SANSKRIT MUST BE POPULARISED (UNFINISHED)

The study of Sanskrit must be encouraged and sponsored by the government, business houses and financial institutions in the bid to preserve and propagate our continuing spiritual culture. The very sound of the Sanskrit mantras and the verses awakens resonant vibrations within the system and it can only conduce to our good to receive all the linguistic, literary and cultural benefits of learning the language, not to mention the spiritual efflorescence of our countrymen that will be the most significant gain from the study. We must as a nation rise above petty politics over this significant issue that is fundamental to the future awakening of India and holds the key to our moorings in our spiritual antiquity. Sanskrit is the mother of most of the languages of India and its study will also help flourish these languages. However, the most significant result that we may expect from the study of Sanskrit is that our people, now fascinated by Western civilisation and enamoured enough to imitate the foreign ways by desertion of the home culture, will recover roots for a fresh homecoming. And what a wonderful comeback it will be! Once more will Kalidas resound in universities and schools everywhere, once more will Aryabhatta and Bhaskaracharya be studied in the original. The Vedanta in all its phases will be the common property of the populace and with it will divisions between man and man cease, castes disappear into their Portuguese habitats and the Varnashrama dharma will be resurrected shorn of its current corruptions. Once more will culture sublime and pristine pure shine among the citizenry making the common man conscious of his divine inheritance along lines of inspired reverence and not on the basis of a vengeful attitude induced by the false philosophy of the material sameness of man.

Where does the common man fit in this scheme of a massive linguistic overhauling of our national academic system? Well, he is the focus of all these prospective developments and he is the one who is the principal player in this revolutionary transformation too. The common man must take it upon himself to learn Sanskrit just as he does so with other subjects of vocational or professional training and this he must do inspired by the ideal of a national renaissance that will come in its wake. Individual effort everywhere will force the government eventually to create infrastructure for the rapid diffusion of the study of Sanskrit throughout the length and breadth of India. Thus will be realised the significant networking that yet needs to be done to lend cultural continuity to the country which has now for over a thousand years not breathed freely consequent on foreign occupation and imposition of foreign culture thereof.

What the country today lacks in every sphere is character. What little of character we see as manifested is in the lives of monks and nuns well-versed in Sanskrit. It is these that still uphold the spiritual culture of the country and effectively maintain the cultural continuum.