Sanskrit creates communion with natural laws of existence

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

 

I have seen numerous e-mails trying to create common ground for understanding.

Even trying to find that ray of light from the written word to enable us reach

closer to our selves.

 

I strongly urge people to understand and learn some sanskrit as it provides and

has capacity make us see ourselves better.

 

The article below was written by a NASA scientist Mr Rick Briggs who saw

sanskrit as being able to provide the brain and heart, analytical and

intuitive, scientific and spiritual to become one.This article was published

way back in 1985 in the Artificial Intelligence Magazine.

 

Modern scientists hail the ancient language of the gods as the only unambiguous

natural language on the planet

 

This interesting article refers to a NASA article on Sanskrit in AI (Artificial

Intelligence) Magazine in Spring of 1985 written by NASA researcher, Rick

Briggs.

 

In ancient India the intention to discover truth was so consuming, that in the

process, they discovered perhaps the most perfect tool for fulfilling such a

search that the world has ever known -- the Sanskrit language.

 

Of all the discoveries that have occurred and developed in the course of human

history, language is the most significant and probably the most taken for

granted. Without language, civilization could obviously not exist. On the other

hand, to the degree that language becomes sophisticated and accurate in

describing the subtlety and complexity of human life, we gain power and

effectiveness in meeting its challenges. The access to modern technology, which

has been designed to give ease, efficiency and enjoyment in meeting, our daily

needs did not exist at the beginning of the century. It was made possible by

accelerated advancement in the field of mathematics, a "language" which has

helped us to discover the interrelationship of energy and matter with a high

degree of precision. The resulting technology is evidence of the tremendous

power that is

unleashed simply by being able to make the finer and finer distinction that a

language like mathematics affords.

 

At the same time humankind has fallen far behind the advancements in technology.

The precarious state of political and ecological imbalance that we are now

experiencing is an obvious sign of the power of technology far exceeding the

power of human beings to be in control of it. It could easily be argued that we

have fallen far behind the advancements in technology, simply because the

languages we use for daily communication do not help us to make the

distinctions required to be in balance with the technology that has taken over

our lives.

 

Relevant to this there has recently been an astounding discovery made at the

NASA research center. The following quote is from an article which appeared in

AI Magazine (Artificial Intelligence) in Spring of

1985 written NASA researcher, Rick Briggs.

 

In the past twenty years, much time, effort, and money has been expended on

designing an unambiguous representation of natural languages to make them

accessible to computer processing. These efforts have centered around creating

schemata designed to parallel logical relations with relations expressed by the

syntax and semantics of natural languages, which are clearly cumbersome and

ambiguous in their function as vehicles for the transmission of logical data.

Understandably, there is a widespread belief that natural languages are

unsuitable for the transmission of many ideas that artificial languages can

render with great precision and mathematical rigor.

 

But this dichotomy, which has served as a premise underlying much work in the

areas of linguistics and artificial intelligence, is a false one. There is at

least one language, Sanskrit, which for the duration of almost 1000 years was a

living spoken language with a considerable literature of its own. Besides works

of literary value, there was a long philosophical and grammatical tradition

that has continued to exist with undiminished vigor until the present century.

Among the accomplishments of the grammarians can be reckoned a method for

paraphrasing Sanskrit in a manner that is identical not only in essence but in

form with current work in Artificial Intelligence. This article demonstrates

that a natural language can serve as an artificial language also, and that much

work

in AI has been reinventing a wheel millennia old.

 

The discovery is of monumental significance. It is mind-boggling to consider

that we have available to us a language which has been spoken for 4-7000 years

that appears to be in every respect a perfect language designed for enlightened

communication. But the most stunning aspect of the discovery is this: NASA the

most advanced research center in the world for cutting edge technology has

discovered that Sanskrit, the world's oldest spiritual language is the only

unambiguous spoken language on the planet.

 

In early AI research it was discovered that in order to clear up the inherent

ambiguity of natural languages for computer comprehension, it was necessary to

utilize semantic net systems to encode the actual meaning of the sentence.

Briggs gives the example of how a simple sentence would be represented in a

semantic net.

 

Example: "John gave the ball to Mary." give, agent, John give, object ,ball

give, recipient, Mary give, time, past

 

He further comments, "The degree to which a semantic net (or any unambiguous

nonsyntactic representation) is cumbersome and odd-soundingin a natural

language is the degree to which that language is "natural" and deviates from

the precise or "artificial". As we shall see, there was a language (Sanskrit)

spoken among an ancient scientific community that has a deviation of zero."

 

Considering Sanskrit's status as a spiritual language, a further implication of

this discovery is that the age old dichotomy between religion and science is an

entirely unjustified one.

 

It is also relevant to note that in the last decade physicists have begun to

comment on the striking similarities between their own discoveries and the

discoveries made thousands of years ago in India which went on

to form the basis of most Eastern religions.

 

Because of the high level of collaboration required in uncovering the nature of

energy and matter, it is inconceivable that it ever could have taken place

without a common language, namely mathematics. This is a perfect example of

using a language for discovering and designing life. The language of

mathematics, being inherently unambiguous, minimizes personal interpretation

and therefore maximizes opportunity for exploration and discovery. The result

of this is a worldwide community of scientists working together with

extraordinary vitality and excitement about uncovering the unknown.

 

It can also be inferred that the discoveries that occurred in India in the first

millennia B.C. were also the result of collaboration and inquiry by a community

of spiritual scientists utilizing a common scientific language, Sanskrit. The

truth of this is further accented by the fact that throughout the history and

development of Indian thought the science of grammar and linguistics was

attributed a status equal to that of mathematics in the context of modern

scientific investigation. In deference to the thoroughness and depth with which

the ancient grammatical scientists established the science of language, modern

linguistic researchers in Russia have concluded about Sanskrit,

 

"The time has come to continue the tradition of the ancient grammarians on the

basis of the modern ideas in general linguistics."

 

Sanskrit is the most ancient member of the European family of languages. It is

an elder sister of Latin and Greek from which most of the modern European

languages have been derived. The oldest preserved form of Sanskrit is referred

to as Vedic . The oldest extant example of the literature of the Vedic period

is the Rig-Veda . Being strictly in verse, the Rig-Veda does not give us a

record of the contemporary spoken language.

 

The very name "Sanskrit" meant "language brought to formal perfection" in

contrast to the common languages, Prakrits or "natural" languages. The form of

Sanskrit, which has been used for the last 2500 years, is known today as

Classical Sanskrit. The ancient grammarians established the norms of classical

Sanskrit. Although no records are available of their work, their efforts

reached a climax in the 5th century B.C. in the great grammatical treatise of

Panini, which became the standard for correct speech with such comprehensive

authority that it has remained so, with little alteration until present times.

 

Based on what the grammarians themselves have stated, we may conclude that the

Sanskrit grammar was an attempt to discipline and explain a spoken language.

 

The NASA article corroborates this in saying that Indian grammatical analysis

"probably has to do with an age old Indo-Aryan preoccupation to discover the

nature of reality behind the impressions we human beings receive through the

operation of our senses."

 

Until 1100 A.D., Sanskrit was without interruption the official language of the

whole of India. The dominance of Sanskrit is indicated by a wealth of

literature of widely diverse genres including religious and philosophical;

fiction (short story, fable, novels, and plays);scientific literature including

linguistics, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine; as well as law and politics.

 

With the Muslim invasions from 1100 A.D. onwards, common languages patronized by

the Muslim kings as a tactic to suppress Indian cultural and religious tradition

and supplant it with their own beliefs gradually displaced Sanskrit. But they

could not eliminate the literary and spiritual- ritual use of Sanskrit.

 

Even today in India, there is a strong movement to return Sanskrit to the status

of "national language of India." Sanskrit being a language derived from simple

monosyllabic verbal roots through the addition of appropriate prefixes and

suffixes according to precise grammatical laws has an infinite capacity to

grow, adapt and expand according to the requirements of change in a rapidly

evolving world.

 

Even in the last two centuries, due to the rapid advances in technology and

science, a literature abundant with new and improvised vocabulary has come into

existence. Although such additions are based on the grammatical principles of

Sanskrit, and mostly composed of Sanskrit roots,still contributions from Hindi

and other national and international languages have been assimilated. For

example: The word for television, duuradarshanam meaning “that which provides a

vision of what is far away" is derived purely from Sanskrit.

 

Furthermore, there are at least a dozen periodicals published in Sanskrit,

all-India radio news broadcast in Sanskrit, television shows and feature movies

produced in Sanskrit, one village of 3000 inhabitants who communicate through

Sanskrit alone, not to mention countless smaller intellectual communities

throughout India, schools, as well as families where Sanskrit is fostered.

Contemporary Sanskrit is alive and well.

 

The discussion until now has been about Sanskrit, the language of mathematical

precision, the world's only unambiguous spoken language. But the linguistic

perfection of Sanskrit offers only a partial explanation for its sustained

presence in the world for at least 3000 years. High precision in and of itself

is of limited scope. Generally it excites the brain but not the heart. Sanskrit

is indeed a perfect language in the same sense as mathematics, but Sanskrit is

also a perfect language in the sense that, like music, it has the power to

uplift the heart.

 

It's conceivable that for a few rare and inspired geniuses, mathematics can

reach the point of becoming music or music becoming mathematics. The

extraordinary thing about Sanskrit is that it offers direct accessibility by

anyone to that elevated plane where the two, mathematics and music, brain and

heart, analytical and intuitive, scientific and spiritual become one. This is

fertile ground for revelation. Great discoveries occur, whether through

mathematics or music or Sanskrit, not by the calculations or manipulations of

the human mind, but where the living language is expressed and heard in a state

of joy and communion with the natural laws of existence.

 

Why has Sanskrit endured? Fundamentally it generates clarity and inspiration.

And that clarity and inspiration is directly responsible for a brilliance of

creative expression such as the world has rarely seen.

 

The Ancient and classical creations of the Sanskrit tongue both in quality and

in body and abundance of excellence, in their potent originality and force and

beauty, in their substance and art and structure, in grandeur and justice and

charm of speech and in the height and width of the reach of their spirit stand

very evidently in the front rank among the world's great literatures. The

language itself, as has been universally recognized by those competent to form

a judgment, is one of the most magnificent, the most perfect and wonderfully

sufficient literary instruments developed by the human mind, at once majestic

and sweet and flexible, strong and clearly-formed and full and vibrant and

subtle, and its quality and character would be of itself a sufficient evidence

of the character and quality of the race whose mind it expressed and the

culture of

which it was the reflecting medium.

 

Sanskrit after all is the language of mantra -- words of power that are subtly

attuned to the unseen harmonies of the matrix of creation, the world as yet

unformed. The possibility of such a finely attuned language is only conceivable

by drawing upon sounds so inherently pure in combinations so harmoniously

blended that the result is as refreshing and pure as the energy of creation

forming into mountain streams and lakes and the flawless crystal structures of

natural gems, while at the same time wielding the power of nebulae and galaxies

expanding into the infinitude of space.

 

But from the perception of Rishis, the source of language transcends such

conceptions. In Sanskrit, Vaak, speech, the "word" of Genesis, incorporates

both the sense of "voice" and "word". It has four forms of _expression. The

first, Paraa , represents cosmic ideation arising from the original and

absolute divine presence. The second, Pashyantii (literally "seeing") is Vaak

as subject "seeing," which creates the object of madhyamaavaak , the third and

subtle form of speech before it manifests as vaikhariivaak, the gross

production of letters in spoken speech.

 

Sanskrit is a language whose harmonic subtlety, mysteriously sources the

successive phases of creation all the way to origination. This implies the p

ossibility of having speech oriented to a direct living truth which transcends

individual preoccupation with the limited information available through the

senses. Spoken words as such are creative living things of power. They

penetrate to the essence of what they describe. They give birth to meaning,

which reflects the profound interrelatedness of life.

 

It is a tantalizing proposition to consider speaking a language whose sounds are

so pure and euphonically combined. The mere listening or speaking inspires and

produces joy and clarity. And yet it has been precisely the tendency of

humanity as a whole to merely be tantalized by happiness, but not actually to

choose it. It's as though we had been offered the most precious gem and we

answered, "No, I'd rather be poor." The only possible background for such a

choice is the unconscious belief that, "I can't have it. I can't be that."

 

Interestingly enough, this is exactly what is triggered in people who are faced

with the opportunity to learn Sanskrit. The basic attitude towards learning

Sanskrit in India today is, "It's too difficult." Actually Sanskrit is not

difficult. On the contrary, there are few greater enjoyments. The first stage,

experiencing the individual power of each of the 49 basic sounds of the

Sanskrit alphabet is pure discovery, especially for Westerners who have never

paid attention to the unique distinctions of individual letters such as

location of resonance and tongue position. Learned grammarians on phonetic

principles must have worked out the complete alphabet long before it was

codified by Panini around 500 B.C. It is arranged on a thoroughly scientific

method, the simple vowels (short and long) coming first, then the complex

vowels (dipthongs), followed by

the consonants in uniform groups according to the organs of speech with which they are pronounced.

 

The unique organization of the Sanskrit alphabet serves to focus one's attention

on qualities and patterns of articulated sound in a way that occurs in no other

language. By paying continuous attention to the point of location, degree of

resonance and effort of breath, one's awareness becomes more and more consumed

by the direct experience of articulated sound. This in itself produces and

unprecedented clarity of mind and revelry in the joy of language. Every

combination of sound in Sanskrit follows strict laws which essentially make

possible an uninterrupted flow of the most perfect euphonic blending of letters

into words and verse.

 

The script used to depict written Sanskrit is known as Devanaagari or that

"spoken by the Gods." Suitably for Sanskrit, it is a perfect system of phonetic

representation. According to linguists, the phonetic accuracy of the Devanaagari

compares well with that of the modern phonetic transcriptions.

 

Because of its inherent logic, systematic presentation and adherence to only the

most clear and most pure sounds, the Sanskrit alphabet in its spoken form, is

perhaps the easiest in the world to learn and recall. Once the alphabet is

learned, there is just one major step to take in gaining access to the Sanskrit

language: learning the case and tense endings. The endings are what make

Sanskrit a language of math-like precision. By the endings added onto nouns or

verbs, there is an obvious determination of the precise interrelationship of

words describing activity of persons and things in time and space, regardless

of word order. Essentially, the

endings constitute the software or basic program of the Sanskrit language.

 

The rigor of learning the case endings is precisely the reason why many stop in

their pursuit of Sanskrit. Yet by an effective immersion method, fluent reading

of the Devanagari script, accurate pronunciation, and the inputting of the case

and tense endings can easily be accomplished. Such a method must take advantage

of the fact that Sanskrit grammar is structured by precise patterns, and once a

pattern has been noted it is a simple exercise to recognize all the individual

instances that fit the pattern; rather than see the pattern after all the

individual instances have been learned. Color-coding provides a tremendous

support in this regard.

 

Learning the case endings through the chanting of basic pure sound combinations

in musical and rhythmic sequences is a way to overcome learning inhibitions,

attune to the root power of the Sanskrit language and access the natural

computer efficiency, speed and clarity of the mind.

 

Although learning Sanskrit in some ways presents challenges similar to those of

learning calculus or music, it also induces a lubrication and acceleration of

mental function that actually makes such a process exciting and enjoyable.

Perhaps the greatest immediate benefit of learning Sanskrit by this method is

that it requires participants to relinquish control, abandon prior learning

structures and come into a direct experience of the language.

 

The actual simplicity and enjoyment of the sounds of Sanskrit provides everyone

with an opportunity to teach a subject which is technically precise with

fluidity and ease. This tends to produce a complete reversal of the inhibiting

competitive environment in which most life education traditionally took place,

by creating an atmosphere in which mutual support generates personal

breakthrough and vice-versa.

 

One thing is certain, Sanskrit will only become the planetary language when it

is taught in a way which is exciting and enjoyable. Furthermore it must address

individual learning inhibitions with clarity and compassion in a setting, which

encourages everyone to step forth, take risks, make mistakes and learn. Already

we have outstanding examples of this approach in the work of teachers such as

Jaime Escalante, whose remarkable achievements in teaching advanced calculus to

underprivileged high school students in East Los Angeles were featured in the

Academy Award nominated movie, "Stand and Deliver."

 

Another hope for the return of Sanskrit lies in computers. Sanskrit and

computers are a perfect fit. The precision play of Sanskrit with computer tools

will awaken the capacity in human beings to utilize their innate higher mental

faculty with a momentum that would inevitably transform the world. In fact the

mere learning of Sanskrit by large numbers of people in itself represents a

quantum leap in consciousness, not to mention the rich endowment it will

provide in the arena of future communication.

 

Sanskrit has always inspired the hearts, mind and souls of wise people. The

great German scholar Max Muller, who did more than anyone to introduce Sanskrit

to the West in the latter part of the 19th century, contended that without a

knowledge of the language (Sanskrit), literature, art, religion and philosophy

of India, a liberal education could hardly be complete -- India being the

intellectual and spiritual ancestor of the race, historically and through

Sanskrit.

 

Max Muller also pointed out that Sanskrit provides perfect examples of the unity

and foundation it offers to the Celtic, Teutonic, Slavonic, Germanic and

Anglo-Saxon languages, not to mention its influence on Asian languages. The

transmission of Buddhism to Asia can be attributed largely to the appeal to

Sanskrit. Even in translation the works of Sanskrit evoked the supreme

admiration of Western poets and philosophers like Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau,

Melville, Goethe, Schlegel and Schopenhauer.

 

The fact is that Sanskrit is more deeply interwoven into the fabric of the

collective world consciousness than anyone perhaps knows. After many thousands

of years, Sanskrit still lives with a vitality that can breathe life, restore

unity and inspire peace on our tired and troubled planet. It is a sacred gift,

an opportunity. The future could be very bright.

 

 

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