Hari OM
Sounds-day is for listening/viewing a variety of
devotional items from and for all ages and traditions.
In many Hindu households the world over, at midday, the chant of the 1000 names of Vishnu is heard. It is an 'all-round-panacea' type of prayer, and if no other form of japa is performed this at least will bring some chanting discipline as well as many benefits of well-being. For a good write-up on the Vishnu Sahasranaama, click here.
Even if you have no background in Sanskrit, by listening regularly to this chant, you will find that you start to pick it up 'by ear'. From the link above, the following is quoted;
"Some might say that they do not understand the meaning of the Sanskrit words in the stotram and therefore do not feel comfortable chanting it. Sri Chandrasekhara Saraswathi Swami has given us his guidance on this issue in one of his discourses. He advises us that learning the chanting of prayers even without knowing the meaning is a worthwhile act, and can be compared to finding a box of treasure without the key. As long as we have the box, we can open it whenever we get the key of knowledge later, but the treasure will be already there.Some could feel that they do not know the correct pronunciation, and so do not want to chant incorrectly. ... the analogy of a mother to whom a child goes and asks for an orange [is given]. The child does not know how to pronounce the word "orange", and so asks for "ange". The mother does not turn away the child and does not refuse to give the child the orange just because the child does not know how to pronounce the word. It is the spirit or bhava that matters, and so as long as one chants the name of God with sincerity, considerations such as not knowing the meaning, not knowing the pronunciation, etc., do not matter, and God who is the Mother of all of us will confer His blessings on us."
The audio is in several parts, which will play in succession. first is the context taken from the story of origin of prayer; then honourifics and meditations prior to prayer - then the prayer itself which is some 19 mins in length. (source; Internet Archive.) For a print out of the prayer in devanagari, transliteration and English translation, please see here.
