IEP Newsdesk: my experience at the Sanskrit workshop

The Sanskrit workshop was an enriching experience for me, as I got a chance to learn the language that is the “mother of all languages”. The course was conducted by Dr Anuradha, who even did her PhD in Sanskrit. Learning spoken Sanskrit showed us that many English words had roots in Sanskrit. We also learnt the importance of learning Sanskrit. For example, reciting the alphabet gives a proper exercise for the vocal chords. We also learnt the importance of good words and good thoughts in our daily life. A Japanese researcher did research on this subject, and found out that good thoughts and speaking good words create beautiful crystals on water, as against bad thoughts and words. Our body is made up of more than 60% of water, and our brain contains a lot of water too. This shows that we should always think good thoughts and speak good words.

Despite being from a Tamil-speaking background, and taking Tamil as a second language in school, I was able to learn and make sentences in Sanskrit easily. There were also people in the class who did not have any background in Indian languages; however, they too were able to construct sentences easily. As many Indian scriptures are written in Sanskrit, I was very interested to learn the language. We also learnt the meanings of some mantras and the importance of chanting mantras.

Overall, I found the Sanskrit workshop very enriching and despite going for the second time for the course, I felt that I had learnt a lot more than the last time.

-Pranav