Haridwar Waterfront

I just thought I would post these pictures showing how Haridwar has arranged its Ganga area. It is quite nicely done. This first picture is taken from the gondola lift to Manasa Devi. You can see the old Ganga bed on the far side and the canal segment running next to the town. The main highway runs in between the two waterways, but there is also a nice green park in that space. The main Kumbha Mela tent city is on the far side of the bridge that crosses the Ganga to the upper left of the picture.

This picture is taken from the Hardwar city side looking toward the above mentioned green area between the canal and old Ganges bed. Ghats line both sides of the canal.

This image shows a painted slogan on the ghat wall. It says "India's soul resides in its holy places. The development of the holy places is India's development."


Looking upstream from a bridge, the name of which I forget. There are quite a few bridges crisscrossing the canal portion of the Ganga, which is where most of the bathing goes on. Many were built just for the Kumbha and most are for pedestrian traffic alone. Most come to bathe at Harki Pauri, which is in this direction but cannot be seen on the photo.

Looking downstream from the same bridge. The park is on the left side.

Another view from the same ghat as above.

Here is a scene of the original Ganga bed, with donkeys bringing stones across.

On the whole, I was quite favorably impressed by Haridwar. Clearly a great amount of money has come in for the Kumbha Mela, but the money appears to have been well used. There are still spots that are glaringly unkept, but much of the riverfront is in good condition and is being kept clean.

If only Vrindavan could be kept so nicely.

Shiva-ratri to Neelkanth

On Shiva Ratri, a group of students and I decided to walk along the forest path leading to Neelkanth. You have to take the road across the Barrage, through Rajaji Park about 10 kilometers and then, not far from Ram Jhula, is the path that goes up the hill. Right at the junction of the road and the path, there are a number of langars, or places distributing free food to pilgrims. A right royal mess it was too.

We crossed that block and started heading up. It was probably another ten kilometers walk, nearly all uphill.

The path has been nicely constructed, avoiding the long, 35-km route by car, which follows the Ganga north from Laxman Jhula and then winds through the mountains. But many people try to go more quickly by taking these shortcuts. These people are coming downhill. Giancarlo and I tried going up one, but found that the expenditure of energy was so much greater that it was not worth the savings of time. Getting old, I am.

Giancarlo.

Here you can see a picture of the road as it looks for a lot of the way. There are much steeper parts of course, some of them with steps. Most of the people were in small groups, but occasionally there were bigger ones, shouting the cry, "Bom bom Mahadeva!!" and so on.

There were many spectacular views of the Ganges and Rishikesh town to be had from the mountain. The day was hazy and even a few drops of rain fell.

These Hanuman monkeys sit quietly on the trees over a pretty steep cliff. You can see the Ganga in the distance. This point is actually looking down over the Swami Ram Sadhaka Grama, but the camera could not get that kind of closeup.

The view after you get over the hump. My camera is not that great so I could not get a closer shot of the Neelkanth temple itself. It is in the lower left hand side of the picture. At the top of the hill is an ashram. The fields are nicely terrassed and there are crops growing in the lower areas.

This is the lineup waiting to get into the temple. It was about a 75 minute wait. After a 4 1/2 hour walk.

This is a kind of an encaged pathway channeling pilgrims into the temple.

This shows the Neelkanth temple from inside the encaged pilgrim channel. People tie the colored string as the pray for boons from the deity. I don't recommend going on Shiva Ratri, as the guards and police push you through the temple so quickly that you barely have time to even pour water on the linga. As a matter of fact, Giancarlo told me afterward that the linga had been removed for some reason.

The walk was nice, but the maintenance is pretty poor, in the sense that there seems to be no cleanup and people are throwing plastic cups, bags, bottles and other garbage all along the way. In some places, the hills are so steep that it may be impossible to ever remove it at all. Certainly, though, for such a beautifully scenic walk, it is a shame that there is so little consciousness of preserving the natural beauty. The samskara just isn't there.

Events at S.R.S.G.

AHYMSIN has been having a bit of a reunion, a "gathering of the Sangha" at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama for the past couple of weeks. It is a bit difficult to keep up with everything, so I am going to just give a brief summary of three notable entertainment programs.

First item: Barun Kumar Pal. He has made his mark with an instrument of his own creation, named by his teacher Ravi Shankar, the "hamsa-veena." He is very highly acclaimed, and deservedly so. Has played for the Queen and Prince Charles, etc., etc.




He played both in the classical style and a more modern composition, which he played with the accompaniment of two of his students, who played the flute.


The next night, we had the pleasure of hearing a violin recital by Alexander Jablokov, a Russian living in Slovakia at present. He spoke in German, with translations from his wife. He played several short pieces by Telemann, Bach and Paganini. His explanations were humorous and very enlightening.


The only picture comes off the internet I am afraid.

The final night was the best of all, in my opinion. The daughter-in-law of one ashram resident, Prakash Dixit, Astha Dixit, came with her guru and a group of live musicians to give a very professional recital of kathak dance. Her guru's name is Harish Gangani, who comes from a long line of kathak dancers. The musicians also included a couple of his nephews, who were very, very good.


Gangani began the recital, then Astha Dixit followed. He followed a set pattern of pieces. I have to say I found it quite exciting. I like kathak the best of all Indian dances styles. Gangani made it all look so easy and graceful. There seems to be less artificiality in the expressions and the mudras.

Astha did a dance in which she played the role of Radha telling Krishna to stop flirting with her. I really got into it.


She also did the set pieces, reciting the bols and then dancing the steps that imitated the sounds.


They concluded with a duet. Unfortunately I am not competent to comment with anything more than to say I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Radhe Radhe.

Photos by Giancarlo Colombo.

Gana-tantra Divasa, 2010

Today is Ganatantra Divasa or Republic Day in India. The sixtieth anniversary of the declaration of India as a republic. We had a brief ceremony at S.R.S.G. with the singing of India's national anthem.


On the last day of our stay at Sadhana Kendra ashram, we visited the school on the ashram grounds, named after Swami Chandra's guru. I had been impressed by the cheerful and respectful students on my way to and from our residence to the ashram core of meditation hall, dining hall, library, and Swami Chandra's quarters. The children all folded their hands and said, "Hari Om."

On this day, the headmaster (he called himself the children's friend), Swami's disciple, a brahmachari whose name I don't recall, took us around to see the classes and hallways, which were of a very good quality, especially when you consider that many of the pupils come from homes that are little more than stone and grass shacks.

He took us to the assembly where the students begin their day with prayer. You can see from the picture how they all sit in rows and chant Sanskrit prayers and a Hindi bhajan or two. Our students chanted the morning prayers that we use at SRSG.

The headmaster introduced us and I spoke a word or two about the saha nau avatu prayer, telling them to both teach and learn in joy and with the blessings of God.

The assembly ended with the students standing and singing the national anthem of India. Here is A.R. Rahman's excellent version, featuring many of India's greatest living musicians.



Anyway, I only tell this because, God's honest truth, tears started flowing from my eyes. Maybe it was when they sang "Ganga Yamuna" and all this Save Yamuna Save Vrindavan business came back at me, but my eyes were running for at least five minutes.

So what is that? I never once in my life shed a tear for O Canada. Never even learned it, in French or in English... Maybe it is time to seriously consider Indian citizenship.

I have been thinking about it. The idea that I am a "foreigner" who has no say in the way India grows or develops irks me, especially where the holy places are concerned. And the truth is that no matter how much India irks me, India's story, the myth of India, from the Upanishads and Puranas, to Ashoka and Buddha, to Chaitanya, to Gandhi, is the one that shapes and has shaped my life.

India as a bad copy of America is not my India, but I am willing to deal with that. Jai Hind!

Six Days in Sadhana Kendra Ashram

I went with 20 SRSG students to the Sadhana Kendra Ashram in Domet, which is about 100 kilometers from here. The ashram is 50 or so km past Dehradun on the highway towards Simla, just where the road crosses the Yamuna. The landscape is hilly and the Yamuna flows shallow but clean through what looks like protected forest land. The ashram is situated on the high bank outside the flood plain, just above a canal that diverts some of the river water for irrigation and so on.

The ashram complex itself is fairly large with six or seven blocks of various sizes, architecturally homogenous, which includes a school for 400 local children. The buildings are painted yellow and maroon. There is no temple of any kind, only a meditation hall, which serves as the ashram's spiritual focal point.

The rooms are unheated. Toilet paper is forbidden. Clothes must be washed in the canal and not in the bathrooms. The temperature was a couple of degrees colder than Rishikesh and the mornings were foggy, sometimes until noon before clearing. The dining area is in the open, which especially at breakfast could be quite chilly, but oddly cosy in the way that drinking hot coffee while outside skiing is pleasurable.

The nearest town is Vikashnagar, about 15 minutes away by tempo. It holds little attraction other than the possibility of buying fruit and sweets and an internet café or two. There was scant evidence of the ennuie that often leads Western visitors to ashrams to go rushing off to market or sightseeing at every opportunity.

The geographical location is superb. Magnificent views of rugged mountains, river terrain, ancient and recent majestic ruins [?], peasant dwellings and their rural ways, vast skies filled with stars ant night and the river mists in the morning, the grand skillful flights of eagles soaring close overhead and far away on yonder mountain peaks, many other birds with their exquisite songs, and finally, most importantly, periods of intense, pervasive silence. (One student's remark)

When we came, the ashram had perhaps 30 people staying there, guests and permanent residents combined, predominantly consisting of people from France, though there were also a few Americans. The age distribution was fairly equal, from brahmacharis in their 20's to senior citizens, including an interesting 77-year old French-Canadian woman who is an Osho sannyasi.

The essence of the ashram schedule is four one-hour meditation periods per day, the first at 4.30 in the morning, the others at 8, 3 and 7. Other than the three meals, the only other scheduled activities are a question and answer period with Swamiji from 11 to 12.30 and a darshan from 4.30 to 5.30. At first it seemed that there was too much free time in the day, with spaces of at least 30 to 45 minutes (and 2 1/2 hours after lunch) cushioned between each activity, but over the six days it became clear that these periods allowed for breathing space. They were not long enough to get totally distracted, but gave time to relax, rest, read and prepare.

The overall effect was one of promoting a stress-free atmosphere without allowing for completely spacing out. If you wanted to read, it was enough time to concentrate, probably the limit for most people. It was not enough for me to get any work done. Besides that, there was no internet facility to speak of while we were there.

The ashram residents do most of the maintenance work. There is one woman hired as the chief cook, but the devotees do all the cutting and cleaning. There are a few other hired staff for cleaning, driving, etc. The devotees were all unfailingly cheerful and polite. Some of them appeared to be practicing silence vows, but on the whole there was little unnecessary talk. No one was late for meditation... not even our students, who fit into the program seamlessly, merrily cutting vegetables, washing pots and pans and serving at mealtimes.

The most significant element in the ashram is without a doubt Swami Chandra himself. A sign greets you at the entrance: "The ashram is the guru's body. Keep it clean and tidy." The corollary, of course, is that the guru is the soul of the ashram and there can be no doubt that this ashram has a vibrant soul.

The 80-year-old Swami attends all meditation sessions except on Mondays when he secludes himself. He has been practicing a vow of silence since 1986 and communicates only in writing whenever he wants to say something. Physically, he has an imposing Punjabi body with a high wrinkle-free forehead. Whenever he writes something he nearly always laughs gustily on hearing it read back.

During the meditation sessions he sits on a chair on an elevated stage at the front of the meditation hall. Afterwards, when he walks out through the hall, everyone stands up and folds hands. At meals, he sits at a table at one end of the hall. At lunch he always serves sweets at the beginning of the meal while the devotees sing "Om Hari Sharanam." When he has given everyone a sweet, he sits down and the devotees sing the "Brahmarpanam" verse before they start eating.

During the darshans, he sits in a chair while the disciples sit around him on the floor or in chairs. The atmosphere during darshans is intimate. The disciples clearly adore him. They wait patiently while he reads the written question and then takes a fair bit of time to write out his answer. The answer, usually written in English, is translated into both Hindi and French. Usually only one or two questions could be entertained in the 60 to 90 minute period.

Other than these two darshan periods, there was no philosophical discourse. There is a library, but it is eclectic and seems to be the result of visiting devotees' deposits. There are a few magazine subscriptions. The Swamiji is an educated man, but the accumulation of knowledge is not his priority. The primary focus of the books, again, seems to be saints' biographies. There was no Udasin sectarian literature of note that I could see. There are a couple of signs in the library also exalting the lives of the saints as the best kind of reading, and Swamiji himself mentioned this at least twice in the question and answer periods.

Swamiji belongs to the Udasin sect, which might be classified as an offshoot of Sikhism, as the founder Avinash Chandra Udasin was the son of Guru Nanak. How he differs exactly I cannot say, but the concept of God appears to be identical to that of most of the Sant-based traditions--God is personal but formless. In this sampradaya, bhakti is given a significant place, in particular in the form of a prayer repeated in English and Hindi at the beginning of each meditation session ("Oh Parameshwar Prabhu... You are known by so many names... I am thine... Whosoever I am, I am thine...") and a half-hour kirtan period before the even meditation session. The kirtan was mellow and created a good, warm, peaceful vibration.

On the whole, the Swamiji's philosophy leans towards the yogic approach based on meditation and in which the knower, knowing and the known all disappear in a kaivalya-type of liberation. Nevertheless, in answer to one question, about the hint in one of his books that there were realizations to be had above the realization of the self, he said that God had many energies.

One of our ashram's people commented later that the lack of philosophical or "dogmatic" discourses or apologetics about the superiority of a particular method or authenticity of a tradition allowed the individual meditators to come to their own personal realization without constraint.

Our ashram's devotees all fell in love with Swami Chandra and his ashram. The accumulated effect of the meditation after six days is still being felt quite intensely. On returning here, we had a debriefing session in which they all gave their feedback. In fact Swami Veda asked us to visit the ashram in order to see "what a real ashram is like." What exactly he meant by that is known only to him, but I took it seriously and asked everyone to write their own impressions and state what they liked about Sadhana Kendra and what elements they would like to see implemented at the Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama. I told them to be open and honest, as everything they said would be held in confidence. Obviously, the two ashrams were created by people with different personalities and with somewhat differing purposes, nevertheless, it is never harmful to see what your own "clients" say about the "competition's products."

Our ashram's devotees particularly liked the following:

• The overall consensus that nearly everyone mentioned was Swami Chandra's constant, yet tranquil presence. At no time that we were there was there a harsh word for anyone, or even a hint of oblique criticism. I don't think I have ever seen an ashram where the guru is so venerated and yet so close to his disciples. One of our students commented: "Above all, Swami's love, benevolence and presentness definitely sets the example for all to follow. He is the Path, literally. On the more mundane level, he is always in a wonderful mood. His joyfulness is absolutely infectious so that even the deepest and wisest, eternal communications are delivered joyfully. This abiding love is the practice. Thus, discipline is not a harsh, stern or stoic penitence but rather communion in the fullest sense with the glory of transcendence. It is the most supreme example of tapasya I have yet experienced..." Others mentioned that his presence at all activities exerted a pull on the students which made tardiness or absenteeism almost non-existent. They truly felt they were "sitting close to the feet of the guru..."


• The staggering of meditation periods "helped my mind to quieten the whole day and to feel the devotion."


• The meditation hall is reserved for meditation only. One keeps the same seat day in day out, "so you can sit on your same energy every time."


• The seva requirement, "which features varying group and individual, personal interactions which are the vehicle for drinking and savoring the wine of love and devotion... compassionate bonding." Many of our students favorably remarked on the fact that so much of the work was done by ashram residents, in contrast with SRSG. One of our students commented that the two groups bonded so well that he felt "they did not want to let us go when the time came." One student remarked that he felt there was no ashram politics, no sense of who was senior or who junior, who Western who Eastern, etc. "This is the most important part. To serve. Every one of the ashramites and guests should serve the ashram." One student observed that the word seva should be used in our ashram also, instead of "karma-yoga," which she felt still had the sound of some self-directed purpose.


• Nearly everyone felt that the above had an effect on the quality of the food, also. Practically all liked the food here better. One student commented that the ideas about improving SRSG food tend to varying it by adding European dishes, but in fact, if there were a little more devotion and love, that would make a greater difference. Several people remarked that no chilis are used, only black pepper and ginger.


• The food service system was prefered by most to the SRSG lining-up system. One student said that commensality is necessary in an ashram in order to create a common spirit. How can there be unity if there are twenty kitchens in an ashram?


• Ashram rules are clearly painted on the walls and are maintained and followed. The ashram schedule has not changed in 20 years. Consistency.


• They seem to follow the SRSG motto "Love, serve and remember" better than we do. "practice, not theory."


• "I learned about devotion to the master. How everyone stands up every time he enters and exits... how everyone entering and exiting the meditation hall gives salutation to the master's pictures, as Swami Veda does, but we don't."


• Many of our people commented that they liked the somewhat leisurely schedule with the emphasis on meditation: "I really enjoyed the practice of meditation without any disturbance. The timings were very, very good. There is a lot of time between meditation periods so we have time to prepare ourselves or take rest. That is how one should practice meditation, slowly and enjoyingly." "I learned that with our timetable and disorganization, people end up being stressed, which is not appropriate for an ashram. Here there was harmony and calm, which helped us a lot." "Plenty of time was given for self-study."


• Several people commented on the daily satsang (i.e. kirtan) at the beginning of the evening session. One female student commented that the women woke up every day hearing Nandaji singing sweet devotional kirtans at 4 in the morning. "A peaceful, mind-setting way to get up."


• One student observed the presence of "wise, authoritative leading matajis and babajis who reside in the ashram, giving stability and love."

There were one or two negative comments. Dinner too late, breakfast too early. Not enough fruit or milk served.

Anything suggestions for SRSG?

• Almost universally the request was for Swami Veda to be a little more present, either in meditation or for darshan at least once a day. One European Gurukula student lamented that she had been in the ashram for four months and had yet to exchange words Swami Veda. There is too great a distance between him and the disciples. "People hunger for a personal relation and personal support from the guru. Perhaps there could be a similar system of writing personal questions and Swamiji answering them."


• The second most universal demand was that there be more meditation time. Some suggested at least lengthening the evening period to a full hour, others requested increasing to three hours daily. One student suggested that if a 10 o'clock curfew were kept, extra meditation time could be found between 4.30 and the 5.30 prayer time.


• One student suggested adopting the daily kirtan satsang. Another said that at least the Monday satsanga should be taken a little more seriously with better tabla playing, etc. "Kirtan every day brings devotional feelings, softens and opens up the heart."


• Another frequently mentioned comment was that ashram residents should be more directly involved in service. One student in particular admired the Sadhana Kendra's outreach with a school and said that we run the SRSG too much like a business and do not do enough for the local community.

My question to Swami Chandra.

In view of what seemed to be Swami Veda's purpose in sending us to Sadhana Kendra, I thought I would ask Swami Chandra what he thought. My question, submitted in writing was, "What do you think is the essential element in creating an ashram with a conducive environment for sadhana? And what advice would you give to a guru or spiritual teacher who wants to start an ashram?"

Swamiji's answer centered mostly on his telling his own story. In the 1950's he performed tapasya on an island in the Ganges upstream from Haridwar, near the Sapta Rishi Ashram. His reputation grew and increasing numbers of people came to visit him. At that time he broke his silence for one hour a day to speak with them. In 1964, floods very nearly washed him away and also prevented his bhaktas from seeing him. They therefore requested him to move to the mainland and built a bhajan kutir for him as well as a small guest house. This small ashram started to grow and more guest rooms were built nearby.

By the early 80's, the surrounding area was gradually built up with many ashrams, many of which blasted bhajans over the mikes early in the morning. This disrupted the peaceful atmosphere cherished by Swamiji and he asked his disciples to find a quiet place near the Ganga or Yamuna. This led to the move in the present location.

The arrival of Swami Premavivekananda, who had previous experience in social work in Rajasthan, resulted in greater social outreach. He is the one who had the school and charitable dispensary built. Swami Chandraji said, "Now this body is 80 years old and so I can no longer run away from all this. Nevertheless, I still go into seclusion every Monday and every year I go for two months of seclusion in Jammu, where I used to live in a cave and there is now a pakka building. For those two months, no one can interact with me and they leave my food in an adjoining room once a day."

The only thing he mentioned as an important element was the unchanging schedule of four hours meditation time each day.

Om tat sat.

More pictures at Giancarlo Colombo's Facebook page.

Some Christian Prayers in Sanskrit

The Lord's Prayer in Sanskrit

The Lord's prayer was translated into Sanskrit a long time ago. When I discovered this version on the internet, I at first thought that it was good, simple, straightforward Sanskrit, even though (like any translator) I thought I may well have done it differently.

On looking closer, however, I started to get the same kind of feeling I get when I read the Bible in Hindi or Bengali. The vocabulary, the cadences, the syntax all seem somewhat out of kilter. The word for word comes out more or less correct, but the spirit of the language is missing.

It is possible that this foreignness was a result of a too literal translation by someone with weak knowledge of the language and its literature, or perhaps it was done deliberately.

The apparent awkwardness might have been intended to preserve a kind of "otherness" in the religious language, much in the way that the King James Bible, which today has a rather distant relation to modern spoken and literary English, has a kind of formal elegance that sets it apart from day-to-day language. Had this translation such elegance, I might have though that this is what was happening here.

On the other hand, the translator may have been seeking to deliberately distance this Sanskrit from its traditional Hindu flavors, as a too close cultural similarity might have misled the poor Brahmin-convert to Christianity into thinking that it was just another variety of Hinduism.

Neither of these reasons seems particularly good. Translation is only possible because parallel concepts exists in different languages. Hinduism and therefore Sanskrit abound with subtle religious terminology that could, in my opinion, produce a far more effective version of the Lord's Prayer. To not make use of such potential precision is to fail the translator's task.

The text as given:

भो अस्माकं स्वर्गस्थ पितः तव नाम पवित्रं पूज्यताम्। तव राज्यमायातु।
यथा स्वर्गे तथा मेदिन्याम् अपि तवेच्छा सिध्यतु। श्वस्तनं भक्ष्यम् अद्यास्मभ्यं देहि।
वयं च यथास्मदपराधिनां क्षमामहे तथा त्वमस्माकमपराधान् क्षमस्व।
अस्मांश्च परीक्षां मा नय अपि तु दुरात्मन उद्धर , यतो राज्यं पराक्रमः प्रतापश्च युगे युगे तवैव।

bho asmākaṁ svargastha pitaḥ ! tava nāma pavitraṁ pūjyatām| tava rājyam āyātu| yathā svarge tathā medinyām api tavecchā sidhyatu | śvastanaṁ bhakṣyam adyāsmabhyaṁ dehi | vayaṁ ca yathāsmad-aparādhināṁ kṣamāmahe, tathā tvam asmākam aparādhān kṣamasva| asmāṁś ca parīkṣāṁ mā naya api tu durātmana uddhara, yato rājyaṁ parākramaḥ pratāpaś ca yuge yuge tavaiva |

Comments:

(1) svargasthah pitah: Technically this is correct, but svarga has too many connotations related to Indra, Apsaras and Nandan gardens. This is most certainly an error that would be quite misleading. The actual meaning of "heaven" is "sky," so even though that is the etymological origin of svarga, I would have gone with "vyoma" or “parama-vyoma,” words used in the various traditions to distinguish their heaven from Svarga. It does not have the sectarian connotations that Vaikuntha or Goloka would have.

(2) tava nama pavitram pujyatam: The attempt to translate "hallowed" with pavitram pujyatam, an unorthodox expression, is weak. If it is "your holy name be worshiped" then it should be tava pavitram nama pujyatam, which is better, except that the translator obviously sought to add meaning for "hallowed" that he felt Sanskrit could not provide. There is no reason why pujyatam alone would not suffice.

(4) At best medinyam seems to lack the proper contrast to svarga. I would go with prithivi-tale, which gives the definite sense of "down here on earth." iccha for "will" seems completely inadequate. sankalpah is the obviously correct word.

(5) svastanam bhakshyam adyasmabhyam dehi : Two complaints: svastanam why “tomorrow’s”? bhakshyam = food, but doesn’t have the same resonance as bread. The obvious equivalent is annam, which is "rice", but also food generically.

(6) vayam ca yathasmad-aparadhinam kshamamahe: Forgive + genitive?

(7) tatha tvam asmakam aparadhan kshamasva: I find the construction of this entire sentence awkward. By switching the clauses around, the effect of the original is weakened. Why not keep something closer to the original construction? asmakam aparadhan kshamasva yatha vayam svaparadhinah kshamamahe

(8) asmams ca pariksham ma nayah pariksham = temptation? Without modification, this is not conventional usage.

(9) api tu duratmana uddhara. duratmanah = evil? dauratmyat is better.

(10) yato rajyam parakramah pratapas ca yuge yuge tavaiva; The introduction of this final sentence with yatah “for” seems disjoined. How is there a causal relationship with what precedes? Some additional link is needed.

Proposed alternative

So here is my proposed alternative translation. I have deliberately used anustup meter, because Sanskrit is a language whose literature largely evolved through metrical rather than prose or conversational usage. Many people would have had the Mahabharata’s or Panchatantra’s verses ringing in their ears rather than spoken prose. Certainly it is the liturgical language.

The use of verse here has entailed a little lengthening of some phrases, but I think this is justified for the rhythms and the additional words that flesh out the meaning of the original.

देव भोः पितरस्माकं परस्मिन् व्योम्नि तिष्ठसि।
त्वदीयं कीर्त्यतां नाम तस्मिन् प्रीतिः सदास्तु नः॥
स्थाप्यतां तव सम्राज्यमत्रैव पृथिवीतले।
भवेह सिद्धसंकल्पो यथासि स्वस्य धामनि॥
अन्नं दैनन्दिनं दत्त्वा पालयास्मान् दिने दिने।
क्षमस्व चापराधान् नो ज्ञात्वाज्ञात्वा तु वा कृतान्॥
यथास्माभिर्हि चान्येषाम् अपराधा हि मर्जिताः।
हे प्रभो न तथैवास्मान् गमयाधर्मवर्त्मनि॥
लोभात्पापप्रवृत्तिश्च दौरात्म्याच्चैव मोचय।
युक्तमेतत् यतस्तेऽस्ति राज्यं प्रभाववैभवं।
अत्र परत्र सर्वत्र अद्य श्वश्च युगे युगे॥

deva bhoḥ pitarasmākaṁ parasmin vyomni tiṣṭhasi|
tvadīyaṁ kīrtyatāṁ nāma tasmin prītiḥ sadāstu naḥ||
sthāpyatāṁ tava samrājyam atraiva pṛthivī-tale|
bhaveha siddha-saṁkalpo yathāsi svasya dhāmani||
annaṁ dainandinaṁ dattvā pālayāsmān dine dine|
kṣamasva cāparādhān no jñātvājñātvā tu vā kṛtān||
yathāsmābhir hi cānyeṣām aparādhā hi marjitāḥ|
he prabho na tathaivāsmān gamayādharma-vartmani||
lobhāt pāpa-pravṛtteś ca daurātmyāc caiva mocaya|
yuktam etat yatas te'sti rājyaṁ prabhāva-vaibhavaṁ|
atra paratra sarvatra adya śvaś ca yuge yuge||

A literal translation:
Lord, you are our father who lives in heaven;
Let your name be sung, and may we have love for it.
May your reign also be established here on earth.
May your will be fulfilled here, as it is in your own abode.
Giving us our daily bread, maintain us day after day.
Forgive us our offenses, which we have knowingly or unknowingly committed,
just as we forgive the offenses of others.
O Lord, do not lead us on the path of irreligion,
and save us from greed, the propensity for sin and evil.
This is all proper, for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory
in this world and in the next, everywhere, today, tomorrow and for all the ages.

An important document like the Lord's Prayer requires a precision and deliberate theological profundity in each syllable. Nothing can be wasted and nothing superfluous added. No doubt, this is a feeble attempt by a single individual. Nevertheless, I do feel that it is a considerable improvement on what seems to be the currently approved version.

Hail Mary in Sanskrit

Tim Bruns asked me to do this for Christmas 2007 when I first came to SRSG. (I added a couple of pictures of Swami Veda's pretty sweet marble statue of Mary at SRSG. He recently said, though, that he felt the ashram was missing a temple to a "generic" Mother Goddess.

हा मारीये कृपापूर्णे ईशोऽस्ति तव सन्निधे
धन्यासि विश्वनारीषु धन्यस्ते गर्भज इसुः
नमो पवित्रे मारीये ईश्वरजननि नमः
अस्माकं पापिनामर्थे प्रार्थयस्वेसुसन्निधे
इदानीमप्यन्तकाले च प्रार्थनां कृपया कुरु

hā mārīye kṛpā-pūrṇe īśo'sti tava sannidhe
dhanyāsi viśva-nārīṣu dhanyas te garbhaja isuḥ
namo pavitre mārīye īśvara-janani namaḥ
asmākaṁ pāpinām arthe prārthayasvesu-sannidhe
idānīm apy anta-kāle ca prārthanāṁ kṛpayā kuru
Oh Maria, full of grace, the Lord is by you
you are blessed amongst the women of the world
and blessed is Jesus, born of your womb.
I bow to you, Holy Mary, mother of God, I bow to you,
Pray to Jesus for the sake of us sinners
now and at the time of death, please pray for us.

A couple of NT verses

I gave a paper at the McGill Sanskrit Conference a couple of years ago on bhakti-rasa in Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ." I amused myself by translating a few New Testament verses into Sanskrit.

ईश्वरस्य यत: प्रीतिर्बृहती जगत्यामभूत्।
ततः स्वनन्दन एकः कृपयात्र हि प्रेषितः॥
अथास्मिन् यस्य विश्वासो दृढोऽस्ति नात्र संशयः।
स कदापि न नश्येत शाश्वतं चापि जीवति॥ युहन्न ३।१६

īśvarasya yataḥ prītir bṛhatī jagatyām abhūt|
tataḥ sva-nandana ekaḥ kṛpayātra hi preṣitaḥ||
athāsmin yasya viśvāso dṛḍho'sti nātra saṁśayaḥ|
sa kadāpi na naśyeta śāśvataṁ cāpi jīvati|| yuhanna 3.16
As God had great love for the world
he mercifully sent his one own son
thus one who has strong faith in him, there is no doubt,
he will never perish and will live forever. (John 3.16)

यदि भुवि दृष्टे ह्यत्र नरे प्रीतिरसंवृत्ता।
तवादृश्ये भगवति प्रेमा सम्भवतात् कथम्॥

yadi bhuvi nare dṛṣṭe atra prītir asaṁvṛtā |
tavādṛśye bhagavati premā sambhavatāt katham||
If you do have love for the man you can see on earth
how can you have love for the God you cannot see?

My room in Rishikesh

Just took these pictures with my new camera. Here you can see my Giridhari, sometimes known as Radha-Gokulananda after the place where he first came into my life, namely Gokulananda Ghat in Nabadwip. Shambhu Narayan Ghoshal, a Gadadhar-parivar bhakta with rasika credentials, took mercy on Madhusudan Dasji and myself in around 1981 and gave us the service of Giriraj. Dandavats to Shambhu Narayan's memory. He was one of a kind, as they say.

This is my room's northeast corner. There is plenty of light. Actually, I have two rooms, of equal size, plus a bathroom and a kitchen.

Swami Veda Bharati suddenly decided to give me this beautiful marble statue of Radha and Krishna a couple of weeks ago. They are carved out of a single block, and so they are not really deities in the classical sense. But I cannot treat them just like a work of art, so I have put them on my altar where I can drink in their Yugala-madhuri.

Another picture of the same Divine Couple. Dhameshwar Mahaprabhu and my Gurudeva are the other residents of the altar. My old Gaura-Gadadhar picture had to be moved for want of space.

This is one of three framed pictures I picked up last week in Delhi, quite serendipitously. This is an old illustrated manuscript, which from the handwriting I judge to be early to mid-19th century. The themes of the paintings are pretty standard, but they have been done with finesse and are easily distinguishable from the mass-produced knockoffs that are all over the place these days.

The text strangely has nothing to do with the pictures. This page has some commentary to subhashita verses that I do not know. The others have three subhashitas per page, from no collection that I know of. I found one of the verses in Sanatan's commentary to the Brihad-bhagavatamrita (2.7.14) and is also quoted in Haribhakti-vilasa (10.259). In both places it is attributed to Vasistha.

शून्यमापूर्णतामेति मृतिरप्यमृतायते ।
आपत्सम्पदिव भाति विद्वज्जनसमागमे ॥

zUnyam ApUrNatAm eti mRtir apy amRtAyate |
Apat sampad iva bhAti vidvaj-jana-samAgame||

Association with the wise turns emptiness into plenitude, death into immortality and calamity into good fortune.