolians is Tibetan, since Mongolian Buddhists have normally studied the Buddhist scriptures in Tibetan translation rather than in Mongolian translation. I tried to give the Tibetan term for any technical term found in the Voice, to help the translator determine what was meant. The Sanskrit words in this edition are mostly those given by HPB. I have always given the Tibetan translation of these Sanskrit terms, again to help the translator determine what was meant.
-
-
David,
Is the Mongolian on facing pages or in a separate section?
-
-
The Mongolian is on facing pages with the English. The idea was to help Mongolian speakers learn English, and help English speakers learn Mongolian.
-
Permalink Reply by Christian von Lahr on
-
I am reminded of Blavatsky’s mention of a legendary Higher Mahatma secluded in the vast expanses of Mongolia where the desert condition is uniquely controlled by the height of the Himalayas. I’ve always considered that distinctive character an extraordinary subject to be explored. Any chance there is some mention of said Mahatma, or words of Guidance from him that have been included?
-
-
Where did HPB mention this?
-
-
Search for this passage in the Secret Doctrine, it is in the section on Serpents.
remained for ages there, where now stretches the Shamo, or Gobi desert.
She also claimed that Shankaracharya, the early ninth-century founder of Advaitya Vedanta, “still lives among the Brotherhood of Shamballa, beyond the Himalayas.” Elsewhere, she wrote that when Lemuria sank, part of its people survived in Atlantis, while part of its elect migrated to the sacred island of “Shamballah” in the Gobi Desert
From ISIS:
Tradition says, and the records of the Great Book explain, that long before the days of Ad-am, and his inquisitive wife, He-va, where now are found but salt lakes and desolate barren deserts, there was a vast inland sea, which extended over Middle Asia, north of the proud Himalayan range, and its western prolongation. An island, which for its unparalleled beauty had no rival in the world, was inhabited by the last remnant of the race which preceded ours. This race could live with equal ease in water, air, or fire, for it had an unlimited control over the elements. These were the "Sons of God"; not those who saw the daughters of men, but the real Elohim, though in the Oriental Kabala they have another name. It was they who imparted Nature's most weird secrets to men, and revealed to them the ineffable, and now lost "word."
From Wikipedia
According to Theosophy, once Sanat Kumara arrived here, he directed the construction of the city of Shamballa on the etheric plane above the Gobi Desert to serve as his headquarters.
From the Theosophical Glossary, and from the Sanskrit Dictionary
S’ambhala (sk.). A very mysterious locality on account of its future associations. A touwn or villiage mentioned in the Puranas, whence, it is prophesized, the kalki Avatar will appear. The “Kalki” is Vishnu, the Messiah on the White Horse of the Brahmins; Maitreya Buddha of the Buddhists, Sosiosh of the Parsis, and Jesus of the Christians (See Revelations). All these “messengers” are to appear “before the destruction of the world”, says the one; before the end of Kali Yuga say the others. It is in S’ambhala that the future Messiah will be born. Some Orientalists make modern Muradabad in Rohilkhand (N.W.P.) identical with S’ambhala, while Occultism places it in the Himalyas. It is pronounced Shambhala.
From Geoffrey A Barborka’s “the Blavatsky Lecture 1970”
About the Sons of the Fire-Mist we read in The Secret Doctrine:
In the first or earlier portion of the existence of this Third Race, while
it was yet in its state of purity, the `Sons of Wisdom,' who ....
incarnated in this Third Race, produced by Kriyashakti a progeny called
the `Sons of Ad' or `of the Fire-Mist,' the `Sons of Will and Yoga,' etc.
They were a conscious production, as a portion of the race was already
animated with the divine spark of spiritual, superior intelligence. It was
not a Race, this progeny. It was at first a wondrous Being, called the
`Initiator,' and after him a group of semi-divine and semi-human beings
`Set apart' in Archaic genesis for certain purposes, they are those in
whom are said to have incarnated the highest Dhyanis, `Munis and Rishis
from previous Manvantaras' -- to form the nursery for future human adepts,
on this earth and during the present cycle. These `Sons of Will and Yoga'
born so to speak, in an immaculate way, remained, as it is explained,
entirely apart from the rest of mankind. [Volume I, Page 297, First
Edition; Volume I, Pages 255-6, Adyar Edition;Volume I, Page 228, third
edition]
The secret abiding place of the Sons of the Fire-Mist was an island
situated in a vast inland sea, which extended over Middle Asia north of
the Himalayas. The `Island', according to belief, exists to the present
hour; now, as an oasis surrounded by the dreadful wildernesses of the
great Desert, the Gobi -- whose sands `no foot hath crossed in the memory
of man.'[ II, 220, FirstEdition;Volume III, 224, Adyar Edition; Volume 2,
Pages 230-1, third edition]
While the above account may be traditional, we have the authoritative
statement of Mahatma K.H. about the existence of the Brotherhood in the
nineteenth century, in a letter addressed to the London Lodge of The
Theosophical Society, dated December 7, 1883, from Mysore:
-
-
Thanks much, Christian, for gathering and posting these very interesting paragraphs, pertaining to this mysterious place. It remains a great mystery. I do not think that even in our time the Gobi desert has been fully explored.
Regarding the Mongolian translation of The Voice of the Silence, one of the big reasons that the Theosophical Publishing House undertook this publication was to spread the knowledge of this text among Mongolians living today. A possible outcome of this would be more such material coming to light. This is certainly my hope.
Credit for this potentially very important undertaking goes, above all, to David and Betty Bland. I do not know whose idea it was, when it was first brought up between Doss McDavid, Glenn Mullin, and David and Betty Bland on their Mongolian trip. But without the Blands getting behind it, it would have gone nowhere.
In Mongolia, books are at present the best way to reach the people. The internet is not widely enough available yet. Quest Books does a great service to people everywhere by making their books available inexpensively. For long, they were (and probably still are) subsidized by the Kern Foundation. That means that books on Theosophically related topics can be published that are spiritually valuable but not commercially viable. They do necessarily have to make a profit, and many of them do not. Publishing is expensive.
In the case of the Mongolian translation of the Voice, much of the proceeds go to help with the Roerich project in Mongolia. I am sure that the TPH makes nothing on this book. I am very grateful to the Theosophical Publishing House for making this publication possible, and for all that they have done over the years.
© 2024 Created by Theosophy Network.
Powered by
