Spiritual Initiatives: Personal Mantras: Gayatri Mantra

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You don't recite a personal mantra in your daily life?

 

It is a common sight in buses and trains that Hindu working women,

commuting to work in the morning, open printed booklets of mantras

and shlokas and read them silently, after they find a seat. Women

exchange specific mantras and shlokas for specific problems (such as

a daughter due for marriage, a son to do better in his studies, a

husband or other relative suffering from a disease, etc.), chant

them with great care and faith, and often see the rewards coming up.

 

Among men, orthodox brahmins who normally finish a morning puja

before they turn up for office, are mostly seen chanting mantras or

shlokas on their way to work, or at home when they are free. This

practice, sadly, is on the wane, due to the material currents of

modern life, and is rarely seen among today's youth.

 

A personal mantra, recited clearly and calmly in mind, mentally

listening to the accent of incantation, can be a powerful,

beneficial force, due to the vibrations set up by its words in the

subtle matter of the higher planes.

 

A personal mantra may be personal, or not. When personal, it is

usually on a personal god (Ishta Devata), chanted for personal

favours or security. When chanted for the general welfare, praising

God, it becomes impersonal, but still remains a personal mantra, as

it is recited by a single person. Gayatri mantra is the most famous

among the mantras that seek general spiritual welfare.

 

Gayatri mantra

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Known as the Mahamantra, Gayatri mantra is an invocation to the

Solar Deity. Found in the Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas, and popularised

by Viswamitra Rishi, the mantra runs as follows:

 

Aum,

Bhoor Bhuva Suvaha,

Tat savitur varenyam,

Bhargo devasya dhimahi,

Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat.

 

Meaning of the phrases

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Aum - The primordial sound of creation (that rules)

Bhoor Bhuva Suvaha - the earth, the astral world and the heaven

Tat - (came from) Brahman

Savitur - (who is Savitri and is) the cause of all forms.

Varenyam - (So we) adore (him).

Bhargo devasya - (Upon his) divine, resplendent glory

Dhimahi - we meditate.

Dhiyo yo nah - (May that Supreme Being inspire) our knowledge

Prachodayat - (and) enlighten us.

 

Overall meaning

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Aum, the sound of creation that rules the three worlds: the earth,

the astral and the heaven, came from Brahman, who is Savitri, the

Sun God, and is the cause of all forms. So we adore him.

 

Upon his divine, resplendent glory we meditate. May that Supreme

Being inspire our knowledge and enlighten us.

 

Bishop Leadbeater has suggested this translation for recital:

 

"Om: We adore the resplendent glory of Savitri our Lord;

may He inspire our devotion and understanding."

 

What is the connection between Gayatri and Savitri? Who are they?

The Gayatri mantra is the essence of the Vedas. The energetic

mantras of Vedas is worshipped in the feminine form Gayatri. (In

Sanatana Dharma, energy or shakti is feminine). When spoken with

reference to our solar system, she becomes Savitri, the Sun. And

when spoken with reference to knowledge, the inner Sun, she is

Sarasvati, the mother of all knowledge.

 

When should this mantra be recited?

 

While the best times are the times of dawn (when night meets day),

and dusk (when day meets night), Gayatri mantra, according to

Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba, can be recited at all times by every one,

irrespective of caste, creed, country, religion or gender, since it

is a truly universal mantra.

 

Bishop C.W.Leadbeater elaborates the mysic vision he had on Gayatri

mantra, in his book The Masters And The Path. Below is an excerpt of

the entire passage:

 

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Pages 145-146

The Gayatri is perhaps the greatest and most beautiful of all the

ancient mantras. It has been chanted all over India from time

immemorial, and the Deva kingdom has learnt to understand it and

respond to it in a very striking manner-- a manner which is initself

most significant, as showing that, in an antiquity so remote that

the very memory of it has been forgotten, the altruistic use of such

mantras was fully comprehended and practiced. It begins always with

the sacred word Om, and with the enumeration of the planes upon

which its action is desired-- the three worlds in which man lives,

the physical, the astral and the mental; and as each plane is

mentioned, the Devas belonging to that plane flock round the singer

with joyous enthusiasm to do the work which by the recitation of the

mantra he is about to give them. Students will remember that in

India Shiva is sometimes called Nilakantha, the Blue-Throated, and

that there is a legend connected with that title. It is interesting

to note that some of the Angels who respond when the Gayatri is

chanted bear that characteristic of the blue throat, and are clearly

first-ray in type.

 

This wonderful mantra is an invocation to the Sun-- of course really

to the Solar Logos, who stands behind that grandest of all symbols;

and the great shaft of light which immediately pours down upon and

into the reciter comes as though from the physical Sun, in whatever

direction that Sun may happen to be. This shaft of light is white

tinged with gold, and shot with that electric blue which is so often

seen in connection with any manifestation of the power of the first

Ray; but when it has filled the very soul of the reciter it promptly

shoots from him again in seven great rays or cones having the

colours of the spectrum. It is as though the singer acts as a prism;

yet the colour-rays which dart forth are of a shape the reverse of

what we usually find in such cases. Commonly when we send out rays

of spiritual force they spring forth from a point in the body-- the

heart, the brain, or some other centre; and as they shoot out they

steadily broaden fanwise, as do those shining from a lighthouse. But

these rays start from a basis wider than the man himself--a basis

which is the circumference of his aura; and instead of widening out

they decrease to a point, just as do the rays of a conventional star

except that they are of course cones of light instead of mere

triangles.

 

Another remarkable feature is that these seven rays do not radiate

in a circle in all directions, but only in a semi-circle in the

direction which the reciter is facing. Furthermore these rays have a

curious appearance of solidifying as they grow narrower, until they

end in a point of blinding light. And a still more curious henomenon

is that these points act as though they were living; if a man appens

to come in the way of one of them, that point curves with incredible

rapidity and touches his heart and his brain, causing them to glow

momentarily in response. Each ray appears to be able to produce this

result on an indefinite number of people in succession; in testing

it on a closely-packed crowd we found that the rays apparently

divide the crowd between them, each acting on the section that

happened to be in front of it, and not interfering with any other

section.

 

As to the question of the language of the mantra, it seems to be of

minor importance. The repetition of the words in English1 having a

clear intention behind them, produced the full effects. The

recitation of the same thing in Sanskrit with the same intention

brought about an identical result, but in addition built round the

radiating shafts a sound-form resembling a wonderfully intricate

kind of carved wooden frame-work; it provided us with something

which might be imaged as a seven-fold gun through which the rays

were shooting out. This sound-form extended only for a short

distance, and did not seem to make any difference at all to the

power or size of the rays.

 

1. The literal rendering of this celebrated versicle into English

is: "Om: We adore the resplendent glory of Savitri our Lord; may He

inspire our devotion and understanding."

 

But in the course of ages it has come to imply to the devout Hindu

very much more than is conveyed by the mere words.

 

A Sanskrit scholar tells me that, while the ordinary word for the

sun is Surya, this especial title Savitri is used always to imply

the Sun (that is to say the Solar Logos) as inspirer or encourager.

It seems to have a signification closely allied to the word

Paraclete, which is often, but very unsatisfactorily, translated as

the Comforter. (See The Hidden Side of Christian Festivals, p. 2O2).

My friend also emphasizes the fact that this is not a prayer to the

Logos to give us wisdom or devotion, but the expression of an

earnest aspiration and resolve that His influence shall so act upon

us as to call out and to strengthen that which already exists within

us.

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Recite Gayatri mantra with faith, when you commute to and from work,

and at other times when you are mentally free. You will definitely

find the difference.

 

Regards,

saidevo