Gayatri Mantra

                                                              Gayatri Mantra

 

Sri Gayatri Devi

 

 

Gayatri Mantra has bestowed the greatest importance in Vedic Dharma . This Mantra has also been termed as Savitri and Ved-mata , the mother of the vedas. The literal meaning of the mantra is:

Gayatri Mantra

 

 

 O God ! You are Omni present, Omni potent and Almighty.

 You are all light , You are all knowledge and Bliss.
 You are Destroyer of Fear, You are Creator of this Universe,
 You are the Greatest of all. We bow and Meditate upon your light ,  
 You guide our intellect in the right direction.

 

The Mantra however has a great scientific importance too, which some how got lost in the literary tradition. The Modern astrophysics and astronomy tell us that our galaxy called Milky way or  Akash ganga contains approximately 1,00,000 millions of stars , each star is like our sun having its own planet system we know that the moon moves round the earth and the earth moves round the sun along with the moon. All planets around the sun each of  the above bodies revolves round at its axis as well . Our sun along with its family takes one round of the galactic centre in 22.5 crore years. All galaxies including ours are moving away at a terrific velocity of 20,000 miles per second .

 

And now the alternative sceintific meaning of mantra step by step is :

 

a) Om bhur bhuvah swah :

  bhur - the earth ,  bhuvah  - the planets ( solar family ) ,  swah - the galaxy.

 

We observe that an ordinary  fan with a speed of 900 RPM (  Rotation per minute ) moves, it makes  noise then one can imagine what great noise would be created when the galaxies move with a speed of 20,000 miles per second .This is what this portion of mantra explains that the sound  produced due to the  fast - moving earth , planets and galaxies is Om.
 
The sound was heard  during meditation by Rishi Vishwamitra, who mentioned it to other colleages.All of them then unanimously decided to call this sound as Om (AUM) the name of god, because this sound is available in all the three periods of time hence it is set permanent.
There fore it was first ever revolutionary idea to identify formal god with a specific title ( form ) called  upadi. until that time every body recognised god as formless and nobody was prepared to accept this new idea.

 

In Gita also it is said  " Omiti ekaksharam brahma " meaning that the name of the supreme is Om , which contains only one syllable ( 8 / 12 ). This sound  Om heard during samadi was called by all the seers nada - brahma a very great noise, but not a noise that is normally beyond a specific amplitude and limits of decibels suited to human hearing. Hence the Rishis called this sound musical sound of the heaven. They also noticed that the infinate mass of galaxies moving with a  velocity of 20,000 miles per second was generating a kinetic energy = 1/2 mv2 and this is balancing the total energy consumption of the  cosmos.

 Hence they named it Pranavah which means the body ( vapu ) or store house of energy
 ( Prana ).

b)   Tat   savitur   varenyam :

 

Tat - god ,  savitur  - the sun ( star ) , varenyam - worthy of bowing or respect.
Once the form of a person along with the name is known to us , we may locate the specific person. Hence the two titles ( upadi ) provide the solid ground to identify the formless god.

Sage Vishwamitra  suggested:
He told us that we could know ( Realize ) the unknowable formless god through the known factors:
Viz., Sound Om  and Light of Suns ( stars ) .

A mathematician can solve an equation  x2+y2=4; if  x=2; then y can be known and so on.
An engineer can measure the width of a river even by standing at the river bank just by drawing a triangle.
So was the scientific method suggested by sage Vishwamitra in the mantra in the next portion as under :--

c)   Bhargo  devasya   dheemahi  :

 

bhargo - the Light , devasya - the deity , dheemahi - we should meditate

 

The Rishi instructs us to meditate upon the available form ( Light of Sun ) to discover the formless creator ( god ).Also he wants us to do Japa of the word Om  ( this is understood in the Mantra ) .

This is how the sage wants us to proceed, but there is a great problem to realise it, as the human Mind is so shaky and restless that without the grace of the supreme  ( Brahma ) it cannot be controlled .

Hence sage Vishwamitra suggests the way to pray as under :--

 

d)   Dhiyo   yo  nah  prachodayat :

 

dhiyo - intellect , yo - he , nah - we all ,  prachodayat  - guide to right direction.

 O God ! deploy our intellect on the right path.

Full scientific interpretation of the mantra :

The Earth  ( bhur ), the planets ( bhuvah ) , and the galaxies ( swah ) are moving at a very great  Velocity , the sound produced is Om , ( the name of formless god ) . That god ( tat ) who  Manifests himself in the form of light of suns  ( savitur ) is worthy of bowing / respect ( varenyam ).
We all , therefore should meditate ( dheemahi ) upon the light ( bhargo ) of that deity ( devasya )
And also do chanting of Om . May he ( yo ) guide in right direction ( prachodayat ) our ( nah )
Intellect ( dhiyo ) , so we notice that the important points hinted in the mantra are :

1) The total Kinetic energy generated by the movement the galaxies acts as an umbrella and balancesthe total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as the Pranavah
(  body of energy ).

2) Realising the great importance of the syllable OM , the other later date religions adopted this
Word with a slight change in accent , viz ., amen  and ameen.
3) The god could be realised through the saguna ( gross ) , upasana ( method )  viz .,
a) by chanting the name of the supreme as Om .
b) by meditating upon the Light emitted by stars ( suns ).

 

 

To chant the Gayatri Mantra
purifies the chanter.
To listen to the Gayatri Mantra
purifies the listener.

 

 

Sri Narayana Gayatri

 

 

"Mananena thrayathe anenethi manthraha" (that which protects the person who chants it is the mantra). Each of the alphabets of the Sanskrit language and their combinations are said to be Beejaksharas. Each one is said to have the basic potency of a mantra representing a particular Cosmic Power form. Combinations of such Beejaksharas give rise to the formation of specific Cosmic Forms. They are called Mantras and often they have, in addition to the Beejaksharas certain phrases signifying the prowess of the Devatha.

 

 All the deities worshipped by Hindus say Ganesha, Subramanya and so on have specific mantras and chanting them leads to propitiation of the respective Devatha. Intensive meditation on the deity while chanting the mantra will lead to the communion of the person with the Devatha. Hinduism is "pantheistic," that is believing in and worshipping many gods as against the monotheistic nature of religions that believe in one god. Worship of several gods is not, however, incompatible with one's faith in one Supreme Power.

 

 

 

The scriptures say, "sarva deva namaskarah Kesavam prati gachati" (worship of all gods goes towards KESHAVA , the Supreme Power), "Ekam sat, viprah bahudha vadanti" (the truth is but one, the learned talk about it in many ways). The essence is that the worship of any god form will ultimately lead to the supreme power.

 

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"Gayantam trayathe yasmat Gayathreethyabhideeyathe"

 

 (that mantra which protects the person chanting, is said to be Gayatri). " The Goddess has five faces in five colours each representing respectively, real knowledge, steadiness of the mind in meditation, righteousness and virtues, blessing with Aiswarya and prosperity to those who chant and atma gnana or self-realisation. Sri Gayatri is said to be the combination of the three cosmic forms - Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. The meaning of Gayathri mantra is: "that great resplendence of savita (the sun) on which we meditate, let that kindle our intellect" (here savita or sun represents Brahma).

 

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The scripture, "Samvarta Smriti" states that for cleansing of sins there is nothing like Gayatri. Another scripture "Sankha Smriti" asserts that Gayatri is the mother of the Vedas. Gayatri bestows whatever is desired. According to Devi Bhagavatham Gayatri represents the essence of the Vedas and is chanted by even devas including Brahma.

 

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The relevance of Sri Gayatri Devi who makes the worshipper lead life along virtuous path is obvious. If every member of the society at large takes to the worship of the Goddess, it will lead to the total uplift of the society itself.

 

--------- Hari Om ---------