Sanskrit with special characters.
Special characters in Sanskrit are used when Sanskrit is transliterated into the Latin (Western) alphabet according to the IAST system (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration). This system uses diacritics (such as dashes and dots above or below the letters) to accurately represent the sounds of Sanskrit in Western characters.

Examples of special characters:
• Long vowels: ā, ī, ū
• Consonants with dot below: ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ṣ, ṛ
• Other diacritics: ś, ṃ, ḥ, ḷ

These signs are distinct from the common Latin letters and are essential for representing the correct pronunciation and meaning of Sanskrit.

Sanskrit itself is originally written in the Devanagari script, which is a very different sign system than the Latin alphabet. The transliteration with special characters makes it possible to read and pronounce Sanskrit correctly without knowledge of the Devanagari script.
Listen to Sanskrit’s pronunciation.

About Sanskrit
Sanskrit is the divine language of the Vedas and means perfectly made. It is given to us and designed in such a way that reality is understandable. Words like dharma and yoga have many levels of meaning.
On this page you will find terms that you may come across in the literature and in the teacher’s lessons, or in the comments to texts of swami’s.

The explanations of the terms are not lessons. It is intended to clarify, to deepen, to be precise. In short, as support for the teacher’s lessons or as an explanation of studying. Knowledge is effectively revealed in you if the teacher knows exactly in the right order what you can handle and need in the right setting (satsang).

You can see more about the function and origin of Sanskrit in this video by Swami Tadatmananda.