Travel Trilogy

Languages are different, doing translation will not give the essence of words, the intension, knowledge behind the words, which is generated in a specific language. The expression of the word in a language, defines the intellectual experiential depth of the people who created the language. This hold specifically truer for a scientific language like Sanskrit. Let us understand the English word Travel which comes from the root French word “travailler” which means “to toil, labor, or trouble.” This, in turn, traces back to the Vulgar Latin “tripaliare“—a word meaning “to torture” and derived from Latin “tripalium,” an instrument of torture made of three stakes.

There are multiple words for travel in Sanskrit Language, even though people use them as synonyms they generally have their own distinct meaning explaining the intension in a different context and perspective for each word which is derived out of deep intellectual view toward the subject and grammatical and phonetic rules in Vyakarana. Such different words are generally organized in a series to give us understanding of the perspective and extending them to higher meaning with each word. Even though all such words are used for same purpose generally by people, they represent broader understanding of the same concept. Let us now understand once such series of Sanskrit words related to English word Travel.

Prayanam, Sanchaaram and Bhramanam is the Trilogy of Travel which explains perspective of travel with incremental broader view with each word. Like all expressions in Sanskrit language which are anchored through Self, this series explains the journey of an Individual in different domains.

Prayanam: This word is combination of Pra + Yanam where Yanam means vehicle and the prefix Pra says Special/Specific . The word truly translates to Specific Vehicle. It means that, when the self is travelling from Source to destination through a specific vehicle where source and destination are defined and there is a vehicle to help him to travel. It can be a physical vehicle or an institution which helps crossing the journey through guided course of travel or an individual which acts as a guide handholding you throughout the journey who acts as a vehicle helping you cross the distance.

Sanchaaram: This word is combination of San + Chaaram where Chaaram means collecting and the prefix San means Better. The word truly translates to Better Collection. Where the self is travelling with an aim to collect information or experiences from multiple destinations with specific purpose and no defined destination. Individual is free to travel and use his means and paths to collection information for the intended use.

Bhramanam: This word is combination of Bhrama + Nam where Bhrama means illusioned with no purpose and presence, and Nam means action. The word truly translates to illusioned action, no specific purpose action, to roam about action etc. This is opposite of the word Brahma which means knowledge that keeps you rooted. Here the individual is wandering with no specific purpose, there is no source where he is anchored nor a destination where he wants to reach. He just goes about without any purpose collecting random information.

Prayanam is when an individual is at a nascent secure stage and follows the support of a system with predefined working process to reach his destination, like a shishya who takes sharanagati of a knowledgeable guru or a student who joins in a college to complete a course with predefined expectation at the end of the course, or a journey of an individual who gets onto a bus at a source to reach his destination etc . Such an individual, as he grows, is rooted in knowledge and experience, will become free of the institution and goes on, for an exploration, for achieving his objectives using multiple means, takes different paths and different methods to accomplish his aim. But there is always a factor of unknown, which drives humans to explore and get to know the unexplored, that is when an individual yearns to explore by just wandering through, where he gets to know things which he didn’t even imagined exists or experiences new dimensions of looking at the same things. This liberates him from the bondage of all support, such a person becomes totally free , he will have an independent view on subjects. This series of life journey is explained in the 3 words of Prayanam, Sanchaaram, Bhramanam.