Pronunciation

“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 51

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We should do our best to learn proper pronunciation for Sanskrit and Bengali words. For Sanskrit we can rely on the pronunciation guide found in all of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. And of course we learn by hearing the Sanskrit correctly pronounced.¹ For Bengali the transliterations in BBT books show how the Bengali text is spelled, not how it is pronounced, but we can learn by hearing Śrīla Prabhupāda, other Bengali devotees, or others who know how to pronounce Bengali right. Śrīla Prabhupāda once said, “[W]hen we are reading Bengali, let us do it, as far as possible, as the Bengalis do.”²

Yamunā Devī remembers:

In August 1968 in Montreal, Srila Prabhupada had our London group meet with him in the temple room after breakfast. One occasion when he requested me to lead the Mangalacaranam prayers he interrupted my singing to correct my pronunciation as I chanted. Another time in Mumbai in 1971 on nagar sankirtana, an Indian man criticized my pronunciation, and Srila Prabhupada said, “She is doing to the best of her ability. She is doing it in her own way.”³

Similarly, Kauśalyā Dāsī recounts:

Once, when a man criticized us [Kauśalyā and Yamunā] for our imperfect Sanskrit pronunciation, Prabhupāda defended us saying, “These girls have more devotion than you will ever know in a million lifetimes.” The man slunk away, humiliated.⁴

Even within India, people from different regions pronounce Sanskrit differently. For example, devotees from Odisha may pronounce Kṛṣṇa somewhat like Krushna,and devotees from Bengal like Krishno. Such differences hardly deserve attention. Bhāva-grāhī janārdanaḥ: The Lord accepts the sincere feeling of the devotee.⁵

(As a sweet aside: Giriraj Swami relates that in Bombay ISKCON’s friend and supporter Sadajiwatlal once said to Śrīla Prabhupāda, “Śrīla Prabhupāda, you pronounce Sanskrit with a Bengali accent.” And Śrīla Prabhupāda lightheartedly replied, “Well, what do you expect? I’m Bengali.”⁶)

In any case, it seems that Śrīla Prabhupāda didn’t want his non-Bengali followers to imitate the Bengali pronunciation of the Sanskrit mahā-mantra. Nanda Kumāra Dāsa writes:

I remember wanting to immerse myself in everything Bengali, since our movement and our dear Srila Prabhupad were from there, and trying to adopt the Ramo and Krishno accent for a day or so after hearing it… but right away, it didn’t feel right since Srila Prabhupad didn’t do it, and soon after, His Divine Grace started correcting us… [T]he main point is to avoid changing things, since keeping things as they are is where the potency is.⁷

Pālaka Dāsa relates a story told to him by Mahāmuni Dāsa, who heard it directly from Viṣṇujana Swami:

Vishnujana Swami was singing the Hare Krsna mantra where he had deliberately changed Hare Rama to Hare Ramo because he had heard it being sung that way in India. When Śrīla Prabhupāda noticed this change, he immediately stopped him by asking “Who is this Ramo?”

Vishnujana Swami looked up and said nothing as Śrīla Prabhupāda rebuked his disciple with these exact words, “You are ruining our movement.” With that, Śrīla Prabhupāda continued to correct Vishnujana Swami by saying, “It’s Rama” and then went on his way.⁸

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Notes:

1 At the time of this writing, an excellent course by Nityānanda Dāsa, a BBT Sanskrit editor—“Complete Sanskrit Pronunciation”—is available online at Udemy.com.

2 Class on Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 20.102, July 7, 1976, Baltimore.

3 Letter to Akiñcana Kṛṣṇa Dāsa, quoted by Dhanurdhara Swami in The Kirtan Sutras, p. 20.

4 Śrīla Prabhupāda Tributes 2021, p. 185.

5 mūrkho vadati viṣṇāya dhīro vadati viṣṇave
ubhayos tu samaṁ puṇyaṁ bhāva-grāhī janārdanaḥ

This verse appears in Caitanya-bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa, text 108. Paraphrased: Not knowing the proper Sanskrit for “unto Lord Viṣṇu,” a foolish person says viṣṇāya, whereas a well-trained person says viṣṇave. Both persons, however, get the same benefit because the Lord accepts one’s devotional feeling.

6 Giriraj Swami, personal interview, October 27, 2021.

7 “Who is this Ramo?” in the “Memories of Śrīla Prabhupāda Collection,” Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2019.

8 Ibid. Of course, I relate this story with no intention of slighting Viṣṇujana Mahārāja. Śrīla Prabhupāda once wrote to him (April 4, 1971), “Krishna has given you special talent for chanting Hare Krishna Mantra. When you were chanting in L.A. temple in the evenings, or in the mornings, I enjoyed your chanting so nicely that I thought myself immediately carried to Vaikuntha.”