saying the maha mantra correctly

kes

I have heard from some that when chanting the maha mantra, HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE, then RAMA should never be pronounced as just RAM but rather RAMA, I would like to know which is correct or are both acceptable

ccd

The pronunciation of Ram is a bit of Hindi not proper Sanskrit, in Sanskrit you pronounce all thirty two syllables. Just like some Hindi speaking people say Krisn we should not miss a single syllable of a mantra. Of course every school of Sanskrit has different accentuations and pronunciation guide, but we follow Prabhupada and he (softly and shortly) pronounced last a in Rama (the first A is a long a thus it is sometimes pronounced stronger). BTG gives an example of an English word Drama in it's explanation of the mantra pronunciation.

kes

Thanks CCD for your input, so what should one do when he has got used to chanting the maha mantra as RAM not RAMA, it is very difficult to change.

ccd

At least you can sing in the kirtana right to not mislead others;-) But the pronunciation is the end of the world, your emotion that you put into it is the main thing. In fact you may get the full result of the mantra is you put your heart into it. Now how to improve the feeling and the sincere dedication is a different question, but do not think that your japa is spoiled by that. However in my humble experience the proper pronunciation of japa is really important, people who do pronounce it clearly and nicely are getting extra benefits. Even the six-sillable mantra (vaidic) is said not become invalid as per murka bole sloka of Caitanya Bhagavata, but try to chant correctly.

dweller-in-peace

In devanagari राम=Ram, whereas रामा=Rama and कृष्ण=Krsn whereas कृष्णा=Krsna.

Pronouncing राम is correct whereas रामा is wrong, कृष्ण is correct but कृष्णा is wrong. There are two types of notes (swara). Hrisva swara and dirgha swara. Last a in राम is short sound as in hrisva swara not as रामा which is long sound of a as in dirgha swara. Rama and Krsna depicts a feeling of dirgha swara in the end as if it is a long aaaaaaaaaaa. But using phonetic symbols solves the problem because then Rama=राम, and Krsna=कृष्ण, and रामा=Ramā and कृष्णा=Krsnā.

ccd

Nobody asks to put a long A at the end, it should be short a (Rama and Krishna with long A is a name of a Goddess).

A quote from BR Sridhara swami of Navadvipa:

Naturally they should chant 'Rama', not 'Ram', for that is the real pronunciation. If one pronounces it as 'Ram' that does not mean that the whole thing is spoiled, but 'Rama' is the grammatically correct pronunciation. Everything depends on the heart. The highest importance is your earnestness of surrender. the child may call his father by the name 'Papa' or by any disfigured sound, but that is overlooked. The inner earnestness is always to be reckoned. SfGoD 3.10

deena

Phonetically, the western or english pronunciation of the letter m is "em." In this form, the mouth is open and then closes which allows no air to pass out of the mouth hence the sound vibration is strictly stopped or cut off. The Hindi and sanskrit form of 'm' is 'ma' and the mouth works in the opposite fashion - the mouth is closed and then opens, which allows air to pass out of the mouth and it is this small exhalation of air that forms the slightly audible 'a' sound, (the short a.) For pronouncing the long 'a', double the strength and length of air exhalation.

ccd

Word rāma of Sanskrit is transliterated in Hindi as rām and sounds like ram. To give an example: in Sanskrit, Āsana is indeed written आसन, with three syllables: आ-स-न (ā-sa-na). But in Hindi one reads the same written word आसन as āsan for some reason, but in Sanskrit it is pronounced āsana. We say Govinda not Govind, Madhava not Madhav. The last a is short and not long, but is needed to maintain the meter.

Baker

deena:
Phonetically, the western or english pronunciation of the letter m is "em." In this form, the mouth is open and then closes which allows no air to pass out of the mouth hence the sound vibration is strictly stopped or cut off.

In my linguistics course, we were taught that /m/ and /n/ are nasal sounds. When articulating them, the air passes through the nose, not the mouth. This is easy to test - just hold your nose together and try to say /m/ or /n/.[br]
The place of articulation for /m/ and /n/ is the same as for the stops /p/, /b/ and /t/, /d/ respectively, but since with /m/ and /n/ the air passes through the nose, they are sonorants, which makes them easy to sing: oooommmmmm.[br]

[br]Other than that, generally, in Indoeuropean languages, there is the tendency to reduce or eliminate short non-accented vowels, so I presume the short form /Ram/ is part of that tendency.

dweller-in-peace

Other than that, generally, in Indoeuropean languages, there is the tendency to reduce or eliminate short non-accented vowels, so I presume the short form /Ram/ is part of that tendency.

Yes that is what is happening here. Last word na with halant will have a very short sound of the consonant and when there is a sandhi with a, it will complete the consonant. However another matra of A will add double stress. For example Kamala is lotus and kamala with a long a in end means laxmi not the lotus.

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