OK, it might be just me, but I think that I’m not pronouncing Maha Mantra correctly when I’m doing japa. And I think that my rhythm and intonation are not correct as well. And I think that I need some training in that area. To help me (and anybody else who has same issues) it would be great if one of these days Audarya can release a CD with Guru Maharaja doing japa. I understand of course that the internal realization and feeling underlying the sound is much more important then pronunciation, but when you have neither... Story of the creation of Vrtrasura by Tvasta comes to mind as well.
Nah... as I take it you are Russian, you may pronounce the H in hare a little too strongly, but I wouldn't worry. Many American devotees, even pure devotees, make a mess with all the Rs in the maha-mantra, but see where they are, because they listen to the mantra and depend on it like there is no tomorrow when they chant.
I am a language and pronunciation freak myself and could do a good job pronuncing Snrnga and even yajña, but look where I am...
In general though, you should know that in Sanskrit the letters e and o are always long or double (e=a+i; o= a+u) so your voice should rest longer on them (harE, not hAre), like when you say deep instead of dip, or bale instead of bell.
Same goes with all the letters with a dash on top, like the a in rAma.
Among the many things that the Iskcon devotees went to Sridhara maharaja to rectify, was the pronunciation of rama. Some Gaudiyas had criticized the iskcon devotees for their pronunciation I believe. The reason is that ramaa (with the last a well pronounced as in far) is a name of Krsna's internal sakti, like when you say ramA-nrsimha, in that case it means laksmi.
So they asked Sridhara maharaja, which is it? Rama, Ram, Ramo?
Sridhara maharaja knew well that in the maha mantra you address the hladini sakti with hare and the lord with rama, where the first a is long and the last short, but because of his being Bengali, he pronounced it Ramo, and many devotees just stuck to it.
Srila Prabhupada was also from Bengal, and the devotees still chant sanskrit songs with a bengali accent and their proverbial american R (catur-vidha sri bhagavat prasadooo).
If you speak like all the devotees of slavic origin that I know, you should pay attention to not aspire the H too much and rest your voice on the e of Hare.
These are all the technicalities I could give you in written since you asked; the real answer is grab a copy of the Siksastakam commentary as soon as it comes out! There it says how to chant eternally: kirtaniyah sada Harih
As "One picture is worth ten thousand words" so "One sound is worth ten thousand pages of sheet music." Thank you for the explanation though, I'll try my best. There is a tape available of Srila Prabhupada chanting japa, but it would be nice to have something like that from Guru Maharaja, don't you think?
There is a tape of Gm in our archives, since predigital times. You mentioned Sp's tape, so you may have noticed he doesn't chant it properly; funny statement, it makes me cringe just to type it, but I'm just referring to the technical aspect. Basically he skips some Hares in the middle, but so what really? You mentioned the spirit or the mood of a devotee while chanting, and your insecurity as far as intonation and pronunciation of the mantra, which are two different things. If your concern is pronunciation, get a tape of some Sanskritist, so you'll know how to pronounce it properly, but as you know, harinama is not a tool, it's a person, an avatara: Nama Prabhu. Once you put your heart into the japa, the mantra comes alive. Like every avatara, his manifestation is in relation to the heart of the devotee. If I were to chant japa like Guru maharaja I'd freak out: too fast, too slow, and my R is well rolled. However, once in Eugene during my first weeks in his association I went to the office and saw him chanting on the porch. I couldn't hear his intonation or anything, but his face was something I'll never forget. I went to take my camera and snatched a picture of him, although from far away. It was like he was seeing a totally different world around him, I had the perception that that world was concrete and real, but i felt like a blind man. When I am inspired I don't really try to chant with his intonation and pace, but rather with such intensity that one day i will also see what he sees.
I heard that the SP japa recording was done while he was arranging a fire sacrifice for initiation, and thus there was a lot of distraction. Notice te statement "sit properly". If you don't agree with this, please do not chastise me for saying this. Someone told me, and it made sense to me. That's all.
If attaining self realization depends on perfect pronunciation of a mantra, we hardly have a chance.
Ivar