English
Date: 13 March 2024
Speaker: HG Tulsi Vallabh Prabhu Ji
Topic: Importance of learning Sanskrit.
HG Tulsi Vallabh Prabhu Ji:
I want to welcome all of you. By the mercy of Guru Maharaj, I want to inform you all that I am working on the project of Gurukul from past four years. We used to live in Vrindavan and we are going to open a gurukul on the bank of Yamuna River shortly. We will teach Sanskrit to the
children. Because by learning in Sanskrit one becomes civilized. Maharshi Panini has said:
sarvesam bhasanam janani sanakritameva
Sanskrit is the mother of all language. By speaking in Sanskrit, one becomes civilized. We were going with Guru Maharaj in Japa Walk. It is the desire of Guru Maharaj to help others learn Sanskrit. Gurumaharaj himself speaks in Sanskrit to people like me who speak Sanskrit. He dids, so that scholar can be progress.
Idanim asmakam gurukulasya vishye kinchit vartalapam prachalati Agre vayam gurukulam sthapyamah vrindavane kutrchit
There is some conversation going on about our Gurukula right now. Next, we will establish a Gurukula somewhere in Vrindavan.
Visheshu Sarvatreshu faleshu sanskritsya samprasaranam kuru
evam shastranam pracharanam prasarnam kuru
Spread the subject matter of Sanskrit and preaching of the scriptures everywhere in this
world. This is the instruction of Guru Maharaj.
I want to discuss the project of Gurukula with all of you. Its name will be ‘Harinilyam’. It will be in Sri Dham Vrindavan. Many academic peoples are connected in that Gurukul. Mainly, I will be teaching at this school in collabration with National Open School. We will be conducted the ‘Gurukulam curriculum’ Subject matter, that is given by National Open School. I want to tell to the guardian especially and I request them to note down all the points. I will also provide my mobile no. in the end. There will be two Curricular activities. There will be general subjects, like history, geography, Mathematics, English etc and 2 hrs of Sanskrit, Sanskrit Grammer and recitation of shastras. And another course will be ‘Gurukulam Curriculum’ which is strictly based on Sanskrit education which includes Shastras and Vedas.
There will be the education scheme like inter, Graduation and postgraduation exactly provided by other Sanskrit Universities. There are many aids and projects of the central government to pursue higher education in Sanskrit. There are a lot of opportunities to pursue the higher
education in Sanskrit at a very nominal cost. Our entire syllabus will be in Sanskrit. There will be the second categories of students who will choose Sanskrit further and they can also keep a subject like computer science, Hindi and mathematics as an optional subject. English, Hindi
and Sanskrit will be the main languages. Our entire syllabus will be in Sanskrit.
Tatra asmakam gurukule sarve chhatrah sanskritenev vartalapam karishye There, in our Gurukul. All the students will converse in Sanskrit. Everyone will speak in Sanskrit in school premises which children pick up very fast. yaya bhasyate sa bhasa, In which we can talk is Language. Children adapt easily. So, we will teach and converse with them in Sanskrit only. They will be our future and they will nourish our culture.
There is also a video of Srila Prabhupada where Srila Prabhupada was teaching the Sanskrit alphabets on a chalk board to his western disciples in Krishna Balaram Temple, under the Tamal tree in the courtyard. There is video of it on Youtube. It was his intense desire to teach Sanskrit. He has translated bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, many poems’ forms in prose form hence simplifying it. Puranas and Upanishad are in Poetry form. This is not an easy task to understand the matter in poetry form in Sanskrit for a normal person. Because there issubject, object and verbs are in different places. To simplifying it, they are translated in prose form. We say a sentence ‘ Shushk taru var purut viraje’. This is in the poetry form. The same sentence in prose form will be: Mam grihasya samukkhe puratah shushkah vrikshah virajate.
There is a dry tree in front of my house. This is understandable for all. We will teach this to the children. You can give any shloka from our scripture like, Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Sakndha Puran, Vishnu Puran, they will translate it in prose form very easily. When children will learn grammar, they will be able to do all this. They can teach and peach others and there will be self-benefit as well.
I have been engaged in this service 4 plus years. Guru Maharaj has a great affection with Sanskrit. Guru Maharaj always travels with Sanskrit speaker. I have travelled with him too. So, he can converse in Sanskrit. We are trying to convert the desire of Guru Maharaj in reality. So please take part in this initiative. This is not my project. This is the desire of our Guru Maharaj. I will be doing a presentation soon on this. You can see the Curriculum online on NIOS. One who will graduate from here will be able to read commentaries of Sridhar Swami and other Sanskrit books.
Srila Prabhupada Said I have split these words so that some of you can read and teach in the prose for then you will remember verses better. There will be thousands of Gurus in Iskcon. It means there can be thousands of scholar in Iskcon to preach. You should read and understand
the scriptures.
Some days ago, we were announcing the same and when I was saying that Prabhupada had a keen desire to teach Sanskrit in Iskcon. Guru Maharaj stopped me and said it is also my desire. Scriptures say that “Shishyast vijaynstat guroh bhajan vikramat”. The fame of a disciple is not
because of his own hard-work, it’s the strength of sadhna of his Spiritual Master.
Action become service when action meets with the holy name and the association of Vaishnavas. Any work done on the basis of devotion becomes successful without any effort. It is said by Srila Vyasdeva in the greatness of Srimad Bhagavatam. Narad Muni is saying to Bhakti
devi If you call then lord doesn't hesitate to come even to fallen souls. Krishna is bound to come.
Any work can be fulfilled by the association and mercy of Vaishnavas. So, please join in this project. I want to dedicate it to him. He will be very happy, when he will see children reading and learning in Sanskrit. Chemistry, physics, these terms are 300 years old, but the terms used
in Sanskrit eternally, like the lord.
SB 2.9.33:
aham evāsam evāgre
nānyad yat sad-asat param
paścād ahaṁ yad etac ca
yo ’vaśiṣyeta so ’smy aham
Translation:
Brahmā, it is I, the Personality of Godhead, who was existing before the creation, when there was nothing but Myself. Nor was there the material nature, the cause of this creation. That which you see now is also I, the Personality of Godhead, and after annihilation what remains will also be I, the Personality of Godhead.
Krishna’s words are also eternal. I will give an example. If you will look at all the words in an encyclopaedia, there is 32 lakhs words in any language. But Sanskrit has 250 crore words. You have listened about verb. One verb has two or three meaning. One verb is ‘lay’; he is laying on the sofa and the bird is under laying. One word has different meaning. But there will be no word of Sanskrit used for two or more actions. One another word is ‘Aatma’. There are three words to describe Aatma or soul in Sanskrit; Aadhakshane, asvubhi and atibhakshane.
Without knowing Sanskrit, we cannot understand tattva deeply by only reading translations. Language has no age. Why did Srila Sanatana Goswami, Rupa Goswami and all wrote in Sanskrit whereas they belong to Bengal? If he wrote in Bengali how could Vallabha Acharya who was from Gujarat could understand. language is the representative of our emotions. Also, there are more vocabulary in Sanskrit. The word ‘Prarabdh’, it has translation in Sanskrit as Aprarabdh, Kriymand prarabdh, Sanchit prarabdh. One word has different bifurcation. We assume that children in English medium are smarter. One who is well-versed in Sanskrit can learn good English in three months. I don’t know about science, but there are in scriptures, it is told to how to make bronze metal in just two shlokas and that is with amount of proportionate of all metals.
There will be nominal cost in our Gurukul. Two meals will be provided. We will maintain basic curriculum. We have taught many children who have never been to school like home schooling. If they can prepare and appear for the 8th grade, then they will get certificate and he can study in any institution. What satisfaction I have received from studying Sanskrit is unparalleled. It increases your brain capacity. There are people who have memorised all verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita. and one who learns Sanskrit will, one day study scriptures. One who reads English read Bible. In English we learn useless rhymes, like rain! Rain! Go away!
But in Sanskrit rhymes are nothing but glorification of various deities. Sanskrit makes civilization. Teach this verse to children.
You don't have to teach him to avoid criticism. If he sees someone criticises, then this verse will come to his mind.
Gokarn Gita:
dharmaṃ satataṃ bhajasva; loka-dharmān tyaja;
sādhupuruṣān sevasva; kāma-tṛṣṇām jahi;
anyasya doṣa-guṇa-cintanaṃ āśu muktvā,
aho sevā-kathā-rasaṃ tvam nitarāṃ piba
Always practice religious principles, abandon the religious principles of this world, and serve the saintly persons, and give up lust and craving.
Quickly stop thinking about the faults and virtues of others and constantly drink the taste of the story of Lord Viṣṇu.
There are various applications. I would be able to teach Patanjali yoga sutras to yoga students in the west just because I can read Sanskrit. I have no other learning in this fields. We will teach kids from 6 to 17 years. They can do further studies or even teach.
My name is Tulasi Vallabha Das and 8670804405 is my contact Number. Please join and support this project.
Hare Krishna!
