Tattva-viveka
Srila Prabhupada's pranam mantras
Shyam Gopal Das - December 16, 2004 8:28 pm
I was thinking about why Srila Prabhupada has two different pranam mantras. One composed by himself, as for as I know, and the other one by Srila BS Govinda Maharaj. Does anyone know what the history is of these two mantras? Why are there two?
Madangopal - December 17, 2004 1:21 am
Swami explains this during a recent visit to North Carolina. If you get the recent MP3 cd's from his east coast U.S. tour he discusses it at the beginning of one darshan just after reciting that mantra by Govinda Maharaj.
I don't want to cut off any other responses, but from what I understood the scoop is this:
Prabhupada is said to have noted a grammatical error in the sanskrit of the pranam mantras that he composed. His sanskrit student disciples were not learned enough or did not have enough time while he was present to fix this error. Govinda Maharaj later composed a pranam mantra which glorifies Prabhupada very sweetly. He did so under the guidance and with the final approval of B.R. Sridhara Swami who was a sanskrit scholar, as well as a friend and godbrother of Srila Prabhupada.
Madangopal - December 17, 2004 2:59 am
and here is that pranam:
namah om visnupadaya krishna-presthaya bhutale
swami sri bhaktivedanta prabhupadaya te namah
gurvajnam sirasi-dhritva saktyavesa sva-rupine
hare-krishneti mantrena pascatya-pracya-tarine
visvacarya prabaryaya divya karunya murtaye
sri bhagavata-madhurya-gita-jnana pradayine
gaura-sri-rupa-siddhanta-saraswati nisevine
radha-krishna-padambhoja-bhringaya gurave namah
I offer my humble obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupad, who is Krishna's beloved associate and who came down to this plane from Goloka. Taking the order of his guru on his head, he is the Saktyavesa (empowered) avatar of Nityananda Prabhu personified. He distributed the Hare Krishna mantra all over the Eastern and Western world, delivering and uplifting all fallen souls. He is the best of millions of jagat-gurus, because he is the personification of divine mercy. He has distributed the sweet nectar of Srimad-Bhagavatam and the transcendental knowledge of Bhagavad-gita all over the world. He is constantly engaged in exclusive devotional service to Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Srila Rupa Goswami, and Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. I offer my humble obeisances unto Srila Prabhupad, who is like a bumble-bee always tasting the nectar of the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha and Govinda.
Babhru Das - December 17, 2004 5:03 am
Prabhupada is said to have noted a grammatical error in the sanskrit of the pranam mantras that he composed. His sanskrit student disciples were not learned enough or did not have enough time while he was present to fix this error.
There was actually some controversy about the form of one word--whether it should be deve, devau, or devam. Srila Prabhupada wrote to Pradyumna in 1970 that he preferred deve, but that devam may also be acceptable. Srila Prabhupada admitted freely that he was not a Sanskrit scholar; in fact, I heard that on one occasion where a disciple acclaimed Prabhupada as a great Sanskrit scholar, Srila Prabhupada replied that he was not.
We've heard from Swami on several occasions that, because he was not satisfied with the mantras we were using, he asked Sridhar Maharaja to write a proper mantra for him. Some time after Srila Prabhupada's passing from our vision, Sripad Govinda Maharaja reminded him that Prabhupada had requested a gramattically correct pranam mantra and that they hadn't gotten around to it. Srila Sridhar Maharaja commissioned Govinda Maharaja to pursue this project and supervised his efforts. I think Swami mentioned in North Carolina that Govinda Maharaja was particularly please with the second one: gurvajnam sirasi-dharya. . . . Whereas the original acknowledged Srila Prabhupada's bringing Krishna consciousness to the West, Govinda Maharaja's praises him for delivering the Hare Krishna maha-mantra to the entire world, East and West.
Shyam Gopal Das - December 17, 2004 1:52 pm
I've been listening to the east coast mp3 cd the last few days, so I should have just continued listening 
Actually, some questions that have sprung up in my mind lately were answered on this set before...
Thanks!
Madangopal - December 17, 2004 2:03 pm
Actually, I have a question about a word in the mantra. In the line you quoted Babhru, I have found it as guruvajnam sirasi-dharyam and also as guruvajnam sirasi-dhritva. The second example is what I find on websites dedicated to Govinda Maharaj. Which is right?
Babhru Das - December 17, 2004 6:17 pm
I haven't seen or heard "sirasi-dhritva." In Kirtan Majusa, it's dharyam, and I've only heard Swami chant dharyam. But I have no standing to say that dhritva is wrong. My experience with these pranam mantras is limited entirely to my association with Tripurari Maharaja. He and others undoubtedly kknow more about this.
Forrest - December 17, 2004 7:25 pm
Is there some place where I can find the "word-for-word" translation of this mantra?
Bhrigu - December 17, 2004 9:47 pm
I have also only heard "dhaaryam", but in fact, "zirasi dh.rtvaa" (not zirasi-dh.rtvaa is the Sri Caitanya Saraswata Math Webpage says), "having placed (the order of his guru) on his head" would make more sense grammatically than zirasi dhaaryam. I'm not sure how that would connect with the rest of the text.
As far sarasvate deve/devam/devau (the dative of deva is devaaya), I don't think that the Sanskrit editors did not know all of those to be wrong, they just did not dare say that to Srila Prabhupada. The metre of the verse is also irregular. I don't think Prabhupada himself would have bothered so much about it. There is a verse saying that even though the pandita says namo visnave and the illiterate namo visnaaya, Vishnu is bhava-grahi and accepts both. Still, if possible, we should try to say things correctly!
Swami - December 19, 2004 2:53 pm
"dhaaryam" is in the original verese that was composed in my presence and approved by Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja. I published that version in Kirtana Manjusa, but I have not been in touch with the Matha for many yearas and apparently they have discerned after some time that dh.rtvaa is more grammatically correct, as confirmed by Bhrgu. So we should adjust accordingly. In any event, sing it with feeling.