Talk:Swarn Pakhi Tha Jo Kabhi Aur Ab Hai Bhikhari Jagat Ka (स्वर्ण पाखी था जो कभी और अब है भिखारी जगत का)
All four volumes of Swarn Pakhi the über-series are somewhat to very obscure; only Bharat Jalte and Swarn Pakhi have been published since the 70s, but even those two publications are clouded by what might be called identity issues. See Bharat Jalte's discussion page and below for details. At least in the domain of audio, Swarn Pakhi is not just available but the master title for the others.
One anomaly to be worked out regards the number of discourses. Few places offer any information at all about Swarn Pakhi the component volume beyond that it has ten discourses. But audio sites are consistent that there are 23 discourses in the über-series. Ten plus the others should add up to 24 though, so something is awry.
The only place i could find with more specific info about the single-vol Swarn Pakhi was osho.com, which had a kind of TOC. It represents audio titles of course and is a bit strange in some respects, the most obvious being the numbering system. It is presented below as it was found:
- 0:
- 0:
- 1: क्रांति की वैज्ञानिक प्रक्रिया
- 2: क्रांति के बीच सबसे बड़ी दीवाल
- 3: प्रगतिशील कौन?
- 5: समाज परिवर्तन के चौराहे पर: 1
- 6: समाज परिवर्तन के चौराहे पर: 2
- 7: आज की राजनीति
- 8: भारत किस ओर
- 10: भारत के निर्णायक क्षण
- 11: नया भारत
Leaving aside the 0's and the missing #4 and 9, one fact that emerges is that there are nine discourses surviving with real titles. For now let this be the gold standard, since it makes the sacred total come to 23.
Regarding dates and places, Neeten (see Osho Source Book link at his page) is the source with the most info, albeit in somewhat rough form. But there is only one entry for Swarn Pakhi per se, a single date in his Appendix, Apr 1, 1970 in Bombay. We may suppose that this is one of its discourses; the others may be scattered around discontinuously or may be all in one chunk, since there is a decent-size gap following that time (see Osho Discourses 1970). There IS a talk the day before, Mar 31, in Jabalpur, which may or may not be a conflict, ie travel time might be prohibitive.
The relevant section of the Appendix below has the one entry mentioned for Swarn Pakhi plus three entries for Samajwad Se Savdhaan, which can be understood as itself plus the other two volumes. It reads:
- Samajwad Se Savdhaan. 13-17.03.1970. 5 talks. Bombay. [ie Bharat Ke Jalte Prashan (भारत के जलते प्रश्न)]
- Vidroh Kya Hai? 31.03.1970. [the talk in Jabalpur]
- Swarn Pakhi Tha Jo Kabhi (India, Socialism, Gandhi, Communism). 01.04.1970. Bombay. (A)
- Samajvaad Se Saavdhan. 13.04-17.04.1970. [ie the real Samajwad Se Savdhan (समाजवाद से सावधान)]
- [ . . . ]
- Samajwad Se Savdhaan. 08-11.08.1970. 4 talks. [ie Samajvad Arthat Atmaghat (समाजवाद अर्थात आत्मघात)]
About the 2003 edition and its title and other issues, first a few facts: The old version of this page was one of those which used the long title. And it supplied the only cover image for the book. And there are two bookseller sites which list the book. All three say the pub date was 2003 and the ISBN 8176210696 (equivalent to 9788176210696 in ISBN-13-speak). The old page says the publisher was Rebel, the booksellers Sadhana Foundations (sic).
The booksellers supply no cover image, so we are left with the teeny one that was still extant in 2008, when the old page was compiled. It is not much help however; between the low resolution and the creative design (dark lettering on a dark background) it is only possible to make out a few words. But there are a lot of words there on the cover. "Kabhi" is clear enough, and its position indicates where the first five words are. That position, 90º to the ones on the side, suggests the kind of superiority of rank, that a title might have over a subtitle, for example.
But to make too much of this would be overplaying a fairly weak hand. Unclarity will still have to rule. One indisputable reason lies in the impossible convolutedness of the title given by the booksellers: Swaran Pakhi Tha Jo Kabhi Aur Ab Hain Bhikhari Jagat Ka : (bharat Ke Jalte Prashan). So where do these words fit on that cover? Does the Rebel cover even belong with the Sadhana title? And what about this "(bharat Ke Jalte Prashan)" in parentheses? Does it signify that it subsumes the rest, vice versa or neither? What to say of the title that comes with one of the purported editions of Bharat Jalte, "Bharat Ke Jalte Prashan SwarnPakhi Tha Jo Kabhi"? (See Talk:Bharat Ke Jalte Prashan (भारत के जलते प्रश्न).)
I could go on but will leave it for now to simmer. Updated Sarlo (talk) 00:16, 4 July 2014 (PDT)
