Yaksha Prashna: Preface

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YAKSHA PRASHNA

PREFACE

The basic motivation for preparing this work comes from our children - the children of Hindu parentage growing up in America. This work is offered as a tutorial that parents can use in their homes to teach their children the wisdoms of the ancient philosophy that they themselves learned when they were growing up. The setting is the exciting epic story, the Mahabharata.

I became very much attached to this epic through a series of lectures I have been privileged to give since November 1980 during the first Sunday of every month to the members of the Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society. Watching the reactions of adults and children as I presented the principal stories from Adi, Sabha, Aranya and Viriata parvas, I came to appreciate first-hand the powerful grip our epics still have on us. My wife, who is editor of this volume, was the silent "driving force" behind the preparation of this introductory work.

Having lived more than two decades in this country and having been continuously active in arranging cultural and religious events, I believe I have a feel for the needs of our children as they grow up in their own land which is, of course, new to us Indian expatriates. I have but one reason for contributing this work and that is my strong belief that the gems of wisdom that are present in the shlokas covered here will be an enormous source of strength for the future Hindus of America.

I have selected twenty-two shlokas from the original. These I believe, are more easily understood and are the most relevant to our youngsters. My plans are to include the remaining shlokas in a subsequent edition. I have also rearranged the order of the shlokas, again in the context of instructing children.

I have benefitted, beyond my ability to express adequately, from the several publications on this epic. In particular, I have been moved and fascinated by the on-going translation of the epic by Professor I? Lal of the Calcutta Writers Workshop. Also, the publications of the Mahabharata Volumes in Kannada by the Bharata Darshana Prakashana of Bangalore have been of immense value to me. I take this opportunity to salute all the previous contributors and place this volume at their feet. May this book bring to our children in America the same pleasure, strength and purpose that generations of their ancestors have derived from the Mahabharata, whose author Ved Vyasa declared, "What is in it may be found elsewhere but what is not in it cannot be."

A.V. Srinivasan
Glastonbury, Connecticut
October 1, 1984