The Depth of Sanatana Dharma - Srirama - Part 2

Continuing from my earlier post, I want to spend some time on the Sanskrit language here. This is especially relevant today in the context of a Muslim professor being appointed to a specific post at Benaras Hindu University. There is a Twitter handle called @TIinexile which is the new handle of a guy who goes by the name True Indology. Paraphrasing what he said, in Sanskrit, the divine and the language are intertwined. Once you take away the divine, the language loses its essence, its beauty. This is a surefire way of killing it.

The depth of Sanatana Dharma, this whole topic, in fact is primarily due to this language. Look at the English language. I am not sure if anyone knows why the alphabets are arranged from A to Z. Sanskrit and its derivative Indian languages have a clear logic. This applies whether it is a North Indian or South Indian language. In fact, possibly South Indian languages have preserved features of Sanskrit better. Definitely, in my personal opinion, a South Indian poojari pronounces mantras much better than a North Indian one. The Hindi version of Sanskrit has to many halants. 

The language is a phonetic language. What we write is what we pronounce and vice versa. The alphabet starts with vowels which form the base sounds. Consonants do not have existence independent of the vowels. As we cross each varga - ka cha Ta ta pa, the sound moves from the back of the mouth to the lips. Thus there is a beauty and logic to the structure. 

The very alphabets are said to have been derived from the sound of Lord Siva's dhamarukam or damroo. 

Sanskrit also has the concept of beejaakSharaam (बीजाक्षरम्, బీజాక్షరము) or "seed letter". I do not have enough knowledge to elaborate on these. Further this is not a topic that must be publicly discussed. The base concept is that sound has power. This is the concept behind mantraas, and why they should not publicly broadcast or spoken. For that matter, one must not even utter these without proper initiation.There is the Sanskrit shloka shared by the PM some time back.

amantram akSharam naasti naasti moolam anauShadham

ayogyo purusho naasti yojakah tatra durlabhah

अमन्त्रम् अक्षरम् नास्ति नास्ति मूलम् अनौषधम् 

अयोग्यो पुरुषो नास्ति योजकः तत्र दुर्लभः

అమంత్రం అక్షరం నాస్తి నాస్తి మూలం అనౌషధం 

అయోగ్యో పురుషో నాస్తి యోజకః తత్ర దుర్లభః 

There is no letter (of the alphabet) that is not a mantra. There is no root that is not medicinal. There is no man (person) that is unworthy. However, it is extremely difficult to find the one that can put them to use.

 

Thus the presence of a lot of hidden meanings in Hindu literature is precisely because of Sanskrit. This is obvious in a way. There is a message that must be conveyed. Unless the medium offers that flexibility it is not possible for the message to have multiple meanings. 

Now, in any language there may be words with multiple meanings (if I remember what an old Guinness Book of World Records said, the word "set" in English has the maximum meanings). There are also multiple words to convey the same meaning (synonyms basically, fire, blaze, conflagration etc). What sets Sanskrit really apart is that the meaning of an entire sentence or shloka can change.

I will explain this with an example and get into the Ramayana in the next post.

References:

1. https://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/sanskrit_devanagari.htm
2. http://vadirajaacharya.blogspot.com/2006/06/making-anything-happen_03.html

The Depth of Sanatana Dharma - Srirama - Part 1

I have been thinking about writing on this topic for some time. Today seemed to be an especially good day to start this. 

Due to various reasons, many Indians, especially Hindus today have no idea about Sanatana Dharma, today known as Hinduism. Our education system is completely "secular". We have "educated", "modern" Indians who think it is wrong/are scared to be publicly religious or proud. I remember a relative telling me a story in an airport, possibly outside India. The guy was asked by the immigration officer whether he was a Hindu. He adamantly kept responding he was an Indian. 

We have people like Devdutt Pattnaik who write literally what they want in the name of Hinduism. We have the leftists who actively hate anything Hindu. I do not even want to get started about evangelicals and fundamentalists.

Hinduism is VAST in the scope of its literature. It is not dependent on one book or one prophet. The Vedas take precedence as the central texts. Everything else is ultimately based on what is said in the Vedas. Abrahamic religions do have underlying themes for which the outer words are allegorical. However, I am not sure how many followers are left who get these meanings. For example, there are certain sections of the Bible which mirror concepts in saamkhya (साम्ख्य​, సాంఖ్య) philosophy of Hinduism. This was revealed by a Hindu Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. He was the guru of Paramahamsa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. Islam has Sufism which mirrors some advaitic concepts. The song bulla ki jaana for example is an expression of the advaitic na iti (न इति, న ఇతి) concept. Hinduism says that every soul is divine. It states that every soul has the potential to reach the state of a Jesus or a Mohammed. Even (today's popular versions of) Christianity and Islam do not say so.

After at least 10 centuries of invasions, Hinduism still retains the knowledge of these hidden concepts. It is not for nothing that the actual name of Hinduism is sanaatana dharma (सनातन धर्म​, సనాతన ధర్మము). The first word means eternal. These are concepts that are timeless. Hence, Hindu texts cannot and should not be translated using just a dictionary. In some cases this can give wrong interpretations. This is the problem created by Devdutt Pattanaik, western Indologists etc. There are people like the Americans Dr David Frawley and Dr Robert Svoboda who understand this.

What is being given here is just a sample of the treasure trove that Hinduism has.Imagine how big a library on Hinduism would need to be.

1. Central texts are vedas, also called shrutis (श्रुति, శృతి). They were and are passed down by hearing. Also, these were heard by people called rishis in a state of consciousness you and I cannot even understand. They convey some ideas in a very brief format.
2. These concepts are elaborated upon by the puraanaas (पुराण​, పురాణము) so that the general public can understand concepts discovered by the rishis.
3. They are further simplified by the itihaasaas (इतिहास​, ఇతిహాసము). The term literally means, it so happened.
4. There are the vedaangaas which are needed to be learnt to translate the Vedas. These are shikSHa (शिक्षा, శిక్ష), vyaakaraNa (व्याकरण, వ్యాకరణము), chhandas (छन्दस्, ఛందస్సు), nirukta (निरुक्त, నిరుక్తము), jyotiSHa (ज्योतिष, జ్యోతిషము) and kalpa (कल्प, కల్పము).
5. We have the concept of yoga. Concepts in this have been elaborated upon by the sage Patanjali in his yoga sootraas.
6. The mantra shaastra (मन्त्र शास्त्र​, మంత్ర శాస్త్రము) explains the concepts and applications of mantraas which are basically dependent upon the power of sound and repetition.
7. Well know aayurveda is related to health
8. Concepts of scultpure, architecture, buildings etc. are covered in shilpashaastra, aagamashaastra and vaastushaastra.
9. Even the names of Hindu gods and goddesses have multiple layers of meanings to them.
10. There are explanations on why Hindu gods and goddesses are portrayed in specific ways.
11. There are specific meanings even to the items that they hold in their hands.

One word Hinduism uses to describe these underlying concepts and essence is tattva (तत्त्व​, తత్త్వము).

I started this post wanting to write about meanings of the name of Srirama. However, the introduction itself has taken up so much space that I will take this up in the next post.

References: Discourses by Sri Samavedam Shanmukha Sarma
Sanskrit transliteration: https://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/sanskrit_devanagari.htm