Dr. Sowmya Krishnapur
Chief Learning Officer, Vyoma Linguistic Labs Foundation
Rakṣābandhan is a small ceremony with a very large idea inside it.
A thread is tied. Nothing about it is valuable. It costs almost nothing, it does not last the month, but it carries a promise of a lifetime – I will look after you. I am still here.
Every year I find it remarkable that a civilisation chose thread, of all things, to carry that.
This year, the 28th of August is both Raksha Bandhan and Saṃskṛta Divas. The same day. Saṃskṛta has been a rakṣā-thread for our entire civilization, carrying the tapas and knowledge of our ancestors so that they continue to protect us today.
I have had the privilege of being a bhaginī to many of you over the years, so you will forgive me for taking the liberty of offering a suggestion this Raksha Bandhan.
Alongside whatever you are already giving, give someone a year of Sanskrit. A sibling. A grandchild. The cousin abroad whose children are growing up far from all of this. The friend who says every year that they will start learning.
A new title has been opening every morning since our anniversary month in July, continuing through the month of Saṃskṛta, and will keep opening until the 28th. If you have not looked in a few days, there is more there than when you left.
A full year on Vyoma’s digitalsanskrit.com gives them chants, epics, the Gita, stories for children, e-books, games. It reaches them on the morning of the 28th, in your name.
It will outlast the thread by twelve months.
Your Vyoma Sevāvratinī.
सौम्या
Sowmya
If you are new here, digitalsanskrit.com is a home for Sanskrit you can listen to, read and play with: chants, stories, the epics, the Gita, e-books, audiobooks, podcasts and learning games, gathered across collections like World of Chants, Stories and Subhashitas, Kids, Gita, Vedanta, Grammar, and Epics and Puranas. A good deal of it is free to begin with.
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Namaste Sowmya bhagini.
Your words truly tie the spirit of samskrita rakshanam and the bhandanam.
For me samskritam is the raksha from the bhandan with Vyoma.
Ram Ram Ram
Namaste! What a beautiful way to put it. Sowmya bhagini will love reading this. And you’re right, when the learning itself becomes the raksha-sutra, the bond only grows stronger. Thank you for being part of this Samskrita parivara.