Sanskrit
A
Language of Consciousness
2
In the previous article I had discussed
about the vastness, versatility, elaborateness and creativity of Sanskrit. There
I have mentioned that this Language is a perfect tool for an integral spiritual
growth. Indeed, it is true that Sanskrit has a tremendous power to uplift and
enlighten and illumine. The Divineness of Sanskrit is self-evident. Sanskrit is
a language which is intuitively metaphysical and revealingly poetic, subtle and
suggestive, symbolic and figurative. This language has been evolved and
perfected in the Vedas and Upanishads. It is a language of Mantra, ‘a word of
power, of illumination, of light’. It is the language which has come in the
form of Mantra “…out of the secret depths of our being where it has been
brooded upon by a deeper consciousness than the mental, framed in the heart and
not constructed by the intellect, held in the mind, again concentrated on by
the waking mental consciousness and thrown out silently or vocally – the silent
word is perhaps held to be more potent than the spoken – precisely for the work
of creation. The mantra can not only create new subjective states in ourselves,
alter our psychical being, reveal knowledge and faculties we did not before
possess, can not only produce similar results in other minds than that of the
user, but can produce vibrations in the mental and vital atmosphere which
result in effects, in actions and even in the production of material forms on
the physical plane.” (Sri Aurobindo, The
Upanishads, Page: 125) Thus Sanskrit is a living and conscious
Force, an entity that has directly come from the highest source, and is capable
of conveying infinitely more than what the surface sense of language seems to
indicate. It is not any man-made invention or mere tool for communication, but
a revelation. It is much more than merely a meaning or a sound or a sound
devoid of deeper sense other than that attributed by convention. It is a living
and creative mode of power.
The resonating power and vibrational
purity of Sanskrit make it a perfect instrument for an integral spiritual
growth. Its very name Samskritam means ‘polished’, ‘refined’, ‘sculpted to
perfection’. The physical structure of the language is flawless. Its
construction follows an organic and logical development. In Sanskrit all the
sounds are articulated through five distinct places of articulation located in
the mouth: throat, palate, cerebrum, root of the upper teeth, and lips. On the
basis of this the sounds are either guttural or palatal or cerebral or dental
or labial. Though the letters of one group are pronounced from one position yet
each sound of that group differs from the other because of its internal
efforts. For example: ka, kha, ga, gha and nga belong to the guttural group.
Here ka is a hard unvoiced consonant with minimum breath, kha is also hard and
unvoiced but it is pronounced with maximum breath; ga is soft and voiced with
minimum breath but gha is soft and voiced with maximum breath; nga is the last
sound in the group which is soft and voiced but nasal. For this sound the
breath gets released through nostrils and the mouth. The arrangement of the
rest of the consonants in the Sanskrit alphabet follows the same order. The
importance of this scientific organization lies in the degree of resonance
created by each sound. Thus, the sounds of Sanskrit are amazingly capable of
bringing clarity of articulation.
The mere speaking of or listening to
the sounds of Sanskrit generates joy, clarity and inspiration. It has a
refining influence on one’s consciousness. By a conscious use of this language
one gets the result of doing Pranayama. Thus, Sanskrit, with its power of great
resonance is highly powerful and potent for creating a happy and peaceful
atmosphere in and around the one who uses it consciously.
Dr. Sampadananda Mishra
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