During the previous decade, I attended Sanskrit classes for about five years. For a while I even attended two classes a week. My goal was to be able to converse in Sanskrit.
I became discouraged, however, when class after class of Indian students zoomed past me. I may have known more Sanskrit when each class began, but many of the Indian students’ native languages were rooted in Sanskrit so they were able to easily able to develop a Sanskrit vocabulary. I couldn’t do that. I progressed in my studies, but the time came when I was no longer willing to dedicate the hours it would take to reach my goal; besides, I was no longer convinced my goal was even possible.
One day during the current pandemic, it occurred to me that I could write in Sanskrit as a form of spiritual practice. It had been a long time since I’d written the Devanagari letters and I knew I would enjoy doing that once again.
Many years ago, a devotee of my spiritual teacher, Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi), wrote a beautiful chant consisting of 108 characteristics of Amma. I realized I could focus on one line of that chant each day by writing it in Devanagari script ten times. I have been doing that exercise for the last 28 days!
In the past, I often wrote about my Sanskrit studies on this blog. I decided a few days ago that I would do that again. But each day, I determined that my writing wasn’t good enough or the line of the chant wasn’t the right one. Today, I decided that since my purpose was to share the process, nothing about it had to be perfect.
I picked the 24th and 25th lines of the chant to share:
om nissabda janani garbha nirgamadbhuta karmane namah (Salutations to Amma who did the miraculous deed of keeping silence when she came out of her mother’s womb.)
om kali sri krishna sangkasha komala shyamala tvishe namah (Salutations to Amma who has the beautiful dark complexion reminiscent of Kali and Krishna.)
I hope the pandemic ends before I reach the 108th day, but even if it does, I may continue this practice until I have finished the last line.
I will end my post with the following prayer:
Om Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings in the world live in peace
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
Peace, Peace, Peace
Living, Learning and Letting Go 
Karuna-I love this blog! And from what I can see your sanskrit writing looks like a beautiful work of art. I think I’ll pull out my sanskrit books too. I hope I have some here in US. I took classes at AP with Radha. Were you in my class? I seem to remember you there.
Love,Arathi
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If that was the class that was held in the Engineering college then my answer is yes. I only attended one. I had already stopped my classes in Seattle by then but thought I would still check it out. As I remember, I couldn’t hear or understand her so didn’t go back. I might have been able to do the class if I had started at the beginning but going when I would only be there for several weeks seemed pointless. I am enjoying writing in Sanskrit every day now though.
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