Where Does Sanskrit Stand Today?

Thaneshwor Chalise

At a time when the world is faced with violence, disharmony, corruption, and conflicts, the comeback of Sanskrit teaching stands as a pedagogical movement to revitalise the moral, spiritual, and ethical values for the longevity of humanity.

A few months ago, with the government’s latest policy to incorporate Sanskrit courses into the curriculum, Sanskrit teaching declared its comeback in Nepali academia. The announcement, however, doesn’t seem to appeal to everyone unanimously.

Some intellectuals and educationists are sceptical regarding the nature of the course's content and its pragmatic difficulty in the age of commerce, technology, and global competition.

However, the nucleus of the write-up is to explore how exposure to Sanskrit knowledge revitalises one’s moral, ethical, and spiritual well-being.

Let me start with an anecdote. Rohan Chalise is my nephew. At age 8, he studies in Grade 4. As with every child, he is fond of listening to mythical stories from his grandfather. Grandfather is a priest and has commanding knowledge of all the Hindu scripts. Among all the mythical stories, he frequently prefers the story of Krishna and Kansa.

When asked what makes him like it more compared to others, his response surprised me: that Krishna loves and protects everyone from the evils of Kansa. This story instils in his mind the value of compassion and righteousness, as well as one’s moral responsibility to help another being in need.

One may argue that these lessons are too heavy for a child of such an early age to internalise. On the contrary, it’s equally understandable that the early exposure to the ideal world of these stories prepares the child to be a well-balanced social being as they grow up. They imbibe the moralistic behaviours embodied by those mythical characters regardless of their age-related inability to critically analyse them.

Human civilization has achieved a milestone. We are living in the lab of technology and the lap of commercial activity. As a result, the definition of happiness and our identity have shifted.

The society is more capitalist, where one’s material possessions form his or her subjectivity, where skills and competence pave the path to success, where anything moral, ethical, and spiritual remotely matters in one’s socialisation, but economic standards and a network of superficial relationships dominate the landscape of corporate business.

With society getting urbanised and industrialised, the process of socialisation becomes more quantitative than qualitative.

The relationship between individuals is more like that of a producer and consumer: physically close but emotionally distant. Individualism emerges as a new mode of cultural lifestyle, leading to a chaotic world of selfishness, violence, anarchy, infatuation, disharmony, and conflicts. This is the cultural decadence the western world has experienced at different junctures.

The hollowness of humanity in the industrialised western world is artistically captured by the modernist poet T.S. Eliot in his masterpiece "The Waste Land." The poet, therefore, appeals for the moral, ethical, and spiritual revival of capitalist and fully commercialised individualistic western society, citing the Sanskrit mantra Om Shanti thrice at the end. It’s his call for the eastern philosophy of Sanskrit.

This western realisation must jerk our self-observation since we are in the middle of a capitalist, commercialised, and individualistic society. Intensified by globalisation, the pace is forced to accelerate at an unprecedented rate.

In such a scenario, we are under obligation to produce generations that not only acquire technological knowledge, commercial skills, and competent mindsets but are also enlightened with spiritual wisdom, moral and ethical consciousness, and humanistic character. As he grows up, I want my nephew to be globally competent in every field, but humanity remains the top priority. This is where the scope of Sanskrit teaching feels vital.

Why the Sanskrit Language?

Sanskrit, as a language, is the source of all languages that exist on the planet. It's the oldest of them all. "The origin of all knowledge and language is Sanskrit," said Indian Yoga Guru Swami Ramdev. He further reiterates that all his yogic discoveries, insights, and visions sprang from the Sanskrit learning he received during his Gurukul education.

Today, his yogic and spiritual movement fascinates the entire world to the point of surpassing western pride in modern medicine. His attachment to his Sanskrit upbringing itself demonstrates the magnificence of learning the Sanskrit language.

Linguistically, unlike any other language, Sanskrit grammar offers a clear structure that contains the power to elevate our thinking ability. The grammatical and vocabulary structures sharpen the children’s intuition and memorization. Philosophically, Sanskrit literature provides an expansive view of human nature.

Its philosophical literature presents a profoundly structured way of understanding our relationship to the rest of creation and prescribes a guideline on how to live peacefully, spiritually, and meaningfully.

It is rich in vocabulary, thoughts, and ideas, as well as in meaning and values. Literature, such as the stories of Ram and Krishna, imparts and enriches community-led and socially-inspired leadership. Pupils are encouraged to follow as well as lead, serve as well as be served. They advocate for a movement against injustice, impunity, anarchy, and hatred.

The killings of Raven and Kanksa replicate it. As a nation that has always dreamed of ideal leadership, Sanskrit schooling contributes to generating righteous leaders.

What Is The Role?

There are always unpleasant accounts of doctors overcharging poor patients, leaders corrupting national treasure, teachers doing business with students, engineers risking people’s mobility, businessmen manufacturing and selling contaminated goods, women’s dignity being assaulted, children being trafficked, animals being threatened, nature being raped, and the human conscience being drained by the pursuit of physical luxury at the expense of divinity.

At a time like this when the world is faced with violence, conflicts, and spiritual deprivation, the introduction of Sanskrit teaching kindles a hope to revitalise the moral, ethical, and spiritual values for the longevity of humanity. The human race can strive only for the foundation of spiritual enlightenment.

The purpose of Sanskrit teaching is to make doctors compassionate for their poor patients, leaders accountable and empathetic towards citizens and their perils, teachers a guiding light to students’ enlightenment, engineers committed to people’s safety and comfort, businessmen provide health service, and a democratic society where women and children can live a dignified life.

Sanskrit teaching should not be understood in line with other courses. It is exclusive in the sense that it aims to purify and refine the moral, ethical, and spiritual aspects of those human resources as generated by other courses. In a way, it takes over a guardian role to morally discipline students from any stream. Its commitment is to establish a society that values justice, harmony, and righteousness.

This Sanskrit verse translates as: "Like the stain on a new vessel, the moral teachings imparted through stories last forever."

So, the scepticism about Sanskrit teaching from a commercial perspective holds no water.

The comeback of Sanskrit schooling is a dire need today to reproduce a world architected by moral, ethical, and spiritual properties. As the given verse states, the body of literature that Sanskrit offers prevents the coming generations from the dehumanising tendency of so-called modern commerce and technology while still enabling them to adapt to multiple facets of modern science.

(Chalise teaches English at a college)

TRN Online

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