SRILA PRABHUPADA DID NOT WANT HIS FOLLOWERS TO CHANT HARE RAMO
By Palaka das (ACBSP)
Believe it or not, there are no “O”‘s anywhere in the Hare Krsna maha-mantra despite what you might have heard . If you’d like to know what our Srila Prabhupada had to say about this apparent harmless little change to how he taught us, then please check out Dandavats “Who Is This Ramo”
http://www.dandavats.com/?p=11965
After writing the above article, I found many still refuse to accept that Srila Prabhupada actually made such a heavy statement “You are ruining our movement”, to His Holiness Vishnujana Swami when he heard him chanting this Hare ramo. So I continued my research, which unearthed one very revealing first hand account how Srila Prabhupada did not want this chanting of Hare ramo introduced in ISKCON. I am very grateful to Nanda Kumara Das Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada’s personal servant, for his direct experience in this regard. After receiving his reply to my question , I felt compelled to go back and readdress this “Who is this Ramo” issue, and share with the greater devotee community here on Dandavats this very important desire by our founder, Srila Prabhupada.
I asked Nanda Kumar das Prabhu if he had ever heard about Srila Prabhupada telling His Holiness Vishnujana that he was ruining our movement by his Ramo chanting and this was his response
“i did not hear that said personally to His Holiness Vishnujana Swami, but i heard Srila Prabhupad say it to others on numerous occasions… I remember when it started, quite innocently, after devotees who had attended the Mayapur Festival when they had kirtan contests with Bengali Vaishnavas who chanted ramo… putting an o at the end of words that have an a is just a particular Bengali accent… just like in every country, there are accents from various areas… in the UK, someone from Manchester speaks much differently than someone from London or Scotland… in the US, the southern accent is very different from the New York or New England accent… 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… the main point is to avoid changing things, since keeping things as they are is where the potency is… it’s what Srila Prabhupad did with everything He did…. writing, cooking, chanting, Deity worship, etc, etc… He kept everything as it is and gave credit to that fact for the success of the movement…” Nanada Kumara Das (ACBSP)
The question remains, Srila Prabhupada doesn’t chant that Bengali ramo style and told his disciples not to either when it first, rather innocently, started to make its way in our movement, then why should we? Especially when he went as far as saying “It’s ruining our movement”. I strongly believe most devotees only chant this ramo and krishno way because they never heard what Srila Prabhupada has said in this regard. Primarily because in Srila Prabhupada’s time, it was a non-issue, meaning we really didn’t chant that way. I for one never even heard this Hare ramo introduced in the Washington DC temple kirtans until 1990, and yes I dutifully chanting along. However, like Nanda Kumara Prabhu, I too didn’t feel comfortable and stopped soon after.
Please share so others in ISKCON may now know how innocently this ramo started and how seriously Srila Prabhupada did not want it to continue in his society.
All Glories To Srila Prabhupada !
Dandavats Palaka Prabhu
I have been following your posts about No Krishno and No Ramo. I saw your post on Dandavats about what our God Brother Nanda Kumar told you to that Srila Prabhupada said about not chanting Ramo Krishno. This is very similar to what I told you about myself and Vishnu Jana Swami and how we heard the chanting of the Bengalis singing Ramo and Krishno according to their Bengali accent and we both thought that this must be authentic. Of course I never heard Srila Prabhupada chant it nor had I heard him correct anyone till you sent out the first quote. After that I became very conscious of not chanting Krishno and Ramo which was difficult as I had developed the habit from years of doing it.
It is very good that you brought the verification of Srila Prabhupada's personal servant Nanda Kumar in to reinforce the point. I understand that some devotees do not accept this instruction. That is unfortunate that they do not want to follow His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. All I can say is that some bad habits die hard. Lets listen the the kirtan that Srila Prabhupada is chanting on the link I have provided and see how he and his disciples chant RAMA and KRISHNA.
Hare Krishna
Bhagavat Swami
Lately it seems the Ra moooooo has moved on, and a new character has become popular, ra ahahahahah, with many modualtions. Sometimes there is more long aaahh that any other syllable.
Revatinandana prabhu spoke about that on he Memories of Srila Prabhupada recording.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpJLSCPXjHU
16:42
Many thanks to Lokaguru das for posting this on Facebook previously. …
I had a long conversation with Achyutananda das(ACBSP-1966) about the proper pronunciation of Rama in the mahamantra. He explained that the proper pronunciation of the letter ‘a’ in Bengali can be found in the back of each Chaitanya-caritamrta volume. In the Bengali language the letter ‘a’ is pronounced like an ‘o’. In fact Bengali people pronounce an ‘a’ like a short ‘o’ under almost all circumstances. It is just a dialect, a regional speech nuance. So if a Bengali sings Rama and it sounds somewhat like Ramo, it is because of their natural way of pronouncing the word in their native Bengali.
Additionaly Achyutananda prabhu said that Srila Prabhupada always pronounced yajna as jagna replacing the ‘y’ with a ‘j’. Does this mean we should go around imitating the Bengalis by pronouncing yogurt like jogurt or yoga like joga?
Srila Prabhupada is a Bengali by birth and Bengali is His native language. According to Achyutananda prabhu, Srila Prabhupada sung or pronounced purely the Holy Names Krsna and Rama only like the letter ‘a’.
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare ,
again all pronounced like an ‘a’.
Achyutananda prabhu also said that he like Srila Prabhupada only pronounces the holy names with an ‘a’sound and does not endorse this imitation Bengali chanting style of Hare Ramo.
I for one will only try to chant the Mahamantra like my guru Srila Prabhupada and like my godbrother Achyutananda prabhu.
So how does this apply to westerners singing the Mahamantra in kirtan?
It doesn’t apply. Why?
First the Mahamantra isn’t Bengali its Sanskrit. Therefore the ‘a’ found in Krsna and Rama is pronounced like the letter ‘a’.
My advice is for all of us is to stop trying to imitate Bengali persons and try to chant like our guru Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
HK, I agree chanting with proper pronunciation is important but not imitating. If pronunciation of one word is so important, then krishna will never accept anyone chanting from Russian region. Isn't it?