Spiritualin Sanskrit and Bengali Prayers
In the material world, the influence of time degrades everything, pronunciation not
being exempt. To learn a Sanskrit verse or a Bengali prayer, most of us memorized
it by reading the printed words over and over again. But, over time memory tends
to fade and errors creep in that develop into habits and, if not corrected, ultimately
becaome an accepted standard.
It seems that something like this has happened and is still happening in Mayapur.
Every day, for years now, many of those who lead the Nṛsiṁha Prayers after
Maṅgala-ārati commit several errors in the second verse. The original Sanskrit
verse from the Nṛsiṁha Purāṇa reads:
ito nṛsiṁhaḥ parato nṛsiṁho
yato yato yāmi tato nṛsiṁhaḥ
bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁho
nṛsiṁham ādiṁ śaraṇaṁ prapadye
However, In Mayapur, and now in many parts of the world, many devotees sing:
ito nṛsiṁhaḥ parato nṛsiṁha
yato yato yāmi tato nṛsiṁhaḥ
bahir nṛsiṁha hṛdaye nṛsiṁha
narasiṁham ādiṁ śaraṇaṁ prapadye
One may argue: “What’s the big deal?” It’s only an a for an o. True, but we should
note that Prabhupāda did not shrug off errors like this. For example, he personally
corrected a similar mistake (an i for an e) in a lecture given in London in 1971: “So
offering respect to the spiritual master means to remember some of his activities.
Just like you offer respect to your spiritual master, namas te sārasvate deve gaura-
vāṇī-pracāriṇe. This is the activity of your spiritual master, that he is preaching the
message of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and he's a disciple of Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.
Namas te sārasvate. You should pronounce it sārasvate, not sarasvatī. Sarasvatī
is my spiritual master. So his disciple is Sārasvate. Sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-
pracāriṇe.” Still, almost 50 years later, many devotees pronounce it sarasvati.
As far as the Nṛsiṁha Prayers go, I have tried at different times to raise awareness
of the situation, so far without much success. I have approached some of the
singers personally before, during and after the Nṛsiṁhadeva ārati and pointed out
the errors. I was assured they would be corrected. It didn’t happen. I asked to
have a meeting with all the kīrtana leaders. The reply was negative, too difficult to
arrange. Finally, I got one of the local GBCs involved who referred me to the person
in charge of kīrtana schedules. We met, I explained the situation and was assured
the errors would be corrected. A year has passed since then. The wrong chanting
is still going on. And it is watched by hundreds and thousands on YouTube.
This problem is not trivial, or a local affair, because these videos are being watched
by so many devotees. And thousands of devotees visit Mayapur each year and take
the wrong way of chanting back home to their temples and congregations. The
habit has become so deeply ingrained that even if a kīrtana leader chants the
prayers correctly, the crowd will respond in the wrong way. I have witnessed this in
different places, especially in Mayapur.
The following prayer, also from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 8.5), was chanted
by the Lord when He visited Jiyaḍa-nṛsiṁha. In Mayapur, it is chanted to greet
Nṛsiṁhadeva at 7 am.:
“śrī-nṛsiṁha, jaya nṛsiṁha, jaya jaya nṛsiṁha
prahlādeśa jaya padmā-mukha-padma-bhṛṅga”
Here also it is quite common that errors are made. I have heard any one of the
following variations:
“śrī-nṛsiṁha, jaya nṛsiṁha, jaya jaya narasiṁhadeva
“śrī-nṛsiṁha, jaya nṛsiṁha, jaya jaya jaya nṛsiṁha
“śrī-nṛsiṁha, jaya nṛsiṁha, jaya jaya śrī-nṛsiṁha
“śrī-nṛsiṁha, jaya nṛsiṁha, jaya jaya jaya śrī-nṛsiṁha
“jaya nṛsiṁha, śrī-nṛsiṁha, jaya jaya śrī-nṛsiṁha
“jaya nṛsiṁha, śrī-nṛsiṁha, jaya jaya nṛsiṁha
Another concern is the Pañca-tattva mantra. Gadādhara has a diacritic mark on
the second a. On different recordings we can hear Prabhupāda clearly chant
“Gadādhar” emphasizing the second a. However, even during his presence,
devotees began to chant all syllables with equal emphasis, or even emphasizing
the first syllable Gadadhara. Bhavananda speaks about this in his remembrances
on ITV: “During the festival the devotees were having a kirtan in the temple in
Mayapur. They sang a tune that lent itself to saying Ga’dadhar (accent on first
syllable). But it was one of those newer melodies. Prabhupada called me in and
said, “They are singing Ga’dadhar but it is Gada’dhar (accent on second syllable).”
I told everyone, but no one listened to me. They all continued to chant Ga’dadhar
because it was more syncopated for the melody. The melody shouldn’t take
precedence over the name.” On the recordings for Sacred Song Symphony the
Pañca-tattva mantra appears on a number of songs, in different melodies and
different meters, some even Ektal (what is commonly known as the 1-2-beat). But
we always chant “Gadādhara”, accentuating the second syllable. There is no
difficulty, no matter what kind of melody or meter we may use.
Strictly speaking, unless the second syllable is emphasized, the word gada has a
different meaning. Gadā means “mace”, whereas gada means “disease”, or
“poison.” We don’t worship a “poison-carrier.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us to learn the proper pronunciation of the Sanskrit
verses. In 1972, he said in a lecture in Tokyo:
“So this Bhāgavatam, it is the essence of the Vedic knowledge, and when it
is received through the paramparā system of pure devotees, then it becomes
still more sweet than before. That is the purpose. So we should try to learn,
get it by heart, at least one śloka, two śloka in a week. And if we chant that...
Just like you are chanting so many songs, similarly, if you chant one or two
verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that will make you very quickly advanced for
spiritual realization. We are therefore taking so much trouble to get this
transliteration, the meaning, so that the reader may take advanced step, full
advantage of the mantra.
It is not that to show some scholarship, that "I know so much Sanskrit." No. It
is just offered with humility, to learn the mantra. They are all transcendental
vibration. Just Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, this is mahā-mantra, but all the verses
from Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, spoken by Kṛṣṇa, spoken by
Vyāsadeva, an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, they're also mantras, infallible
instruction. So try to get it by heart, chanting. Either you chant by seeing the
book or get it by heart, it is all the same. But try to chant one, two ślokas daily.
Chant. [Prabhupāda teaches his students to pronounce each word of the
verse.]
So you have to study like that. So many ślokas; I am taking so much labor. It
is not for making business, for selling only, and not for my students. You must
all read like this, practice. Why so much trouble is being taken, word-to-word
meaning and then transliteration? If you chant this mantra, that vibration will
cleanse the atmosphere. And wherever you go, in any part of the world, if you
can chant this mantra, oh, you'll be received like gods. It is so nice. And in
India they will actually receive you like gods if you chant this mantra. They
will offer so much respect. Veda-mantra.
To pronounce the Sanskrit prayers correctly will be pleasing to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Only a little bit of awareness and determination are required. Then even long-term
bad habits can be overcome. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Mayapur is
ISKCON’s World Headquarters, and the rest of the world follows its lead: yad yad
ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ. This entails a grave responsibility.
Nṛsiṁhadeva deserves to be praised with the same mantra that Śrī Caitanya
Mahāprabhu used to chant, a genuine rendition. What is the difficulty?
