Dear Govinda,
Hare Krishna
Sanskrit is a language created to express philosophical concepts often in coded form. In fact, if you read books like the Caturveda, the Brahma Sutra or even the Yoga Sutra this concept is understood. One can understand, translate and explain a sanskrit vedic philosophical text only if he is an expert in all the various levels of contextualization. Tat tu samanvayat (Vedanta Sutra 1.1.4) Contextualization is fundamental for anyone who takes Vedic knowledge as a serious thing and not as a game.
Texts that are predominantly historical are not exempt from this rule. Either one is an expert on the entire Vedic history or it is better to let go of translating and explaining the Puranas or Itihasas. And I certainly recommend not even reading these texts unless they have been translated and explained by authoritative sources.
Sanskrit is not impossible for human beings to dominate, but certainly one should expect to run into some kind of error or difficulty in understanding. This happened and still happens to anyone who ventures into studies of difficult texts like the Rig Veda or the Vedanta Sutra.
- Manonatha Dasa (ACBSP)
PS
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