Theos-Talk Archives (October 1998 Message tt00044) (original) (raw)
Theosophy Company's 1987 edition of THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE
Oct 17, 1998 08:49 PM
by Daniel H Caldwell
SUBJECT: Theosophy Company's 1987 edition of THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE
Of late, I have spent some time comparing the 1987 edition of the VOICE published by The Theosophy Company (CA) with the original 1889 edition of HPB's classic. As pointed out in one of my earlier emails, this Theosophy Company edition (first published 1928) is NOT verbatim with the original VOICE. In fact, the TC edition has more than 600 changes and "corrections".
Here are several examples of these changes:
On p. 73 of the original VOICE, HPB wrote:
The "great Master" is the term used by lanoos or chelas to indicate one's "Higher Self."
The Theosophy Company's 1987 edition reads:
The "great Master" is the term used by Lanoos or Chelas to indicate the HIGHER SELF.
As one can see, there are several changes in this one sentence including deleting a word and adding another.
Again, HPB in the original wrote on pp. 74-75:
It stands generally for the 100 years or "age" of Brahma, the duration of a Kalpa or a period of 4,320,000,000 years.
The Theosophy Company's edition reads (p. 5):
It stands generally for the 100 years or "age" of Brahma, the duration of a Maha-Kalpa or a period of 311,040,000,000,000 years.
Again, the 1889 edition, p. 78:
These mystic sounds or the melody heard by the ascetic . . . .
The TC edition changes this to (p. 19):
The mystic sounds, or the melody, heard by the ascetic . . . .
Again, the original VOICE, p. 87:
Upadya is a spiritual perceptor, a Guru.
The TC editions reads (p. 49):
Upadhyaya is a spiritual preceptor, a Guru.
Once, again, the original VOICE reads on p. 82:
Bodhidharma called them in China---from whence the names reached Tibet---the Tsung-men (esoteric) and Kiau-men (exoteric school).
The TC edition changes this passage to read: (p. 25)
The Bodhidharma, Wisdom Religion in China---whence the names reached Tibet---called them the Tsung-men (Esoteric) and Kiau-men (Esoteric school).
On pp. x-xi of the original, one finds the following:
. . . (Bhagavatgita II. 70). . . .
. . . (Bhagavatgita II. 27). . . .
The TC edition changes the spelling of this Hindu text and deletes the numbers "70" and "27".
Also the spelling of numerous Sanskrit words are changed throughout the TC edition when compared with the original 1889 edition of the VOICE.
Over the years, The Theosophy Company has prided itself on providing photographic reprints of HPB's original works. Notice what this publisher writes in their 1947 edition of THE SECRET DOCTRINE:
"With the present printing of THE SECRET DOCTRINE, The Theosophy Company continues its function of providing students and inquirers with unaltered editions of the original literature of the Theosophical Movement. . . . this edition is a perfect facsimile of the original edition and can be relied upon as such."
And earlier in the same "Publishers' Preface", pains were taken to point out:
"Besides the original edition of 1888---the only one authorized by Madame Blavatsky---several other editions of this work have appeared. One of these, the so-called 'Third and Revised Edition' of 1893, is marred by many thousands of alterations, some of them trivial, some actual mutilations of the original text."
And this preface went on to say the following about another edition of the SD:
"Except for gratuitous 'corrections' of the author's [Blavatsky's] Sanskrit scholarship. . . . this edition is virtually an accurate reproduction of the original text. Its exact authenticity, however, cannot be determined without laborious comparison with the original."
How much of this (Theosophy Company's) "Publishers' Preface" could be equally applied to their own edition of THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE??!!
Why are there 600+ changes in this Theosophy Company's edition?
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