Hello All!

It's interesting what you hear when listening to a foreign language. I
was in my favorite Indian grocery store this morning and noticed the 
continual
singing of a mantra in the background. I asked the guy at the counter
what it meant but he sort of giggled and said "It's a mantra; not in
my language!" To me it sounded like "Oh, Oh, what am I gonna do about
it? Oh, Oh" but the lady singing did not seem very worried.



-- 


James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

"James Silverton"  wrote in news:gsssac
$ihj$1@news.motzarella.org:

> Hello All!
> 
> It's interesting what you hear when listening to a foreign
> language. I was in my favorite Indian grocery store this morning
> and noticed the continual
> singing of a mantra in the background. I asked the guy at the
> counter what it meant but he sort of giggled and said "It's a
> mantra; not in my language!" To me it sounded like "Oh, Oh, what am
> I gonna do about it? Oh, Oh" but the lady singing did not seem very
> worried. 

It was probably in Sanskrit, which, like Latin, is essentially 
nobody's language, though a non-trivial number of hindus have studied 
it. However, it would surprise me to hear Sanskrit described as "not 
my language". Hindus do not generally think of it as "my language" or 
"not my language", whether one understands it or does not understand 
it. It remains the language of hindu ritual and for more than two 
thousand years it was the language of hindu scholarship.

The only "mantra" likely to be heard globally across hindu communities 
is the Gayatri. Culturally aware hindus recognize it if they hear it 
wafted on the breeze from a mile away. There are few other things you 
are likely to hear being sung which a hindu would call a mantra. It is 
in more or less classical Sanskrit, presumably from the middle vedic 
period, though it is regarded as ancient. Early vedic Sanskrit (the 
Rig Veda, for instance) is incomprehensible to most people whose 
exposure to Sanskrit is limited to the classical stuff, sort of like 
English before Beowulf.

I would expect the Gayatri to run in a cycle time of about 30 seconds.

The words are passed down from guru to initiate, via a whisper in the 
ear. Typically the guru would be a father, the initiate the son, on 
the occasion of the thread ceremony, the equivalent of a bar mitzvah 
or a confirmation. It was one of the many things that Brahmins kept 
from others. 

In ritual it is chanted, not sung, with a cadence the same everywhere. 
Now you have the Gayatri on the air, there are recordings of the 
Gayatri set to music, in endless loops, on PA systems, on the radio. 
People use it as background music, as white noise. That is not a 
lament, just a description of the evolution of its use. like the Dies 
Irae to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (an excellent test of an audio 
system). See, we are not alone on the path from the sacred to the 
profane.

- Shankar

Shankar  wrote  on Tue, 26 May 2009 03:04:35 GMT:

>> Hello All!
>>
>> It's interesting what you hear when listening to a foreign
>> language. I was in my favorite Indian grocery store this
>> morning and noticed the continual singing of a mantra in the
>> background. I asked the guy at the counter what it meant but
>> he sort of giggled and said "It's a mantra; not in my
>> language!" To me it sounded like "Oh, Oh, what am I gonna do
>> about it? Oh, Oh" but the lady singing did not seem
>> very worried.

> It was probably in Sanskrit, which, like Latin, is essentially
> nobody's language, though a non-trivial number of hindus have
> studied it. However, it would surprise me to hear Sanskrit
> described as "not my language". Hindus do not generally think
> of it as "my language" or "not my language", whether one
> understands it or does not understand it. It remains the
> language of hindu ritual and for more than two thousand years
> it was the language of hindu scholarship.

> The only "mantra" likely to be heard globally across hindu
> communities is the Gayatri. Culturally aware hindus recognize
> it if they hear it wafted on the breeze from a mile away.
> There are few other things you are likely to hear being sung
> which a hindu would call a mantra. It is in more or less
> classical Sanskrit, presumably from the middle vedic period,
> though it is regarded as ancient. Early vedic Sanskrit (the
> Rig Veda, for instance) is incomprehensible to most people
> whose exposure to Sanskrit is limited to the classical stuff,
> sort of like English before Beowulf.

> I would expect the Gayatri to run in a cycle time of about 30
> seconds.

> The words are passed down from guru to initiate, via a whisper
> in the ear. Typically the guru would be a father, the initiate
> the son, on the occasion of the thread ceremony, the
> equivalent of a bar mitzvah or a confirmation. It was one of
> the many things that Brahmins kept from others.

> In ritual it is chanted, not sung, with a cadence the same
> everywhere. Now you have the Gayatri on the air, there are
> recordings of the Gayatri set to music, in endless loops, on
> PA systems, on the radio. People use it as background music,
> as white noise. That is not a lament, just a description of
> the evolution of its use. like the Dies Irae to Berlioz's
> Symphonie Fantastique (an excellent test of an audio system).
> See, we are not alone on the path from the sacred to the
> profane.

Thanks for the extensive discussion! I have been told the mantra was 
probably "Aum <the name of a deity> aum", meaning "Hail to <the deity>, 
hail" with perhaps more than one "hail". I have also come a similar 
sounding chant in the background in an Indian restaurant and it must 
have been on an endless loop as you said.

-- 

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

"James Silverton"  wrote in news:gvgols$1jc$1
@news.eternal-september.org:

>  Shankar  wrote  on Tue, 26 May 2009 03:04:35 GMT:

>> The only "mantra" likely to be heard globally across hindu
>> communities is the Gayatri. Culturally aware hindus recognize
>> it if they hear it wafted on the breeze from a mile away.
>> There are few other things you are likely to hear being sung
>> which a hindu would call a mantra. 

 
> Thanks for the extensive discussion! I have been told the mantra was 
> probably "Aum <the name of a deity> aum", meaning "Hail to <the deity>, 
> hail" with perhaps more than one "hail". I have also come a similar 
> sounding chant in the background in an Indian restaurant and it must 
> have been on an endless loop as you said.

That is the approximate template on which about 75% of the world's prayers 
are based, is it not?

The "Om" is a multilayered notion. Say it right and you can open a new 
universe. Try not to that indoors. I don't think homeowners' insurance wil 
cover the consequences.

- Shankar

Shankar  wrote  on Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:09:37 GMT:

>>  Shankar  wrote  on Tue, 26 May 2009 03:04:35 GMT:

>>> The only "mantra" likely to be heard globally across hindu
>>> communities is the Gayatri. Culturally aware hindus
>>> recognize it if they hear it wafted on the breeze from a
>>> mile away. There are few other things you are likely to hear
>>> being sung which a hindu would call a mantra. 

>> Thanks for the extensive discussion! I have been told the
>> mantra was probably "Aum <the name of a deity> aum", meaning 
>> "Hail to <the deity>, hail" with perhaps more than one
>> "hail". I have also come a similar sounding chant in the
>> background in an Indian restaurant and it must have been on
>> an endless loop as you said.

> That is the approximate template on which about 75% of the
> world's prayers are based, is it not?

> The "Om" is a multilayered notion. Say it right and you can
> open a new universe. Try not to that indoors. I don't think
> homeowners' insurance wil cover the consequences.

Thanks for the warning!

Om mani padme hum!
-- 

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not