Swami Satyananda Saraswati: Sanskrit and Love

[Guest guest]

Swami Satyananda Saraswati: Sanskrit and Love

Try to come as close as possible with English language to the true

meaning of a text or mantra. There's even more in the Sanskrit that

we can't even speak. No, it is not about being a Sanskrit scholar.

If you study Sanskrit from the purview of intuitive understanding as

a sadhu, you will never become a Sanskrit scholar. You will become a

lover. This is the whole thing about being a lover, about falling in

love so deeply that you maintain the lover affair to maintain the

romance. It's just as exciting to you after 35 years as it is the

first day. And that's true with everything we do, whether it be a

personal relationship or relationship with God, and everything in

between. It's not hard to fall in love, but to stay there is the

mystery.

 

How do you maintain that love, that bhava? If you become a Sanskrit

scholar you would not necessarily become a lover. But if you become

a lover you will understand the meaning whether you're a Sanskrit

scholar or not. And the more you practice being the lovers, the more

we understand it's not about being technically correct. It's not

about being a walking dictionary. It's not about being able to

defeat others in debate. It's about being in love all the time, or

as much of the time as we can possibly keep ourselves in that bhava.

 

Whether we're digging holes or reading the Vedas, it's still the

same puja. It's the same demonstration of our love. And I believe

this whole sadhana is about maintaining the love affair. It's not

hard to get inspired, but to stay there takes some real sadhana. And

I'm sorry you who have been in relationships for longest periods can

tell us some the wisdom of that. It takes real sadhana to maintain

that love affair - to keep it fresh and alive and unique and

exciting - no to let it deplete, not let it dissipate, not let it

become a responsibility or a chore, or something we have to perform -

like I'm going to bribe God by singing some poetry.

 

No, it's about being the lover. And when you're the lover, then

you'll understand it. Not by being the scholar. Now if part of your

lover affair is demonstrating your love by studying more and more,

then it's not about being a scholar, it's about being a lover and

Sanskrit happens to be the medium that we're using in order to

maintain the attitude of the relationship -- in order to demonstrate

the privilege it is to be a lover. But it's definitely not about

being technically correct or not about studying grammar or

memorizing conjugations.

 

It is totally about the bliss of the love affair all the time - so

much as possible. The practices that we do are valuable only so far

as they keep reminding us what a privilege it is to be in love.