Sanskrit Word of the Day: Shanti

Shanti means Peace. 

 

as defined by Urban Dictionary:

The sanskrit word shanti means peace. It is a common word used in buddhist mantras and closing of buddhist ceremonies and prayers.

"Om shanti, shanti, shanti" Peace individually, collectively and universally.

 

As I was researching the meaning of the word Shanti, I learned that T.S. Eliot used it in a poem he wrote titled, The Waste Land.  The 434 line poem was originally published in 1922.  The part that features the word Shanti, (spelled Shantih) is the very last stanza of the poem and is excerpted here:                              

                                    I sat upon the shore

Fishing, with the arid plain behind me

Shall I at least set my lands in order?

London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down

Poi s’ascose nel foco che gli affina

Quando fiam uti chelidon—O swallow swallow

Le Prince d’Aquitaine à la tour abolie

These fragments I have shored against my ruins

Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo’s mad againe.

Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.

                  Shantih     shantih     shantih

 

To read the poem in its entirety:  Click here.