Samnyasa Upanishads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c4.5

c4.5

I have left *saṃsāra* untranslated. It has entered the English vocabulary and dictionaries, and there is no simple English equivalent. It means life subject to rebirth, the world in which that life is led, and the suffering nature of that life. The term *dharma* has such a vast semantic range that one can never be consistent in translating it. I have used “duty” (duties), “right,” “righteousness,” and “Law,” and on a few occasions I have left it untranslated. I have translated the several Sanskrit terms for the Veda uniformly as “Veda,” and the rather vague term *smṛti* as “scripture(s).” The terms *varṇa* and *āśrama* have been rendered as “class” and “order,” respectively. I have not attempted to translate directly such uniquely Sanskrit idioms as *katham iti cet* (NpU 171). Similarly, I have left untranslated the initial *atha*, except when it begins a narrative, where I have translated it as “once,” and the repetitions of final words that signal the conclusion of a major section.