Gujarati is our ‘matru bhãsha’, our mother tongue. It is the language of our ancestors; it is part of our identity. All of key shastras within our Sanstha are written in Gujarati, such as the Shikshapatri, the Vachanamrut and the Swamini Vato. Whilst English translations exist, the true meaning and essence becomes diluted in translation. Pramukh Swami Maharaj had stressed many times that all devotees should learn Gujarati and pass the same on to their children.
This short Gujarati course has been designed to allow you, during this Satsang development project, to become skilled in a quick and effective way with the purpose for you to gain knowledge about how to read Gujarati texts.
The aim of the course is to provide you with the tools and resources to be able to read our Gujarati texts rather than relying on the English translated versions. Our focus will be on getting you to a level at which you are confident of reading the prescribed course book in Gujarati rather than its English translated version.
If you would like to read and understand Maharaj, Gunatitanand Swami and our Gurus directly, without having someone else interpret their words and meanings for you, then being able to read in Gujarati is essential.
The course will be delivered through a series of online and face-to-face lessons, tutorials and workshops. The core component will be a series of ten webinars (lessons), delivered online weekly, that go through the basics of the Gujarati language to give you a firm foundation for being able to read.
The webinars will cover the basics of learning the alphabet, the vowels, joint and half letters and more! In doing so, you will discover that by knowing a few core fundamentals of the Gujarati language, the whole world of Gujarati literature is open to you!
Each webinar will develop the core skills to enable you to easily and fluently recognise the written components of the language to enable to understand what is written.
Each webinar will be available to watch on-demand here
Together with the online webinars, there will be an opportunity to practice the material learnt with a qualified support mentor, who will be on hand to assist you with practicing the lessons either face-to-face or over the phone. There will also be online support and regular feedback and updates (via a dedicated section on www.becomeadarsh.org) for you to go through and practice.
All the relevant teaching and practice materials will be provided for you during the course. The course duration is entirely down to you, as you can learn on your schedule and at your own pace.
| Webinar # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction and Alphabet |
| 2 | Simple Words |
| 3 | Vowels |
| 4 | Words and Sentences |
| 5 | Writing Part 1 |
| 6 | Writing Part 2 |
| 7 | Jodakshar Part 1 |
| 8 | Jodakshar Part 2 |
| 9 | Gender |
| 10 | Recap |