Proper Gayatri Mantra Pronunciation and Intonation - Audio Source

June 24, 2009

Dear Narasimha,

Could you point me towards any easily obtainable audio recording of the Gayatri

mantra which you deem to be correctly executed?

Also, would you mind typing it out here, phonetically? Thank you so much.

Regards

June 24, 2009

Namaste,

I cannot point to any audio that I found satisfactory.

Please buy the book " Mantrapushpam " by Ramakrishna Mutt. It gives Gayatri

mantra with intonation marked correctly. It has many other veda mantras too.

I will point out a few standard mistakes I have seen people make:

(1) People normally pronounce anudattas and svaritas (letters with lines

below or above) correctly, but mess up when a few udattas come in a row. For

example, all the three letters in " dheemahi " are without any lines below or

above. They have to be pronounced in the same pitch. People end up

introducing some pitch variation and mispronouncing them. In veda mantras,

pronouncing all udattas in the same pitch is the most important thing. Do

not stress any letter or take the pitch up/down when pronouncing a string of

udattas.

(2) The last syllable of " prachodayaat " is " yaat " . It is supposed to be one

syllable. When you pronounce it correctly, " t " is hardly audible. If you

artificially add an vowel at the end of it and make it " prachodayaatu " , you

will end up introducing an extra syllable ( " tu " ) and mess up everything. A

lot of people do not pronounce " t " correctly. Probably some guru sometime

back started the practice of adding a brief vowel at the end of words ending

in a consonant, so that his sishyas could listen clearly what consonant he

was saying. Unfortunately, it became a standard practice. This is good for

teaching, but wrong for sadhana. If a word ends in a consonant, end it with

a consonant (which cannot be heard clearly unless one tried hard) and do NOT

add a brief vowel after that consonant.

(3) Take " dhiyo yo naH " . The " H " in " naH " is a visarga (written in Sanskrit

as " : " and notated in itrans as " H " ). Visarga means " letting go " . You are

supposed to let air go from you lungs in a quick exhalation. Pronunciation

of " naH " is very close to " nah " though slightly different. Again, this is

supposed to be one syllable. A lot of people, especially south Indians, make

it " naha " . Due to extra vowel added (a), an extra syllable (ha) is added to

the mantra and that messes up everything. Again this is wrong.

In this style of mispronouncing visarga, the same symbol " H " is pronounced

differently in " raamaH " , " hariH " and " guruH " . The same symbol

" H " or " : " is pronounced as " ha " , " hi " and " hu " in the 3 words, respectively

(i.e. raamaha, harihi, guruhu). That is wrong. If you pronounce it as

letting air go, without adding any vowel, it sounds identical in the 3

words.

Watch out for these 3 common mistakes.

However, as I keep saying, the pronunciation is only a small percentage of

it. Creating the right mental images and the perfect mental focus is more

important. If you lose awareness of your body, successfully shut down all

other thoughts in the mind and achieve a perfect mental focus on any veda

mantra with correct pronunciation, it will be a fantastic experience. Please

note that correct pronunciation is not difficult to achieve, but the other

things I mentioned here are not that easy!

Best regards,

Narasimha

Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam

Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpana

Spirituality:

Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net

Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org

Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org

-

" sbm_sharma " <sbm_sharma

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 8:57 PM

Proper Gayatri Mantra Pronunciation and Intonation -

Audio Source

> Dear Narasimha,

>

> Could you point me towards any easily obtainable audio recording of the

> Gayatri mantra which you deem to be correctly executed?

>

> Also, would you mind typing it out here, phonetically? Thank you so much.

>

> Regards

June 24, 2009

Dear Narasimhaji,I am confused after reading your post. Can we not just chant the mantra in mind? Will these rules still be applicable in that case? Will not chanting the mantra using mouth reduce its effectiveness?Thank you,Manish--- On Thu, 25/6/09, Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr wrote:Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr Re: Proper Gayatri Mantra Pronunciation and Intonation - Audio Source Date: Thursday, 25 June, 2009, 3:26 AM

Namaste,

I cannot point to any audio that I found satisfactory.

Please buy the book "Mantrapushpam" by Ramakrishna Mutt. It gives Gayatri

mantra with intonation marked correctly. It has many other veda mantras too..

I will point out a few standard mistakes I have seen people make:

(1) People normally pronounce anudattas and svaritas (letters with lines

below or above) correctly, but mess up when a few udattas come in a row. For

example, all the three letters in "dheemahi" are without any lines below or

above. They have to be pronounced in the same pitch. People end up

introducing some pitch variation and mispronouncing them. In veda mantras,

pronouncing all udattas in the same pitch is the most important thing. Do

not stress any letter or take the pitch up/down when pronouncing a string of

udattas.

(2) The last syllable of "prachodayaat" is "yaat". It is supposed to be one

syllable. When you pronounce it correctly, "t" is hardly audible. If you

artificially add an vowel at the end of it and make it "prachodayaatu" , you

will end up introducing an extra syllable ("tu") and mess up everything. A

lot of people do not pronounce "t" correctly. Probably some guru sometime

back started the practice of adding a brief vowel at the end of words ending

in a consonant, so that his sishyas could listen clearly what consonant he

was saying. Unfortunately, it became a standard practice. This is good for

teaching, but wrong for sadhana. If a word ends in a consonant, end it with

a consonant (which cannot be heard clearly unless one tried hard) and do NOT

add a brief vowel after that consonant.

(3) Take "dhiyo yo naH". The "H" in "naH" is a visarga (written in Sanskrit

as ":" and notated in itrans as "H"). Visarga means "letting go". You are

supposed to let air go from you lungs in a quick exhalation. Pronunciation

of "naH" is very close to "nah" though slightly different. Again, this is

supposed to be one syllable. A lot of people, especially south Indians, make

it "naha". Due to extra vowel added (a), an extra syllable (ha) is added to

the mantra and that messes up everything. Again this is wrong.

In this style of mispronouncing visarga, the same symbol "H" is pronounced

differently in "raamaH", "hariH" and "guruH". The same symbol

"H" or ":" is pronounced as "ha", "hi" and "hu" in the 3 words, respectively

(i.e. raamaha, harihi, guruhu). That is wrong. If you pronounce it as

letting air go, without adding any vowel, it sounds identical in the 3

words.

Watch out for these 3 common mistakes.

However, as I keep saying, the pronunciation is only a small percentage of

it. Creating the right mental images and the perfect mental focus is more

important. If you lose awareness of your body, successfully shut down all

other thoughts in the mind and achieve a perfect mental focus on any veda

mantra with correct pronunciation, it will be a fantastic experience. Please

note that correct pronunciation is not difficult to achieve, but the other

things I mentioned here are not that easy!

Best regards,

Narasimha

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ homam

Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ tarpana

Spirituality: http://groups. / group/vedic- wisdom

Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro. home.comcast. net

Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAst rologer.org

Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagan nath.org

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

-

"sbm_sharma" <sbm_sharma >

<>

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 8:57 PM

Proper Gayatri Mantra Pronunciation and Intonation -

Audio Source

> Dear Narasimha,

>

> Could you point me towards any easily obtainable audio recording of the

> Gayatri mantra which you deem to be correctly executed?

>

> Also, would you mind typing it out here, phonetically? Thank you so much.

>

> Regards

ICC World Twenty20 England '09 exclusively on ! CRICKET

June 25, 2009

Thank you.

, " Narasimha P.V.R. Rao " <pvr wrote:

>

> Namaste,

>

> I cannot point to any audio that I found satisfactory.

>

> Please buy the book " Mantrapushpam " by Ramakrishna Mutt. It gives Gayatri

> mantra with intonation marked correctly. It has many other veda mantras too.

>

> I will point out a few standard mistakes I have seen people make:

>

> (1) People normally pronounce anudattas and svaritas (letters with lines

> below or above) correctly, but mess up when a few udattas come in a row. For

> example, all the three letters in " dheemahi " are without any lines below or

> above. They have to be pronounced in the same pitch. People end up

> introducing some pitch variation and mispronouncing them. In veda mantras,

> pronouncing all udattas in the same pitch is the most important thing. Do

> not stress any letter or take the pitch up/down when pronouncing a string of

> udattas.

>

> (2) The last syllable of " prachodayaat " is " yaat " . It is supposed to be one

> syllable. When you pronounce it correctly, " t " is hardly audible. If you

> artificially add an vowel at the end of it and make it " prachodayaatu " , you

> will end up introducing an extra syllable ( " tu " ) and mess up everything. A

> lot of people do not pronounce " t " correctly. Probably some guru sometime

> back started the practice of adding a brief vowel at the end of words ending

> in a consonant, so that his sishyas could listen clearly what consonant he

> was saying. Unfortunately, it became a standard practice. This is good for

> teaching, but wrong for sadhana. If a word ends in a consonant, end it with

> a consonant (which cannot be heard clearly unless one tried hard) and do NOT

> add a brief vowel after that consonant.

>

> (3) Take " dhiyo yo naH " . The " H " in " naH " is a visarga (written in Sanskrit

> as " : " and notated in itrans as " H " ). Visarga means " letting go " . You are

> supposed to let air go from you lungs in a quick exhalation. Pronunciation

> of " naH " is very close to " nah " though slightly different. Again, this is

> supposed to be one syllable. A lot of people, especially south Indians, make

> it " naha " . Due to extra vowel added (a), an extra syllable (ha) is added to

> the mantra and that messes up everything. Again this is wrong.

>

> In this style of mispronouncing visarga, the same symbol " H " is pronounced

> differently in " raamaH " , " hariH " and " guruH " . The same symbol

> " H " or " : " is pronounced as " ha " , " hi " and " hu " in the 3 words, respectively

> (i.e. raamaha, harihi, guruhu). That is wrong. If you pronounce it as

> letting air go, without adding any vowel, it sounds identical in the 3

> words.

>

> Watch out for these 3 common mistakes.

>

> However, as I keep saying, the pronunciation is only a small percentage of

> it. Creating the right mental images and the perfect mental focus is more

> important. If you lose awareness of your body, successfully shut down all

> other thoughts in the mind and achieve a perfect mental focus on any veda

> mantra with correct pronunciation, it will be a fantastic experience. Please

> note that correct pronunciation is not difficult to achieve, but the other

> things I mentioned here are not that easy!

>

> Best regards,

> Narasimha

>

> Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam

> Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpana

> Spirituality:

> Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net

> Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org

> Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org

>

> -

> " sbm_sharma " <sbm_sharma

>

> Wednesday, June 24, 2009 8:57 PM

> Proper Gayatri Mantra Pronunciation and Intonation -

> Audio Source

>

> > Dear Narasimha,

> >

> > Could you point me towards any easily obtainable audio recording of the

> > Gayatri mantra which you deem to be correctly executed?

> >

> > Also, would you mind typing it out here, phonetically? Thank you so much.

> >

> > Regards

>

June 25, 2009

Namaste,

Yes, chanting in the mind is the best. But, even when chanting in the mind, one can pronounce it correctly or incorrectly. I was only pointing out some common mistakes even learned people make and secondly I was saying that correct pronunciation is only one part of making the mantra perfect.

Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org

-

manish gour

Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:41 AM

Re: Re: Proper Gayatri Mantra Pronunciation and Intonation - Audio Source

Dear Narasimhaji,

I am confused after reading your post. Can we not just chant the mantra in mind? Will these rules still be applicable in that case? Will not chanting the mantra using mouth reduce its effectiveness?

Thank you,

Manish

--- On Thu, 25/6/09, Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr wrote:

Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr Re: Proper Gayatri Mantra Pronunciation and Intonation - Audio Source Date: Thursday, 25 June, 2009, 3:26 AM

Namaste,I cannot point to any audio that I found satisfactory.Please buy the book "Mantrapushpam" by Ramakrishna Mutt. It gives Gayatri mantra with intonation marked correctly. It has many other veda mantras too..I will point out a few standard mistakes I have seen people make:(1) People normally pronounce anudattas and svaritas (letters with lines below or above) correctly, but mess up when a few udattas come in a row. For example, all the three letters in "dheemahi" are without any lines below or above. They have to be pronounced in the same pitch. People end up introducing some pitch variation and mispronouncing them. In veda mantras, pronouncing all udattas in the same pitch is the most important thing. Do not stress any letter or take the pitch up/down when pronouncing a string of udattas.(2) The last syllable of "prachodayaat" is "yaat". It is supposed to be one syllable. When you pronounce it correctly, "t" is hardly audible. If you artificially add an vowel at the end of it and make it "prachodayaatu" , you will end up introducing an extra syllable ("tu") and mess up everything. A lot of people do not pronounce "t" correctly. Probably some guru sometime back started the practice of adding a brief vowel at the end of words ending in a consonant, so that his sishyas could listen clearly what consonant he was saying. Unfortunately, it became a standard practice. This is good for teaching, but wrong for sadhana. If a word ends in a consonant, end it with a consonant (which cannot be heard clearly unless one tried hard) and do NOT add a brief vowel after that consonant.(3) Take "dhiyo yo naH". The "H" in "naH" is a visarga (written in Sanskrit as ":" and notated in itrans as "H"). Visarga means "letting go". You are supposed to let air go from you lungs in a quick exhalation. Pronunciation of "naH" is very close to "nah" though slightly different. Again, this is supposed to be one syllable. A lot of people, especially south Indians, make it "naha". Due to extra vowel added (a), an extra syllable (ha) is added to the mantra and that messes up everything. Again this is wrong.In this style of mispronouncing visarga, the same symbol "H" is pronounced differently in "raamaH", "hariH" and "guruH". The same symbol"H" or ":" is pronounced as "ha", "hi" and "hu" in the 3 words, respectively (i.e. raamaha, harihi, guruhu). That is wrong. If you pronounce it as letting air go, without adding any vowel, it sounds identical in the 3 words.Watch out for these 3 common mistakes.However, as I keep saying, the pronunciation is only a small percentage of it. Creating the right mental images and the perfect mental focus is more important. If you lose awareness of your body, successfully shut down all other thoughts in the mind and achieve a perfect mental focus on any veda mantra with correct pronunciation, it will be a fantastic experience. Please note that correct pronunciation is not difficult to achieve, but the other things I mentioned here are not that easy!Best regards,Narasimha------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ tarpanaSpirituality: http://groups. / group/vedic- wisdomFree Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro. home.comcast. netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAst rologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagan nath.org------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - - "sbm_sharma" <sbm_sharma ><>Wednesday, June 24, 2009 8:57 PM Proper Gayatri Mantra Pronunciation and Intonation - Audio Source> Dear Narasimha,>> Could you point me towards any easily obtainable audio recording of the > Gayatri mantra which you deem to be correctly executed?>> Also, would you mind typing it out here, phonetically? Thank you so much.>> Regards

June 27, 2009

Namaste,

>3) Take " dhiyo yo naH " . The " H " in " naH " is a visarga (written in >Sanskrit as

" : " and notated in itrans as " H " ). Visarga >means " letting go " . You are supposed

to let air go from you lungs >in a quick exhalation.

> differently in " raamaH " , " hariH " and " guruH " . The same symbol

> " H " or " : " is pronounced as " ha " , " hi " and " hu " in the 3 words, respectively

> (i.e. raamaha, harihi, guruhu). That is wrong. If you pronounce it as

> letting air go, without adding any vowel, it sounds identical in the 3

> words.

I had this query in my mind since long time but i didn't ask you. also in the

past, few questions which i wanted to ask you but didn't has been always

answered by you by means of this forum.

Now coming back to the Visarga -

I was convinced when i read your above paragraph regarding pronunciation of

Visarga (:, Ha). Technical also it looked correct.

but when i was reciting CP yesterday i was having some doubts which are

mentioned below along with some other related queries.

1) I came across Deva Uchu: in the 4th chapter. Now i am convinced about DevaaH,

RaamaH. IN This two words when you let go the air, you can naturally

(effortlessly-without affecting the flow) pronuonce Ha (Not Haa). and i thought

it is the same for others but when i came across Uchu:, i was in doubt for the

consistency of the rule. What i mean here is that when i pronounce Uchu and then

let go the air, the natural pronunciation seems to be 'Hu'. for Uchu--Ha, i have

to do some extra efforts. it does not seem natural.

Likewise for the word, Devaei:, when you let go, natural following voice seems

to be 'Hi..'

Surprisingly for Dewaa:, Ha seems to follow naturally and no need for Haa.

2) More importantly, when i recite CP or any other Shlokaas, i have found that,

many a times it obstruct the rythm when you try to pronounce Visargaas.

Especially when Visarga come in between a shloka. what is the basic purpose of

the Visarga in Sanskrit language? and what if i avoid some of the Visargaas

which obstruct the flow?.

Please ignore if these questions are like unnecessary hair splitting analysis

because I also feel that way at the moment. But I thought of asking you finally

because the topic is relevant and the points I mentioned are practically

experienced.

Yours,

Utpal