To Hold Creation in a Sentence: Sanskrit & The Nature of Becoming

To Hold Creation in a Sentence: How the Sanskrit language articulates the nature of becoming.

How does the Sanskrit sentence structure reflect and imitate the ever-changing nature of reality as we experience it?  Using concepts from the ancient Sanskrit philosophical system known as Śabda Brahman, which states that creation is the manifestation of the Word, the pranava sound OM, Prof. Michael Zammit investigates the relationship between language and philosophical thought.

Bhartṛhari (5th century CE) is indeed the Sanskrit philosopher most closely associated with the systematic development of the concept of Śabda-Brahman (Śabdabrahma). The roots of this idea are older, but they  continue to resonate in our times, as the modern proponent of the Advaita philosophy, Maharaja Shrī Shāntānanda Sarasvatī (1913-1997) says: The discipline starts with purification of sound, measure and proper understanding of the words and meanings and also an appropriate knowledge of the construction of a sentence, which is the real cosmos, which alone matters. 

BIO-NOTE:

Michael is a Professor Emeritus in…