Language of the Mystics – with Swami Prem Sadasivananda

Swami Prem Sadasivananda believes Vedic Sanskrit is the origin of everything and explains how creation came into being with Om. The Sanskrit alphabet is that sound split into 50 minor vibrations…

By Sophia Ann French

“This Sanskrit language is so intricate, the Sanskrit of the Vedas is so ancient, and the Sanskrit philology so perfect, that any amount of discussion can be carried on for ages in regard to the meaning of one word. If a Pandit takes it into his head, he can render anybody’s prattle into correct Sanskrit by force of argument and quotation of texts and rules.”

— Swami Vivekananda 

Ask any student of Veda recitation what Sanskrit is, and their answer won’t be limited to describing it as a language. You will hear them call it an experience, a vibration, poetry of the highest calibre, deva-bhāṣā (the language of God)… Most Indica Veda Studies Teacher Training Programme (2024) students study and practise various Indic spiritual systems. We all agree that the Veda is the origin of these practices, and we’re a lucky batch because in addition to receiving knowledge from our principal teacher, Shantala Sriramaiah, we enjoy the bonus of having some highly accomplished Sanskrit scholars as classmates, notably Swami Prem Sadasivananda. Shantalaji even calls Prem her Sanskrit app that she tunes into during class when we need to identify the roots of certain words or tackle a tricky grammar rule… 

Prem was born in Serbia, and owing to a difficult childhood, he questioned life, its purpose, and the source of unhappiness when he was only nine. “I figured out back then that most of the time, people cannot get along because they cannot control their minds. This made me determined to control my mind, and when I was 11, I got my first book on yoga and started self-practice. My older brother wasn’t too happy about this and wanted me to pursue sports instead, so I did it for a while to please him. I even did martial arts for a while, but eventually, I decided to stick to yoga. I even studied pharmacy. I remember I had this poster of 20 spiritual instructions from Swami Sivananda, and at the time, I didn’t even know what they meant, but they appealed to me. That is how I was drawn to these practices. Then, I went to India and did my teacher training course, and eventually, I was one of the main teachers at the Sivananda Center in London for 13 years and then in New York for 11 years. I dedicated 25 years of my life to this, and about ten years ago, I left. Around nine years ago, Dr Robert Svoboda introduced me to Shantala’s work. I already had Sanskrit teachers and didn’t want to mix things up at the time, but I still decided to do it. I have been studying with her for around two years. I started with the Foundation Course, then I studied a few sūktams, and I also studied the Rudram course, and now, I am in this teacher training,” says Prem. 

The Mystic’s Language

Speakers and scholars of Sanskrit often attribute a mystical quality to the language, and every Indian spiritual master has described Sanskrit as the language of liberation — the language in which pure consciousness is revealed. Even when we study Sanskrit or discuss it in class, I have heard various interpretations of pronunciation and grammar, and even different schools of Veda recitation differ in how they treat the language. I also witnessed a healthy debate in class about the differences in pronunciation of Vedic Sanskrit and Pāṇini’s Sanskrit, so I threw all these questions at Prem, asking him the essential difference between Veda and Classical Sanskrit. “Classical Sanskrit has nine different systems of grammar, and the latest and the last is Pāṇini’s Sanskrit. Pāṇini was a ṛṣi from Kashmir, India, and he lived around 6th Century BC. He was in deep meditation and received the 14 Maheśvara Sūtrās, which were the Sanskrit alphabet arranged in a certain way. So he created a meta-language out of these 14 sūtrās and composed 4,000 sūtrās. Some of those, maybe 190 or 200 sūtrās were about Veda. Vedic Sanskrit is much more complicated, and tracing the declensional or conjugational processes for different verbs is difficult. It is also taught in tradition, like classical Sanskrit, but there’s a certain freedom in Veda that we cannot find in classical Sanskrit, which has to be regulated by many rules. I believe that Veda is the origin of everything. We even use it to explain how the universe came into being. According to the Yoga of Tantra, the first sound that originated was an impulse that came from God. This sound is Om, and the Sanskrit alphabet is this sound split into 50 minor vibrations. Anyway, even Pāṇini’s Sanskrit had specific problems because the sūtrās were not in order, and the classical Sanskrit we study today is an organisation of Pāṇini’s sūtrās according to a book by Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita called Siddhānta Kaumudī. So, when we think about Sanskrit, we must preserve the Veda. Sanskrit (Vyākaraṇa) is considered to be the mouth of the Veda. So, the six systems that originated from the Veda are likened to parts of the body: 

– Chandas: The two feet

– Kalpa: The two arms

– Jyotiṣa: The eyes

– Nirukta: The ears

– Śikṣā: The nose

– Vyākaraṇa: The mouth 

Because Sanskrit is the mouth of the Veda, it is essential to get every sound, pronunciation, and everything right because when you don’t, the Veda becomes incorrect and loses the original vibration of the sound and what it is meant to do. The 50 sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet are called Māṭrkā-śaktis defined as mothers of creation. From their vibrations, the letters, words and language are formed. The 50 sounds of Sanskrit represent the structural foundation of creation on a subtle level. The Sanskrit alphabet is composed of the root energies that make up creation. In essence, they are mantras. These ‘gods’ are the powers and energies expressed through the power of Sanskrit vowels and consonants. Both, the external sounds and the Sanskrit alphabet have been created based on the inner sounds and shapes of the nāḍīs (inner channels),” explained Prem.

Demystifying the Mystic

If you recite Veda and especially if you want to teach Veda, a basic knowledge of Sanskrit is necessary. And not just classical Sanskrit but also Vedic Sanskrit. But how does one begin navigating this ancient language and its innumerable nuances? During one of our classes, Shantalaji said that the engineer in her loves to demystify the mystic, and she teaches us how to decode this mysticism in her theory classes so we can benefit from the practical application of Indic Knowledge Systems in our daily lives. She does this even with Sanskrit, and to help her students understand Vedic Sanskrit better, she asked Prem to design and teach a course for us to understand Sanskrit from a Vedic perspective. This course will begin in January, and speaking about what students can expect from this course, Prem says, “In terms of its structure, it is the very first course and is based on simple things like writing the letters, learning the structure of the alphabet, and once you learn the structure of the alphabet more profoundly, you’re going to appreciate the production of the sounds and everything even more.  My fundamental objective would be to offer several levels of that course. You start with Level 1, where you learn to read and write, then move to Level 2, where you learn a little grammar, etc. In this first course of eight weeks, we will learn how to combine consonants with vowels and then conjunct consonants (the conjugated consonants are divided into around five groups). We will also learn to read. For this, I will pick examples from the Vedic chants. I will also offer an introduction to the spiritual aspects of Sanskrit.”

You can sign up for Prem’s course here

A Teacher Learns Teaching

Prem has an MA in Sanskrit and has studied with highly accomplished teachers (including Dr M.N. Nandakumara, Dr Jai Raman, and Dr Venkatasubramanian). He has decades of learning and experience. I asked him how studying with Veda Studies and now doing the Teacher Training programme has added value to his existing practices. “I already had my own Sādhanā, and I had been reciting mantras, but unfortunately, I learned many of these things incorrectly, so when I started studying with Shantala, it was a lot of refixing things. But once I started reciting correctly, I found the mantras’ effects unbelievable. The most significant benefit is that my mind has become clearer, and my memory has also improved. I just feel happier when I recite Veda. My objective is to do what Shantala says and practice a 40-day sādhanā of one particular mantra, like the Śraddhā Sūktam, and then see how much of my faith or conviction is affected or how much of my intelligence and ability to discriminate increases. This is what the mantras are for. I appreciate what Shantala has done. She has created something unheard of and unseen before Veda Studies. She has created this incredible entry into the world of Veda, and she did it from her heart. I find all the courses incredible, and they are so beautifully organised. She teaches Vedic Sanskrit to students with no foundation in Sanskrit, yet she teaches them to read and recite with precision. That is amazing! If you listen to her students recite Veda, you will think everyone must have studied Sanskrit. I also appreciate her approach where she is so strict about getting the rules right, yet she is so gentle with all her students,” says Prem.

Words of Wisdom

I asked Prem what advice he would give someone interested in studying Veda recitation. His advice is to “learn to recite. This is more powerful than learning Sanskrit.” I recommend starting with the Veda Studies Foundation Programme. Once you begin reciting and exploring a few sūktams, invest some time to study Sanskrit. It is like building a bridge between reciting something so profound and understanding its meaning. Lastly, I asked Prem what India means to him. He sums it up in five words, “India means freedom to me.”

For further information on Prem’s work, visit his website