Learning the अष्टाध्यायी Part 2

ॐ 

॥ परमात्मने नमः ॥

॥अथ॥

Studying the अष्टाध्यायी during lockdown in South Africa is proving enjoyable, rewarding, immensely educational, humbling and inspiring. 
For each sutra, the process is to read the sutra, sound it, and then read the entire passage from the published work translated  by श्रीश चन्द्र वासु.  When reading, attention is focused so as not to gloss over complex issues, but rather to ensure that the mind has an accurate understanding of the import of the sutra.
Should there be any definitions, usages or directions of a general nature stated in the commentary on the sutra, this is noted in a notebook.  There are now a few pages of such notes.  Some will clearly be elucidated as sutras later in the work, but others are conventions and traditional foundations for the study which require stating.
At this point,the web site  ashtadhyayi.com is referenced.  This site provides the Sutra (It also has a Dhatu Patha) together with a number of commentaries in Sanskrit.  There is a simple English translation of the sutra,  And best of all, a sound clip of the sutra.  This is played and chanted along with a couple of times.
And so the process is established, the pages are being turned - and the understanding?  Strangely (or not so really) the real key is not to assume anything especially about one's understanding.  If the idea is not substantiated - it can not be trusted.  The fact that the idea is mine is the worst possible reason to believe it to be true - and yet the most utilised by the mind in so many of its dealings.
May the Lord Bless further study.
And may the mind realise that prosperity is not an individual attribute - it is communal.

॥ इति  परमात्मने नमः॥

Learning the अष्टाध्यायी

ॐ

 ॥ परमात्मने नमः॥
॥ अध ॥

Lockdown. A blessing in so many ways - and time which was spent travelling daily to the office and back, lifting sons and visiting - all this time is now available for study and reflection.
Many years ago, I had begun writing out the अष्टाध्यायी (aṣṭadhyāyī) as a study.  This work is for us the most ancient work of grammar.  Seen in another way, it is the last work of true grammar.  The author, पाणिनि (pāṇini) arranged in his mind in an ordered manner around 4000 sutras to express the grammar.  Together with  a recitation of dhatus (seed sounds - Western grammarians say "root" but that is all Werstern languages carry, unlike Sanskrit), a recitation of categorised words and of course the sutras revealed to him by the Lord Siva. The work is entitle "8 lectures" - we say books - and I had got through book 1 and was beginning the second, when I was asked to teach a class of Laghu.Siddhanta Kaumudi and changed the track of my study.
So with this new found time, a decision was taken to re-awaken this study but alas, to dive into the Samasas without having the whole of book 1 अनुवृत्ति (anuvṛtti) so to speak and fresh in the mind.  this is a technique employed by pāṇini where ideas, words, are effective in sutras subsequent to the one in which they are introduced.  They are not stated, but are in operation.
In the time since writing this out I had written both AS and A level exams and followed the grammar set therein and this was a marvelous experience and a huge learning.
So with the refined understanding (and associated increment in the level of awe and reverence for the language) the idea now is to go back to the beginning and really read, understand and learn the sutra - as well as write it out once up to book 2.
If 5 pages could be done a day...
Well here is the start - as to how it goes from here, as the blind man once said "We shall see..."

॥ इति  परमात्मने नमः॥