Bhagavata Purana Chanted

[Nitaidas]

The start of a long project. I've always wanted to chant the whole Bhagavata and thought that this might be a way to do it. I will put up more chapters in the next few days. Sorry, for the weak, gravelly voice and my pronunciation is far from perfect. It will improve as I go (I hope!). My looks won't however. Nothing much I can do about that! It is the sound that counts, not the beat up old guitar. I will improve these as we go along.

The Bhagavata is a beautiful text: the sounds of the Sanskrit, the natural rhythms of the long and short syllables, the assonance and resonance, the melodies one can dream up to chant it by. I want to try to share those aspects of the great text.

I owe spiritualbhakti a debt of gratitude. He put the idea in my head. I hope he will continue to post recordings too. Practice makes perfect, n'est ce pas?

[Ldd]

Vipra dictated this for me to post after he watched this video. He is a sanskritologist too, so he is in total bliss, and has refallen in love with Nitai :-

Never mind the old guitar, nor the look. Surprisingly enough, there are some instruments older than you who have been thirsty for this transcendental treat. I ran to my bookroom and grabbed my Gita Press sanskrit Bhagwatam just as you finished chanting the last sloka. On replay, I sang along with Mitch I mean with Nitai. I am still shivering with pleasure, and begging for more.
PS. For many many years until today when I saw you, I had a picture in my mind of a young devotee accompanying Prabhupad when he came in 1976 to the old Brooklyn temple on Henry Street. As that young devotee (Nitai) was standing on the 2nd floor by the stairs, I inquired from him about a manual for learning sanskrit. Here, after all this time, i see that same person, as he looks today Thank you very much Nitai prabhu.
Vipra dasa

[Ldd]

i too must congratulate the professor for finally giving his darshan to us fallen souls, doing what he loves best - readiing the bhagwat in sanskrit.

[Nitaidas]

The second installment of the Bhagavata. Only three hundred and thirty or so to go! This chapter has some choice verses in it, verses that get cited all the time. The vadanti tat tattvavidas verse for instance is here and dharmah svanusthitah. It is a relatively long chapter and my voice gets a little weaker. That will improve as we go along. There are a couple of minor gaffs which will get fixed later. Advice to the viewer. Close your eyes and just listen.

[Nitaidas]

square, please pass along my thanks to Vipra das ji for his encouragement and kind words. Yes, many years have passed since those days in Brooklyn. It seems like many lives ago. I am glad that my new project has pleased him. I will think of him chanting along with me from now on.

Vipra's idea is a good one. If any of the rest of the members have copies of the text, let them join in. Our recitation of the Bhagavata will become many voices strong and our atmans (remember the old meaning, breath) will be joined with it (a form of Krsna) and all those who have sung it before. I always feel delightfully uplifted and refreshed after reciting the text.

[Nitaidas]

Dec 2, 2009 19:42:39 GMT -6 Ldd said:

i too must congratulate the professor for finally giving his darshan to us fallen souls, doing what he loves best - readiing the bhagwat in sanskrit.

Thanks to you, too, square didi. How about some bhajans from you?


As far as giving my darsana is concerned, it is a risk I had to take. Far from uplifting fallen souls I just hope I didn't scare anyone too much!

[Ldd]

you are doing good. you just need to build up confidence. At the end you will gain the love of Krishna. A nice tilak on the forehead might help too.
if you could get a canon vixia or sony camera as an Xmas gift, you could make masterpiece videos.

[Nitaidas]

Dec 7, 2009 19:47:01 GMT -6 Ldd said:

you are doing good. you just need to build up confidence. At the end you will gain the love of Krishna. A nice tilak on the forehead might help too.
if you could get a canon vixia or sony camera as an Xmas gift, you could make masterpiece videos.

Thanks, square. You seem to know the technology. Why not show us how well it works by giving us a sample video of one of your bhajans?

Xmas? Isn't that the birthday celebration of some pagan god?

[spiritualbhakti]

This Is Awesome

Go ! Nitai das !

After listening to your chanting of sanskrit I realize how lame mine sounds , i have a long way to go.

How long have you been studying sanskrit?

Thanks!

[Nitaidas]

Thanks for the kind words, spiritualbhakti. It is not hard to do if one knows a bit about Sanskrit prosody (versification). There are basically two kinds of syllables, short and long. A short is a syllable that consists of a short vowel before a single consonant. A long syllable is either a long vowel before either one consonant or two or a short vowel before two consonants. To get the rhythm of a verse one should give one beat to short syllables and two beats to long syllables. Verses are constructed by a formula of short and long combinations.

I've been at it for forty years, since I started to study Sanskrit in College back in 1969. To be truthful, though, I have spend long periods wasting my time and not learning anything new. I am way out of practice when it comes to chanting. It will take me a while to recover some of my skills. To actually learn how to read Sanskrit takes time. To learn how to chant it nicely does not take long. Being able to do both is the ideal. Most of the verses of the Bhagavata I can understand, but there are many that still are a mystery. Besides that some of the verses are real tongue-twisters.

Anyway, as always: practice makes perfect. Get a hold of the text if you can and follow along with my chanting. If I can get to the point where I stop making silly mistakes, you will be able to learn pretty quickly. There are other details I will fill you in on latter.

[Nitaidas]

Chapter Three is coming. I completed it the other day, but was not allowed to upload it to Youtube because it was 12 minutes long. Apparently one is only allowed 10 minutes. I decided to break the chapter in half, doing the list of descents, which seems to form a discrete unit, as one part and the rest in part two. But I have not been feeling well lately and have been unable to do that first part without goofy errors. I will keep at it and hopefully complete it soon. The Purana advises chanting that section daily, morning and night, to free oneself from miseries.

[spiritualbhakti]

Please keep at it!
It is a truly wonderful thing you are doing, It's great to actually hear the Bhagavatam as it is then to just read the translation.I know hearing is a huge part of bhakti and it's especially benefitting for a neophyte like me.

Thanks!!

[Nitaidas]

Here is the first part of Chapter Three. This is the one said to be capable of releasing one from misery if one chants it in the morning and in the evening. It gives a list of 23 of the descents of Bhagavan Sri Krsna, a list which includes Vyasa and Narada. I did this over and over and each time made some silly mistake. I was beginning to think that I was not going to be able to do this one. There are a few minor gaffs here, but mostly it is correct. This seems to be the best I can do at present. Hope it is an aid to my co-chanters.

[Nitaidas]

Here is the second half of the third chapter of the first Skandha. It seems I was too close to the mic and perhaps too loud initially. I was also not careful about getting myself centered. Nevertheless, the rest of the chapter came out alright. See the Youtube description for more on the meaning of this half-chapter.

Chapter Four is coming up and I thought I might making short videos discussing the meaning and peculiarities of each of the chapters. Nothing much. Just some comments on the language and contexts of each chapter. Whatever occurs to me as i chant it. Look for those in the future.

[spiritualbhakti]

Thanks Nitai das !!

I think it is a great idea if you discuss some of the meanings of the chapters!

great Job!