March 3, 2006

Seduced by Sanskrit

By WILLIS G. REGIER

When I was young and amorous, I fell in love with Sanskrit. I was unworthy, and I left it, but I don't regret our meeting. It was a glorious and passionate affair.

I first met Sanskrit at the end of The Waste Land, reciting with Eliot "Datta," "Dayadhvam," "Damyata" ("give," "sympathize," "control") and "Shantih shantih shantih" ("peace peace peace"). I picked up the mantra "Om" from Hesse's Siddhartha and discovered "karuna" ("compassion") on Aldous Huxley's utopian Island. I saw that