A website to learn sanskrit

All those who seek to know more about hinduism must try to get to the real source of hinduism which is the ancient texts of the vedas and upanishads
However there exist in the market a vast number of corrupted biased versions of interpretations of hinduism from half brains and lazy people

These must be avoided

One must always try to hear it from the horse's mouth

To get to the source it is essential to know sanskrit

for the texts are all in sanskrit

This is a site that I am myself using to learn sanskrit

http://www.vedamu.org/home.asp

all the best in your endeavours

 

cool .....

 

Who says that you need to know sanskrit to understand the upanishads? There are so many greta masters who have provided commentary in various languages other than sanskrit. To dismiss them as halfwitted is a sign of tremedous immaturity and egoism. In fact, the depth and full import of the teaching in the upanishads and vedas can never be understood without a Guru's guidance.

And also, it is laziness to try to learn sanskrit form a website. You need live interaction to truly learn a language in its fullness.

 

Your grasp of matters of the world is disappointing

What these great masters have done is provided a commentatory based on their interpretation and understanding this can vary from person to person and usually the person's prefernces and biases always tend to creep into their commentatory

Do not limit your vision of the vedas and the upanishads to that of the interpretor's
You go to the source and interpret it yourself and you will have
a more glorious personalized vision

Corruption of true knowledge is today one of the greatest challenges we face today

Tell me will you drink the holy water of the ganga at the gangotri(the source) where it is in its purest form or wait till it flows to haridwar saturated with filth,sewage and dead bodies ?

I ask everyone to go to the source


The website is a begining and a start , more of a guide to get started
and to help all those who have no idea at all about the language

It is not going to be my final learning source

A guru is essential but today it is a luxury few can afford
Morever sifting through the fakes will take up considerable time that I cannot afford to

It is said that when

the student is ready the guru will appear

I think I am not yet ready

 

Dearest Half A Hippie,

Thank you for this website...it will be...I believe most helpful for me in my studies further down the line (I am studying archaeology of India...and I do eventually need to learn some Sanskrit)...so thank you for this helpful website...perhaps if I learn enough...I may eventually be able to translate as you were talking of.

and

Dearest Bhaskar,

I don't really think its laziness to learn a language from a website...true it is much easier to learn a language in person...but not everyone can get that oppertunety...I think that making any kind of effort to learn any language...even if it is a failed attempt...is anything but lazy....I don't know...may be I just have a soft spot for linguistics lol...

*Peace and Love *
Nicole

 

What really counts is not reading or learning texts in whatever language, but actual spiritual experience. The rest is baggage. Or at best a kind of support. Truth is ultimately beyond all words and linguistic formulations.

 

How is vedanta known and understood today? Through the shankarabhashyams, the commentaries of Adi Shankara. I fit werent for the so called narrow vision and interpretation of these people you ewould not even have the upanishads to study today. By saying that the teachings and explanations given by masters like Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Sivananda and Swami Chinmayananda are merely the opinion of an individual, you are saying that they are not true realized masters. If you accept they are true realized souls then you should accept their words and explanations as nothing less than the vedas themselves. This itself is said in our scriptures, in the Guru Gita, mantra moolam guror vakyam (the words of the Guru are the source of all mantras). It is said in the upanishads that if the Guru gives advice that seems contradictory to the vedas, follow the gurus word, not the text. Such is the importance given to the guru by the very scriptures you are speaking of.

 

I am not talking about these people
I am talking tom,dick and harry who reads two three scriptures and travels for 3 months and then decides to write a book claiming to be a master of everthing
and whats suprising is he manages to now only sell many books but also finds willing fools
They say a sucker is born every minute .I never knew it could be so true
I am talking of the fakes like saibaba

Now that you bring up sri aurobindo and swami vivekananda
Their interpretations of the bhagvad gita,mahabharat are useful but it must not be taken as the last word on these epics not until you yourself come to this conclusion

Just because they seemed to be enlightened people doesn't mean you swallow everything they said with closed eyes

Do not accept anything without questioning and interpreting it yourself

In all likelyhood if you and me try we can come improve upon their works and also realign all their theory to suit todays world

A lot of what swami vivekananda spoke about how to rejuvenate india made sense
during his time
but more than a century later his works related to improving india especially the ones in which he lists out the steps to restore India to her past glory
seem to have lost their relevance

Only a handful of the Upanishads remain while the majority it seems to have been lost forever

Most gurus present today are of dubious character and not so honourable intentions hence I would advise you to stay away from them

 

I agree that blind acceptance is not good. But one has also to see that there is a danger in rejecting the words of those who are enlightened. It may be that a person rejects not because there is some issue of truth they disagree with, but from egoistic motives, pride and so on. Still, I agree that there are fake 'gurus' out there, so one has to be careful.


Where Sri Aurobindo is concerned, do you think that what he says is out of date? If so, in what sense?
It seems to me that Sri A's work speaks to the future, not the past.

 

I agree...I just like languages...lol...first class linguistical nerd...

 

The question is, would you judge your opinion higher than that of enlightened people.

 

Its a honour and a pleasure to be of service

 

No I have not read much of Sri aurobindo's writings
I however have great respect for him
and recently I had been to auroville
which I feel is a wonderful place

Sometime back I did try to read up life divine and frankly after the first chapters the language and concepts got really heavy and I had to abandon it midway

Someday I am gonna finish it fully and understand the great depth of his philosophy

I am not rejecting their ideas for egoistical reasons but I am merely gonna test and cross check all their ideas and beliefs and then only consider the ones that I think are valid.

you come across as a well read person when it comes to matters concerning Aurobindo
Have you stayed at auroville ?
and how did you first get in touch with aurobindo's philosophy ?

 

No not as of now
not for many more years

but that
does not mean I or you are not capable of discovering and experiencing greater truths in this life

 

best of luck

 

First off, I didn't intend to imply that you personally were rejecting anything for ego reasons. Just that the tendency exists in people in general.

Sri Aurobindo's works are indeed far from light reading. I came to know of him (or he made himself known to me) through a spiritual teacher, and through my own studies in Indian philosophy generally.
Certainly, his books require much concentration and serious study, at least the major works I've read, such as The Life Divine, Syntheseis of Yoga, Secret of the Veda. Shorter works, like 'The Mother' are easier to read, but still not easy to digest.
The writings of Sweet Mother, esp. those produced before 1950 are easier for many people to understand.
But as well as being difficult, Sri Aurobindo's writings are luminous, and really they are unique in all world spiritual literature. His system, though complex in many ways, also has a beauty and grace of simplicity once it is seen.
Myself though, I feel that his single greatest work is 'Savitri' - again, not easy to understand. And I make no claim to understand it all!

I am not actually a disciple or follower of Sri Aurobindo in any formal sense. I fully accept his greatness and extremely high level of attainment, and his works have had a huge impact on my own thinking and experience. I'm not really interested in becoming a part of any kind of group or organization. I haven't been to Auroville - but who knows - maybe I'll pay it a visit one day.

In general, I wouldn't recommend Sri Aurobindo's writings to all and sundry, as they are too complex and demanding. They are not for the beginner. They would be easier to read for anyone with a background in academic studies of social sciences, philosophy or history. Anyone used to looking into 'systems'. But they are definitely worth the effort.

 

Ahh....very interesting

Thank you for all that information

you must then visit auroville
you will find like minded people over there

 

I have read Eknath Easwarens Upanishads twice and just finished my second translation of the gita by him and found them both to be very spiritual and inspirational....thanks to his translation

whether his translations are good or not(I don't know) I still found a lot that hit me as deep truth

 

I don't know those particular translations, but there are a lot of good translations of many hindu texts around. Glad you found inspiration in them! Unless you want to learn sanskrit, the best thing is to look at alternative translations of the main scriptures like the Gita. And also perhaps different commentaries.

 

Isnt the problem than even sanskrit is a language. Can words ever describe that which IS.