Why Sanskrit?

APJ Kalam:

“Though I am not an expert in Sanskrit, I have many friends who are proficient in Sanskrit. Sanskrit is a beautiful language. It has enriched our society from time immemorial. Today many nations are trying to research Sanskrit writings which are there in our ancient scriptures. I understand that there is a wealth of knowledge available in Sanskrit which scientists and technologists are finding today,”

“There is a need to carry out research on our Vedas, particularly Atharvana Veda, for eliciting valuable information in science and technology relating to medicine, flight sciences, material sciences and many other related fields. Cryptology is another area where Sanskrit language is liberally used,”

Sanskrit, language of consciousness

There is sufficient evidence available today to say that Sanskrit is the oldest language of the world.

Among the current languages which possess a hoary antiquity like Latin or Greek, Sanskrit is the only language which has retained its pristine purity. It has maintained its structure and vocabulary even today as it was in the past.

The oldest literature of the world, the Vedas, the Puranas and the Ithihasas which relate to the Indian subcontinent, are still available in the same form as they were known from the very beginning. There are many many scholars in India who can interpret them today, much the same way great scholars of India did years ago. Such interpretation comes not by merely studying earlier known interpretations but through a steady process of assimilation of knowledge linking a variety of disciplines via Sanskrit.

Sanskrit is as modern as any language can be

Sanskrit is very much a spoken language today. Even now, as we enter the twenty first century, Sanskrit is spoken by an increasing number of people, thankfully many of them young. Among the learned in India, it continues to be a bridge across different states where people, in spite of their own mother tongue, use it to exchange scholarly and even general information relating to the traditions of the country. The News service offered by the Government of India through television and radio continues to feature  daily Sanskrit program catering to local as well as international news.

The grammar of Sanskrit has attracted scholars world over. It is very precise and upto date and remains well defined even today. Of late, several persons have expressed the opinion that Sanskrit is the best language for use with computers. The Samskritapriyah group does not subscribe to this view however.

Sanskrit is a Scientist’s paradise

Sanskrit, the vocabulary of which is derived from root syllables, is ideal for coining new scientific and technological terms. The need to borrow words or special scientific terms does not arise.

From the very beginning, scientific principles have been hidden in the verses found in the Vedas, Upanishads and the great epics of India. Concepts and principles seen in present day mathematics and astronomy, are all hidden in the compositions and treatises of many early scholars of the country. Some of these principles and concepts will be shown in the information section that will accompany the lessons.

Linguistics

The precise and extremely well defined structure of Sanskrit, coupled with its antiquity offers a number of areas in linguistics research including Computational Linguistics. Also, Sanskrit distinguishes itself in that it is the only known language which has a built-in scheme for pronunciation, word formation and grammar.

Sanskrit, a language for Humanity

Sanskrit is a language for humanity and not merely a means for communication within a society. The oldest surviving literature of the world, viz. the Vedas, encompass knowledge in virtually every sphere of human activity. The fact that many profound principles relating to human existence were given expression through Sanskrit, continue to amaze those who study Sanskrit. A Sanskrit Scholar understands the world better than most others.

Sanskrit perfectly depicted (and continues to depict) the social order of the day and offers clues to historical developments within the Society. The language has been used effectively to describe the virtuous and the not so virtuous qualities of great men, women, kings and queens, the philosophers and Saints of the country.

Philosophy, Theology and Sanskrit

Sanskrit abounds in Philosophy and Theology related issues. There are so many words one encounters within Sanskrit that convey subtly differing meanings of a concept that admits of only one interpretation when studied with other languages. The language thus has the ability to offer links between concepts using just the words.

Sanskrit for your emotions

The connoisseurs of the Sanskrit language know that it is the language of the heart. Whatever be the emotion one wishes to display, be it devotion, love, affection, fear, threat, anger, compassion, benevolence, admiration, surprise and the like, the most appropriate words of Sanskrit can flow like a gushing stream.

Some Unique Characteristics of the language

Sanskrit is co-original with the Vedas.. The vedas cannot be studied without the Vedangas, which are six in number. The first three deal with the spoken aspects of the language. The first of these three, namely Siksha, tells us how to pronounce the letters of the aksharas. Siksha divides the letters into three classes- Swaras, Vyanjanas and Oushmanas. Depending on the effort (Prayatna), place of origin in the body (Sthana), the force used (Bala) and the duration of time (Kala), the letters differ from each other in their auditory quality and meaning.

Vyakarna, known as the grammar of Sanskrit, is the second Vedanga which describes meaningful word formations. This is usually referred to as Sphota or meaningful sound.

The third Vedanga, Niruktam, describes certain fundamental root words used in the Vedas. Classification of words into groups of synonyms is an example. For instance, approximately a hundred and twenty synonyms for water are given in Niruktam.

The fourth Vedanga, Chandas, describes the formation of sentences in metrical form. Unlike English which used a very limited number of metres (basically four), Sanskrit offers about two dozen Vedic metres and innumerable conventional metres.

The remaining two Vedangas, Kalpa and Jyothisha deal with space and time.

The letters of Sanskrit

Sanskrit comprises fifty one letters or aksharas. In other languages, we refer to the letters of the alphabet of the language. We know that the word alphabet is derived from the names of the first two letters of Greek. The term alphabet has no other meaning except to denote the set of letters in the language.

In contrast, the word “akshara” in Sanskrit denotes something fundamental and significant. One of the direct meanings of the word is that it denotes the set of letters of Sanskrit from the first to the last. The word also means that the sound of the letter does not ever get destroyed and thus signifies the eternal quality of the sound of the letters. The consequence of this meaning is that the sound of a word is essentially the sounds of the aksharas in the word, a concept which will help simplify text to speech applications with computers.

There are two aspects of non destruction in the above explanation. The first one refers to the phonetic characteristics of the language, i.e., in any word, the aksharas retain their sound. The second aspect of non destruction, amazingly, is that the aksharas retain their individual meanings as well! To give an example, the word “guru” consisting of the aksharas “gu” and “ru” stands for a teacher- one who dispels darkness (ignorance) of the the mind (person). “gu” means darkness and “ru” means the act of removal.

Now, aren’t we beginning to see something very interesting?

The popular Sanskrit language is based on root syllables and words. Unlike the other languages of the world, every word in Sanskrit is derived from a root. It is a well accepted fact that all Indo-European languages have a common origin. On the basis of the above mentioned fact that all the words of Sanskrit are traceable to specific roots, a feature not seen in other languages, one can presume that Sanskrit is most certainly the origin.

Massive, yet precise

One can learn Sanskrit purely for the sake of the great epics of India. The Ramayana has 24,000 verses fully in metre and the Mahabharata qualifies as the world’s largest epic with 100,000 verses. The Mahabharata says, “what is here may be elsewhere, what is not here is nowhere.” The precision with which the verses convey information on so many different aspects of life in a society, is a factor one must reckon as the ultimate in composition.

Original Reference : http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/sanskrit/why_sans.php

||Shri Suktam||

Shlok 8

I shall, by their grace, destroy that distressing poverty which is first born in the form of hunger and thirst, (i.e., which prevents the advent of prosperity). Dispel every form of want and insufficiency from my house.

Poverty, trust and charity

Poverty:

Something I was thinking about yesterday, at home, is how God is never outdone in generosity, whether material or social or spiritual. Because of the economic unease we’re all facing, I was frankly thinking of the material – hanging on to jobs, my friend finding a job, how we’ll pay for home heating oil this winter, affording college for my sister – and I remembered that my wife and I have always believed it and found it to be true: when we give from our own need, it never goes unrewarded. Well, someone from you argue that how it will be rewarded. That’s where Sri Suktam is needed.

You cannot become rich if you acquire wealth; you also need to work on removing anomalies and insufficiency of life. Otherwise, there are strong chances that acquired wealth gets vanished in no time. In short, by saying “Dispel every form want and insufficiency from my house”, Rushi wanted to convey message that, one should also work on improving life by all means. Money or materialistic wealth is not everything a person needs to be wealthy as their value can decrease at any time e.g., stock exchange. What we need to acquire is permanent wealth in the form of blissful life, morals and principles, generosity when needed so that we can get help when we need.

Trust:

We forget, sometimes, that if we trust – really, just trust (that’s harder to do, and less simple, than it sounds) we will receive “what we need.” We may not get a penny more than that. But we will see our needs met, and perhaps part of what we “need” is to learn how to manage ourselves on less, how to cultivate thrift, how to resist the urge for immediate gratification. How to save, and to work toward goals? How to be patient? We are not very patient, anymore. We don’t like to

wait for what we want. Our society has been very spoiled and “me” oriented for a while, now. Everyone buys themselves whatever they want, when they want it, and – because of the easy credit (which helped get us into this mess) and our addiction to it – we have forgotten how to wait, how to practice that “old-fashioned” virtue of self-denial.

Charity:

Charity is a great form of dispelling unwanted wealth (which ultimately brings sickness and poverty) and helping those who are in need. By that way, you will have blissful life and also your wants will be limited. I’m going to remind them of what I remembered: God is never outdone in generosity, but you need to be generous yourself, if you want Him to outdo you. Even in these frightening times – perhaps especially in frightening, vulnerable-feeling economic times – it is important to be generous to others – families, especially extended families in need.

My learnings:

1) Expel unwanted need which can create poverty in future

2) Charity is the best to dispel our unwanted needs to get credit which can be used in future with interest rate.

-Taral Sharma

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Shri Suktam Series:

Article 1: Linking broken links – Economics, Life and Happppppppppiness!

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/11/17/shri-suktam-new-learning-series/

Article 2: Connect the dots to enlighten!

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/11/24/shri-suktam-new-learning-series-2/

Article 3: Respect, Thankfulness and Glorious life

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/01/shri-suktam-shlok-1/

Article 4: Unlimited wealth, unfailing objective and universal mother

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/08/shri-sukta-shlok-2/

Article 5: Strength, bravery and Sprightliness

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/15/shri-suktam-shlok-3-certificate-of-wealth-acquisition/

Article 6: Bliss, content, lotus and Balanced life

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/22/shri-suktam-shlok-4-bliss-content-lotus-balanced-life/

Article 7: Protection by Magnanimous & Blazing Wealth!

http://vediclearnings.com/2008/12/29/protection-by-magnanimous-blazing-wealth/

Article 8: Unconditioned & unlimited nature

http://vediclearnings.com/2009/01/05/unconditioned-unlimited-nature/

Article 9: National Spirit

http://vediclearnings.com/2009/01/12/shri-suktam-shlok-7-national-spirit/

Om is one of the most chanted sound symbols in India. It has a profound effect on the body and mind of the one who chants and also on the surroundings. Most mantras and vedic prayers start with Om.

All auspicious actions begin with Om. It is even used as a greeting – Om, Hari Om etc. It is repeated as a mantra or meditated upon. Its form is worshipped, contemplated upon or used as an auspicious sign.

Om is the universal name of the Lord. It is made up of the letters A (phonetically as in “around”), U (phonetically as in “put”) and M (phonetically as in “mum”). The sound emerging from the vocal chords starts from the base of the throat as “A”. With the coming together of the lips, “U” is formed and when the lips are closed, all sounds end in “M”.

The three letters symbolize the three states (waking, dream and deep sleep), the three deities (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), the three Vedas (Rig, Yajur and Sama) the three worlds (Bhuh, Bhuvah, Suvah) etc. The Lord is all these and beyond.

The formless, attributeless Lord (Brahman) is represented by the silence between two Om Chants. Om is also called pranava that means, “that (symbol or sound) by which the Lord is praised”. The entire essence of the Vedas is enshrined in the word Om. It is said that the Lord started creating the world after chanting Om and atha. Hence its sound is considered to create an auspicious beginning for any task that we undertake. The Om chant should have the resounding sound of a bell (aaooommm).

Om is written in different ways in different places. The most common form symbolizes Lord Ganesha’s. The upper curve is the head; the lower large one, the stomach; the side one, the trunk; and the semi-circular mark with the dot, the sweetmeat ball (modaka) in Lord Ganesha’s hand. Thus Om symbolizes everything – the means and the goal of life, the world and the Truth behind it, the material and the Sacred, all form and the Formless.

(Photo courtesy: profile.myspace.com)

Coconut is one of the most offerings in a temple. The coconut is broken and placed before the Lord. It is later distributed as prasaada. We also offer it on celebrations of weddings, festivals; on purchase of new vehicle and on ceremony of new house, road or bridge. It is also offered in the sacrificial fire whilst performing homa.

The fibers covering of the dried coconut is removed except for a tuft on the top. The marks on the coconut make it look like the head of a human being. The coconut is broken, symbolizing the breaking of the ego. The juice within, representing the inner tendencies (vaasanas) is offered along with the white kernel – the mind, to the Lord. A mind (white kernel) thus purified by the touch of the Lord is used as prasaada (a holy gift).

In the traditional abhishekha ritual done in all temples and many homes, several materials are poured over the deity like milk, curd, honey, tender coconut water, sandal paste, holy ash etc. Each material has a specific significance of bestowing certain benefits on worshippers. Tender coconut water is used in abhisheka rituals since it is believed to bestow spiritual growth on the seeker.

The coconut also symbolizes selfless service. Every part of the tree -the trunk, leaves, fruit, coir etc. is used in innumerable ways like thatches, mats, tasty dishes, oil, soap etc. It takes in even salty water from the earth and converts it into sweet nutritive water that is especially beneficial to sick people. It is used in the preparation of many ayurvedic medicines and in other alternative medicinal systems.

The marks on the coconut are even thought to represent the three-eyed Lord Shiva and therefore it is considered to be a means to fulfill our desires.

(Image courtesy: http://i.pbase.com/u25/dannysmythe/upload/40709058.Coconut.jpg)

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     Is this the time to go back? Most of us will answer it as “not really” if they don’t know the content. But, we would suggest that this is the right time to go back. Yes, after leaving a rote and contingent life for more than two decades i thought of going back. It is known that such reverberating adventures are not always favorable but at the same time meaningless enliven life will lead us to academic Alzheimer’s disease. I don’t say that nobody knows every answer of the questions that they come across in their life. But it takes time to find them ranging from seconds to centuries.  At the same time, we want a key that opens almost every locks and that search ends in our ancient literature. And, while mentioning mentoring ancient literature we mostly end up around universal mentor – “Srimad Bhagwad Gita”.

     Besides me, I found two young imprudently wise pundits who shares the same idea and will keep creatively stubborn like me alive. This blog is collaboration of our work and also an enduring commitment to our culture. Filtration of our souls until it gets immortal would be the highest compensation we can expect with it.  This is probably the homework which is undone since birth and we hope to finish before getting involved in its revolving interest rate.