The Sanskrit Guide, at sanskritguide.com, was initiated by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami to help devotees improve their Sanskrit chanting. He named a few areas in particular, namely, attention to: aspirates, retroflex letters, compound consonants, sibilants (the three "s" sounds) and long vowels.
Accelerating from his initial thrust of Guru Shakti, the course was developed over a two-year period with the guidance and genius of Adaityananda, a Sanskrit aficionado, teacher and translator. It includes text lessons, exercises (with audio), charts, illustrations, and supplementary videos.
The core idea is as follows. Because of Sanskrit's structural consistency and phonetic nature, you will swiftly build a firm foundation for correct chanting if you learn:
proper pronunciation of the vowels and consonants (~51 sounds in all)
this means learning the source place of each group of letters (five families, basically) in the vocal system: guttural, palatal, cerebral (retroflex), dental, and labial.
Learn the brilliant structural pattern within all five families of consonants: unaspirated, aspirated, voiced, unvoiced and nasal
learn to chant syllables rather than words or lines of text
learn to correctly divide lines of Sanskrit into syllables by following a few simple rules
learn how to recognize which syllables are "guru" (strong, 2 beats, and which are "laghu" (not strong, 1 beat), and chant accordingly with precision. Mark the "long" syllables with bold or highlighting.
learn to mentally cognize precisely each sound you chant by paying attention to the text, or memorizing the chant, so there is no ambiguity. You know, for example, if you see a you would knowingly and caringly pronounce it as a retroflex letter, never pronounce it as a dental t. In the beginning stages, it is important to read as you chant, so you stay "on script" and don't develop bad habits. Like playing a musical instrument, it does no good to practice a mistake over and over again.
While the tendency is to want to jump in and "learn a lot of chants," a better way to spend your time is to master the above areas. Then you will be able to apply those skills to every mantra, every word, every shloka that you encounter. Then, rather than learning to chant new mantras poorly, you will learn quickly to chant anything well with a minimal amount of practice! Sound good? If so, this is the course for you!
August 6th, 2023 at 6:56 pm
“AUM”!.
August 12th, 2023 at 4:43 am
Aum
Thank you for providing this wonderful guide.
September 9th, 2023 at 10:46 am
Mahalo nui loa for this post ! Appreciate the concise yet achievable approach this application allows
Aum Nama Sivaya