Talk:Asato Ma Sadgamaya (असतो मा सद्गमय)

The existence of this book was not even suspected until a quote from it was seen recently, in English, not that the book has been translated. First assumption was that it was a mistake, but then a copy of the official 1979 edition was found in the Toronto Public Library. But that's it, that's all there is.

Since it is a fairly large book, 572 pages, it could have as many as twenty discourses or even more. The quote cited chapter 16. We might speculate that its publication could have been an impetus to the 1979 series Mrityorma, to complete the trilogy, but clues are almost non-existent. The latest gap where it might fit in would be 1974 but most likely it was earlier than that. -- updated doofus-9 (talk) 17:41, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

2018 Update

Information from Osho's brother Shailendra provided as part of his survey of republishing trends in Osho's Hindi sahitya has finally given us a decent picture of this shadowy book. And that is this: it was a one-time and one-of-a-kind compilation of two Upanishad series whose talks were given at Meditation Camps. They are Nirvan Upanishad (निर्वाण उपनिषद) and Ishavasya Upanishad (ईशावास्य उपनिषद), respectively 15 and 13 discourses, making a respectable total of 28. It apparently will not be republished.

Regarding its putative connection to Mrityorma, it may be said that Asato's apparent 1979 publication and Mrityorma's 1979 talks could be more than a random synchronicity. Beyond that, who knows? Which even came first, for that matter? -- doofus-9 03:29, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

Comparing with previous 20 chapters-book

1971 and 1973 edition of Ishavasyopanishad (ईशावास्योपनिषद), which published earlier, have 20 chapters (prayer, 18 sutras, prayer). These sutras in Asato keep their numbers from Ishavasyopanishad book, but compiled in 13 chapters as (left column - chapters of Asato):

chapter 16 : prayer = ch.1 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 17 : sutra 1 = ch.2 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 18 : sutras 2 & 3 = ch.3-4 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 19 : sutras 4 & 5 = ch.5-6 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 20 : sutras 6 & 7 = ch.7-8 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 21 : sutras 8 & 9 = ch.9-10 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 22 : sutras 10 & 11 = ch.11-12 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 23 : sutras 12 & 13 = ch.13-14 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 24 : sutra 14 = ch.15 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 25 : sutras 15 & 16 = ch.16-17 of Ishavasyopanishad

chapter 26 : sutra 17, comments compiled wrongly with other events:

[beginning of talk] pages 519 - 533 (before last 6 lines on p.533) = pages 249-264, ch.18 of Ishavasyopanishad (1971 ed.)

[end of talk] pages 533 (starts by words in last seventh line "तब आप अहंकार को बिदा देते हैं") to the end (p.539) = pages 281-287 (end of ch.19) of Ishavasyopanishad (1971 ed.)

chapter 27 : prayer, comments compiled wrongly:

[beginning of talk] pages 541 - 546 (first 19 lines of p.546) = pages 291-296, ch.20 of Ishavasyopanishad (1971 ed.)

[end of talk] pages 546 (from 20th line) to the end (p.548) = pages 265-267, ch.18 of Ishavasyopanishad (1971 ed.)

chapter 28 : sutra 18, comments compiled wrongly with other events:

[beginning of talk] pages 551 - 560 (first 4 line of p.560) = pages 271-280, ch.19 of Ishavasyopanishad (1971 ed.)

[end of talk] pages 560 (in the end of 4th line it starts by words "नियम हैं, प्रेम तो बिल्कुल निश्छन्द है") to the end (p.572) = pages 297-310 (end of ch.20) of Ishavasyopanishad (1971 ed.)

Thus, ends of last 3 chapters mixed up wrongly between each others. Their beginnings are correct. And secondly, two last chapters of Asato are out of chronological order, whice are swaped. Series Ishavasyopanishad had 13 events, which are in choro. order.--DhyanAntar 07:33, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

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It needs to add to above comparing that ch.24 of this book as well as ch.15 of Ishavasyopanishad (previous first edition) with sutra 14 are not in chronological order of events, see Osho Timeline 1971.--DhyanAntar 16:36, 15 April 2020 (UTC)