Thread: QUESTIONS
View Single Post
  #13  
Old 24-11-2022, 01:35 AM
kris kris is offline
Master
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Central Ohio
Posts: 1,016
 
"karmaṇyevādhikāraste mā phaleṣu kadācana"
I translated this earlier as "you have the power to act. But you do not have power over the consequences of your actions". The question is not just how to translate the Sanskrit word adhikāra, but also how to be consistent in our translation. Ideally, translation should read "you have the power to act but not over the consequences of your actions". In the original, the word adhikāra is used only once and it is understood in the second part of the statement. The word adhikāra could be rendered as right, in which case the translation should be "you have the right to act but not over the consequences of your actions". But the translators such as the ones you refer translate the word adhikāra once as right and second time as entitlement. That is playing loose with words to read what one wants to read in the original.
__________________
kris
Reply With Quote