याद — yād: remembrance and its practice in the murlis
Estimated reading time : 5 mn
This study distinguishes ordinary remembering from the spiritual practice of remembrance. The explanations are newly written editorial material, translated from the French draft; examples preserve Hindi quotations and their actual published translations.
The word and its ordinary meaning
याद — yād is a feminine Hindi noun of Persian origin, as recorded in the Murli dictionary entry. Hindwi gives memory and the act of remembering. The noun occurs in several constructions: याद करना, to remember or think of; याद रखना, to keep in mind; याद दिलाना, to remind someone. In learning contexts, याद करना can also mean to memorise. Persian origin is also recorded by Hindwi Dictionary.
The word should not be restricted to recalling past events: thinking of a person and keeping that person present in the mind does not necessarily involve reliving an earlier scene.
Published translations of the word
French: souvenir. English: remembrance. These nouns occur in the examples dated 16 March 2024 and 21 April 2022. The construction याद करना is rendered by se souvenir de / remember; the passage of 8 August 2024 also uses these verbs for recalling the study. Verb phrases are not noun equivalents to substitute in every context. Pèlerinage du souvenir / pilgrimage of remembrance translates याद की यात्रा, rather than the noun याद alone.
Proposed translations
Remembrance / souvenir remain the preferred equivalents for BK practice. Depending on the construction, remember / se souvenir de, think of / penser à, and keep in mind / garder présent à l’esprit may express the action more naturally. The latter two pairs are explanatory proposals here, not published translations attested in the selected examples. Meditation can explain the setting of a session but should not replace the word automatically: the teaching also asks for remembrance while walking and working.
Two connected uses
One use concerns recalling knowledge. The other concerns a conscious relationship with the Father, maintained through yoga practice. Love, continuity, purification and service are qualities, effects or applications of this practice, rather than separate dictionary senses.
1. Recalling knowledge
Recalling the study brings the cycle of 84 births to mind, according to BK teaching. The act of recall remains close to ordinary usage even though its content is doctrinal.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : पढ़ाई याद होगी तो 84 का चक्र भी याद आ जायेगा .
Français — publié : Si vous vous souvenez de l'étude, vous vous souviendrez aussi du cycle des 84 vies.
English — published: If you remember this study, you would also remember the cycle of 84 births.
Murli · daily · 2024-08-08 · hi102 · FR · EN
2. Loving remembrance of the Father
Love and reciprocity structure remembrance here. It is presented as a relationship with the Father rather than a memorisation exercise. The Father’s remembrance in response is a claim made by this teaching, not a measurable finding established by the quotation.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : तुम बच्चे प्यार से बाप को याद करेंगे तो याद से याद मिलेगी .
Français — publié : Les enfants, si vous vous souvenez du Père avec amour, votre souvenir attirera Son souvenir.
English — published: If you children remember the Father with love, your remembrance will draw His remembrance.
Murli · daily · 2024-03-16 · hi9 · FR · EN
3. Practice during everyday activities
The practice can accompany movement and everyday activity. The same passage discusses remembering with the intellect and connects it with yoga. A seated session is one possible setting, not the whole definition of याद.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : चलते-फिरते , उठते बैठते याद में रहने का अभ्यास करो .
Français — publié : Tout en marchant et en vous déplaçant, pratiquez le souvenir.
English — published: While walking and moving around, practise staying in remembrance.
Murli · daily · 2022-04-21 · hi4 · FR · EN
4. Spiritual function: purification
Pilgrimage is an image for spiritual progress. The text attributes transformation from sinful to charitable souls to remembrance. This effect is presented as BK teaching, without being confused with the ordinary meaning of memory.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : तो इस याद की यात्रा से ही तुम पाप आत्मा से पुण्य आत्मा बन जायेंगे .
Français — publié : Ce n'est que grâce au pèlerinage du souvenir que vous changerez d'âmes pécheresses en âmes charitables.
English — published: So, only by going on this pilgrimage of remembrance will you become charitable souls from sinful souls.
Murli · daily · 2024-08-23 · hi20 · FR · EN
5. Application: remembrance and service
Remembrance and service are two associated aspects of Brahmin life. Nearby sentences ask for simultaneity and balance between them; they do not make the two terms synonymous.
हिंदी — मूल / Hindi — original : यह ब्राह्मण जन्म ही याद और सेवा के लिए है .
Français — publié : Cette naissance brahmine est destinée au souvenir et au service.
English — published: This Brahmin birth is for having remembrance and doing service.
Murli · daily · 2024-04-28 · hi17 · FR · EN
Nuances: knowledge, listening and remembrance
On 16 March 2024, hi17–hi20, having considerable knowledge is not sufficient evidence of remembrance. The spiritual term denotes a practice, not simply information about the Father.
On 4 January 2024, hi122–hi124, the Hindi and English explicitly distinguish listening to the murli from remembrance and describe a form of remembrance in which listening stops. Yet on 28 April 2024, hi3, the Hindi speaks of children listening in remembrance. This difference of wording is retained: depending on context, remembrance refers to a specific practice or a broader orientation accompanying activity. The sample does not establish a single universal rule. The French alignment of 4 January is shifted in this section; no line-by-line French translation of those sentences is claimed as verified here.
Connection with स्मृति
On 30 January 2022, hi40, already consulted for the स्मृति entry, याद and स्मृति are explicitly connected through awareness of oneself and the Father. They overlap in this use. The act of remembering and the content of maintained awareness may describe different perspectives, but the passages do not impose an absolute terminological separation.
Sources and scope
Two relevance-ranked pages of the daily corpus were consulted, containing 40 excerpts. Six source pages were examined in French and English: 16 March 2024, 21 April 2022, 4 January 2024, 8 August 2024, 23 August 2024 and 28 April 2024. The passage of 30 January 2022 comes from the previous research on स्मृति rather than the ranking for याद. Reprints were not treated as independent evidence. Daily includes BapDada teachings republished in daily murlis; the separate avyakt and mamma corpora were not surveyed. Lexical ranking measures neither doctrinal importance nor the frequency of a sense. This selection is not exhaustive.