Gayatri Mantra Pronounciation

[ForgivinessMachine]

OM!

Somehow or another, my mind has stumbled across Hindu mantras and I am hoping that these can help me solve my problems.

I feel like I'm safe with the Gayatri mantra (RG Veda 3.62.10), except I don't know the correct intonation, nor which YouTube rendition to mirror.

I've heard that the 'new age' song versions (Deva Premal) don't have quite the same potency as the Gayatri chanted in the old-fashion Vedic way, but I've heard so many seemingly Vedic Sanskrit versions that I am not sure which of those is most proper either.

Does the exact sound really matter? If so, can anybody pretty please post a link to a guide for Gayatri pronounciation, or a sound/video recording that I can copy? My spiritual fate could be on the line so please don't just post one that is simply pleasing to the ears.

[peasandbones]

Namaste,

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/whitehi...ayatri-mantra/

Give this link a go, starts slow and eventually picks up to a normal speed with translation and transliteration of the mantra.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Does the exact sound really matter?

On a scale of 1 to 10, this would be a 12 in importance... the wise would say it would be like rubbing wet wood together to start a fire if one does not have the proper approach to any mantra.


iti śivaṁ

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

On a scale of 1 to 10, this would be a 12 in importance... the wise would say it would be like rubbing wet wood together to start a fire if one does not have the proper approach to any mantra.

One must ask, why would this be ? The chāndogya upaniṣad gives us the hint...

We look to section 1.4.2 as it informs us that the devā-s took refuge in the trayī vidyā-s ( code for the veda-s i.e. ṛg, sāma and yajur ved) and covered (ācchādita) themselves with chandas. Now what is this chandas ?
It just so happens that chandas means 'roof' ( cover) , yet too it is the name for 'meter'. In the west we may call it tempo, or beat, or rhythm . Yet it is the core for the proper meter/tempo of the hymn. This is a very big deal. In the sāma¹ ved which is 99% of the ṛg ved being sung chandas is of the highest import. Every hymn has specific chandas ( just as sheet music would have for a musician or conductor).

So let's go one step further with the refinement of chandas. Within chandas we find chand. This chand is rooted in chad. Chad is defined as 'to hide , conceal , keep secret' ; yet it is also defined as 'to protect' , ' to be pleased with' . It suggests that within the veda-s we find the devā-s concealed or keep secret within these great chants/saṃhita-s¹ and at the same time are 'pleased' with the chanting of these saṃhita-s.
Now the story continues in the next śloka (1.4.3) how they too have entered the vowel (svara). Yet I will stop here and leave this study for the interested reader.

iti śivaṁ

• saṃhita - placed side by side... the mantra-s of the veda-s in continuous wholeness joined or connected together.
• chandoga means 'singer in metre' , chanter of the sāma-ved.
  So one can deduce the chāndogya upaniṣad forms the part of
  the jñāna kāṇḍa or knowledge section of the sāma ved