Some info from my teacher, who is a scholar of Sanskrit and Mantra Shastra -
"Dear Sharon, I didn’t feel resonating with Sri Shankar’s recitation in the link you sent me. I would not recommend it you, especially for a beginner who wants to learn and pronounce it right. The reasons being:
- He does a very poor job with pronouncing Alpa-prana and Maha-prana - the non-aspirated and aspirated sounds, which are most crucial to pronouncing Devanagari letters. Alpha prana sounds are representative of Bhairava and mahaprana of Yogini even within the Shakti-dominant set of consonants and incorrect pronunciation of the seed letters alters the Shiva-Shakti nature of the mantra which is all about unity, balance and harmony.
- I find it ridiculous that the mantra is being sung like the way it was. There is a difference between a mantra and a kirtan. There are certain mantras suitable for Kirtan and some not. Hare Krishna (Kalisantarana mahamantra), Rama Mantra (Ramaraksha Mantra) and Stotras (hymns) come within the purview of those which can be recited as Kirtan (or musical compositions) mainly to attune oneself to the Almighty through Bhakti. However, mantras such as Gayatri or Mrityunjaya cannot be recited as one likes especially because they are Vedic in nature. The way it is being recited in the musical video, there is incorrect padaccheda (splitting of words), no rules of Chandas followed (chandas is the meter) and more importantly these are vedic mantras which brings in an added complexity.
a. They require upanayana samskara, a certain initiation which invokes the energy of Fire or Sun or Rudra without which most Vedic mantras grant little to no fruit. These rites differ based on one’s Vedic Shakha. For example, an Atharvavedin has two such Samskaras and so on. This is where one starts before using or practicing Vedic mantras.
b. The vedic mantras have an exact way of pronunciation which has been preserved generation after generation by Vedic pundits. While one can slightly relax this rule for Tantric mantras (which eminent men like the Siddha Bhaskararaya disagree even for Tantric mantras such as the Srividya Mahamantra), the entire power of the Vedic mantra is in it’s phonetics - every letter is pronounced in a certain way…which svara goes up, it’s pitch, which is emphasized etc. are extremely well defined. Mrityunjaya being a mantra from the Yajurveda, these rules are well laid out. There is the udatta, anudatta, svarita, prachaya etc. It is best learnt from a teacher than sing it anyway you want.
For example, below is an example of how it is to be recited properly:
http://www.gurumaa.com/store/mahamrityunjaya.html
Some may argue that faith is what is important and the Almighty accepts anything with love, but that argument is kind of lame. I wrote on this very topic a while ago.
http://www.kamakotimandali.com/blog/index.php?p=557&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
No mantra grants any result without the five fires of pancha-agni samskara. What are those? 1. Diksha Samskara - the fire of the initiation, 2. Mantra samskara - the limbs of the mantra such as the nyasa, mudra etc. 3. Dhyana samskara - the act of contemplation on the deity who is the essence of the mantra, the meaning of the mantra and the unity between the breath, the guru, the disciple and the mantra, and eventually of the microcosm and the macrocosm. 4. Yoga Samskara - the application of refined concentration, intent or samkalpa, what our Buddhist friends may roughly call Samata at times, which needs to be unfailingly accompanied by Right View 5. Bhakti Samskara - the act of devotion, surrender and love towards the ishta or the deity being propitiated. As one can see, mantra shastra is a mix of science and faith, not one or the other. Without all these limbs in place, a mantra may not grant fruit or can become durmukha (angered) instead of sumukha (pleased), durmukha here refers to the state of energetic impairments. Also, a mantra is a seed, and its effects are like the fruit. You need to nourish it, grow it and then shall you reap it’s benefits. That may not happen in a day, a week or even a lifetime. It involves purashchara, homa, tarpana etc. Mantra shastra is an entire path in itself and needs to be distinguished from Bhakti and Yoga paths - it includes elements of various other darshanas but it complete in itself.
On a side note, the mantra being recited is not Mahamrityunjaya, but rather Mrityunjaya, technically. There is Amrita Mrityunjaya, Mrityunjaya, Mahamrityunjaya, Mritasanjivani etc. which are various permutations and combinations of the Vedic Tryambaka from the Rudra. Not a big deal, but just a technical detail.
Blessings"
Hope this was useful.
