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The Master’s Voice
Audio Recordings of Sri T. Krishnamacharya (with A.G. Mohan) Introduction Sri T. Krishnamacharya was one of the greatest Yogis of the last century. In fact, most of Yoga as it is practised today has been derived from Sri Krishnamacharya’s teachings. It was my great fortune to study with him from when he was 83 until his demise at the age of 100. During this period of 18 years, I studied various areas of Yoga as well as the Vedas and other related subjects. My study of the Vedas and other ancient texts was conducted in the traditional manner. He would recite a passage and I would repeat it after him to memorize it. In time, as I grew more familiar with the texts, he would encourage me to recite them along with him. As I continued to memorize such passages, he would also explain their meaning with reference to the major commentaries and to his own experience. Traditionally, such texts are to be memorized in childhood. Knowing that, at the age of around thirty, I would have difficulty in memorising them quickly, he kindly gave me permission to record our recital of passages from the Vedas, other texts and some important lectures for me to listen to again, and memorise and understand them at my own pace. I have many of these recordings and I treasure them. Recently, when I told a few of my long-time students that I had these recordings, they were very eager to hear the great master’s voice. When they heard the chanting of Sri Krishnamacharya, they were all struck by the clarity and power of his voice, even though he was in his late eighties and nineties. They could feel his presence through his voice, and they noticed that the unwavering attention he brought to his chanting helped them to still their own minds. These students felt that the recordings would be a great help in learning, and in meditation and personal transformation, and they asked me to make some of these recordings available. I have no doubt that the master would have approved: he had no hesitation in allowing his chanting or lectures to be recorded to help his students learn. After establishing legally that I own the copyright, I decided to release some of these recordings as an audio CD. The proceeds from this CD will be donated for the preservation of Vedic knowledge, since this was always a subject dear to my master. About the Recordings This CD contains recordings of Sri Krishnamacharya over a 14 year period, from when he was 86 until when he was 100. It contains excerpts from recordings of passages from the Vedas, the first chapter of the Hathayogapradipika, the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, and the Gayatri mantra. The Yogasutras and the Sankhya Karika, though they are very important texts, are not on this CD, because they are small texts and I could memorize them without having to record them. In some of the original recordings, our recitation was interspersed with his comments and explanations in Tamil and Sanskrit. With a few exceptions, I have joined the recitation portions together so that the listener can hear his chanting without interruption. In most of these recordings my voice is heard only occasionally, because I would always place the microphone close to the master. The recordings were made with a battery operated tape recorder at different times of the day, and over many years. Therefore, you will find that there is considerable difference in the pitch, loudness and timbre of Sri Krishnamacharya’s voice in some of them. You will also hear added sounds of many normal activities on the recordings, like children playing outside! I have left the recordings mostly unaltered, except for some noise reduction to make his voice clearer. Track 1: Verse in tribute to Sri T. Krishnamacharya The CD begins with a verse in tribute to Sri Krishnamacharya rendered by Nitya Mohan. Track 2: Traditional prayer This track contains the traditional prayers which Sri Krishnamacharya normally used to start his classes. They include prayers to the Divine and to the teachers who preceded him in the Vedic tradition. Track 3: Peace Chants This is a well known peace chant for the welfare of all living beings. Track 4: Vedic Chanting (Yajur Veda Samhita) This track contains the beginning of the Yajur-Veda Samhita (the major portion of the Yajur-Veda). It was recorded when Sri Krishnamacharya was 97 years old. The master would recite the text in a powerful voice from memory, while I would sit on the floor in front of him and struggle to keep up with him in the long passages! Sri Krishnamacharya lived at a time when the Vedas were taught in the truly traditional manner and he had a complete knowledge of their meaning. Therefore, as he taught me, he would try to ensure that the passages were split at the appropriate points to keep the meaning intact. You will notice him doing this in this recording. This portion of the Vedas describes many different rituals. It is recommended that, when chanting the passages describing the process of the ritual, we should mentally follow the steps and do the ritual mentally. This will prevent our attention from straying, and make it possible to maintain continuous mental focus. From the attention the master pays to his chanting, you can feel him doing this. You will also see that he emphasizes the ups and downs in some places: This was usually because he was following the meaning and he felt it important to emphasize that point. Track 5: Vedic Chanting (ekagni kanda) This passage from the Vedas describes the rituals and mantras used in the marriage ceremony. You will hear a comment from the master after about 25 seconds. He says “You too come closer. Let both our voices be there.” At that time he had been teaching me for more than 15 years. He was always very considerate towards me. He knew that the world I lived in was different in many ways from the one he grew up in. My knowledge and understanding were much less twenty years ago than now, but he never lost his patience in teaching me. Nevertheless, he always urged me to practice more, to deepen my understanding, and above all, to strive to maintain mental steadiness regardless of the other events in my life. Track 6: Vedic Chanting (bhaga sukta) It is suggested that reciting specific passages from the Vedas can be beneficial for certain health conditions. Sri Krishnamacharya would, on occasion, suggest such passages to those who were capable of reciting them. This particular passage was, in his opinion, one of the most important ones. It is called the Bhaga Sukta. In his comments at the end of the track he recommends that it be recited 12 times everyday while standing facing the sun. He also explains that the word ‘bhaga’ has many meanings, including ‘sun’ and ‘prosperity.’ Track 7: Gayatri mantra – Teaching method The Gayatri mantra is considered supreme among the Vedic mantras. Traditionally, during initiation into the Gayatri mantra, it is split and taught in steps. This track contains Sri Krishnamacharya’s recitation of the Gayatri mantra according to this method. Track 8: Tripaat Gayatri mantra This track contains the Gayatri mantra as it is normally used in mantra japa (meditation with a mantra). Track 9: Vedic Chanting (after initiation into the Gayatri mantra) This passage describes the vows taken by a student after initiation into the Gayatri mantra before the study of the Vedas. The student vows to acquire knowledge, and more importantly, to develop clarity and discrimination to distinguish between what he should and should not do in his life. Sri Krishnamacharya was always pleased when young people took up the study of Yoga and the Vedas. He felt that it was essential to maintain this knowledge for the generations to come. Therefore, this was one of his favorite passages. A few seconds into the track, immediately after we begin chanting, you can hear him speak. He is encouraging me to take the lead in the chanting. Track 10: Hathayogapradipika - Chapter 1 The Hathayogapradipika, which dates back to the 15th century C.E., is a well known treatise on Yoga. It has 4 chapters containing 389 verses. This recording was made in 1975. Only the first chapter is included here. The transliteration of the first chapter can be downloaded from www.svastha.com. Track 11: Comments on the Hathayogapradipika When we reached a certain point in the 3rd chapter, Sri Krishnamacharya stopped and made the comments included in this track. He says “It is sufficient to learn only viparitakarani (mudra) from me. The rest (of the third chapter) is improper. My Guru has advised me thus: ‘Since you have an in-depth knowledge of Sanskrit, you can read and understand this, but do not teach it to your students.’ The rest of the third chapter will neither be useful to you nor to others. I will teach you viparitakarani (described later in the third chapter), which is a subject related to headstand and shoulderstand. It will take about an hour. Whatever is said in the fourth chapter of this book is in the kaivalyapada (the fourth chapter of the Yogasutras) which you have already learnt. Yoga should be useful either for material enjoyment (bhoga) or for freedom (apavarga). Naadaanusandhana (listening to the ‘heart-sound’ as described in the 4th chapter) is not useful for either nowadays. In the past it was done in solitude, often in a cave. It is not necessary now. Take my advice.” Track 12: Class on the Bhagavad-Gita The Bhagavad-Gita is one of the most important texts in the Vedic tradition. I studied the Bhagavad-Gita with Sri Krishnamacharya from 1976 to 1979, for two to three hours every week. This recording was made in 1976. Chanting of traditional texts usually begins with a prayer. At the beginning of this track, Sri Krishnamacharya explains that this prayer varies based on the text. In the case of the Bhagavad-Gita, this includes a prayer to Vyaasa, the composer of the text, followed by verses describing Krishna. He lists these prayers, and then encourages me to recite the first chapter with him. Following this, in a lighter vein, he chants the names of his personal deity — ‘Narayana… Vasudeva…’. We then begin to chant the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, of which the first 10 verses are included in this track. In one class on the Bhagavad-Gita, when he was reciting the prayer at the beginning of the class, he stopped and asked me “Do you know dhananjayaasana?” I knew that Dhananjaya was another name for Arjuna, but I had not heard of an asana named after him. I told Sri Krishnamacharya that I did not know the asana.. Immediately, he stood up and demonstrated the asana based on the traditional description of Krishna explaining the Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna: He stood with one leg in front of the other, one hand in jnana mudra, and the other hand extended as if holding the reins of the chariot! He used to say that this image should always remain in our mind, when we are chanting the Bhagavad-Gita, to make the chanting a form of meditation. Track 13: Method of teaching Vedic chanting This track illustrates the traditional method of teaching Vedic chanting. The teacher recites the verse once and the student repeats it twice after him. The track starts with the following conversation: Sri Krishnamacharya: From where should we start now? Mohan: iyante sukra tanu (the beginning of the passage from the Vedas) K: Haven’t you got (recorded) that? M: [Begins to answer] K: Do you want to repeat it after me or say it together? M: If I repeat it after you and record it, I can practice at home. K: Hmm. All right. If I made a mistake in chanting, he would stop me and I would repeat it until I got it right at least twice, and sometimes three times! You can hear an example of this about one minute into this track. I make a mistake and Sri Krishnamacharya interrupts me with “Hmmm?” indicating that I am wrong, and that I should start again. Track 14: Yogaanjalisaaram – composed by Sri T. Krishnamacharya Though known mostly for his contribution to Yoga, Sri Krishnamacharya was in fact well versed in all six systems of Vedic philosophy and held degrees in all of them. He was, of course, a Sanskrit scholar and has many compositions to his credit, including a commentary on the Yogasutras. These simple verses composed by him explain various important aspects of Yoga. He dictated them over several years starting from 1975. During his centenary celebration, when I was the convenor of the organizing committee, these verses were sung in his presence by my daughter Nitya, a trained classical singer. At the time, it was planned that the verses would be released as an audio cassette, but the recording did not take place As a tribute to my master, I am now including some of those verses on this CD. The transliterated text of these verses can be downloaded from www.svastha.com. Track 15: Guru Ashtakam of Sri Adi Sankara – tribute to Sri T. Krishnamacharya This composition (rendered here by Nitya Mohan) emphasizes the importance of a Guru. The CD concludes with this track, as a tribute to this great guru from a bygone era, Sri Krishnamacharya. |