The most myopic approach to teaching and learning Sanskrit is to look at it as just another language. To not inflict this limited perspective on our children, at Vidyakshetra we approach Sanskrit learning as immersion into the knowledge and experience of thousands of years.
If you ask Dr. Tilaka M Rao, our Sanskrit Acharya, why Sanskrit holds immense importance at Vidyakshetra, he will tell you, “Our children should live a life of Ananda”. Did it sound far fetched? It’s not. It is easy for humans to become unhappy – stress, anxiety, depression and other mental disorders creep in easily. But to stay happy, you need knowledge, clarity of thought and self-awareness. Our ancestors reflected over every possible human problem and found solutions that can benefit future generations. These reflections and assimilated knowledge are recorded in Sanskrit language. Colonial encounters over more than two centuries have created obstacles to recognising and making use of this knowledge. And we are here to enable our children to access this ancestral knowledge, reflect upon their experience and cultivate a life of happiness.
संभाषणं शास्त्रपर्यन्तम् – Sanskrit learning at Vidyakshetra starts with Sambhashana or conversation and from there leads all the way to the Shastras. The initiation happens in the classes of Bharat Sridhar, our Acharya for the younger children. “We learn our Matru Bhashaa through abhinaya, anukarana and shravanam. It is in the same way that we approach Samskrita Bhaasha learning at Vidyakshetra”, says Bharat Anna.
The world of Sanskrit words comes alive through listening, speaking, familiarising, memorising and learning to construct single sentences. How do we experience a word? It is through concepts, through experiences.The experience that the word ‘Sukha’ invokes in us is not very different from what Sri Rama would have experienced in Tretha Yuga. Words such as sukha, duḥkha, kāma, and krodha convey the same meaning, whether one speaks Tulu in Karnataka or Bengali in West Bengal. ”Sanskrit has carried words, concepts and experiences through time, through geographies, and among people speaking multiple languages for this land. This shared vocabulary of Sanskrit creates shared experiences, thus becoming a meta language. Our focus is to pass on this legacy to our children in the most immersive, comprehensive and spiritual manner”, says Tilak Anna.
Moving from words to slokas of Ramayana, our children start to identify words in a sloka, how its meaning changes, how words can be combined and split to create new words – all in a playful manner. They may not yet understand the meaning of a sloka but the knowledge is just waiting to blossom. They grow from words, to grammar to sentence structures and before you know, they would be delving into Kavyas, Gadhyas, Natakas and Shastras.
And then Dr. M.V Mohan, our Bharatiya Ganitham Acharya comes in. Mohan Anna makes Sanskrit the language of Mathematics, staying true to the fundamentals laid out by Bhaskaracharya in his Lilavati. “Sanskrit is the foundation for logical thinking. With logic comes clarity of thought. And when you know how to think, there are fewer challenges that life can throw at you”, says Mohan Anna.
“The Manuscript Trust of India estimates that there are over 50 million manuscripts, mostly in Sanskrit, from ancient Bharat – from astronomy to metallurgy to medicine to arts – spread across the country and abroad. Out of this just about one lakh manuscripts have been recorded. Of the recorded manuscripts, just 1% is catalogued and only 9% of the catalogued manuscripts are published. Imagine the wealth of knowledge that still lies uncovered! We want our children to have the power to unlock all this knowledge. And Sanskrit is the key”, he adds.
Self-study is the backbone of Sanskrit learning here. The Acharya serves as a guide, but it is the spirit of curiosity and exploration that steers the learning forward – not text books, not examinations, not ranks. To know and to know what you don’t know, there are much better tools. Our children read, discuss, debate, listen, present, take feedback, critique, and research on an everyday basis.
To see how deeply our children engage with the language, we welcome you to Saraswati Sabha, our fortnightly Sanskrit commune. You might think Sanskrit is so intricate, arduous and even rigid. But our children prove that you just need to get the fundamentals right. Once you have got that, Sanskrit is freedom – just like Sanatana Dharma. And our children revel in this freedom. The difficulty of texts like Raghuveera Gadhya, Kiratararjuneeyam, Kumarasambhavam, Veni Samharam, Mudrarakshasam and Champu Ramayana blissfully melt away in front of the Jigyasa of the children.