On 11 November 1967 the Mother said :
Sanskrit !
Everyone should learn that.
Especially everyone who works here should learn that… not the Sanskrit
of the scholars… all, all of them, wherever they may have been born.
In principle, Mother, that is what we
are thinking of – next year, to make all the children do
Sanskrit, plus their mother tongue.
Yes. Not Sanskrit from the point of
view of scholarship, but Sanskrit, a Sanskrit – how to put it ? – that
opens the door to all the languages of India. I think that is
indispensable. The ideal would be, in a few years, to have a rejuvenated
Sanskrit as the representative language of India, that is, a spoken
Sanskrit, so that… Sanskrit is behind all the languages of India and it
should be that. This was Sri Aurobindo's idea, when we spoke about it.
Because now English is the language of the whole country, but that is
abnormal. It is very helpful for relations with the rest of the world, but
just as each country has its own language, there should… And so here, as
soon as one begins to want a national language, everyone starts
quarrelling. Each one wants it to be his own, and that is foolish. But no
one could object to Sanskrit. It is a more ancient language than the
others and it contains the sounds, the root-sounds of many words.
This is something I studied with Sri
Aurobindo and it is obviously very interesting. Some of these roots can
even be found in all the languages of the world – sounds, root-sounds
which are found in all those languages. Well, this, this thing, this is
what ought to be learnt and this is what the national language should be.
Every child born in India should know it, just as every child born in
France has to know French. He does not speak properly, he does not know it
thoroughly, but he has to know French a little; and in all the countries
of the world it is the same thing. He has to know the national language.
And then, when he learns, he learns as many languages as he likes. At the
moment, we are still embroiled in quarrels, and this is a very bad
atmosphere in which to build anything. But I hope that a day will come
when it will be possible.
So I would like to have a simple
Sanskrit taught her, as simple as possible, but not "simplified"
– simple by going back to its origin… all these sounds, the sounds
that are the roots of the words which were formed afterwards. I don't know
whether you have anyone here who could do that. In fact, I don't know
whether there is anyone in India who could do it. Sri Aurobindo knew. But
someone who knows Sanskrit can… I don't know…
August 1965
Q. The
language problem harasses India a good deal. What would be our correct
attitude in this matter ?
A. Unity
must be a living fact and not the imposition of an arbitrary rule. When
India will be one, she will have spontaneously a language understood by
all.
Vol. 12, p.253 -
The Mother
8 March
1968
A
disciple of our Ashram asked the Mother :
Mother,
A common
friend writes that Vinoba Bhave would like to know what exactly Mother
says about Sanskrit being the common national language of India.
I may
add, do you expect the difficult grammar of Sanskrit to be learnt by all ?
Will it be for common use or only for ceremonial purposes, like Latin in
England ?
The
Mother replied :
For
common use I was thinking of a simplified Sanskrit from the grammatical
point of view. But of course, I do not know if it is possible.
16 August
1969
Sweet
Mother,
We
would like to have -- as the expression of what You want -- a message from
You about the new life for Sanskrit, of which You gave us a glimpse in
Your talk of 11 November 1967. We would like to translate this message and
publish it in the Ashram journals, for some disciples would like to know
what You have said about this matter.
I see no
need for any message. Messages only convince those who are already
convinced.
It would
be better to learn Sanskrit and try to make it a truly living language.
Blessings.
- The Mother
4
October 1971
On certain issues where You and Sri Aurobindo have given
direct answers, we (Sri Aurobindo's action) are also specific,
as for instance... on the language issue where You have said for the
country that (1) the regional language should be the medium of
instruction, (2) Sanskrit should be the national language, and (3) English
should be the international language.
Are we
correct in giving these replies to such questions ?
Yes
.
-The Mother