Best Language to Study...

[iso1truth]

If I were interested in studying the actual texts important in Advaita, should I be looking to study sanskrit, hindi? or something else entirely?

[upasaka]

If I were interested in studying the actual texts important in Advaita, should I be looking to study sanskrit, hindi? or something else entirely?

I think Sanskrit is the language you probably want to focus on. I am sure most of those texts are available in Hindi and other languages, but they probably were all first composed in Sanskrit.

[Sahasranama]

Either Sanskrit or Hindi. Sanskrit is best, it's the language all the scriptures were written in. But there's also a lot available in Hindi. If you have an Indian background, you might want to learn Hindi, Tamil or another Indian language, because that will be very easy if you already understand the lanuage a little bit from your parents. If you are a westerner, you might as well start learning Sanskrit right away. Eventually an understanding of Sanskrit is necessary to understand the scriptures.

[iso1truth]

and how about materials from Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Neem Karoli, and the likes? These would be in Tamil or Hindi? And would an understanding of sanskrit greatly assist in the understanding of Tamail or Hindi?

[kallol]

As these books are available in many languages, I would prefer that one start studying these books in the languages they are comfortable. This will save time and straight way start forming the mind.

Sanskrit was the language which was used to contain erosion of the ageless wisdom which till that time was by word of mouth. By the time the knowledge was put in writing much of the upanishads and other knowledge areas were lost.

Again Sanskrit is relatively a new language, may be around 2000 yrs old.

So the actual knowledge discovered or realised long back which had different language.

Now all the gurus communicate in english and much of the discourses are also in english.

So knowledge wise no language would be inferior to anyone.

Neither the scriptures should be studied without guide / guru. It would be like a class 3 boy studing Relativity.

Main part is to choose the interpretation which might fit you. As the interpretation of the same text varied with the different gurus, they tend to lead to different conclusion. However as the mind matures, it slowly chooses the highest interpretation.

Ofcourse if you want to study the sacred scriptures in original form, sanskrit much be the right language.

Love and best wishes

[kd gupta]

PL download Manusmriti in sanskrit with english translation from Esnips , it will make easy to understand the language .

[TatTvamAsi]

The real question boils down to this: do you want to "read" or "study" the scriptures?

Once you have answered that, the answer is axiomatic; Sanskrit for the latter and English for the former. Hindi is an amalgam of various languages similar to English.

Sanskrit and Tamil are classical languages of India.

Tamizh (some say "TamiL") is perhaps one of the most difficult languages to learn properly; only outdone by Sanskrit IMO. There are many beautiful Tamil scriptures and even non-theistic ones. Yet, I think the barrier to entry is far too high. If you are of a keen intellect, I suppose you could take it on.

Namaskar.

[Sahasranama]

difficulty depends...

If you have an indian background and already know an Indian language, then Sanskrit is much easier to learn than Russian or Chinese for example. If you have a background in classical languages like ancient Greek or Latin, then the study of Sanskrit becomes a little bit easier.

[Onkara]

If I were interested in studying the actual texts important in Advaita, should I be looking to study sanskrit, hindi? or something else entirely?

Hello Iso1truth
Sanskrit is useful in my opinion, as most commentaries by Sri Adi Shankara are based on the Sanskrit words. For example most commentary on the Bhagavad Gita hinges on Sanskrit, and any comfort with Sanskrit might allow improved rewards from study.

I read most in English. Recently I have started to learn Sanskrit in earnest. There are English translations of Nisargadatta Maharaj's talks, you can find these online.

I do have a question for others, is Tamil of the scriptures very different to modern Tamil? I ask as it might be advantageous to learn Tamil over Sanskrit given that it is spoken by people living outside of Sri Lanka (or India) today.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast�


Sanskrit is considered saṃskṛtam, and properly viewed as saṃskṛtā ( some write saṃskṛta). saṃskṛta संस्कृत can be viewed as s�ṃ-skṛta - put together , constructed , well or completely formed , perfected ; refined , adorned , ornamented , polished , highly elaborated.

For me my desire lies not so much in the speech of the language but of its etymology and roots of all the wonderful words that compose the śāstra-s. The devatā ( cosmic impulses of nature) reside within and between these words say the wise. To know the devatā one is compelled to know ( in part) saṃskṛtā or saṃskṛta-bhāṣā or refined speech, vāk or vāc.

Keep in mind there is vedic saṃskṛtā and classical saṃskṛtā.

praṇām