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Facing (Intermediate) Sanskrit Course Challenge

Sanskrit has become the guiding light and force for everything in my daily life and interpersonal interactions. As a way to move energy, purely and clearly, mantra and epic poems within the Vedas has changed my life since I started immersing myself in 2021.


In my MA program (Sacred Texts and Interpretation, Yoga Studies) with the Center for Dhrama Studies at the GTU, I completed my first Sanskrit course but I was not able to complete my second Sanskrit course in-full. I have found it challenging for many reasons, truly upon climate and environment of where I have been on this Earth over the past three years, along with the general struggle of social anxiety and vocal pronunciation. However, my professor has offered that I enroll his $99 Sanskrit course at Arihanta Institute and apply myself this course as a means to qualify for my work in Intermeditate Sanskrit in MA program.


Currently, I am in the midst of translating the Ramayana...

Sanskrit Text Translations — The Ramayana (Chapter 20, the last line)

 The Metrics of Sanskrit Translation and Transliteration



Sanskrit is a beautiful means of recognizing nomenclature and how a series of characters can offer mutiple layers and dimensions within a story that is timeless...

I have become great at identifying Sanskrit characters, but I need assistance with pronunciation.

Message from professor:


"Greetings Friends, Colleagues, and Students! 

I’m pleased to inform you that my first semester Sanskrit course is available as a self-paced, online course through Arihanta Institute (see this link). 


This course is a refinement of the Sanskrit pedagogy that I learned during my five years of Sanskrit at UC Berkeley, which was then refined by several additional years of teaching the course at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and currently at the Claremont School of Theology. 


Although this course is not accredited, it is ideal for both graduate and undergraduate students who would like to sharpen and practice their skills, or as additional “tutoring” for first or second year Sanskrit university students who have struggled with the conventional university pedagogy that often feels like too much information too fast. I have been very careful to excise only the elementals of the grammar that are necessary for students to be able to compose their own Sanskrit translations after about a year of study (note, this course is “Level 1,” and “Level 2” will be offered this Fall, also as self-paced and online).


Moreover, university students who are using the Goldman Sanskrit primer (the Devavāṇīpraveśikā) and find themselves lost in class (which is often the case, unfortunately) will find my nuanced explanations of the translation assignments very useful in helping them keep up with the pace of their classes. So if you are such a student, or if you have any students who are struggling with Sanskrit as part of their language requirement for their degree programs, this course can be immensely helpful. 


Of course, this course is useful for practitioners as well who what to have a deeper understanding of Sanskrit texts and liturgies."



Thus, I am seeking funding to afford my Sanskrit study, alongside aiming to start-up my own business via LSC (www.lavenderspiritcreations.com) to no longer have such fincnial pitfalls that hinder my studies and courses of action as a scholar in this world.


At this time, I am just putting the word out there to state where I am with my MA program and how I am doing in this world as a human, financially. Futhermore, I know that I will be studying and practicing Sanskrit for the rest of my life, as I cannot deny its good.


In service,


Maurena


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