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शुक्रवार, 2 दिसंबर 2011

Actions so far

MOU with IGNOU -- pending with me
RSS -- sending proposal once again on 20 scholars -- pending with me
RSS -- another proposal for Jan seminar
Website -- giving to professionals
ONGC -- to send the proposal -- pending with me
RMVS -- proposal for SSA, Stickers, broture
back side of certificate -- pending with sujay
certificate printing -- arvind yadav
letter to AG and BS --pending with vrunda
Discussion with Bhau Chaskar, Vasanti Vaidya, Vijay Nagarkar-- pending with me

गुरुवार, 13 अक्तूबर 2011

इन्स्क्रीप्ट क्लास परीक्षा पद्धत-

इन्स्क्रीप्ट क्लास परीक्षा पद्धत-
उद्देश--परीक्षेमधे मुख्य भर संगणकावर इनस्क्रीप्ट पद्धतिने टायपिंगचे परीक्षण करण्यावर असेल.
संगणकाचे जुजबी ज्ञान तपासले जाइल.
स्वरुप- वेळ- ४५ मि. गुण-१००
टायपिंगसाठी-२० मि, (८०गुण)प्रत्येक मुलाला एक उतारा दिला जाईल.नंतर टायमर चा उपय़ोग करुन प्रत्येकाचा वेग तपासला जाईल.चुकिचा शब्द मोजला जाणार नाही. मार्क देण्याची पद्धत खालीलप्रमाणे-
१-५ प्र. मि.- २० गुण
५-१० प्र. मि- ४० गुण
१०-२० प्र. मि- ६० गुण
२० व अधिक- ८० गुण
संगणकाचे जुजबी ज्ञान-(२० गुण) लेखी परीक्षा
संगणकाच्या विविध भागांची माहिती.

शुक्रवार, 23 सितंबर 2011

Dr. Madhukar Anant Mehendale – A biographical sketch

Dr. Madhukar Anant Mehendale – A biographical sketch
Nearly seventy years back a family legend travelled from Deccan College (DC), Pune, to Navsari, then back to DC, then two interludes – one to Germany and other to USA – and back to DC, then to Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) Pune for nearly 25 years, and by this time the family legend had long since become a world-class legend. The Sanskrit lovers and Sanskrit scholars world over know Dr. Madhukar Anant Mehendale for his mammoth work on “Dictionary of Sanskrit on Historical Principles” and “Cultural Index of Mahabharata”, not to mention his work on Rock-Inscriptions and Avesta. A scholar in Veda & Epics, Nirukta and Historical Linguistics, he has written over a hundred articles in Sanskrit, English and Marathi and a few books.
Dr Mehendale was born on 14 Feb. 1918 in a small village Harsud in Nimar district of Madhya Pradesh where his father worked in a transferable job as a station master in GIP Railway. After he finished his primary schooling it was decided that for further education he should come to Vadodara (Baroda) to stay with his elder cousin. Here he completed his graduation from Baroda College in 1937 and came to Wilson College, Mumbai for post-graduation. He registered for his Doctoral degree at Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute , Pune under Prof. S.M.Katre. The topic for his thesis was “Historical Grammar of Inscriptional Prakrits” for which he obtained his doctorate in 1943. He maintained a first class record throughout. He received scholarship and Mandalik Prize while in Wilson College. His essay on a related topic for competition even won him Bhagwanlal Indraji gold-medal in 1943. His thesis was printed in book form in Deccan College Dissertation Series, in 1948 quickly followed by another book “Aśhokan inscriptions in India” also in 1948.

During this period he had also found a life-partner, Miss Kusum Kashinath Paralikar and had married on 14 Dec 1941. He was an advocate for reducing the jati-bhed and had taken a principled stand to marry outside the strict Kokanastha Brahmin community. On her part, Kusum belonged to a family following Gandhian principles, and insisted on a simple Khadi-clad ceremony without pomp and show. So this marriage had become a topic of discussion for some time. After marriage she completed her studies in Library Science and took up the job of Assistant Liabrarian in DC where she worked for nearly 20 years till her retirement in 1980. In due course of time they got 2 children who grew up to be Col. Pradip (now retired) and Dr. Ashok.
In Baroda Mehendales was a big family and known as a family of achievers but Dr. Madhukar was the first to get a doctoral degree and become the family legend. Soon he joined as Lecturer at Basaveshwar College Bagalkot (karnatak) but came in 1945 to SB Garda College Navsari (Gujrat) as a Professor in Sanskrit and worked there till 1951. He started writing scholarly articles on various topics relating to Vedas and other Sanskrit Granthas, a practice he has followed till date.
In 1951 he came back to DC as a Reader in Sanskrit and became Prof in 1958. He taught Sanskrit and Linguistics at the Pune Univ. and guided research Students. Soon thereafter he was invited as a visiting lecturer by the Goettingen University in Germany for the period 1952-54. Prof. E. Waldschmidt there was working at the instance of GOI to complete the unfinished work of the German scholar Heinrich Lüders on Prakrit Inscriptions. Prof. Waldschmidt was requested to work on the Barhut inscriptions found on the gateways of a Seventh century Buddhist stupa at Barhut, a village in Madhya Pradesh sometimes attributed to the kings of the Sunga Dynasty. These Inscriptions are in Brahmi Script. Prof Waldschmidt desired the assistance of Dr. Mehendale. Thus apart from teaching Indian Languages, Dr. Mehendale also assisted in the completion of the work of Barhut Inscriptions which was published in 1963 in the series Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. More editions are now published in 1998 in Multiple languages.

Coming back to DC, he continued his teaching profession, his arduous routine of self-study and his writings. In between, he received Senior Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship for 1957-58 and went to the Yale Univ in the USA where he studied “Ashwina- hymns”. Coming back once again to DC he continued to work as a teacher and published some more work. Between 1961 to 1980 he guided 12 Ph.D students. He received Maharashtra State Award for Univ. level Teachers in 1976. In 1973 he was entrusted with the additional responsibility of Joint General Editor of the Sanskrit Dictionary for which Prof. A. M. Ghatage was the chief editor. Dr. Mehendale gladly undertook the responsibility. Though he retired from his job as a professor in 1978, he continued to work on Project Dictionary till 1983 – that is till the age of 65.
“Dictionary of Sanskrit on Historical Principles” is a gigantic task. It was not just a compilation of words but had its own challenges out of which, as per the editors, two were most important. First, these words had been used over several millennia and had acquired different shades in different era. Hence the ability to go back to the Vedic period, to understand and fix the vedic meaning as a base and next to go on comparing its usage in different ages, was the challenge. Many commentaries of the old seers as well as of modern scholars had to be referred to. Only experts with a firm knowledge of Vedas and the classical Sanskrit, coupled with a vast reading of various available commentaries could guide such a work. Second, the Dictionary was being compiled in English language. How do you describe a word that has a complexity of its own in a different language and yet convey the nearest possible meaning? This was possible because of Dr Mehendale’s mastery over German and English languages too.
Working on the Dictionary Project, the Ghatage-Mehendale duo managed to get an output of nearly 300 oversized pages of text per year. They had a 40-scholar strong team who would compile the information but it had to stand to the scrutiny of Dr. Ghatage and Dr. Mehendale. Problems would be often referred to them and they would always provide an accurate insight. Publication of these Fascicules has given a definitive reputation to DC. The importance of nearly 4000 pages published by them can be understood from the fact that scholars have estimated this as only one-tenth to one-twentieth of the total work involved. Although the available manpower is now less and consequently the work has now fallen in speed, the DC has continued this prestigious project.
On retiring from Deccan College, Dr Mehendale was invited by Prof R.N. Dandekar to join Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) as Editor, “Epilogue of the Mahabharata” and later to work on its prestigious project of “Cultural index of Mahabharat”. By this time, BORI had completed the mammoth task undertaken by it earlier namely, Compilation of the Critical Edition of Mahabharat. BORI was now ready to look back at another great work done on Mahabharata, namely, “An index to the names in the Mahabharata” by Sorensen, the first edition of which was published in 1904. This was an index of names of all persons, mythological and human, appearing in Mahabharata. What was needed was to add the relevance and the role played by that person at that event in whose context his or her name appeared. For example, if the name Dhoumya appears in Aranyaparva, then it is important to add in the index that he was, as referred in that chapter, offering himself as the Purohit of Pandavas during their vanavas. This task was taken up by BORI and the work was entrusted to Dr. Mehendale, who worked untiringly for 25 years, as the Chief Editor of the Cultural Index of the Mahabharata. Very few people would know that he worked completely voluntarily without taking any honorarium, as did many a great scholars contributing their work to BORI. He was able to prepare material for Fascicules which are now the proud publication of BORI in the form of 2 Volumes (in 1997 and 2007 respectively) and 2 more Fascicules of the 3rd Volume. The first two volumes do not have the advantage of Sorensen’s compilation as these two volumes contain the index of names of inanimate objects and non-human characters such as ‘Meru Parvat’ or ‘Gandeeva’ or ‘Takshak’ whereas Sorensen’s work is restricted to personal names. The work on the the third volume is expansion on Sorensen’s work.
The list of published works of Dr Mehendale and the awards conferred on him is quite impressive. Capping them all, in 1990 he received President’s Certificate of Honour and in 1995, Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. P. V. Kane Gold Medal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay for his lifetime work. He Gave Memorial Lectures for 9 prestigious series, including Wilson Philological Lecture. He was conferred Academic Honours as President “Indian Linguistic” Session and “Vedic” at AIOC in 1955 and 1974 and President of BORI in 2007.
His book Madhu-Vidya brought out by Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology is a Collection of his articles, book reviews and essays on Vedic and Classical Sanskrit literature. The compilation has 8 sections. The section on Vedas has 35 articles, the Iranian section has 12, those on Pali & Prakrit, Linguistics and Mahabharata are 14 each, book reviews are 53, Miscellaneous 8 and obituary 3. This gives a glimpse of the range of his writing. Titles like (a) Ekavit in the Vedic Literature (b) Abode of “Mitra” (c) Satyameva Jayate Nanritam (for American Journal of Oriental Society) suggest the complexity of these articles.
Another book Makaranda -- a Festschrift (Abhinandan grantha) in honor of Dr. Mehendale, comprises research papers written by great scholars in English and Sanskrit on Vedic literature. Its foreward quotes “We are happy to publish this felicitation volume for Prof Dr M.A. Mehendale, distinguished and world-famous scholar, whose contributions in the field of Sanskrit, Prakrit and Avestan studies are outstanding and whose association with the institutes of great reputation like Deccan College and Bhandarkar Institute is decades old. We hope and believe that the scholars in the fields in which he has been for many years working will welcome this publication.” Such type of felicitation is quite rare and is a testimony to the important work accomplished by him.
Most of his books have been printed in multiple editions and are held by renowned liabraries world over. Here is a list of some selective works ---
Books of Dr. M.A. Mehendale held by liabraries world-wide
Historical grammar of Inscriptional Prakrits -- 1948 , English -13 editions -57 libraries.

Aśokan inscriptions in India : a linguistic study, together with an exhaustive bibliography 1948, English-2 editions - 29 libraries .
Barhut inscriptions / Corpus inscriptionum Indicarum – publ.by ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA
-- edited by H. Luders ; revised by E. Waldschmidt and M.A. Mehendale– 1963, English -4 editions - 65 libraries.

Nirukta notes: series I –1965, English -6 editions - 42 libraries.
Nirukta notes : series II –1978, English-3 editions - 3 libraries.

Veda manuscripts – 1964, English -1 edition - 3 libraries.

Catalogue of Sanskrit manuscripts in the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Poona -- 1965, English and Sanskrit- 3 editions - 36 libraries.

Some Aspects of Indo-Aryan linguistics -- 1968 English -6 editions - 61 libraries.

Studies in historical Sanskrit lexicography –1973, English -7 editions - 59 libraries.

Dictionary of Sanskrit on historical principles : specimen fascicule Jointly with Dr Ghatage -- 1973 , English -2 editions - 6 libraries.

Reflections on the Mahābhārata war 1995, English- 4 editions - 43 libraries.

Mahābhārata, cultural index Vol I -- (Comprehensive subject-wise index to the cultural information available in the text of Mahābhārata.) 1997, English -8 editions - 47 libraries.

Madhu-vidyā : collected papers (-Collected articles, book reviwes and essays on Vedic and Classical Sanskrit literature) -- 2001, English -2 editions-36 libraries.

Prolegomena on metre and textual history of the Rgveda (Metrische und textgeschichtliche Prolegomena, Berlin, 1888 / Hermann Oldenberg) ; translated into English alongwith V.G. Paranjape, 2005
Marathi books –

Rigveda Samhitakara ani Father Esteler- 1976
Marāṭhīcā bhāshika abhyāsa --1979, Marathi -2 editions - 9 libraries.
Prāchīna Bhārata : samāja āṇi sãnskr̥itī (Critical articles, chiefly on the Mahābhārata, and a few on ancient Indian civilization). -- 2001, Marathi 1 edition - 7 libraries.
Vaidic vagmayantil prashnottare Compilation - 1980
Varunvishayak vichaar Based on the two volumes on Varun by Prof. Luders Rigvedsara Translation from Selective Compilation of Hymns by Vinoba Bhave -1982
Game of Dice in Ancient India -1990
Gatha Jarthushtrachya aani yasnya haptanhaiti Translation along with Saanskrit Parallels
Eka shodha svatahcha bhavanika santulana bighadalelya eka atibuddhimana mulaci hrdayasparsi katha / Vharjiniya Ema. Eksalina ; Translation alongwith Sanjaya Oka. 2006
Finally, with his accidental fall and hospitalization in 2009-10, he decided to stop his work at BORI. He now spends time for his own reading and playing with grand-children. The happiness he derives from children can be understood from the fact that he even translated the world-famous novel “The Little Prince” from French to Marathi, a subject far away from his routine of scholarly Sanskrit texts.
As the editors of Makaranda describe him – “In Prof Mehendale, we were meeting an academic of great stature, we found him not only an humble yet dignified and a pleasantly communicative scholar, but also serene, soft-spoken, and forthright as well as fearless, a rare combination of several desirable facets for any scholar of outstanding merits and distinction…….” His family members, and friends add another quality – “very considerate and taking extra efforts to maintain sweet relationship”.
After his 93rd birthday, his friends and followers only wish to have him amongst them for many more years so as to get the benefit of his scholarly words.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Lectures
1966. Wilson Pholological Lectures, University of Bombay
1975. Kaushik Lecture Series (no.18), S.P. College, Pune.
1789. Bhau Vishnu Ashetekar Vedic Lectures, University of Pune.
1985. Dr. P.V. Kane Memorial Lecture
1987. Dr. H.R. Divekar Memorial Lecture
1988. Padmavati Pratishthan Lecture Series
1990. Prof. G.K. Bhat Memorial Lecture
1991. Prof. A.G. Manjgrulkar Memorial Lectures
1994. Dr. R.S. Walimbe Memorial Lectures
Researches Guided
(i) for Ph.D., Poona University “:
1961. “Linguistic Analysis of Koli – A Dialect of Marathi”
(-Smt. Suhasini S. Laddu)
1962. “Indo-Aryan Elements in Cankam Literature”
(-Shri S. Vaidyanathan)
1963. “Epic Syntax” (-Shri K. Meenakshi)
1964. “Language of Yaska’s Nirukta”
(-Shri Mantrini Prasad)
1967. “Evolution of the Sanskrit Language from Panini to Patanjali (with reference to the krt of Primary Formations)” (-Shri S.D. Laddu)
1971. “The Maitrayanai Mamhita – its Ritual and Language” (-Shri T.N. Dharmadhikari)
1973. “Agastya Legends – A Historical and Cultural Study” (-Shri M.N. Boardikar)
1974. “Comparative Study of Three Gujarati Dialects;
Surti, Charotari and Kathiawadi”
1975. “Fables, Parables and Moral Tales in the Mahabharata” (-Shri Palat Raut)
1978. “The Concept of Vac in the Vedic Literature”
(-Smt. Pratibha G. Deshmukh, now Pratibha M. Pingle)
1980. “A Descriptive Study of Tarai Nepali”
(- Shri D.C. Gautam)
(ii) For Ph.D., Ravishankar University, Raipur, M.P. :
1973. “Panini sa Patanjali tak Samskrt ka Vikas
Taddhita Pratyayom ke Adhar par” (in Hindi)
(“Development of the Sanskrit Language from Panini to Patanjali, with reference to the Secondary Formations”)
(-Smt. Manisha Pathak)
(iii) For M. Phil, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune :
1996. “Oldenberg yanca Akhyana-Siddhanta” (In Marathi) (“The Akhyana Theory of Oldenberg”)
(-Smt. Usha Barve).

Academic Honours
1955. President, “Indian Linguistics” Section, 18th Session (Annamalainagar), All-India Oriental Conference
1974. President, “Vedic” Section, 27th Session
(Kurukshetra), All-India Oriental Conference
1979. President, Linguistic Society of India
1996. President, Sanskrit Literature & Linguistics” Section,
Brihanmaharashtra Prachyavidya Parishad, 1st Session, Pune.
Awards.
1975. Maharashtra State Award for Teachers (University Level)
1990. President’s Certificate of Honour (Sanskrit)
1996. MM. Dr. P.V. Kane Gold Medal for 1992-95
(The Asiatic Society of Bombay)
1997. Guru Gangeshvara National Veda-Vedanga Award (Nashik)
1997. Pandit Rajaramsghastri Natekar Award (Pune)
1997. Purushottam Award (Late Mrs. Jayanti Wasudev Trust, Sangli)
1998. Prof. N.R. Phatak Memorial Award (Pune)
1999. Shreemanta Nanasaheb Peshwe Religious and Spiritual Award (Shree Devadevshwar samsthan, Pune).
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YouTube वर 'मेहेंदळे मोशन पिक्चर्स' निर्मित माहितीपट...
'मेहेंदळे मोशन पिक्चर्स'' निर्मित
संस्कृत, प्राकृत, निरुक्त, महाभारत; तसंच अवेस्ता या पारशी धर्मग्रंथाचे अभ्यासक, प्रकांड पंडित - 98 वर्षीय 'डॉ. मधुकर अनंत मेहेंदळे' यांच्यावरील संपूर्ण माहितीपट सादर करण्यात आला आहे.
या माहितीपटाची संकल्पना - लीना मेहेंदळे (माजी सनदी अधिकारी)
समन्वयक - रोहिणी प्रदिप मेहेंदळे
संहिता - आरती गोखले
निवेदन - मधुवंती दांडेकर (संगीत रंगभूमीवरील ज्येष्ठ अभिनेत्री आणि गायिका)
सबटायटल्स - डॉ. माधवी कोल्हटकर
दिग्दर्शक, संकलक, कॅमेरा - ओंकार चंद्रकांत प्रधान आणि धनंजय वसंत मेहेंदळे
निर्माते - कर्नल प्रदिप मधुकर मेहेंदळे, डॉ. अशोक मधुकर मेहेंदळे, धनंजय वसंत मेहेंदळे (मेहेंदळे मोशन पिक्चर्स)
YouTube वर हा माहितीपट आणण्यासाठी विशेष सहाय्य :
स्वप्निल पाटील, रोशन मोहिते आणि सागर खडकबाण
हा संपूर्ण माहितीपट पाहण्यासाठी कृपया खालील YouTube लिंक पहा...
लिंक :  https://youtu.be/U8z-uArfPHw

रविवार, 18 सितंबर 2011

ग्रहदशा

आ चं भौ रा गु श बु के शु । आ (रवि) भौ (भौम)
आछै, चंदस, मंगल सात
राहु अठारा,गुरु सोला, तो शनी उन्नीसा
बुध सतरा और केतु सात तो
शुक्र बीस से भये सौबीसा।

गुरुवार, 8 सितंबर 2011

Using Modern Media for Promotion of Sanskrit

Using Modern Media for Promotion of Sanskrit

Abstract: Sanskrit is today at cross roads. Mentioned in the Indian Constitution as one of the Modern Indian Languages, the Sanskrit speaking population in the country was only 10,000 as per the 2001 population census. Yet there is a need to sustain the currency of Sanskrit at various levels given that it is the Mother language of a majority of Indian languages, its rich literature could still hold attraction for many a readers, it is a fountainhead of much of our culture and, most important, its study at a deeper level has a lot to offer to modern Indian knowledge, be it Ayurveda, Yoga, Music, Grammar, Philosophy, Mathematics and even IT.

Traditional methods of retaining the currency of Sanskrit, let alone enhance it, have their own limitations. An essential feature of these methods is their insulation from modern tools and communication avenues. This article therefore strongly argues in favour of using these techniques and methods and looks at the policy initiatives that will be necessary to support such efforts. These techniques will have follow to parallel processing approach given the diverse nature of the audience interested in Sanskrit e.g. those engaging with it at a very basic level, those doing it at a deeper level of understanding and enjoyment, those using it in livelihood mode and those engaging with it in a professional manner leading to research and enhancement of the state of current knowledge. At one level the scholars of the language may have to learn the state of the art IT methods while at the other those at the forefront of professional pursuits will have to be fast-tracked into acquiring knowledge of the language with nuances relevant for their purpose.

While methods like telecast or broadcast will address certain issues, use of tweeter, U-tube, audio-visual learning and archiving, specialized blogs catering to various subjects will address more nuanced requirements. What we need is a policy and support environment that maximizes such efforts and a facilitating structure that takes modern communication methods to this ancient yet living language.

It is expected that this article will generate a vibrant debate on the use of modern IT and communication tools for increasing the usage of Sanskrit and inform the policy-makers of the concrete steps needed in this direction.
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Sanskrit is not just a language but an inexhaustible treasure of knowledge. If we allow this to be lost we will be swept backward in the pursuit of knowledge. Sanskrit is mentioned in the 8 th schedule of Indian Constitution as one of the Modern Indian Languages. According to the 2001 census, the Sanskrit speaking population was only 10,000 which is far less than population figures in 1951. The language is classified as non-regional. So, theoretically, it is the heritage of everyone and belongs to everyone, but in practice it belongs to none. Such a reality should start worrying anyone who is keenly associated with Sanskrit. Govt. of India as well as many state governments have found it fit to close down or de-subsidize erstwhile Sanskrit institutions on the ground that it is a dwindling language.

There is a redeeming feature though, for us to cash upon. If we pick up the dictionaries of All Indian languages, (and also the dictionaries of few other Asian languages such as Nepali, Sinhali, Thai, Combodian Indonesian) we find that 70-80 percent comprise Sanskrit words. The number of Sanskrit manuscripts collected from all over India and of the available Sanskrit texts is humungous. Thus there is a huge treasure of knowledge that we need to explore. But then, are we at the brink of losing this invaluable treasure for non-availability of Sanskrit scholars, adequate Sanskrit speaking population and adequate efforts and funding from Govt.?
Inclusion of the language in the 8th schedule list meant that the language was entitled to representation on the Official Languages Commission and there is an added significance that the Government of India is under obligation to take measures for the development of the language, such that "they grow rapidly in richness and become effective means of communicating modern knowledge." But no adequate efforts, plans or schemes are in sight.
In addition, a candidate appearing in an examination conducted for public service at a higher level is entitled to use Sanskrit as the medium in which he or she answers the paper. Over the last 20 years such a number has dwindled too. However, there is no Govt. department or Institution whose mandate includes promotion of Sanskrit. The CIIL, Mysore (Central Institute of Indian Languages) has a mandate to “Work for Integration of Indian Languages Except Sanskrit and Hindi.
Recently Uttarakhand has emerged as the only state to declare Sanskrit language as “Other officially recognized languages”.

This much for the legal and official status of the language. What is the position of teaching-learning?

The traditional methods available for promoting Sanskrit are scholastic, syllabus-oriented and formal. There are 18 Sanskrit Universities in India, and one Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthanam which runs as an Apex organization for nearly 40 school-level and partly college-level Sanskrit institutions. However, with Sanskrit getting out of the syllabus of most of the Matriculation Examination Boards, the adequate feeder population will not be available.
Thus in last 10 years we have come to a peculiar situation as in this graph which indicates a mismatch between infrastructure for higher and feeder levels



This brings us to the need of supporting the academic methods by informal methods, particularly use of media, such as TV and Radio channels, Internet, U-Tube, Social Networking Sites, Portals, Events and Print Media.

This article discusses these methods, with questions such as --
Why use the modern media and How ? What policy guidelines will be needed /helpful ? What are the Do’s and Don’t’s ? What is the importance of effective Feedback and how to ensure that ?

People interested in Sanskrit are of 4 categories –
· Peripheral learners, students etc who want some shlokas, some quick-learning lessons, a bit of grammar, and vocabulary so that when they read a small passage, they can savor its beauty and contents. This emotional attachment is the key to preserve our Unity in Diversity and must be adequately catered to.
· Somewhat deep learner, not very keen on language itself but wanting to know from the vast treasure of knowledge-contents in Sanskrit. Such knowledge is sometimes found preserved and available only by a select few. Hence the need to address a larger audience.
· Great scholars, keen on attaining further heights as well as giving their acquired wisdom to others, researchers, institutions etc.
· Those who can combine this treasure of knowledge with modern sciences to generate and carry out Research Ideas.

Graphically these 4 categories can be represented on a IE-graph –




Let us look at a parallel from Agriculture and Forestry where a “broadcasting method” of sowing is often used. What does it mean? It means that when you have a vast area to cover under sowing, your man-power and time at hand are limited, and you can afford to suffer some wastage of seed, then rather than sowing each seed separately, in a carefully dug and prepared pit, you just throw millions of seeds, thereby covering vast areas in far less time and leave it to the exigencies of land and weather conditions to decide how many seeds will germinate.

The methods of TV and Radio are like this broadcast technique of sowing.

Now we come to those 6 questions –
Why use the modern media
and How ?
What policy guidelines will be needed /helpful ?
What are the Do’s and Don’t’s ?
What is the importance of effective Feedback and
how to ensure that ?

I am ignoring the question why promote Sanskrit -- for its obvious answers such as
1. If Indians don’t promote it then who will?
2. Sanskrit has a huge treasure of knowledge waiting to be explored.
3 People are emotionally attached to it and hence it is the symbol of our national integration.
4. A large number of Western scholars are learning it, collecting manuscripts and carrying out research. So we must not be left behind.
etc etc.

I first go to the question “Who is using modern media, to What extent and How?”
For Sanskrit, the most widely used medium today is that of blogs and Web-site. They are available in large numbers and even blog-catalogues and blog-aggregators are being created. Web-site is another tool used by almost all reputed institutions. These are also being inventorised.

Proposal 1 -- Can we have frequent events such as bloggers’-meet, seminars, blog-competetion, etc?

However we need a much bigger platform where all the scholars and institutions can network and achieve a free exchange and rapid spread of this knowledge. This can be provided only by broadcasting channels.

Among TV channels, Doordarshan has a few programs such as daily 5 min. news bulletin and a weekly program of school level Sanskrit learning produced by RSS (Occasionally supported by Sanskrit Bharti). The All-India Radio has more hours – by way of news, teaching programs and literature appreciation. The news bulletins are getting archived on web-sites and are good tools for preparing future batches of news-readers. On private Radio and TV, the presence of Sanskrit is almost nil.

The presence of Sanskrit on TV-Radio media needs to increased many-folds. A far more effective approach is of a serial. A weekly serial ensures continuous presence before viewers offering tremendous flexibility to them, thus avoiding to make demands on their time – they may find it very interesting and hence participate or show a lukewarm interest or relish the entertainment and forget or ignore to see, but it will all be their wish. They can revert to it at any future occasion.
The serial would establish a network among all those who are doing good work for Sanskrit. and ensure flow of the treasured knowledge to appropriate recipients. It can also discover knowledge-treasures lying in some hidden corners and hitherto unavailable.

A typical weekly serial for 1year duration will cost a modest budget of about Rs 2 crores.

An associated portal offers archival and participatory support. For feedback, SMS and emails are quick-response, short-time methods whereas portal has a long-term potential for feed-back.

Here is a schematic diagram showing the possibilities. Programs based on Dharohar (Heritage), and Career-progression, those promoting events like Stotra-Gayan, and those generating research ideas, revalidation-experiments and networking are some suggestions.


Why would the youth learn Sanskrit? With MNCs wanting to capture Indian market and also trying to source their raw-material and production from India, they need a middle-management that can deal with both customers and workers in Indian languages. They would need to use icons, symbols and philosophies which are essentially Indian. Hence the knowledge of Sanskrit and its treasures of wisdom is necessary. Even from a sheer view-point of market-economy, promoting Sanskrit on Media makes sense.

Involving Senior citizens to once again establish the tradition of story-telling to build up the bond between them and their third generation is yet another strategy which we can begin with the stories of Mahabharat and Ramayan, the world’s largest epics.

For the input side of the TV-Radio media as well as on their own, we must use following techniques more frequently
a) Events b) Writer’s workshops c) Seminars d) Print media e) Publishers f) Liabraries etc.

Proposal 2 – Plan for a far bigger presence on the channels. Ensure that they are
a) Informative - about the treasure of knowledge and the experts working on them.
b) Educative - giving lessons in a creative and entertaining way.
c) Archival
d) Guides about career avenues .
e) Identifies research ideas, the laboratories and sources of funding.

Among other modern techniques, video and audio conferencing are in use in a small way – mostly where the recipient group is located abroad. But there is no cataloguing of these, so the benefit is restricted to a small number - say 10 or 20 per session.
Proposal 3 – With little support these lessons can be uploaded on U-Tubes and an effective networking among all the conferencing groups can be achieved.
The tradition of text communication through the Shruti method has been practiced in this Country for many thousands of years. The practice of communication through written text has come much later but with an advantage of retaining for much longer period and random accessibility at any time even to third parties who is not part of the “Teller-Listener” theme. The possibility of putting audio text on internet combines the advantages in both the methods of communications namely the Shruti Parampara and the Lekhan Parampara. We have yet to make full use of this technology to revive our age-old Shruti Parampara. Such a revival is very necessary because the communication losses in the Lekhan Parampara are far more. In Shruti Parampara the losses are kept at a minimal through such practices as a “Ghanpaath”. But the real advantage of shruti parampara is the proximity of Guru and possibility of instant correction of error by Guru. Audio storage of the Sanskrit text on the internet will have a trade off between quick-time approach and errors in learning. On a TV serial the errors can be corrected by a Guru-Shishya team. The possibilities are enormous.
Above are some details through which I have tried to emphasize the need of using modern tools to promote Sanskrit. They will no doubt need a strong support from community which, undoubtedly, will be available once this perspective is clear. With that expectation and hope, I close this article.
-- Leena Mehendale
Chief patron of kaushalam Trust and Member Central Administrative tribunal, Banglore bench

बुधवार, 31 अगस्त 2011

Synopsis Using Media for Promotion of Sanskrit

Synopsis
Using Media for Promotion of Sanskrit


Sanskrit is mentioned in the 8 th schedule of Indian Constitution as one of the Modern Indian Languages. The traditional methods available for promoting Sanskrit are scholastic, syllabus-oriented and formal. They need to be supported by informal methods, particularly use of media, such as TV and Radio channels, Internet, U-Tube, Social Networking Sites and Print Media.
This article discusses these methods, with emphasis on TV and Radio, which have similar impact as the broadcast method in Agriculture, namely reaching a vast area in one batch.

Why use the modern media and How ? What policy guidelines will be needed /helpful ? What are the Do’s and Don’t’s ? What is the importance of effective Feedback and how to ensure that ? These are some questions that will be handled here.

Sanskrit has a huge treasure of knowledge –we need to explore it,
People interested in Sanskrit are of 4 categories –
• Peripheral learners, students etc who want some shlokas, some quick-learning lessons, a bit of grammar, and vocabulary so that when they read a small passage, they can savor its beauty and contents
• Somewhat deep learner, not very keen on language itself but wanting to know from the vast treasure of knowledge contents in Sanskrit
• Great scholars, keen on attaining further heights as well as giving their acquired wisdom to others, researchers, institutions etc.
• Those who can combine this treasure of knowledge with modern sciences to generate and carry out Research Ideas.
The informal method can cater to their needs and promote Networking as will be discussed in this article.
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रविवार, 17 अप्रैल 2011

गौ -सांख्यिकी

गौ -सांख्यिकी





शनिवार, 12 मार्च 2011

चौदा विद्या आणि चौसष्ठ कला

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चौदा विद्या आणि चौसष्ठ कला GlobalMarathi
१४ विद्या आणि ६४ कला याबद्द्ल अनेकांच्या मनात उत्सुकता असते. त्या १४ विद्या आणि ६४ कलांची ही ओळख.
चौदा विद्या
चार वेद + सहा वेदांगे + न्याय, मीमांसा, पुराणे व धर्मशास्त्र अश्या एकूण चौदा
वेद : १. ऋग्वेद २. यजुर्वेद ३. सामवेद ४. अथर्ववेद
सहा वेदांगे
१. व्याकरण- भाषेतील शब्दांच्या व्यवहाराचे शास्त्र.
२. ज्योतिष- ग्रहगती तथा सामुद्रिक जाणण्याची विद्या.
३. निरुक्त- वेदांतील कठीण शब्दांचे अर्थ सांगणारे शास्त्र.
४. कल्प- धार्मिक विधी- व्रतांचे वर्णन करणारे शास्त्र.
५. छंद- शब्दांची गानयोग्य रचना व काव्यवृत्ताचे ज्ञान.
६. शिक्षा- शिक्षण, अध्यापन व अध्ययन.
१. न्याय,२. मीमांसा, 3. पुराणे 4. धर्मशास्त्र.
चौसष्ट कला
१. पानक रस तथा रागासव योजना - मदिरा व पेय तयार करणे.
२. धातुवद- कच्ची धातू पक्की व मिश्रधातू वेगळी करणे.
३. दुर्वाच योग- कठीण शब्दांचा अर्थ लावणे.
४. आकर ज्ञान - खाणींविषयी अंतर्गत सखोल ज्ञान असणे.
५. वृक्षायुर्वेद योग- उपवन, कुंज, वाटिका, उद्यान बनविणे.
६. पट्टिका वेत्रवाणकल्प- नवार, सुंभ, वेत इत्यादींनी खाट विणणे.
७. वैनायिकी विद्याज्ञान- शिष्टाचार व विनय यांचे ज्ञान असणे.
८. व्यायामिकी विद्याज्ञान- व्यायामाचे शास्त्रोक्त ज्ञान असणे.
९. वैजापिकी विद्याज्ञान- दुसऱ्यावर विजय मिळविणे.
१०. शुकसारिका प्रलापन- पक्ष्यांची बोली जाणणे.
११. अभिधान कोष छंदोज्ञान- शब्द व छंद यांचे ज्ञान असणे.
१२. वास्तुविद्या- महाल, भवन, राजवाडे, सदन बांधणे.
१३. बालक्रीडाकर्म- लहान मुलांचे मनोरंजन करणे.
१४. चित्रशब्दापूपभक्षविपाक क्रिया- पाकक्रिया, स्वयंपाक करणे.
१५. पुस्तकवाचन- काव्यगद्यादी पुस्तके व ग्रंथ वाचणे.
१६. आकर्षण क्रीडा- दुसऱ्याला आकर्षित करणे.
१७. कौचुमार योग- कुरुप व्यक्तीला लावण्यसंपन्न बनविणे.
१८. हस्तलाघव- हस्तकौशल्य तथा हातांनी कलेची कामे करणे.
१९. प्रहेलिका - कोटी, उखाणे वा काव्यातून प्रश्न विचारणे.
२०. प्रतिमाला - अंत्याक्षराची योग्यता ठेवणे.
२१. काव्यसमस्यापूर्ती - अर्धे काव्य पूर्ण करणे.
२२. भाषाज्ञान - देशी-विदेशी बोलींचे ज्ञान असणे.
२३. चित्रयोग - चित्रे काढून रंगविणे.
२४. कायाकल्प - वृद्ध व्यक्तीला तरुण करणे.
२५. माल्यग्रंथ विकल्प - वस्त्रप्रावरणांची योग्य निवड करणे.
२६. गंधयुक्ती - सुवासिक गंध वा लेप यांची निर्मिती करणे.
२७. यंत्रमातृका - विविध यंत्रांची निर्मिती करणे.
२८. अत्तर विकल्प - फुलांपासून अर्क वा अत्तर बनविणे.
२९. संपाठय़ - दुसऱ्याचे बोलणे ऐकून जसेच्या तसे म्हणणे.
३०. धारण मातृका - स्मरणशक्ती वृद्धिंगत करणे.
३१. छलीक योग- चलाखी करून हातोहात फसविणे.
३२. वस्त्रगोपन- फाटकी वस्त्रे शिवणे.
३३. मणिभूमिका - भूमीवर मण्यांची रचना करणे.
३४. द्यूतक्रीडा - जुगार खेळणे.
३५. पुष्पशकटिका निमित्त ज्ञान - प्राकृतिक लक्षणाद्वारे भविष्य सांगणे.
३६. माल्यग्रथन - वेण्या, पुष्पमाला, हार, गजरे बनविणे.
३७. मणिरागज्ञान - रंगावरून रत्नांची पारख करणे वा ओळखणे.
३८. मेषकुक्कुटलावक - युद्धविधी- बोकड, कोंबडा इ.च्या झुंजी लावणे.
३९. विशेषकच्छेद ज्ञान - कपाळावर लावायच्या तिलकांचे साचे करणे.
४०. क्रिया विकल्प - वस्तूच्या क्रियेचा प्रभाव उलटविणे.
४१. मानसी काव्यक्रिया - शीघ्र कवित्व करणे.
४२. आभूषण भोजन - सोन्या-चांदी वा रत्नामोत्यांनी काया सजवणे.
४३. केशशेखर पीड ज्ञान - मुकुट बनविणे व केसात फुले माळणे.
४४. नृत्यज्ञान - नाचाविषयीचे शास्त्रोक्त सखोल ज्ञान असणे.
४५. गीतज्ञान - गायनाचे शास्त्रीय सखोल ज्ञान असणे.
४६. तंडुल कुसुमावली विकार - तांदूळ व फुलांची रांगोळी काढणे.
४७. केशमार्जन कौशल्य - मस्तकाला तेलाने मालीश करणे.
४८. उत्सादन क्रिया - अंगाला तेलाने मर्दन करणे.
४९. कर्णपत्र भंग - पानाफुलांपासून कर्णफुले बनविणे.
५०. नेपथ्य योग - ऋतुकालानुसार वस्त्रालंकाराची निवड करणे.
५१. उदकघात - जलविहार करणे. रंगीत पाण्याच्या पिचकारी करणे.
५२. उदकवाद्य - जलतरंग वाजविणे.
५३. शयनरचना - मंचक, शय्या व मंदिर सजविणे.
५४. चित्रकला - नक्षी वेलवुट्टी व चित्रे काढणे.
५५. पुष्पास्तरण - फुलांची कलात्मक शय्या करणे.
५६. नाटय़अख्यायिका दर्शन - नाटकांत अभिनय करणे.
५७. दशनवसनांगरात - दात, वस्त्रे, काया रंगविणे वा सजविणे.
५८. तुर्ककर्म - चरखा व टकळीने सूत काढणे.
५९. इंद्रजाल - गारुडविद्या व जादूटोणा यांचे ज्ञान असणे.
६०. तक्षणकर्म - लाकडावर कोरीव काम करणे.
६१. अक्षर मुष्टिका कथन - करपल्लवीद्वारे संभाषण करणे.
६२. सूत्र तथा सूचीकर्म - वस्त्राला रफू करणे.
६३. म्लेंछीतकला विकल्प - परकीय भाषा ठाऊक असणे.
६४. रत्नरौप्य परीक्षा - अमूल्य धातू व रत्ने यांची पारख करणे.

आता या यादीमध्ये आधुनिक विद्या आणि कलांची भर घातली पाहिजे.

गुरुवार, 10 मार्च 2011

Kulbhushan Singhal --OUR SCRIPTURES

STOP CALLING OUR SCRIPTURES MYTHOLOGY..
Kulbhushan Singhal --
It seems that after independence Hindus were transferred as a SALE-ABLE commodity to the new political rulers for exploitation and manipulation. And religious leaders also joined these political rulers to enjoy this fruit of exploitation. Every political party has ruled India, including those who ...have publicly advocated interest of Hindus paramount in their agenda.
One of the simple things that any political party could have done was to at least make sure that Hindu religious books are not called myths and our entire scriptures as mythology. Why no Hindu religious leader has done anything about it, is for readers to judge. But why our Hindu society did nothing is something more alarming and definitely points to our extreme passive attitude.
Leena Mehendale --
I have maintained that they are not myths. Pl see my article "Yugantar -- At the cross-roads of Time and Society"
Kulbhushan Singhal --
Agreed Leena Ji, but the main questions for attention here is :
1. Every political party has ruled India, including those who have publicly advocated interest of Hindus paramount in their agenda. Yet nothing has been done.
2. Vedas, Puraans, Upnishads, are all Hindu religious books, and just as sacred to Hindus as religious books of Christians are to Christian, and Muslim religious books to Muslim. There have been riots, street fights, bloody protest in case something derogatory is said about the books of Christians and Muslims.
Why are the Hindus so PASSIVE that we cannot get respect like other faiths for our scriptures.
Leena Mehendale --
Unlike the western, our scriptures are (i) very ancient which makes proper interpretation more difficult and (ii) the scriptures instruct every individual to have her/his own ANUBHOOTI and also suggest that each person's Anubhooti will be different according to her/his nature. Thus the anubhooti is not standard even though the result of it is. People do not understand this concept easily. Hence there is not much discussion about them.

रविवार, 20 फ़रवरी 2011

बालगृहामधे गीता वर्ग १ जुलै २०१० ते १८ ऑगस्ट २०१०

बालगृहामधे गीता वर्ग १ जुलै २०१० ते १८ ऑगस्ट २०१०
शिवाजी नगर बालगृहामधे घेण्यात आलेल्या गीता वर्गाचा अहवाल-
शिवाजी नगर बालगृह (पुणे) येथे कौशलम् न्यास व गीता धर्म मंडळ यांच्या संयुक्त विद्यमाने १ जुलै २०१० ते १८ ऑगस्ट २०१० पर्यत गीता वर्गाचे आयोजन करण्यात आले होते. वर्गासाठी १५ मुलांची निवड करण्यात आली. साधारणत: ८ ते १२ वर्षाचा वयोगट निर्धारित करण्यात आला.
मुलांनी बारावा अध्याय मुखोद्गत करावा यावर प्राधान्याने लक्ष देण्यात आले. कौशलम् न्यासाच्या वतीने गीता पुस्तकांचे वाटप करण्यात आले. त्याचप्रमाणे उपक्रमाचा सर्व खर्च कौशलम् न्यासाने उचलला . गीता धर्म मंडळाच्या सौ. जान्हवी देवधर, श्रीमती वसुधा पाळंदे, सौ.बडवे यांनी गीता शिकवण्याचे काम केले. तर कौशलम् न्यास तर्फे प्रमुख विश्वस्त श्रीमती वृंदा गुप्ते, व सहयोगी श्री सुजय लेले यांनी बालगृहाच्या अधिक्षकांशी संपर्क साधून कार्यालयीन कामे पूर्ण केली.
गीता वर्गाला मुलांनी अत्यंत चांगला प्रतिसाद दिला. १५ पैकी ८ मुलांनी बारावा अध्याय पूर्णपणे कंठस्थ केला. बाकिच्यांचे किमान १० श्लोक पाठ झालेत.गीता शिकताना मुलांच्या वर्तनातही लक्षणीय बदल दिसून आला. मुलांची एकाग्रता अधिक वाढली, एकत्र काम करण्याची वृत्ती वाढली, मुलांमधे होणारे वाद कमी झाले आहेत असे तेथील कर्मचारीगण सांगतात.
गीतेच्या माध्यमातून संस्कृत प्रचार, वंचित मुलांबरोबर संवाद इत्यादि उद्देश थोड्या प्रमाणात का होइना साध्य झाले.
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शनिवार, 19 फ़रवरी 2011

Leading to Research Ideas by Rakesh Jain

Sanskrit is the ancient Indian language which has survived time gap of thousands of years – between the time when it was in common use, and today. The attacks from foreign invaders resulted into massive destruction of Sanskrit literature and hence what we find today may be much less than even one percent of, what actually existed in ancient time.
It is common saying that ancient Indians preferred to speak and not write down anything about the knowledge they possessed. The knowledge transfer thus used to take place from the teacher to the student. It is only when they realized that such a transfer was losing its efficiency, that they started writing and thus transfer of knowledge started taking place in writing after this realization. The resulting collection of written knowledge suffered massive destruction when foreign invaders burnt the Indian libraries which were housing such a knowledge. Besides this, the people who possessed such written literature or knowledge burnt the same themselves, as they felt that the knowledge collected by them for thousands of years, if passed on to wrong hands could do more harm than good to the society.
What is available today, is thus only a pointer to the vast amount of knowledge that was once available with an ancient Indian civilization. This knowledge should be treated as ‘invaluable messages’ from a civilization, which perhaps tells us what happened when almost all life forms on our planet earth, had gone through a major extinction termed as ‘Pralay’ and is available to us as ‘Manusmriti’ . Sanskrit thus provides a ‘window’ to today’s civilization, about whatever human beings have faced, right from the time various life forms came out of that massive destruction which is mentioned in ‘manusmriti’.
It is important for us to utilize the ‘cues’ which come out of whatever is available in Sanskrit literature and without caring for establishing its authenticity through today’s limited scientific means, and utilize it for the benefit of humanity. Thus many concepts found in ancient Indian Sanskrit literature can be evaluated, debated and the useful part of it utilized. Some such concepts are as follows.
1) ‘Eko Aham Bahu Syam’ is the precise sentence/Shloka which talks of how the universe/ creation began. It mentions that ‘Bramhan’ had a ‘sankalp’ to multiply itself and this was the origin of the universe. This ‘sankalp’ is not a material or a thought. It goes beyond even thought and is perhaps, what triggers the thought process itself. This cue can lead us to look beyond the origin of universe, which we always try to visualize in its present ‘material form’ from the- form which triggered the thought process itself.
2) Ancient Indians have demarcated the ‘existence’ into two levels namely ‘body’ , mind and soul or ‘Atma’. Scientific means available today have attempted to study the mind beyond the body. When we try to understand the fact that things are dramatically different when we attempt to see them at the level of body and mind, it leads us to imagining, that they would be still more dramatic and different when we try to think of the ‘existence’ beyond mind at the level of Atma. This is available in many Indian literatures. One of them, called ‘Yoga vasishtha’ is actually a collection of what was taught to Rama by his teacher ‘Vasishtha’. The concept is presented again, in a different way, of course, in ‘Gita’ which again, is a collection of what was taught to ‘Arjuna’ by Krishna.

It is ‘myopic’ and the bad luck of today’s scientific thinking, which instead of making use of this concept, which has potential for a major revolution for humanity, questions the very existence, of Ram and Krishna. The vital question is have today’s scientific means, to prove the existence of Rama and Krishna reached the level of perfection, which can confirm for sure, that they did not exist because we cannot prove it today. However leaving this debate behind us, we can scientifically try to explore our own existence at the levels of body, the mind and Atma.
3) ‘Yatha Pinde tatha brahmande’ is another small sentence which perhaps indicates that as our bodies exist at three level, the universe also exists at three levels. This concept can act as a ‘cue’ for the scientific exploration of universe with an altogether different vision. This however, needs to be done with this concept in view, but without getting biased by it.
4) ‘Prakriti trigunatmika’ is a small sentence found in ancient Indian literature called ‘Durga saptshati’ which perhaps is a ‘philosophical sum up’ on nature. This literature proposed that nature is like a ‘mother’ to all the life forms including human beings . If we honestly accepts this concept, we would learn to treat nature like a ‘parent’ and not do what we have been doing with ‘mother nature’. it is perhaps this ‘kind mother’ now ‘reacting back’ in the form of symptoms like ‘Global warming’. This literature suggests that mother nature can also retaliate and that would be fatal for the humanity. Is anybody there to listen to such messages from a civilization that once lived in this great country thousands of years back? This literature also proposes that whatever is emanating from nature has three dimension attached to it. For easy understanding, it means anything can be ‘right’ (one extreme) or wrong (another extreme’) and also the infinite combinations of the right and wrong which forms a continuum.This concept can help us think and understand beyond our conventional thinking of visualizing everything in terms of either right or wrong.

The above concepts can help our civilization to explore more and more with today’s scientific ways and means. However, till such a scientific exploration can confirm whether what has been said has a great potential, try to make use of these concepts in our day to day life. Although such concepts cannot be visualized in a narrow ‘frame’, some of their interpretation for our benefit are as follows :

a) We become what we want to be. The sankalp or the very beginning of the thought process has lead us to become what we are today. Hence knowing what is right for an individual or the society and having a sankalp to do so is important.

b) Scientific analysis of existence on three levels i.e. body mind and ‘Atma’ can open up new frontiers for humanity. For example acceptance of ‘Atma’ opens up door for continuity of life after death in various life forms. This further opens up the door to karmic theory which says that ‘what we get is the result of reaction of what we do’. This also makes us understand that we should be good to the entire humanity and even extend this concept further to peaceful co-existence into all known and unknown life forms – the ancient Indian concept of ‘Vasudhev Katumbkam ‘

c) The above concept extended to the universe can make us scientifically explore whether there is something beyond what our senses, with the help of even the most modern scientific means have or will be able to find out .

d) The mere acceptance that most of the things, people, situations- virtually everything should not be viewed as right or wrong but rather somewhere in before a continuum between these two extremes can provide an altogether different approach to what we have been tuned to. For example – the western approach of seeing everything as either win or lose can be modified to an approach which can see somewhere between winning or losing. The fact remains, that none wins or loses, if we can visualize the situation on a ‘wider horizon’. This can make us think of beyond today’s thinking of either winning or losing - which may take us nearer the next world war – which will perhaps end this ‘chapter’ of present human civilization. This is a very small portion of what is happening in the universe - the physical manifestation of Brahman which has been termed by ancient Indians as ‘Prakriti’ or mother nature.

The above are only a few concepts of the ancient Indian civilization for which Sanskrit can act as a ‘window’. There is much more, but the need is to accept that we are ready to ‘listen’ this after reviewing our so called scientific thinking which suggests that what cannot be proved scientifically is not true.