ticks me off when people knowingly mispronounce the holy names.

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna,

 

Is anyone else bothered by this occurence :

 

Sometimes during aarti/bhajan in the temple the kirtan leader chants KrishnO and RamO instead of KrishnA and RamA.

 

i've addressed this issue a few times, and people have shunned it off saying "when we get deep into the kirtan we don't pay attention to what we may say..."

 

what kind of excuse is that......how can you not pay attention to the holy names during kirtan.

 

 

just a rant........

[Guest guest]

i'm sorry, but i don't understand a word you are saying.

[Guest guest]

there is an injection that goes like that ..

" some say Vishnave some say Vishnavaya(wrong pronounciation) but Krishna accepts actually the mood."

So you may be sanskrit pandit but your kirtan may not be accepted, and you may be sanskrit illitrate and your prayer may be accepted if in proper mood. Krishna is there in your heart and he will know when you are calling him. even if prounced wrongly.

Actual Pronunciation is the one mentioned in Roman or sanskrit. but foreigners as well as indian many times pronounce it wrongly.Some say Ram, Rama, Ramaa but that does not mean that the kirtan will not be accepted. If you can prounce properly its very nice.

But i would request please do not get into correction of pronounciation of others. You may end up in Vaishnava aparadh. The mood is important.

Unless the word is changed completely like "Kana" instead of "KRishna" it should be ok.

[Guest guest]

I am not sure if this is true, but an Indian devotee told me that it was common to devotees of the Bengal region to pronounce words like Krishna and Rama with an O as the ending. Maybe one of the Indian devotees can clear this up for us.

[bhaktachris]

Hare Krsna, if that makes you mad, check out this chanting of my old friend.............

http://www.tvswami.sotiko.pl/

Trivikrama Swami

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=4 bgColor=#6c6c6c border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle width=120 background=gfx/to5.gif>Hare Kryszna

Hare Kryszna

Kryszna Kryszna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama

Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=4 bgColor=#6c6c6c border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle width=120 background=gfx/to5.gif>Hare Kryszna

Hare Kryszna

Kryszna Kryszna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama

Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Guest guest]

ok i understand that same people may call Krishna by different names, such as Kana.

 

But i do not understand why devotees would say KrishnO during kirtan and then go back to saying KrishnA when they give lecture or chant on their beads.

 

Can you exlpain this?

[Dwayne]

 

Hare Kryszna

Hare Kryszna

Kryszna Kryszna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama

Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

 

 

That's just how they spell Krsna in Poland... you see it on omkara's website as well...

I'd imagine it's just so they can pronouce it correctly, as obviously they read and say words differently to how we do.

[Guest guest]

Kryszna.....it still keeps to the correct pronunciation.......so does Rama.

 

 

KrishnO, on the other hand, is completely different.

[Nanda_das]

Dear guest you should not be so "ticked off". That is the way that people from Bengala pronunce. How well do you prounance? Do you say Haurey or Hare Krishna? Any way, we should worry about our personal chanting, to get to the point of chanting purely.

[Nitaichandra]

 

Kryszna.....it still keeps to the correct pronunciation.......so does Rama.

KrishnO, on the other hand, is completely different.

Dear forum participant , are you a vaishnava or a boishnob ?

[Guest guest]

this isn't about pronouncing with an accent......its about pronouncing the same word in two different ways at two different times....intentionally.

 

can you explain why both american and indian devotees alike are chanting KrishnO RamO during kirtan....and then chant KrishnA and RamA during lecture and japa?

[Dwayne]

Why not just ask the devotee who did it...

[Guest guest]

I asked all of THEM....it's not just one devotee....a few do this.

 

and as i said to begin with, they all say "when we get deep into the kirtan we don't pay attention to what we may say"

 

im just wondering if anyone else notices this in the temples they visit?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Maybe we shouldn't worry how others are chanting and focus on improving our personal bhajan. Imperfection is there in everyone's service. Finding the defects in others service is the easiest thing you can do in this world, but its useless. Finding the defects in our own service is the hardest thing to do in the world, but it will benefit us immeasurably.

[Guest guest]

i absolutely agree, but it's not that i'm spending my time in the temple looking for defects in others' service.

 

It's just hard to miss when they're chanting on the microphone, and everyone can hear them. I'm worried about new visitors, let alone people who are learning about Krishna, hearing the holy names being chanted in this manner.

 

thanks to all for the responses so far.

[Guest guest]

even i sometimes wonder why ppl mispronounce the names ...

[Guest guest]

i feel they do it purposely

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna,

I too have noticed that in scotland, the devotee`s say Gauranga in a different spelling. I don`t think that it is right to say Gauranga or spell the holy name in any other way.

They say it and spell it with an o after the G.

I recently met a devotee from the temple in scotland and told him this also.

They also put these signs on top of motorway bridges which I do not also agree with, as it seems to cheapen the holy name.

Also I read a small booklet which he gave me , and It didnt mention Krishna`s name until the very last page.

Any body else agree or disagree , I would love to hear your comments.

Hare Krishna.

Hanuman das.

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Well if we want to be pickey, then gauranga is being mispronounced by every single person in ISKCON (including me). It is correctly gaurAnga, made up of gaura and anga, creating a long vowel in the middle.

 

If someone wants to use the excuse that it is Bengali, then it should be gaurango (the 'o' that everyone seems to so much dislike). The conclusion is the pronunciation is Hindi influenced - so there is no consistancy how words are pronounced (i.e. sticking with either Sanskrit, Bengali or Hindi).

 

Why I bring this up is because we really can't be pickey. There are so many imperfections in all of our pronunciations that we should just be happy that they are chanting. There are gurus in iskcon who still recite "om ajnana timirandhasya jananjana shalakaya" instead of gyananjana. So what? As long as everyone is trying and chanting Krishna's name we should just be happy.

[Guest guest]

I agree, whats the point of being so picky as long as people are saying the lord's name with him in their minds. I often mispronounce some words because Spanish sounds are different than those used in Hindi or Sanskrit but none of the devotees really mind.

[Guest guest]

but atleast they shud try to correct it right???

[Guest guest]

(original poster here)

 

 

you are all missing the point......

 

for example, imagine you knew that the correct pronunciation was KrishnA/RamA. Now, you start kirtan, and then begin to chant KrishnO/RamO.

 

why are you doing this? that is what i want to know.....

 

 

im not saying that its a unacceptable for a newcomer to pronounce things wrong....im talking about KNOWINGLY changing the way you say it to suit your own purpose.

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

I used to think the same way, but now I doubt whether anyone can define the correct pronunciation of Bhagavan's names - we can only define the more popular pronunciation.

 

Krishna is pronounced as Krushna, Krishta, Krishtan, KrishnA, Krishno and Kreeshna deepending on which area of India you are in. Rama is pronounce as Ram, Ramo. Hare is also pronounced as Hade. Sita Rama is also pronounced as Siya Rama in North India. There are so many variations, and the Lord hears them all, so I won't be the one to decide which is the correct pronunciation. You can say which pronunciations are Sanskrit, which are Bengali, etc., but who can say which are correct and which are wrong. Our songs and prayers are not only sanskrit, they are also bengali, oriya, brajaboli, etc. And we don't have an absolute ponunciation standard, like I showed for Gauranga. One minute we are saying we should pronounce as sanskrit, then next we are following Hindi influence, then next Bengali influence.

 

Over all I prefer sanskrit ponunciation because in my mind it is more ancient and authoritative. But that's just my mental conception based on mundane time. These names are eternal, even the Bengali pronunciations.

 

As far as switching the pronunciation while singing and talking (rama/ramo), I can understand the point but there are other factors. Perhaps the bhava created while singing, or the tune that is being sung (raga), or the spacing (chandas) or any number of reasons. I don't think it is such a serious offense if there is any offense at all. Usually South Indians ask why devotees sometimes change krishna to krishnaa while singing mahamantra. When singing some syllables automatically become long.

[Guest guest]

RANG DE CHUNARIYA

Hare Bol from Hanumandas.

[Guest guest]

The "mispronouncing" is actually Bengali accent.

 

Please don't get too worked up about this. Devotees all over the world learned about Krishna Conciousness from Srila Prabhupada who was born as a Bengali in his mission on earth.

 

We are eternally indebted to Srila Prabhupada for showing us the light. His purity in KC is unparalleled. Krishna must love the way Bengali's pronounce his name, may be that is why he was born as a Bengali...

 

Krishna also loves Brij Basi. Have you heard their accent? Brij and Bengali is the most sweet languages on earth. So instead of getting upset, just enjoy the bliss when someone tries to follow Srila Prabhupada and copies the accent.