27
January 2014
[On
the 3rd day of the Aatma Tattva Sameeksha Discourse Series
based on Ashtavakra Samhita in Thrissur, Kerala.]
based on Ashtavakra Samhita in Thrissur, Kerala.]
It is our literary
creations like Ashtavakra Samhita, that represent India’s culture more than any
physical remnants in our country.
It is because the
Vedas, Upanishads and allied scriptural compositions were composed in the
scientific and refined Sanskrit language that we are still able to read and
understand them with the same clarity, meaning and force, with which they were
written ages ago. That is why Sanskrit is named Devanagari, something
extraordinary and supraworldly!
All the sounds and
words arising from the human mouth have been codified and sequentially arranged
to form the string of alphabets in Sanskrit language. The manner of blending,
like milk and water, the hard-soft, and soft-hard consonants in Sanskrit, is
extraordinary and extremely interesting. Sanskrit language, which has been
reigning for countless millennia without any mutilation or decay, is vibrantly alive
even today. To think of it as a dead
language even in dream would only be sheer ignorance downgrading oneself.
Sanskrit was the
official language in our country, years ago, just as in a way, Hindi and
English are today. Sanskrit was the means of communication between the Kings
and Rulers of the different regional cultures and languages in our
country. Yes, it was the inter-kingdom
and inter-regional language of India.
The manner in which
British Rulers plucked out Sanskrit from the midst of our people and thrust
their English was a governing policy, to entrench themselves in our land.
Mandarin, which is
their common language, is the main strength of unity among the people of China,
which has a population more than India’s.
We are happy that
we have imbibed English language so well.
But we cannot agree to let our own Sanskrit, the backbone of our culture
and traditions, be dislodged from amongst us.
Sanskrit language
is rich in words, expressions, ideas, view points, subtle meanings, scientific
outlook and in such other aspects.
Any language can
survive long only if its constituents and core are preserved carefully. We
should have extreme alacrity in preserving the clarity of pronunciation, the
rules of conjuncting words and letters, care and attention in choice of words,
attention to formation of sentences, above all adherence to grammar.
Teachers of
language and the audio-visual media must pay particular attention to this.
Our debt to
Sanskrit language and Sanskrit culture, will be repaid only when we are able to
build a cultural city somewhere in India, with all modern amenities, where at
least about two lakhs of people who speak Sanskrit and communicate in Sanskrit
in the country can live together and conduct their affairs in Sanskrit, and
thus re-establish Sanskrit as the official language there!
Children, there,
will learn Sanskrit in a natural way as their mother-tongue. In due course a
Sanskrit University should materialize there.
People there
should be able to study ancient Sanskrit texts and also produce contemporary
Sanskrit Literature, Poetry, Dramas and hold competitions that will draw
worldwide attention. The contemplated City of Sanskrit should be built and
developed facilitating these objectives.
If the lovers of
Sanskrit and the Government of India begin to contemplate on these lines, that
would be the greatest tribute to their cultural patriotism and allegiance.
* * *
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