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EDITORIAL  Sanskrit - Language Of The Gods VNN EDITORIAL, Jun 19 (VNN) — Sanskrit is the common language of the Hindu Scriptures. It is the oldest language in the world. It is the language of the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranas. Sanskrit literature is easily the richest literature in the history of mankind. The word Sanskrit literally means "Perfected Language" or "Language brought to formal perfection". This is quite an appropriate name since NASA declared it to be "the only unambiguous language on the planet". Sanskrit is a scientific and systematic language. Its grammar is perfect and has attracted scholars worldwide. Recently well-known linguists and computer-scientists have expressed the opinion that Sanskrit is the best language for use with computers. Sanskrit has a perfect grammar which has been explained to us by the world's greatest grammarian Panini. Sanskrit is also the mother of all indo-european languages and the big sister of Greek and Latin. It is the origin of all the Indian languages. The Sanskrit alphabet is called "devanagari" and literally means "cities of the gods". Rishis discovered Sanskrit and used it to create the mantras. These mantras were made up of a combination of sound vibrations, which when recited had a specific effect on the mind and the psyche. In the times of the Rishis, the main aim was to attain the truth, and what better medium than Sanskrit - the perfect tool. Due to its specificity and purity this seemed the best language with which to understand God's creation and as such is called "the great spiritual language of the world" (Joseph Campbell). Until 1100AD Sanskrit was without interruption the official language of the whole of India. The dominance of Sanskrit is indicated by the wealth of literature of widely diverse genres including religious and philosophical, fiction, scientific literature to include mathematics, linguistics, astronomy, medicine and politics. Max Muller, the great German scholar (and probably the greatest advocate for Sanskrit in the West) concluded that without knowledge of Sanskrit a liberal education would hardly be complete-India being the intellectual and spiritual ancestor of the race, historically and through Sanskrit. Even in translation the works of Sanskrit have evoked the supreme admiration of Western poets and philosophers like Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, Melville, Goethe, Schlegel, and Schopenhauer. Dead Language? There are at least a dozen periodicals published in Sanskrit, all-India radio news broadcasts in Sanskrit, television shows and feature length 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. The famous Gayatri Mantra is on the lips of millions of Indians every morning. Sanskrit is not dead; Sanskrit is alive and well. From: www.cuhcs.org.uk Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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