Talk:Knowledge of Sanskrit and Scriptural Learning
Most of the core sacred literature of Hindu Dharma is composed in the Vedic and Sanskrit languages that have been not understood by the masses for several centuries. To take the egalitarian message of Bhakti to these masses, our Saints and Bhaktas have composed devotional literature in the vernaculars. In fact, even Sanskritic texts declare that one can communicate spiritual teachings in languages other than Sanskrit as well-
He is a Guru, who enlightens his student not through the medium of Sanskrit or Prakrit alone, but even through the medium of the local vernaculars which the student understands as his own mother tongue. Shivadharmottara Upapurāṇa 2.3
Below are a few examples from the Hindu Bhakti tradition to illustrate this fact-
Story-Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Illiterate Brahmana
“While touring South India, Chaitanya encountered a certain Brahmin in the temple of Ranga-kshetra. This man daily sat in the temple turning over the pages of the Bhagavad-gita, but his constant mispronunciation of the Sanskrit made him the object of general mirth and derision. Chaitanya, however, observed signs of genuine spiritual ecstasy on the brahmin’s body, and he asked him what he read in the Gita to induce such ecstasy. The brahmin replied that he didn’t read anything. He was illiterate and could not understand Sanskrit. Nevertheless, his guru had ordered him to read the Gita daily, and he complied as best he could. He simply pictured Krishna and Arjuna together on the chariot, and this image of Krishna’s merciful dealings with his devotee caused this ecstasy. Chaitanya embraced the Brahmin and declared that he was an “authority on reading the Bhagavad-gita.””[1]
Poonthanam Poonthanam Namboodiri (1547 – 1640 CE), although born in a family of the learned Namboodiri Brahmanas of Kerala, was not very educated. He and his wife did not have any child for a long time. Therefore, they prayed to Bhagavān Krishna at the Guruvāyoorappan temple in northern Kerala and were blessed with a baby boy. Their joy knew no bounds, and the couple soon organized the annaprāshana (first feeding of solid food) ceremony for their son.
Unfortunately, a guest accidentally threw his shawl over the baby, who was sleeping in the corner of a room on the floor. Other guests too blindly did the same. Tragically, the baby got suffocated to death. Poonthanam and his wife were greatly grieved, and Poonthanam sought solace by worshipping Krishna in the Guruvāyaraapan Mandir, imagining Krishna Himself as his own baby. In a mood of great sorrow, he composed a beautiful poem called the Jnanappana, in which he expresses his great Bhakti for Krishna. A line in the poem reads, “When the baby Krishna plays in one’s mind, does one need any biological children?” This poem is in the Malayalam language which is spoken in Kerala.
Residing in the same Mandir was Melpathur Narayana Bhattatiri, a renowned scholar of Sanskrit who composed the immortal Sanskrit classic called Narayaneeyam in praise of Bhagavān Vishnu. Poonthanam humbly approached Bhattatiri with the request, “Sir, you are a great scholar. Please go through my poem and let me know if I should correct any mistakes in it.” But Bhattatiri responded arrogantly, “Why should I review a poem in the Malayalam language which is spoken by the common people? Plus, your poem will have many mistakes anyway, because you are not very educated.”
When Poonthanam heard this answer, he was greatly saddened. He burst into tears. Bhagavān Krishna could not bear the fact that Bhattatiri, although a great scholar, had insulted His humble bhakti Poonthanam. And miraculously, a voice from the mūrti said, “Poonthanam is perhaps not as strong as you in vibhakti (grammatical declensions in Sanskrit), but he is greatly superior to you in Bhakti. I prefer his Malayalam poem Jnanappana over your Sanskrit work Narayaneeyam.”
The command of Krishna greatly shook Bhattatiri. He rushed to Poonthanam and begged for forgiveness. When Bhattatiri read the Jnanappana, he was really moved and impressed by how deep and profound the sentiments of the poem were. In fact, Bhattatiri then incorporated some ideas from the Malayalam poem in his own Sanskrit work! Today, the Jnanappan, due to its great esteem and popularity in Kerala, is considered as the Bhagavadgita of Kerala. This poem is renowned for the fact that it explains the deep philosophy of Hindu Dharma in a very easy to understand manner in a language that is spoken by the common man.
The incident of Krishna preferring Jnanappana over Narayaneeyam also demonstrates the fact that Bhagavān does not care the language used by his Bhakta, as long as that language is full of love and devotion for Him.
The Lord’s Language: Tulsidas Writes his Ramayana in Hindi
Many people think that the Dharma can be taught only in its original language Sanskrit and only through the explanations of great Saints and Sages. However, the story of Tulsidas below shows that given the ignorance of the common man, we should simply the teachings of our scriptures, and teach them in a language that they can understand, be it English, Hindi, Tamil etc.
Sant Tulsi Das is considered an incarnation of Sage Valmiki in our modern times. Tulsidas noted that India at that time was ruled by foreign Muslim rulers who were very harsh on the Hindus. All of our major temples had been demolished by them. Our scriptures were being burned. People were being forcibly asked to give up their religion and become Muslims. And our priests, the Brahmanas, were being tortured. The government officials often troubled the common man by extracting very heavy taxes. Therefore, Tulsidas thought that he should teach the Ramayana to everyone, because it describes the life story of Lord Rama, who was an ideal ruler, an ideal son and much more. But the Ramayana which was written by Sage Valmiki was a very large book. It had 24000 verses. Moreover, it was in the Sanskrit language, which the common man did not understand those days. So he first thought of shortening the Ramayana and create a version of it in Sanskrit with fewer verses. Every day, he wrote some verses in Sanskrit on a piece of paper. These verses described some part of the life of Lord Rama. But the next morning, Tulsidas saw that the sheet of paper on which he wrote the verses had become blank! This happened several days in a row. Then one night, Lord Shiva appeared to him in a dream and said to him – “Tulsidas, do not write the Ramayana again in Sanskrit, because only scholars can understand this language these days. I want you to go to Ayodhya, where Lord Rama lived. There you should write your Ramayana in the language Awadhi, which the common people speak in that city.” Tulsidas understood the command of Lord Shiva and proceeded to Ayodhya. He started composing his Ramayana in Awadhi, and called this version the ‘Ramacharitmanas’, which means – “The Holy Manasarovar Lake of the acts of Rama.” Tulsidas then started teaching the Ramacharitmanas to people in Varanasi. The book was so beautiful, musical and gave just such a wonderful description of the life of Lord Rama that soon, large crowds started attending his lectures.
For the first time, they could understand the beautiful life of Lord Rama, because the Ramacharitmanas was in Awadhi, a type of the Hindi language which was spoken by the common man. This caused some jealousy amongst the other local Pundits. They complained that Hindu scriptures should only be written in Sanskrit and not in any other language. They objected to the fact that Tulsidas worshipped Lord Shiva sometimes and yet he wrote his scripture on the life of Lord Rama. How could he be loyal to two Devatas at the same time?
The Pundits forgot that all these Devatas are the different forms of the same God. To test Tulsidas, they asked him to place his manuscript of the Ramacharitmanas inside the Kashi Vishvanath Temple, the holiest Shiva Mandir in Varanasi. On top of this book, they placed copies of the four Vedas and then shut the doors of the Mandir. When the doors were opened the next morning, a miracle had happened. The Ramacharitmanas copy was now on the top, and ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ was written on its front cover. This meant that Lord Shiva Himself had decided that Tulsi’s Ramacharitmanas was as holy as the Vedas, which are themselves holiest scriptures of Hinduism.
The Pundits felt really ashamed and they asked the Saint for forgiveness. Thereafter, he was allowed to give lectures on the Ramacharitmanas without any trouble. Many people made copies of the book and they started singing it in every village. Tulsidas-ji wrote his Ramacharitmanas in the language of the common people, and not in Sanskrit. But Lord Shiva decided that it was as sacred as the holy Vedas in Sanskrit. Therefore another message from the life of Tulsidas is that even though Sanskrit is the holy language for us Hindus, God will listen to our prayers no matter which language we use to worship him. The important thing to keep in mind is that we should remember God with faith and devotion, no matter what the language of our prayers is.
Story: Vāmana Pandit Switches from Sanskrit to Marathi
The story of Vamana Pandit below shows how mere learning of Gita and other scriptures does not benefit us spiritually. Our soul becomes ‘alive’ only when we give up our ego and pride, when our heart is filled with devotion, and when we are able to teach the scriptures to the common man in a simple language out of love and compassion. From a Pandits’ scholar, Vāmana Paṇdit became a Scholar of the Masses.
“Vāmana pundit was born in a Brahmin family of Bijapur, which was under Muslim rule. Even as a young boy he could compose Sanskrit verses. When the ruler Adil Shah heard of this child prodigy, he offered to support the boy if he embraced Islam, so the family sent him secretly to Varanasi to study under some scholars. After studying there for about twenty years, Vamana became quite famous for his knowledge and skill at debating. He used to go on tours and challenge other pundits to a debate. Hearing of Ramadasa, he decided to visit him a challenge him also to a debate. When he arrived near the place where Ramadasa was staying, Vamana pundit sent a messenger to get Ramadasa. Vamana waited and waited under a tree, but by midnight Ramadasa had still not come. At that time, he happened to see two ghosts, and overheard them talking about him. The ghosts were saying that Vamana would soon be joining them. Vamana pundit became very afraid. He thought about what the ghosts had said and gradually understood that his egotism and pride of scholarship was leading him to hell. In fact, he became so repentant that he decided he would approach Ramadasa for spiritual instructions.
Soon after, at dawn, Ramadasa arrived and Vamana pundit bowed down at his feet. Ramadasa blessed the pundit and after giving him some spiritual instructions, told him to go to Badarika Ashrama, in the Himalayas, and meditate on Vishnu. After practicing sadhana whole-heartedly there for a long time, Vamana pundit had a vision of the Lord, who blessed him and told him to go back to Ramadasa for further instructions. When Vamana pundit met Ramadasa again, Ramadasa gave him more instructions and told him to go to Shri Shaila Hill to meditate on Shiva. Again Vamana did as he was told, practicing intense sadhana for several years. Here also he was blessed by the Lord and told to return to Ramadasa. This time (in 1668 CE) Ramadasa described to the pundit how the common man needed religious education in their own language. Thus far the pundit had written only in Sanskrit. His learning was learning only among other Brahmin pundits like himself. It was of no use to ordinary people. So Ramadasa requested Vamana pundit to write religious books in Marathi for the common people, and Vamana agreed. Besides some very beautiful poems, Vamana pundit also wrote a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, entitled Yathārtha Dīpikā.”[2]