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The Sanskrit alphabet is called "devanagari" and literally means "cities of the gods". Rishis discovered Sanskrit and used it to create the mantras. These mantras were made up of a combination of sound vibrations, which when recited had a specific effect on the mind and the psyche. In the times of the Rishis,the main aim was to attain the truth, and Sanskrit - the perfect tool was found to be the best medium. Due to its specificity and purity, this seemed the best language with which to understand God's creation and as such is called "the great spiritual anguage of the world".
Sanskrit is the oldest language in the world. Sanskrit literature is easily the richest literature in the history of mankind. The word Sanskrit literally means "Perfected Language" or "Language brought to formal perfection". This is quite an appropriate name since NASA declared it to be "the only unambiguous language on the planet".
Sanskrit is a scientific and systematic language. Its grammar is perfect and has attracted scholars worldwide.
Recently well-known linguists and computer-scientists have expressed the opinion that Sanskrit is the best language for use with computers. Sanskrit has a perfect grammar which has been explained to us by the world's greatest grammarian Panini. Sanskrit is also the mother of all Indo-European languages and the big sister of Greek and Latin. It is the origin of all the Indian languages.
A mantra is an embodiment of a particular God or Goddess in the form of sound.
It is not a magic spell but a subtle form of the God or Goddess Himself or Herself. When a mantra is repeated with concentration of mind and the worshipper makes an effort to identify himself or herself with the worshipped, the power of the Gods comes to his help. Human power is thus supplemented by the divine power. A prayer is different from the repetition of a mantra. A prayer is a purely human effort. Prayers may be offered in any language and in any form.
But a mantra, being an embodiment of a God or Goddess in the form of a sound, has to be repeated in that form alone in which it first revealed itself (in the mind of a Rishi). It is not to be learnt from books, but from the living voice of a Guru who gives the Upadesha or initiation. Therefore, the more the worshipper advances in his/her japa (practice of repeating the mantra), more does he/she partake of the nature and wield the powers of the particular God or Goddess.
