Theos-Talk Archives (May 1998 Message tt00526)

>From: "Thoa Thi-Kim Tran" <thoalight@aol.com>
>Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 12:57:55 -0700 (PDT)
>Subject: SD & Sanscrit
>
>Tony:
>>Recently there has been a discussion about Sanskrit.  English is hard
>>compared to Sanskrit.  Sanskrit is the language of the gods.     Its
>>softness, its compassion, the pronounciation/sound and the colours produced
>>by that, surely have a beneficient effect on humanity?  It is a mistake to
>>see it just as a language, without taking into consideration its other
>>facets. Using  Sanskrit also helps humanity, and also helps those who use it
>>to go within.  It is the language of the within.  This is not to say we
>>should all be learning Sanskrit, but to ackowledge it, rather than
>>dismissing it.  Using Sanscrit IS helping humanity.  Using Sanskrit makes
>>Theosophy easier to understand.  Using English makes it harder!
>>Sanskrit is not about scholars.  Some are very good at defacing it and
>>making it difficult.  It has a lot to do with Spiritual Beings.   That is
>>why the Mahatmas and HPB and others use Sanskrit.  It is not a dead
>>language, but rather a living entity?   Like everything else, it is subject
>>to cycles.
>
>I chant using the Liturgy of Nichiren Shoshu because it was something that
>my mom has always done.  However, I'm starting to not feel very inspired
>because I would prefer to understand the meaning of every word rather than
>repeating the words because they are sacred words.  I am at present
>searching for inspiring prayers using the English language, and that would
>lift my being.  Mark offered some prayers from UCT, but I haven't found one
>that fit with me.  Meditation will have to be my main form of upliftment.
>
>The Korean martial arts school that I trained under would use only Korean
>phrases and language for counting and techniques, and salutations and
>commands.  I believe that it is all part of making the student lose his/her
>individuality to fit in with the militaristic control mode.  And, of
>course, the national pride of the Grandmaster.
>
>I believe it is the same with chanting the sutra in Japanese.  It is
>probably the Japanese national pride.

Thoa - without walls
It was good to hear of your unsuccesful attempts with prayer.  You make
interesting comments and conclusions. But how are you going to proceed?

>Meditation will have to be my main form of upliftment.
What do you really mean by this?  Is this what meditation is really about?
Could it be approached differently?  The difficulty is,
virtually everything (or everything) said about meditation, kills it *stone*
dead.

>Could that also be with Sanskrit?
That would be up to us, but the description of Sanskrit given wasn't only
made in relation to prayer and chanting.  We need to take in all its facets.
A living entity.   It is most important the Sanskrit words are said with
some understanding, that understanding being continually allowed to grow,
rather than getting crystalized in some definition.

Thoa

What about the MYSTIC DANCE of the New Dispensation?

"Chanting the name of Hari the saints in heaven dance
My Gouranga dances amid a band of devotees
How beautiful his eyes which shower love!
Jesus dances, Moses dances, with hands upraised;
Devarshi Narad dances playing on the harp.

Old King David dances, and with him Janak and Yudhishthir.
The great Yogi Mahadeo dances in joy, and with him dances
John accompanied by his disciples.
Nanak and Prohlad dance, dances Nitya-nanda, and in their midst dance Paul
and Mohamed.................
...................
................
And in this holy company dance the believers in the New
Dispensation, killing the distance of space and time.
The fishes dance in the sea and the fowls in the air, and
the trees and plants dance, their branches sporting with
the wind.

The Bible and the Vedas dance together with the Bhagvat;
the Puran and the Koran dance joined in love.

The Scientist and the aescetic and the poet dance, inebriated
with the new wine of the Dispensation.

The world below and the world above dance, chanting the
name of Hari, as they hear the sweet gospel of the New
Dispensation."
(Theo June 1881)

"...1881, offers that strange fact, that from whichever of four sides you
look at its figures - from right or left, from top or bottom, from the back
by holding the paper up to the light - or even *upside down*, you will
always have before you the same mysterious and kabbalistic numbers of 1881"
(HPB,Theos,June,1881)

Tony