Gayatri

This is really nice! Very educational video.

At the risk of sounding ignorant or heretical, I can't help but think that since most are not Sanskrit scholars if it would not be safer to simply say the mantra in one's language instead of running the risk of sabotaging the words in spite of having the right mental intention towards the deities.

But of course kind of like in Islam it is better and more valid only if in the original language of the gods/ prophet. Not to mention forgoing the sublime poetic value he so expertly explained. As for the bible, any language is good enough to be practical for the divine work.

Mental energy/ intent over the tongue to air sound vibrations?

Further:

I noticed that millions of Muslims (fastest-growing religion - last time I checked) without speaking any Arabic memorize poetic verses of the Quran (just as they supposedly were told by Gog Allah to his messenger, prophet Muhammed). I attended such a school called madarsa a couple of sessions during summer vacations as an elementary school kid in Mali.

They also pray five times a day reciting Quranic verses called surats, without understanding their meaning. I once had learned (from a prayer lesson book) and used to pray in this way as a young child. I still can recite a couple by rogue memory (after repeating 5x/day of long enough, the stuff is ingrained).It is pretty much literally parroting words, at best in most cases. 

Christianity in a much more limited basis also uses its old dead language of Latin. For speaking a handful of modern languages, I realize how difficult it is to properly pronounce and enunciate a language other than one's mother tongue. Even after total immersion over an extensive period accent sometimes just doesn't adapt seamlessly.

In the case of Sanskrit verses, it is more problematic in my opinion (even if offensive) because, though a Devanagari, it is a dead language to modern humans. Therefore we have dedicated erudite translators to bring down the divine communication to the rest of us. Otherwise, only priestly and brahminically inclined devouts make use of the language.

While impressive and nearly mesmerizing to the layperson to hear the old dead tongues spoken in the religious contexts, I have to wonder how effectively most folks are parroting mantras in an unknown dead language especially that there is warning against adverse effects for mispronunciations! Isn't there another way?