Sanskrit

March 1st, 2010 |

It is almost impossible to understand the overall structure of any language: the way it has been developed by the people who lived earlier on earth; the way they developed the symbols to connote the sounds of those consonants and vowels; and the grammar rules that are set up for each and every language! The way the languages have been developed all over the world confuses the mind to a degree that perhaps nobody can solve—it is mammoth and colossal in its size and mind boggling in its facts.

There are many languages spoken in a single country, which makes the total number of languages all over the world into thousands. Though in the past there were lesser numbers of languages, and many languages have been developed just recently in the past, and they are continuing to increase! Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit are among those major languages, which have given birth to many languages in their respective country of origin and the world over; however, it was believed by some people, which was later confirmed, that Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. I am not trying to say that it is right or wrong, but I definitely know Sanskrit to be a beautiful language, which satisfies all the conditions of the science of a perfect language. Recently this belief has been confirmed by the scientists, as Sanskrit has the perfect syntax for networking in computers and also its syntax is very small. It is a very interesting fact that meaning of word “sanskrit” in Sanskrit is “refined”. So it is pretty clear that Sanskrit is a refined language, which has undergone all the tests and checkings of the human mind.

I can imagine the beauty of this language, as I know a bit of it and I am learning it more and more to understand some finer aspects of the language. If you carefully check the sounds of the consonants of this language, you will know that it has all the primary sounds that can be generated from human mouth, and all other sounds are the permutation and combination of these primary sounds. You will notice that there are sets of consonants in Sanskrit, where the tongue touches or do not touches some specific part of your mouth cavity. The significance of Sanskrit increases, as it is believed to be the language of gods, and no wonder that all the original vedic literature of India is preserved in this language.

I am learning around 11 Indian languages and I find that if one knows Sanskrit well, you can learn all the Indian languages quite easily. As Sir Freidrich Max Müller said while delivering those lectures to the Indian Civil Service officers who were to join India and wanted to know something about the Indian way of living.

Rigveda is believed to be the first book of the world, which was compiled in the region of Punjāb. But with the passage of time, Sanskrit has touched its nether end and there is hardly anybody who likes to read Sanskrit. No wonder that the neglect of Sanskrit among the masses has contributed a lot in the underdevelopment of thought, conduct, and all the areas of life. The morals and the values for which India stood as a shining light-house lost their appeal and people started hating their own environment and conditions. But as Swami Vivekananda summarised the greatness of India is those famous speech of Chicago Parliament of Religion, while pointing that almost all the great civilisations of the world has lost themselves, but it is only the civilisation of Sindhu which has sustained all the tides of time. The roots and the foundation of Sanskrit and the culture that it has preserved are so deep that they can not be uprooted by anything. This is what shows the power of those old great people of the yore years who struggled to know the reality of this world and then declare that only God is the reality and all else is ephemeral. The beauty and the power of Sanskrit can not be diminished, though it has been subdued for quite sometime now, but take care that it is bound to come to its own glory and shine forth with all those ideals.

Now we move to one of the most interesting aspect of Indian life in the Vedic times–chanting of Vedic Mantras. It was the integral part of one’s daily life. No wonder that now the whole world is recognizing the value of Vedic chanting, and its benefits that are open to the whole world. If you like to listen to them or would like to know how it sounds, you should visit the site: www.vedamu.org

The site has whole 4 Vedas in audio format that can be bought from their site, or just played on Internet. Marvellous is the only world that comes to mind, when is see such a phenomenal work done on Internet–you will not get such kind of things anywhere. I like to listen to them almost daily, and i feel very happy that even i am not well versed in reciting them myself, i can at least listen to them from somebody’s mouth.

www.vedamu.org has provided a whole lot of treasure of Vedic Mantras for the use, and their effort is indeed loudable. It is noticable that not many in the whole world can give you the correct pronunciation of the words, and render them in the different prescribed formats of tempo and speed. However, the Pratishthan, as it is known, has highly qualified scholars who have devoted their whole life for this cause, and no wonder that their rendering of various Shakhas is mesmerizing. Hats off to the effort!

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