संस्कृतस्य महता (The Grandeur of Sanskrit)

 

One of my most favourite extracts from the classic 'Autobiography of a Yogi', 2nd ed. (18th Reprint), fn. in Pg. 17, 18 –

The Sanskrit alphabet, ideally constructed, consists of fifty letters each one carrying a fixed invariable pronunciation. George Bernard Shaw wrote a wise, and of course witty, essay on the phonetic inadequacy of the Latin-based English alphabet, in which twenty-six letters struggle unsuccessfully to bear the burden of sound. With his customary ruthlessness ("If the introduction of an English alphabet for the English language costs a civil war......I shall not grudge it"), Mr. Shaw urges the adoption of a new alphabet with forty- two characters (see his preface to Wilson's The Miraculous Birth of Language). Such an alphabet would approximate the phonetic perfection of the Sanskrit, whose use of fifty letters prevents mispronunciations.

The discovery of seals in the Indus Valley is leading a number of scholars to abandon the current theory that India "borrowed" her Sanskrit alphabet from Semitic sources. A few great Hindu cities have been recently unearthed at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, affording proof of an eminent culture that "must have had a long antecedent history on the soil of India, taking us back to an age that can only be dimly surmised". (Sir John Marshall, Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization, 1931).

If the Hindu theory of the extremely great antiquity of civilized man on the planet is correct, it becomes possible to explain why the world's most ancient tongue, Sanskrit, is also the most perfect. "The Sanskrit language," said Sir William Jones, founder of the Asiatic Society, "whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either."

"Since the revival of classical learning," theEncyclopedia Americana states, "there has been no other event in the history of culture as important as the discovery of Sanskrit (by Western scholars) in the latter part of the eighteen century. Linguistic science, comparative grammar, comparative mythology, the science of religion . . . either owe their very existence to the discovery of Sanskrit or were profoundly influenced by its study."

-Paramahansa Yogananda.

·         Forbes magazine brought out from the U.S. had published a report in its issue of   July 1987 that of the languages in the world, Sanskrit is most suitable for computer software, which means that is is most useful for modern technology. Therefore, when Western scientists and technologists say that Sanskrit will fill the bill as a scientific language, doubting Thomases must give up their imaginary misgivings and accept the reality as it is.

·         The greatness, magnificence and beauty, glory and grandeur of Sanskrit has perhaps not been described better than by Sri Aurobindo, one of the greatest Rishis and Yogis of Modern India- "The ancient and classical creations of the Sanskrit tongue, both in quality and in body and in 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 first rank among the world's great literatures. The language itself, as has been universally recognized by those competent to form a judgement, 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."

·         The NASA Ames Research Center, California,US, have discovered that Sanskrit, the world's oldest spiritual language, is the only unambiguous spoken language on the planet!

In his article 'Sanskrit & Artificial Intelligence', eminent NASA Scientist, Rick Briggs has said- "Among the accomplishments of the great Sanskrit 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 (AI)." The discovery by NASA about the multiple uses of Sanskrit language for computer processing in the realm of AI is of monumental significance.

·         Dick Teresi, in his book Lost Discoveries - the Ancient Roots of Modern Science reveals the fact that even several thousands of years before Aristotle, the Vedas had declared that the earth was round and it revolved around the Sun. The hymns also mention that the Sun is the centre of the Solar System and that the earth is held in Space by the Sun. Even 2000 years before Pythagoras, the Vedas had declared that the Solar system was held together by the gravitational pull. The knowledge about the gravitational pull found in the Vedas was twenty-four centuries before Newton discovered the laws of gravity!

·         On Upanishads, Max Muller remarked, 'The Upanishads are the sources of Vedanta philosophy, a system in which human speculation seems to me to have reached its very acme.' Schopenhauer remarked, 'In the whole world, there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. They are the products of the highest wisdom.'

·         The Vaimaanika Shastra (a part of Yantra Sarvasva by Maharishi Bharadwaja), Agastya Samhita (by Agastya), Samarangana Sutradhara, Mayamata (by architect Maya), Yuktikalpataru (by Bhoja) and many other classics give detailed geometrical diagrams, references and descriptions of flying machines/airships called 'Vimanas' which were later used by Germans to make their own missiles & satellites.

(http://scienceinvedas.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/air-planes-in-rig-veda/)

For e.g. - Bharadwaja says, " In the functioning of the vimaana, there are 7 distinct operating forces-udgamaa, panjaraa, sooryashaktyapa-karshinee (extracts solar power), parashaktyaakarshinee (extracts opposite forces), a set of 12 shaktis or forces, kuntinee, and moolashakti or primary force. At set spots in the vimaana, the motors which produce these 7 powers should be installed, duly wired and equipped with springs and wheels, as prescribed.The seven kinds of powers which are required for the Vimaana are produced by 7 motors which are named tundila, panjara, amshupa, apakarshaka, saandhaanika, daarpanika and shaktiprasavaka.

The tundilaa produces udgamaa shakti, panjara produces the panjara shakti, shaktipa produces the power which sucks solar power, apakarshaka produces the power which plucks the power of alien planes, sandhana yantra produces the group of 12 forces, darpanika produces kuntinee shakti, and shakti-prasava yantra produces the main motive power."

David Childress, in his book 'Vimana Aircraft of Ancient India & Atlantis', provides many reports, both recent and from the last few hundred years, that describe eye witness accounts of encounters with UFOs that are no different in size and shape than those described in these ancient Vedic texts.

·         Julius Robert Oppenheimer called the Shrimad Bhagvad Gita “the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue.” He said: "Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries."

(Source: India as a Creative Civilization - By N. S. Rajaram)

·         Sanskrit Dictionary- World's greatest/biggest work in lexicography-(by Deccan College, Pune) is in the process of completion-

     http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/08/sanskrit-dictionary-biggest-work-in.html

·         Here is a lesser-known legend which would further testify how rich and luxuriant Samskritam as a language is- 

King Bhoja was having a competition as usual, where he gives a puzzle-like challenge to the poets of his assembly to be solved within a specified period of time, mostly with the requirement that there is a composition of a verse or poem in the process. One day he declared: I will give you the fourth (last) line of a four-line verse; the challenge for you is to complete the verse most appropriately by filling in the remaining lines of the verse. And the fourth line that he gave was the following: 

ambodhir-jaladhih-payodhir-udadhir-vaaraannidhir-vaaridhih.

The funny (riddle) part of this proposition is that there are six words in this line of verse, but they all mean the same, namely, ‘ocean’The poets of the assembly including Kalidasa dispersed for the day carrying the uneasy burden of this nonsensical-like challenge which required to fill three lines of a verse which in its fourth line did nothing but to repeat the word ‘ocean’ six times. Naturally, all except Kalidasa failed to bring back any worthwhile composition the next day when the assembly reconvened. But Kalidasa brought a delightful verse which not only filled the King’s requirement of poetry but also had an enjoyable imagery involving Lord Shiva and Ganga on his head. The verse composed by Kalidasa ran thus:

ambaa kupyati taata gahane gangeyam utsrjyataam,

vidvan shhanmukha kaa gatirmamashiras-yaavac-ciraat-aadhrtaat, kopaaveshhaad-asheshha-vadanaih pratyuttaram dattavaan,

ambodhir-jaladhih-payodhir-udadhir-vaaraanidhir-vaaridhih

Subrahmanya, the little son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, goes and complains to his father. ‘Father, please get rid of this Ganga on your head, Mother is very much upset about it’. The Father replies, ‘Oh Six-headed One (Shanmukha), where shall I ask her to go? She has been living on my head for long. ‘The six-headed son is angry beyond bounds. He replies in that angry mood. In fact each of his six heads in succession shoots off the same reply (but in six different Sanskrit words!): Ocean, ocean, ocean, ocean, ocean, ocean!’

(N.B- The authorship is not known, but usually it is ascribed to Kalidasa, probably due to the ingenuity built into it!)