Introduction

Any language can be released from its inertia and elevated into Mantric language. It all depends upon the users of the language: how and for what purpose the language is being used. But in the case of Sanskrit it has been designed from its very inception as a Mantric language. The language is so flawlessly structured that any one who comes in contact with it feels a greater force behind its words. The musical and rhythmic beauty of this language, its power of expression, the purity and vibration of its sounds, the eternal relationship between its words and senses, all these have made Sanskrit a wonderful language which, like a Mantra, has the power to uplift and illumine and enlighten.

The ideal of a spiritual or Mantirc language is to reproduce as faithfully as possible, within the limitations of human consciousness, the vibratory rhythm or sound values of an experience in a pregnant utterance. Every experience produces a vibration or sound in our consciousness which contains the holistic essence of that experience. A Mantirc language is to reproduce these vibrations or sounds as perfectly as possible. It is in this sense that Sanskrit has the power of Mantra and is a Mantirc language.

Sanskrit has maximum number of words for the Divine and more precise terms for defining consciousness and meditative experiences. It has a great power to elevate human consciousness to sublime heights. The thought contents expressed through this language are capable of taking to greater heights, widening and heightening the consciousness of the one who uses it consciously. Thus, it is a language that is ideally suited to describe and govern the nature of phenomena from the spiritual level to the physical. In a higher sense it is not just a language but a conscious Force, a revelation; a living mode of power, by itself formative and creative. The Rishis of ancient time were minutely discerning in their observations, and were highly conscious in the matter of using the language. They did not use the language just for the purpose of communication, they used it as a tool for discovering the true nature of themselves and all that they saw in and around them. They used the language to communicate truth. Herein lies the sacredness of a language. The language that helps to discover the nature of everything, that helps to discover the sacredness of life, is a sacred language. It is in this sense that Sanskrit is a sacred language. This language was consciously used by its users for the purpose of discovering the sacredness of life and it has tremendous potentiality to help in that discovery of the sacredness of life, the truths of existence. It is a Force functioning in many levels of consciousness, ever purifying, ever formative and creative. It not only tells us or makes us feel that we are potentially Divine but also helps us in manifesting that and leading us from the level of man-Human to the man-Divine. In this way Sanskrit has immense power to make the Divine Life possible upon the earth. This is the sole purpose of a Mantra: to bring in the transformation. It is in this sense that Sanskrit is a Mantric language. This is the language that attunes us with the cosmic creative vibration which is capable of bringing the real change. This is the language which tells us in numerous ways that all is Divine.

In a deeper sense Mantra is the original form of language. This is the language from which all other languages derive. In a Mantric language the sound and the sense correspond. There is an eternal relationship between sound and sense. A deeper analysis of Sanskrit shows that in this language each and every word is conscious of its own history; each word itself can explain why it stands for a particular idea or object; here to name means to know the nature of the thing and to touch its essence. So every articulate sound here has an object, a purpose, a meaning, and there is a non-detachable relationship between sound and sense. This is the very nature of a Mantra and it is in this sense that Sanskrit is a Mantric language.

Sanskrit in its original form was the first and the earliest vibration, pure and transparent. It was, rather, close and true transcription of the experience of the Supreme. It was the most direct sound-formation of the manifesting God-head. In its purity and flexibility, in its wealth and depth of signification and in its adaptability and application, this was close to the goddess of Speech herself. It was greatly fluid and richly subtle. It was pliable and flexible; its words were vehicles of life power, creative and correctly expressive. It carried with it the purity and warmth of the original experience; there was perfect and complete intimacy between the language and the content of the language. Thus, Sanskrit was ‘based on the true and perfect relation of sound (Vak) and sense (Artha)’. “Everyone of its vowels and consonants”, observes Sri Aurobindo, “has a particular inalienable force which exists by the nature of things and not by development or human choice; these are the fundamental sounds which lie at the basis of the Tantric bijamantras and constitute the efficacy of the mantra itself. Every vowel and every consonant in the original language had certain primary meaning which arose out of” some “essential Shakti or force, and were the basis of other derivative meanings.” (Sri Aurobindo, SABCL., Vol. 11, p. 449)

A Mantric language develops in an organic manner from its seed-sounds or the basic sounds which are its prime Mantras. The seed-sounds produce primitive root-sounds; from the primitive roots are produced secondary root-sounds and root-words; from the secondary roots the tertiary roots are formed. The process goes on in this manner and language flowers from one state to another. As such, Mantric language can be understood in terms of its prime root-meaning. It is always etymologically decipherable. In other words, it is theoretically possible to explain the meaning of the words in Sanskrit according to the combined sense of the relative letters, syllables and roots. Therefore, the meaning of any word in this language is not derived by chance or from any convention but from its own depth, the system of root-sounds, sound-ideas. It is because of this transparency of the system of root-sounds and clear semantics that Sanskrit has the efficacy of Mantra and has the ability to discover its own history. A proper investigation of Sanskrit words shows that in Sanskrit a word is not a conventional symbol for an idea, but itself the parent and the creator of ideas. This lucid system of formation of words from the root-sounds follows a natural process and is one of the important factors that makes Sanskrit an ever creative language, a Mantra. These root-sounds do not possess rigid meanings; they are like prime numbers from which complex equations can be evolved, but into which they are always resolvable.

Thus, we find that Sanskrit which has been evolved and perfected in the Vedas and Upanishads, is a living and conscious Force, an entity that has directly come from the highest source, and is capable of conveying infinitely more than what the surface sense of language seems to indicate. It is not any man-made invention or mere tool for communication, but a revelation. It is much more than a mere meaning or a sound or a sound devoid of deeper sense other than that attributed by convention. It is a language that has been constructed in harmonious relation with the very truths of existence. This is the real purpose of all Mantras. And it is in this sense that Sanskrit is a Mantric language.

A Mantra, as I have mentioned earlier, is an expression of a deepest spiritual reality or truth. This expression is possible, as Sri Aurobindo says, “…when three highest intensities of poetic speech meet and become indissolubly one…” These three highest intensities, according to Sri Aurobindo are:

a. A highest intensity of rhythmic movement.
b. A highest intensity of verbal form and thought-substance, of style.
c. A highest intensity of the soul’s vision.

A little familiarity with the vast Sanskrit literature, especially with the Vedas and Upanishads, reveals that this is the language in which there is a unison or fusion of these three elements. This language has achieved a certain highest level of perfection in which this unison has become possible. This unity of the rhythm and movement, style and substance, and the vision is the characteristic power of a Mantra or highest level of poetic expression. Sanskrit, by the power of its perfection, has achieved this level and is a perfect Mantric language. The very construction of the language is in harmony with the universal truths of existence.