how can sacred language help us connect with Deity, as Mother Nature?
Sanskrit and Pali Cases for
Kirtan and Scripture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_nouns#a-stems These tables list the different inflection or word ending for the eight grammatical cases, for Sanskrit
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/toolbox/noundec.html has inflection tables for Pali
https://easysanskrit.wordpress.com/tag/eight-noun-cases/ This explains how to use the different cases
https://www.academia.edu/27386976/Mandukya_Upanishad_Word_for_Word_Translation_with_Transliteration_and_Grammatical_Notes describes how the verb and noun cases operate.
Perhaps you never studied the grammar of other languages, which have different cases? And they did not teach English grammar when I was in high school in Australia!
I will describe how these eight Sanskrit cases for nouns are used in the Kirtan songs of this website. When we understand these cases, we get a better understanding of the dynamics of spiritual practice, and how the Presence of Deity operates, how bhakti can arise.
Sanskrit is like Latin, which used to be the sacred language in the West (perhaps still is?) In Sanskrit, each noun is usually in one of eight cases. These cases tell us how the word is used in the sentence. The ending of the noun is called the declension or inflexion or declination of the noun. This declension changes depending on the case the noun is in. Thus the declension of the noun tells us how the word is used in the sentence.
Let’s start with the basics of subject – verb – object. Consider a simple sentence “I write this website”. I am the subject for I do the action in the sentence. website is the object, for it is the object of my actions. And the action is the verb; in this case “write”.
The nominative case names the subject. The object is in the accusative case.
Let’s start with - om purnam adah purnam idam.
पूर्णमद पूर्णमिदं
pūrṇam adah pūrṇam idam
purity out there purity in here
(when) out there is pure, (and) in here is pure, then …
पूर्णात्पुर्णमुदच्यते
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
from purity purity is sent out
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमा दाय
pūrṇasya pūrṇam adāya
that of purity to purity returns
पूर्णमेवा वशिष्यते
pūrṇam -eva vasiṣyate
purity surely is undiminished, strengthened.
This mantra is about pūrṇaḥ = purity or “the pure”.
In line 1, pūrṇam is in the accusative case, and therefore is the object of the two sentences : (When) out there is pure. (When) in here is pure, then …
In line 2, pūrṇāt is in the ablative case, and means “away from purity”.
In line 3, pūrṇasya is in the genitive case and means “generated by purity”, or “belonging to purity”. pūrṇam is in the accusative case, and means that something goes to purity.
In line 4, pūrṇaḥ is better understood to be the subject of the sentence, and pūrṇa is in the nominative case. Yet the mantra goes pūrṇam-eva vasiṣyate. I am no grammarian, but I guess that it is written as pūrṇam because of Sandi, not because of declension.
The end of the word also changes due to Sandhi.
Sanskrit is written as it is spoken, with several words run together as a continuous string of letters or sounds. These long strings of words are called euphonic combinations, called Sandhi in Sanskrit. In effect, we do the same in English without writing it. The sentence ‘Do you want to get a cup of tea?’ can be pronounced : ‘Jawannageddacuppatee?’
In these long strings of many words, the ending of each individual word is modified to blend into the next word. Note the Devanagari is one word : पूर्णमेवा whereas I have written the transliteration as two words : pūrṇam -eva
Let’s look at other well known mantras.
In the mantra om namah Shivaaya the noun Shiva is in the dative case. This gives the following translation –
om namaḥ śivāya
devotion to move towards
spiritual practice Shiva
Let us be devoted to our spiritual practice, so we can move towards Shiva.
In the mantra om Tare Tutare Ture soha, the three Names for Deity are all in the locative case. This give the following translation -
om Tare Tutare Ture soha
located located located guidance
in compassion in courage in clarity
Let us be located in compassion, located in courage, located in clarity, and so be guided by Deity.
In the mantra hare Krishna, hare Rama, both Krishna and Rama are in the vocative case. This can have several meanings –
When we understand the case in Sanskrit, we can gain a deeper insight into the meaning of mantra, and how we can view mantra.
Nominative : Purity (pūrṇa) is strengthened in spiritual practice
Accusative : beautiful things come to Purity (pūrṇam)
Ablative : sending out from Purity (pūrṇāt), and
Genitive : receiving things generated by Pure nature (pūrṇasya).
Locative : Being located in Deity (tare) or
Dative : Moving towards Deity (śivāya) or
Vocative : Taking the Presence of Deity as our vocation in life (Krishna), or
Vocative : Invoking Deity into our experience (Krishna).
Please note also how the English translation is so much longer than the Sanskrit. These cases in Sanskrit enable Sanskrit mantras to be very concise and pithy, with all unnecessary words omitted.
Please note that Sanskrit verbs have six different cases and two voices, each with their own system of declensions and inflexions.
Use of Cases in Scripture
The word ending used in Pali and Sanskrit scripture is more governed by Sandhi, and less by the case of the noun, or tense and voice of the verb. Sandhi (saṃdhi) is a Sanskrit term meaning “holding together”. saṃdhi is the alteration of sounds—both across word boundaries (external saṃdhi) and within words (internal saṃdhi)—that simplifies pronunciation. In effect, saṃdhi governs the word ending to suit pronunciation, rather than indicate exactly how the word is meant to be used in the sentence.
South Asia has monsoonal climate with hot wet summers, which greatly hampers the storage of paper, and information printed on paper. This means that these ancient verses of scripture come from aural tradition, not from paper books. All these scriptures were known in full, word-for-word, by heart, by the scholars. That was their job. Before books were available, education trained the mind to remember huge amounts of material by heart, with memory that is staggeringly prodigious compared to the modern text dependent educated mind.
Thus religious tradition has preserved the words, but not necessarily the case of nouns, and the tense and voice of verbs. This gives us considerable freedom to choose case, tense and voice to suit our own understanding of the sacred verse. Then we can develop a new translation and interpretation of ancient verse that works for us, freed of confusing and obscure religious doctrine.
I simply do not have the time and energy to laboriously determine the proper declension of the hundreds of Sanskrit and Pali words I provide in my new translations of ancient Buddhist and Hindu scripture. And even if I did, I cannot guarantee that my declensions will be scholastically correct.
Therefore, the way I use these Sanskrit and Pali words when I translate them into proper English sentences might not match the declension that I provide. In addition, I often translate nouns as vowels, and vowels as nouns.
Your Own Study of Sacred Verse
If you choose a verse or series of verses of Hindu or Buddhist scripture, for special attention, memorisation, recitation and reflection, this is my recommendations.
Study the webpages I cite at the beginning of my webpage, so you know how the system works. Look up each word in the dictionary, to find what its neutral declension is. Look up the noun or verb cases, and decide what the case is, for the way you use the word. And adjust the declension accordingly.
This will give more power to your use of sacred verse.
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/toolbox/noundec.html has inflection tables for Pali
https://easysanskrit.wordpress.com/tag/eight-noun-cases/ This explains how to use the different cases
https://www.academia.edu/27386976/Mandukya_Upanishad_Word_for_Word_Translation_with_Transliteration_and_Grammatical_Notes describes how the verb and noun cases operate.
Perhaps you never studied the grammar of other languages, which have different cases? And they did not teach English grammar when I was in high school in Australia!
I will describe how these eight Sanskrit cases for nouns are used in the Kirtan songs of this website. When we understand these cases, we get a better understanding of the dynamics of spiritual practice, and how the Presence of Deity operates, how bhakti can arise.
Sanskrit is like Latin, which used to be the sacred language in the West (perhaps still is?) In Sanskrit, each noun is usually in one of eight cases. These cases tell us how the word is used in the sentence. The ending of the noun is called the declension or inflexion or declination of the noun. This declension changes depending on the case the noun is in. Thus the declension of the noun tells us how the word is used in the sentence.
Let’s start with the basics of subject – verb – object. Consider a simple sentence “I write this website”. I am the subject for I do the action in the sentence. website is the object, for it is the object of my actions. And the action is the verb; in this case “write”.
The nominative case names the subject. The object is in the accusative case.
Let’s start with - om purnam adah purnam idam.
पूर्णमद पूर्णमिदं
pūrṇam adah pūrṇam idam
purity out there purity in here
(when) out there is pure, (and) in here is pure, then …
पूर्णात्पुर्णमुदच्यते
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
from purity purity is sent out
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमा दाय
pūrṇasya pūrṇam adāya
that of purity to purity returns
पूर्णमेवा वशिष्यते
pūrṇam -eva vasiṣyate
purity surely is undiminished, strengthened.
This mantra is about pūrṇaḥ = purity or “the pure”.
In line 1, pūrṇam is in the accusative case, and therefore is the object of the two sentences : (When) out there is pure. (When) in here is pure, then …
In line 2, pūrṇāt is in the ablative case, and means “away from purity”.
In line 3, pūrṇasya is in the genitive case and means “generated by purity”, or “belonging to purity”. pūrṇam is in the accusative case, and means that something goes to purity.
In line 4, pūrṇaḥ is better understood to be the subject of the sentence, and pūrṇa is in the nominative case. Yet the mantra goes pūrṇam-eva vasiṣyate. I am no grammarian, but I guess that it is written as pūrṇam because of Sandi, not because of declension.
The end of the word also changes due to Sandhi.
Sanskrit is written as it is spoken, with several words run together as a continuous string of letters or sounds. These long strings of words are called euphonic combinations, called Sandhi in Sanskrit. In effect, we do the same in English without writing it. The sentence ‘Do you want to get a cup of tea?’ can be pronounced : ‘Jawannageddacuppatee?’
In these long strings of many words, the ending of each individual word is modified to blend into the next word. Note the Devanagari is one word : पूर्णमेवा whereas I have written the transliteration as two words : pūrṇam -eva
Let’s look at other well known mantras.
In the mantra om namah Shivaaya the noun Shiva is in the dative case. This gives the following translation –
om namaḥ śivāya
devotion to move towards
spiritual practice Shiva
Let us be devoted to our spiritual practice, so we can move towards Shiva.
In the mantra om Tare Tutare Ture soha, the three Names for Deity are all in the locative case. This give the following translation -
om Tare Tutare Ture soha
located located located guidance
in compassion in courage in clarity
Let us be located in compassion, located in courage, located in clarity, and so be guided by Deity.
In the mantra hare Krishna, hare Rama, both Krishna and Rama are in the vocative case. This can have several meanings –
- we are called upon to approach Krishna or Rama and be with them, as our calling or vocation in life, or
- invoke Krishna or Rama, ie to bring them into our experience, or
- vocalise Krishna or Rama, ie call upon them for aid.
When we understand the case in Sanskrit, we can gain a deeper insight into the meaning of mantra, and how we can view mantra.
Nominative : Purity (pūrṇa) is strengthened in spiritual practice
Accusative : beautiful things come to Purity (pūrṇam)
Ablative : sending out from Purity (pūrṇāt), and
Genitive : receiving things generated by Pure nature (pūrṇasya).
Locative : Being located in Deity (tare) or
Dative : Moving towards Deity (śivāya) or
Vocative : Taking the Presence of Deity as our vocation in life (Krishna), or
Vocative : Invoking Deity into our experience (Krishna).
Please note also how the English translation is so much longer than the Sanskrit. These cases in Sanskrit enable Sanskrit mantras to be very concise and pithy, with all unnecessary words omitted.
Please note that Sanskrit verbs have six different cases and two voices, each with their own system of declensions and inflexions.
Use of Cases in Scripture
The word ending used in Pali and Sanskrit scripture is more governed by Sandhi, and less by the case of the noun, or tense and voice of the verb. Sandhi (saṃdhi) is a Sanskrit term meaning “holding together”. saṃdhi is the alteration of sounds—both across word boundaries (external saṃdhi) and within words (internal saṃdhi)—that simplifies pronunciation. In effect, saṃdhi governs the word ending to suit pronunciation, rather than indicate exactly how the word is meant to be used in the sentence.
South Asia has monsoonal climate with hot wet summers, which greatly hampers the storage of paper, and information printed on paper. This means that these ancient verses of scripture come from aural tradition, not from paper books. All these scriptures were known in full, word-for-word, by heart, by the scholars. That was their job. Before books were available, education trained the mind to remember huge amounts of material by heart, with memory that is staggeringly prodigious compared to the modern text dependent educated mind.
Thus religious tradition has preserved the words, but not necessarily the case of nouns, and the tense and voice of verbs. This gives us considerable freedom to choose case, tense and voice to suit our own understanding of the sacred verse. Then we can develop a new translation and interpretation of ancient verse that works for us, freed of confusing and obscure religious doctrine.
I simply do not have the time and energy to laboriously determine the proper declension of the hundreds of Sanskrit and Pali words I provide in my new translations of ancient Buddhist and Hindu scripture. And even if I did, I cannot guarantee that my declensions will be scholastically correct.
Therefore, the way I use these Sanskrit and Pali words when I translate them into proper English sentences might not match the declension that I provide. In addition, I often translate nouns as vowels, and vowels as nouns.
Your Own Study of Sacred Verse
If you choose a verse or series of verses of Hindu or Buddhist scripture, for special attention, memorisation, recitation and reflection, this is my recommendations.
Study the webpages I cite at the beginning of my webpage, so you know how the system works. Look up each word in the dictionary, to find what its neutral declension is. Look up the noun or verb cases, and decide what the case is, for the way you use the word. And adjust the declension accordingly.
This will give more power to your use of sacred verse.
