"I have known Sakhyarasa Prem for over 40 years and his classes will be very informative and they will be fun, so you'll have a few good laughs while you learn wonderful shlokas. I think this is a very good opportunity to learn!" Mahatma Dasa, Bhakti School.
"My dear Sakhyarasa Prema prabhu, you are an enthusiastic Sanskrit pronunciation proponent. We want you to promote the re-formation of improved Sanskrit pronunciation in our worldwide ISKCON." Lokanath Swami, ISKCON Kirtan Minister.
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The Meaning of Sanskrit:
The word Sanskrit (diacritically spelled as samskrta, (with a dot on top of the m and under the r) which means ―the formally perfected language. The written form (script) of Sanskrit is called Devanägari. The Padma-Puräna, Pätäla-khanda chapter 100 mentions it with the name Devalipi. Deva means demigod‘ and lipi means script; thus Devalipi is the script used by the demigods. Devanägari can similarly be translated: nagara means ―city and nägari means ― belonging to that city. So Devanägari is the script belonging to the city of the demigods.
The Phonetics of Sanskrit Syllables:
For correct pronunciation of Sanskrit, it is essential that Western practitioners know where to articulate the breaks in between syllables. A syllable primarily consists of a vowel prefixed and/or suffixed with consonants. In the short- voweled syllable, the vowel sound is affected by both its prefix and suffix. Conversely, the long vowel in the long-voweled syllable is audibly affected only by its prefix, i.e., there is an audible break in between the long vowel and its suffix.
Each letter represents one sound and one sound only, which makes it easy to resolve how to pronounce a particular Sanskrit letter. There are different Sanskrit accents and dialects in different parts of India, but the original sounds are all pronounced the same.
The sound of Sanskrit mantras is based on four aspects:
The Sanskrit word 'shastra' has two meanings: scripture and weapon. In Vedic times, during the Mahabharat war, many weapons or 'astras' were used in the battlefield of Kurukhsetra. The vayavyastra, pashupatastra, agneyastra and powerful brahmashirsha or brahmastra were accurate and effective weapons utilised by the qualified ksatriya warrior classes through the medium of mantroccaranam or perfect utterance of mantras. The power of shastra via the use of Vedic verses or shlokas is equally powerful for the purpose of purifying one's consciousness and conveying the message of the Vedas.
Here is a segment of Lord Krishna's teachings from Bhagavad Gita chapter 4 text 42 referring to shastic knowledge (shlokas), as a weapon (jnanasina), for destroying the contamination of ignorance (tamas).
hṛt-sthaṁ jñānāsinātmanaḥ
chittvainaṁ saṁśayaṁ yogam
Therefore the doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge
Here's some basic vowels (svarahs) and consonants (vyanjanas) being expertly written in devanagari script by a Sanskrit teacher. All the letters, including ultra syllabics (svarayukta and samyukta) are called aksharas. There are fifteen basic vowels with up to twenty four variations altogether.