Nevertheless, I must tell you how this beautiful language has enchanted me for such a long time!
Now that I think of it, I find it very strange that I chose French over Sanskrit in my high school days for a third language. The thinking then of course was that as an international traveller, learning an international language will be of great use and help me fast become a global citizen!
Little did I know then, that the language, which I had sidelined in ignorance, was in fact more international than any other language I could've ever imagined ... that in fact it contained within itself the roots of several languages ... that in fact it was the mother of ALL languages!
Did You Know -
That Sanskrit is the mother of all the Indo-European languages including Greek, Latin and English?
That the word Human was in fact derived from the word Aum?
That Inter and Interior have been derived from Antar?
That the Latin word Octo and the German word Acht have been derived from Ashta meaning eight?
That the words Band, Bandage, Bind have been derived from Bandh meaning lock?
Another interesting example is the Latin word Frater & English word Brother - both have been derived from Bhraatra meaning brother, fraternity - If you pronounce Bhraatra, you can slowly arrive at Brother - its easy to see that their mispronounciation over a period of several years helped evolve the latter word!
There are thousands of such examples! The list is endless!
Also interestingly enough, some of the most modern scientists in the high-tech field of computers, have discovered that Sanskrit is the best language for the latest generation of Artificial Intelligence machine-systems. It has the most perfect syntax amongst all languages and scientists view it as the perfect programming language as well!
I found that the best part about Sanskrit is, that the entire language is root based which not only helps you construct new words & concepts easily but also deconstruct existing words & concepts effortlessly. I have observed (and it resonates with anyone who has the remotest idea of mantras) that the more we are familiar to a sanskrit word, the sooner it reveals its meaning to us! When I was learning Guru Pooja, a significant part of the meaning was understood by me simply because I knew several roots and another significant part revealed itself to me as I kept chanting it everyday!
Its high time we paid homage to our great heritage and devoted some of our time to studying the most beautiful language of all times!!
The following are some good places to begin with (that is, if you have not already):
http://www.gosai.com/science/sanskrit-enlightenment.html
http://www.iimb.ernet.in/~mahadev/samskrit_why.pdf
http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Sanskrit.htm
Vande Samskritam!
Vande Mataram!
