Sanskrit – language of the divine!

It's day two of the intensive course on Sanskrit I am attending and it’s already a bit of knowledge overload on me as I am a very slow learner when it comes to languages – someone, who can well and truly be called a laggard!

Our guru is very diligent and patient as he tries his best to break the monotony that some of us find ourselves in a class of thirty comprising of pupils from practically all over the world – from the Americas to Europe and of course from across the length and breadth of India.

Per guruji, most ancient languages such as Sanksrit, Tamil, Latin, Greek, etc. are derived languages from a mother of all languages and it’s very difficult to say, which is the mother of all the world languages. Further, guruji said that as per Sri Aurobindo, old Sanskrit (language that was before the classical and epic Sanskrit in which the Ved, the Bhagwad Gita, et al were written) is also known as the “Dev Bhasha” and it is this that is the mother of all world languages – nevertheless, this is still a disputed fact.

During the course of the day, guruji explained that as opposed to most other languages of the world where passive speech is not practiced, in Sanskrit, it’s normal to have passive speech – further, he said that most of activities done by one, is described in Sanskrit as those that are done through them rather than by the person doing them. Unlike this, most other world languages maintain that it’s the individual that performs all the actions undertaken by them.

This led me to explore this a bit more. If in Sanskrit, it’s normal to have majority of sentence formations to happen in passive voice, as if the action is being performed through the person rather than by the person, then the only way this can be presumed to be true is when instead of the actual doer, that is the person performing the action, it is the divine that is conducting the activity through the person. In other words, this means that Sanskrit presumes that the divine performs all activities conducted by the humans – a fact that's also revealed in the Bhagwad Gita by Lord Krishn to Arjun. Whereas, it's just the opposite that is practiced in all other world languages where passive speech is avoided actively. This also explains, albeit empirically and am sure for some of you in lesser ways the lack of acceptance of passive voice in most other languages. Perhaps, this is the evidence which further strengthens the claim that Sanskrit's old form is the “Dev Bhasha”, language of the divine and the mother of all other world languages – a language in which the divine conversed and hence it underplayed the effect of ‘aham’ or ‘individuality’ or the ‘ego’ and rather underscored the divine force that leads us all to perform a particular action. However, with the corresponding decline of divinity in humans over the ages and with the rise of ‘aham’ or ‘individuality’ or the ‘ego’, concepts that have become the cornerstone of modern living, concepts that have become the driving force leading to thriving of newer languages all around the world – these newer languages, therefore, give more importance to the physical doer than the divine force that conducts all actions through each of us. With this paradigm shift in human outlook from divinity to ‘aham’ or ‘individuality’ or the ‘ego’, set-in rise of other world languages and the eventual decline of Sanskrit to it’s current state. Strangely, the steepest decline in Sanskrit's to it's current state of penury also occurred in the last  150-200 years in a more pronounced manner, a period when human growth and development – read as greed, ‘aham’ or ‘individuality’ or the ‘ego’ – took to newer heights or so it seems to us!

Therefore, it’s time we realize this and act earnestly to arrest any further decline of “Dev Bhasha”, Sanskrit by embracing it in each and every aspect of our lives and revive it to bring back to glory the divinity that’s dimming from our world with each passing day.

Aap…eh who?

It’s been a year since I wrote last on aap…oh, no no, not on or about you, I meant the dead, yet un-dead party called AAP. I have not got a single answer the questions last year’s piece threw up – in fact, there are more questions added to the list over the last one year, but never mind because as usual they won’t be answered! Here is the link to the last piece I wrote on AAP last year January – http://vikasmukundan.blogspot.in/2014/01/whats-cooking-aap.html and on Facebook notes: https://www.facebook.com/notes/vikas-mukundan/whats-cooking-aap/10153729338080304.

Now now, did I hear someone say how can I call it a dead, yet un-dead party? I call them this because I find it as a party that is led by a master zombie and followed by an army of zombies called the AAPtards! Why a zombie? A zombie, as we all know is a corpse revived by witchcraft and whilst it shows signs of life, it definitely is dead – this is same case with AAP, it’s master and the followers – I say so because having met these AAPtards aka zombies who conjure up newer and newer arguments to support their master zombie in whatever faux pas the master may do and, just like a zombie, they go about following the lead zombie aimlessly!

Why do they do this? Lo behold and I came across a quote from Mark Twain and everything became crystal!

Twain said and I quote, “It’s easier to fool people than convince them that they have been fooled.”

How true!!

These AAPtards aka zombies fit the bill of the protagonist in the quote so very well! I wonder how is that Twain could see the AAPtards then, more than a hundred years back?! Of course no! AAPtards and their ilk have been there always and poor Twain also had the ignominy of facing them in his time and hence these pearls of wisdom came about!

It’s well over one full year and these zombies are yet unable to break-free from the spell of their master zombie! The answer to this too is very clear from what Twain says in this one liner that is loaded with wisdom any person with little common sense can read, comprehend and act upon. Alas, as they say common sense is very uncommon and hence, people continue to deny that they have been fooled and therefore to save their embarrassment of being fooled the first time, they choose to continue being fooled forever!

Can we expect them to wake up from the zombie spell and come back and accept their situation?

The Truth of Truth!

What is truth?

From early childhood, all of us have been given sermons that we should be telling the truth always – not just this, we have also been given to understand that truth will always prevail! Now now, that’s a bit too much and am sure none of us ever got into believing it, which is why we held back the truth, gave a different version of it or let out its half-cousin, fibbed, or told a downright lie with impunity! We did this in the past and will continue doing this till we hear the sermon yet again and say, “Damn! Not again!” Have we wondered why? Am sure, no one had the time to find the truth about truth!

Yesterday, while driving from somewhere to nowhere I ‘got the time’ to think about it. A random set of thoughts bunched together at first and then they unraveled themselves bringing clarity to me though it was quite a foggy day for the road I drove on. Perhaps it being January 1^st too had a role to play in it for the thoughts to trickle in I guess or if not, maybe I can add it here just for the effect! As some of you would have seen: I have already in this paragraph held back, gave a different version or let out a half-cousin of truth – all of it with impunity! But, hang on there is some truth too sprinkled around – believe me! :)

Can we separate the two – the truth and the lie and its cousins from the above paragraph? Ok, that shouldn’t be very difficult: ‘nowhere’, ‘got the time’, ‘January 1^st for effect’ are examples of holding back, presenting a different version or the half-cousin of truth! Rest of it is truth – I swear it is! :)

Why did I hold back, present a different version or the half-cousin of truth? Is it because, it’s harmless, so, I could care less about it…or is it because it has become a habit?

Looking at the person’s life in different stages we can get some answers – as an infant, s/he requires attention so s/he fibs crying or does things – guess that’s the first lesson we get in the art and here we get caught mostly but we are loved back for it! So, it endorses our action and thus fibbing perhaps becomes engrained in us as a trait!

As we grow up, things get more complicated we hold back and let out different versions of lie just to get around in life. We do so throughout our lives from simple things such as putting on a fake smile, to put on make-up, to keep-up-to-date in fashion all to convey something we are not! Further, we do it in serious aspects of our lives such as we continue in love-less relationships and we hold back love because we worry about the world all too much saying constantly to ourselves “what will they say/ think?” making us weaker and weaker till we submit to the lie and make it our life! Much worse, we commit crimes, we steal, we stash black money, we do worse things humans can possibly do – just for the false sense of security or power or whatever we say to ourselves to convince self to tell that or live that lie!

As we can see, the dish of human life in different stages is made of holding back, giving a different version or letting out its half-cousin, fibbing, or telling a downright lie with proportions of truths depending upon our strength. Strength that has not been weaned away yet by our constant onslaught on us with “what will they say/ think?”

Clearly, we can lie to everyone but ourselves – so, we know our truth regardless and therefore it will prevail! It need not prevail on the world – it will prevail on us eventually! And that’s the truth! There is nowhere we can hide from it while we may hide it from every one around us. Now, we know that truth will always prevail, don’t we?

Then why?

They say, saying the truth is liberating? It is! How true! Lets just try making a small beginning this New Year – added for effect :) – say a truth to yourself first than anyone else, you will feel lighter.

Just say it and you’ll know what I mean!