Questions about Sanskrit

[Guest guest]

Namaste everyone,

 

I have noticed that most of the Vedanta philosophy is originally

written in Sanskrit. When I recalled a past life as a Brahmin in

India I recalled also that I spoke Sanskrit and revered the language

a lot.

I would like to ask:

1-Is Sanskrit revered as a very sacred language indeed? I

remember that I wrote a lot on Sanskrit (in that lifetime) copying

extensively various texts, but I did not use it as the current

language which I spoke (which I could not remember clearly, but was

somewhat similar to Sanskrit). But I remember that when I recited

verses in Sanskrit from Scriptures, a perception of sacredness and

devotion came to me often, and I cried a lot. In this lifetime I

have searched and found the Bhaghavad-Gita in Sanskrit and whenever

I read it I get a feeling of power (not power from me, but from the

verses) and devotion which is very similar to what I felt back then.

Are these experiences common experiences with Sanskrit?

2-Are only Brahmins allowed to learn Sanskrit in India nowadays?

3-In this lifetime I have a facility for reading and learning

Sanskrit, but of course I do not know how to speak a lot or make

sentences very correctly. Sometimes I guess a word in Sanskrit

corresponding with my Indian friends and they say "that´s it". Is

there any on-line course of Sanskrit where I can learn to be able to

again write and speak Sanskrit. I feel this urge.

 

Thanks in advance for any replies, opinions, recommendations, etc.

Pranams,

Fred

[Guest guest]

On 13/04/06, atmadarshanam <fsgss wrote:

 

[snip..]

> I would like to ask:

> 1-Is Sanskrit revered as a very sacred language indeed? I

> remember that I wrote a lot on Sanskrit (in that lifetime) copying

> extensively various texts, but I did not use it as the current

> language which I spoke (which I could not remember clearly, but was

> somewhat similar to Sanskrit). But I remember that when I recited

> verses in Sanskrit from Scriptures, a perception of sacredness and

> devotion came to me often, and I cried a lot. In this lifetime I

> have searched and found the Bhaghavad-Gita in Sanskrit and whenever

> I read it I get a feeling of power (not power from me, but from the

> verses) and devotion which is very similar to what I felt back then.

> Are these experiences common experiences with Sanskrit?

 

It is true that Sanskrit has always been considered sacred. It is

indeed a very revered language. However, it was not always used for

scriptural purposes only. The vast body of Sanskrit literature

includes topics like mathematics, medicine, metallurgy, astronomy,

grammar, logic, economics, politics, music & dance, architecture, etc.

In fact, the distinction between "scripture" and "non-scripture" is

not always clear. It is one big continuum that forms the basis of our

civilization.

 

At the same time, scriptures (especially Bhakti oriented writings)

also exist in almost all other Indian languages. These are not always

translations from Sanskrit but original writings in these languages.

Most Indian languages share some part of their vocabulary and grammar

with Sanskrit.

 

Sanskrit grammar is an amazing thing in its own right. It is one of

the greatest things that have ever existed, and will ever exist, in

the realm of mAyA. The genius of the aShTadhyAyI remains unparalleled

in the world of grammar.

 

For example, one of the beauties of Sanskrit is that the words in a

sentence can be arranged in any order without affecting the meaning.

This creates a lot of opportunity for poetry and rhythm.

 

maheshaH vidyAlayaM gacchati (mahesh goes to school)

 

can also be said as:

 

maheshaH gacchati vidyAlayaM

vidyAlayaM maheshaH gacchati

vidyAlayaM gacchati maheshaH

gacchati maheshaH vidyAlayaM

gacchati vidyAlayaM maheshaH

 

To some extent (at least for simple sentence constructions) this is

also true for most other Indian languages. I have tried this out for

Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, etc and it generally works.

 

> 2-Are only Brahmins allowed to learn Sanskrit in India nowadays?

 

No. Anyone can learn Sanskrit. There has never been any restriction on

people learning Sanskrit.

 

> 3-In this lifetime I have a facility for reading and learning

> Sanskrit, but of course I do not know how to speak a lot or make

> sentences very correctly. Sometimes I guess a word in Sanskrit

> corresponding with my Indian friends and they say "that´s it". Is

> there any on-line course of Sanskrit where I can learn to be able to

> again write and speak Sanskrit. I feel this urge.

 

Here is an online course run by the Indian Institute of Technology at Chennai:

http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/sanskrit/tutor.html

 

An organisation called Samskrita-Bharati conducts camps for spoken

Sanskrit. They also have correspondence courses (you can order study

material and learn at home). Check out their website at

http://samskrita-bharati.org/

Samskrita-Bharati is currently the most popular vehicle for teaching Sanskrit.

 

The Chitrapur Math, which is a small institution in Karnataka

following the Advaita-Vedanta parampara, also has an online course:

http://www.chitrapurmath.net/sanskrit/sanskrit.htm

>

> Thanks in advance for any replies, opinions, recommendations, etc.

> Pranams,

> Fred

>

 

dhanyavAdAH (Thank you in Sanskrit)

Ramesh

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Ramesh Krishnamurthy"

<rkmurthy wrote:

>

> On 13/04/06, atmadarshanam <fsgss wrote:

>

>

> Here is an online course run by the Indian Institute of Technology

at Chennai:

> http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/sanskrit/tutor.html

>

> An organisation called Samskrita-Bharati conducts camps for spoken

> Sanskrit. They also have correspondence courses (you can order

study

> material and learn at home). Check out their website at

> http://samskrita-bharati.org/

> Samskrita-Bharati is currently the most popular vehicle for

teaching Sanskrit.

>

> The Chitrapur Math, which is a small institution in Karnataka

> following the Advaita-Vedanta parampara, also has an online course:

> http://www.chitrapurmath.net/sanskrit/sanskrit.htm

 

 

This site offers a whole range of study materials:

 

http://sanskrit.gde.to/learning_tools/learning_tools.html

[Guest guest]

Namaste Professor Ramesh,

 

Thanks a lot for the explanation about Sanskrit and the answer

to my questions. It is really an amazing language to me. I feel very

connected to it.

dhanyaVadAH and PraNam,

fred

 

 

advaitin, "Ramesh Krishnamurthy"

<rkmurthy wrote:

>

> On 13/04/06, atmadarshanam <fsgss wrote:

>

> [snip..]

>

> > I would like to ask:

> > 1-Is Sanskrit revered as a very sacred language indeed? I

> > remember that I wrote a lot on Sanskrit (in that lifetime)

copying

> > extensively various texts, but I did not use it as the current

> > language which I spoke (which I could not remember clearly, but

was

> > somewhat similar to Sanskrit). But I remember that when I

recited

> > verses in Sanskrit from Scriptures, a perception of sacredness

and

> > devotion came to me often, and I cried a lot. In this lifetime I

> > have searched and found the Bhaghavad-Gita in Sanskrit and

whenever

> > I read it I get a feeling of power (not power from me, but from

the

> > verses) and devotion which is very similar to what I felt back

then.

> > Are these experiences common experiences with Sanskrit?

>

> It is true that Sanskrit has always been considered sacred. It is

> indeed a very revered language. However, it was not always used for

> scriptural purposes only. The vast body of Sanskrit literature

> includes topics like mathematics, medicine, metallurgy, astronomy,

> grammar, logic, economics, politics, music & dance, architecture,

etc.

> In fact, the distinction between "scripture" and "non-scripture" is

> not always clear. It is one big continuum that forms the basis of

our

> civilization.

>

> At the same time, scriptures (especially Bhakti oriented writings)

> also exist in almost all other Indian languages. These are not

always

> translations from Sanskrit but original writings in these

languages.

> Most Indian languages share some part of their vocabulary and

grammar

> with Sanskrit.

>

> Sanskrit grammar is an amazing thing in its own right. It is one of

> the greatest things that have ever existed, and will ever exist, in

> the realm of mAyA. The genius of the aShTadhyAyI remains

unparalleled

> in the world of grammar.

>

> For example, one of the beauties of Sanskrit is that the words in a

> sentence can be arranged in any order without affecting the

meaning.

> This creates a lot of opportunity for poetry and rhythm.

>

> maheshaH vidyAlayaM gacchati (mahesh goes to school)

>

> can also be said as:

>

> maheshaH gacchati vidyAlayaM

> vidyAlayaM maheshaH gacchati

> vidyAlayaM gacchati maheshaH

> gacchati maheshaH vidyAlayaM

> gacchati vidyAlayaM maheshaH

>

> To some extent (at least for simple sentence constructions) this is

> also true for most other Indian languages. I have tried this out

for

> Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, etc and it generally works.

>

>

> > 2-Are only Brahmins allowed to learn Sanskrit in India

nowadays?

>

> No. Anyone can learn Sanskrit. There has never been any

restriction on

> people learning Sanskrit.

>

>

> > 3-In this lifetime I have a facility for reading and learning

> > Sanskrit, but of course I do not know how to speak a lot or make

> > sentences very correctly. Sometimes I guess a word in Sanskrit

> > corresponding with my Indian friends and they say "that´s it".

Is

> > there any on-line course of Sanskrit where I can learn to be

able to

> > again write and speak Sanskrit. I feel this urge.

>

> Here is an online course run by the Indian Institute of Technology

at Chennai:

> http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/sanskrit/tutor.html

>

> An organisation called Samskrita-Bharati conducts camps for spoken

> Sanskrit. They also have correspondence courses (you can order

study

> material and learn at home). Check out their website at

> http://samskrita-bharati.org/

> Samskrita-Bharati is currently the most popular vehicle for

teaching Sanskrit.

>

> The Chitrapur Math, which is a small institution in Karnataka

> following the Advaita-Vedanta parampara, also has an online course:

> http://www.chitrapurmath.net/sanskrit/sanskrit.htm

>

> >

> > Thanks in advance for any replies, opinions,

recommendations, etc.

> > Pranams,

> > Fred

> >

>

> dhanyavAdAH (Thank you in Sanskrit)

> Ramesh

>

[Guest guest]

>

> Namaste everyone,

>

> I have noticed that most of the Vedanta philosophy is originally

> written in Sanskrit. When I recalled a past life as a Brahmin in

> India I recalled also that I spoke Sanskrit and revered the language

> a lot.

>

 

Om Tat Sat

Namaste Fred, Do you mean that you actually remember your past life or

you mean a period of your current life ?

 

thanks,

Om Tat Sat

[Guest guest]

Namaste Mahadevadvaita,

 

I am forwarding this to the group as you asked me in the group.

Yes it means that I remember (though partially) that I was once a

Brahmin and a devotee (bhakta) in India. I also remembered some

other past lives, not many. One in Tibet, one in Germany, another in

England. But of all these I have had flashes of remembrance only,

but I could sometimes actually see things and people. I speak fluent

english since I was 14 years old in this lifetime, with only one

year of study I could get many words and grammar. Also speak french

quite well without much study. If we have a past life in one place

the easiest thing for us is to learn that place´s language. For

example I have an American friend who came to Brazil and was since

childhood drawn to Brazil. In less than 3 months she was speaking

fluent portuguese (my american uncle does not speak so well although

he´s been here for 25 years in this lifetime). So it is kind of

obvious that she had a life here in Brazil or in Portugal. If you

feel very attracted to a specific country and language chances are

you have lived there. This is my experience and my conviction.

warm regards,

frederico

 

 

advaitin, "mahadevadvaita"

<mahadevadvaita wrote:

>

> >

> > Namaste everyone,

> >

> > I have noticed that most of the Vedanta philosophy is

originally

> > written in Sanskrit. When I recalled a past life as a Brahmin in

> > India I recalled also that I spoke Sanskrit and revered the

language

> > a lot.

> >

>

> Om Tat Sat

> Namaste Fred, Do you mean that you actually remember your past

life or

> you mean a period of your current life ?

>

> thanks,

> Om Tat Sat

>