Frequently Asked Questions on prabhatasamgiita.net

 

1. Which department is in charge of Prabháta Sam'giita?

For overall coordination, the Prabháta Sam'giita department, headed by Central OS, should probably be in charge. For recording, public performances and musical development, the RAWA department should probably be in charge. For publications in book form or web sites, the Publication department should probably be in charge. For translations, the Translations department should be in charge.

 

2. When was the site started and by whom?

The site was started with the support of RAWA Berlin Sector, particularly with the encouragement of the Sectorial RAWA sect. and the head of the RAWA board in 2003.

 

3. Is the site official?

Presently, the site is not stricly official. In order for it to become official, it would need the approval of the Prabháta Sam'giita department, the publications department, the Central RAWA department and the Central Translations department. Although, we have contacted these departments, only the Central Translations department has responded, neither approving nor disapproving the site.

 

4. Why are there two Prabháta Sam'giita web sites?

The original idea was not to create two sites but to supplement www.prabhata-samgiita.net with audio files for people to learn songs. However, it proved more practical to simply make another site. Since we believe it is the right of everyone to learn Prabháta Sam'giita, we made this web site with audio.

 

5. How is the legacy of Prabháta Sam'giita preserved?

So far, we have not been able to acertain whether all songs have been recorded or not. We guess that around 2500 have been recorded so far, of which over 2000 were recorded during P.R. Sarkar's lifetime.
To get hold of these recordings seems to be very difficult and only a handful of albums are available for purchase from the RAWA department.

All songs have been published in book form in Bengali and Devanagari script.

Musical notations are non-officially available for about 98% of the songs. We don't know about officially available notations.

 

6. Who are the persons whom P.R. Sarkar used to popularise Prabháta Sam'giita?

As far as we know Ac. Sarvatmananda Avt. has received the majority of songs, also Ac. Pryiashivananda Avt., Ac. Tattvavedananda Avt. and some PA Dadas. From time to time, margiis were also given songs.

 

7. Why are the spellings Prabháta Sam'giita used and not Prabhát Sam'giit or Prabhát Sam'giita or even Prabhát Samgeet?

As far as we are aware, the spelling Prabháta Sam'giita was used during P.R. Sarkar's lifetime (see also: video clip interwiew with Prashanta Das). It can be found on almost all official cassettes released during this time. We also believe that this spelling conforms more to classical Sam'skrta. Other spellings would also be correct if treated as laokik Sam'skrta or Bengali.
Regarding the spelling "Samgeet", thisdoes not folow P.R. Sarkar's romanisation system.
The spelling Prabháta Saungiita however, might also be correct.

 

8. Why are audios free to download?

As the site is not official and as we have not been able to establish communication with musicians, we are not charging for downloading songs. We do not wish to make money from other people's work. If the concerned authorities desire to have a payment system set up, we will be glad to implement it. For now, our priority is to give everyone the chance to learn Prabháta Sam'giita. The songs were given for all of humanity and are for service and blessedness rather than for profit making. However, the site needs to be maintained and developped, so we kindly request considering donating.