I love the study of the Sanskrit language. Sanskrit is a great help for Self-realization, especially for reading all Yoga and Vedanta books in their original form, which is Sanskrit. But the knowledge of the Sanskrit language is not necessary or compulsory for Self-realization, because the Self is beyond all language. Self is silence, and language is the breaking of silence.

There are countless liberated persons without the knowledge of Sanskrit.  And in the case of those liberated persons who know it, their Sanskrit is entirely different from that of modern university scholars.  Due to the power of meditation descended from the Self, a meditator begins to know the Sanskrit language naturally.

Language is manifested from feelings and emotions, so for beginners it is not necessary to postpone their meditation for the sake of the Sanskrit language.  It is highly recommended to try to do both things together, but one must understand the aim of the study of Sanskrit as Self-realization…

… The collection of information through education must be utilized by the inner spirit. The purpose of education is to cultivate the inner spirit.

– From a letter written in 1960 and 1964

You can see TV, listen to the radio, read the newspapers.  You can observe the world’s history.  One thing is common in the past, present and future, throughout the planet: Wherever there is war in any form – whether guerilla warfare, religious war, political war, individual, domestic, social, national or international war, highjacking or airplane bombing – the cause behind it is the untrained and undisciplined mind and heart.  In this condition, what can be done?  What is our duty and responsibility?  Should we silently watch….?  What should we do to try to prevent these

You cannot change the human mind, but you can change its contents.  When mental contents change, then our hearts automatically become the divine center of unity.  Here, by “change” I mean transformation of the mind through Sanskrit, because Sanskrit is the cosmic language, the language of unity.  Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. It is the divine language with power to unite the whole world.

We have the English language and other modern languages for political and business purposes.  Now we need a divine language to unite our hearts and minds for world peace.  Due to modern scientific inventions and discoveries, the whole planet has become like one house.  But our minds are still primitive, disunited.  The thinking mind is the automatic problem-making machine.

When an individual does not resolve his or her own problems, then the problems become domestic.  If the family and house are out of order, then naturally the whole society becomes lawless, disorderly.  When society is out of order, then we get national and international war in various forms.  Therefore, to avoid chaos and confusion, we must discover the center of unity in our own hearts and minds.

Every problem originates from within.  Countless subtle problems lie deeply rooted in the unconscious mind.  We cannot solve these problems, because the untrained, undisciplined mind is the problem-maker.  Therefore, we need to raise the contents of our hearts and minds from lower to higher, spiritual plane through Sanskrit, which vibrates deep layers of the psyche through pranic vibration.  Sanskrit is the way leading toward perfection and unity.

Chanting Sanskrit, listening to authentic Sanskrit chanting with a quiet, meditative mind and studying Sanskrit grammar will stimulate automatic and spontaneous psychoanalysis, psychosynthesis and psychotherapy.  Sanskrit is “quantum healing” for body and mind.

Therefore, in addition to modern languages, we need Sanskrit, the language of the heart and unity, the language of integration.  Our life needs all modern languages for multiplicity, while we need Sanskrit as the means for unity.

-From the essay BharaTya-Sanskrti and Sanskrtam, 1989

We have two groups of people: those who are chanting and those who are not chanting, but are sitting in meditation with a silent mind, absorbing those vibrations inside and outside.  Both these groups are benefitted.  By chanting loudly, prana (the life force, breath) vibrates the body of matter powerfully.  This vibration is called OM. OM has three letters: A, U and M, representing sattvaguna, rajoguna and tamoguna.  When you feel physical vibration, then you have tamoguna. When you feel the vibration of electricity and light, then you have rajoguna.  And when you feel peace and bliss with nadam, inner music, then you have sattvaguna.

The whole purpose of chanting mantra is to lead the individual consciousness to the plane of universal consciousness, that is to say, the universal “I-Am”, which is your real form or your real home.  By chanting, one gets rid of the identification with the individual body and thinking mind, so that this individual “I-am” is transformed into the Absolute “I-AM” by means of the universal “I-Am.”  Please feel this fact.

-From the essay The Significance of Chanting Mantra, 1986

Nada is the divine inner music.  From it Veda, Vedanta and all holy scriptures arise spontaneously.  They may not evolve into Sanskrit, but you can feel them directly.  In fact, the linguistic part of the Vedas and holy scriptures is not central, because a person can live without reading them.  Who can live without air and space?  In the same way, nobody can live without the pulsation and vibration of nada.

The real OM cannot be chanted. Whatever we chant is linguistic OM, but the real OM we must experience. By hearing this inner OM, we hear and feel the Vedas directly.

-From Nada Yoga, 1984/1989

When you work directly with the Sanskrit text, then the spirit of the writer – the spirit of Godhood, the real writer – appears before you, and you do not have to depend on the mercy of any commentary to comprehend. Rather, you feel the meaning directly.  When you read commentaries, then you have to understand the means of the mind. Mental understanding and direct feeling are much different. For this reason, I thank all of you who want to transform your lives in the light of truth.

-From introduction to commentary on Mandukya-Upanishad, 1990

By Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati (Ramamurti S. Mishra, MD)