Posted on: 8 August 2015

The Gayatri Mantra

The verse:
Om bhoor bhuvah svaha,
Tat Savitur varenyam,
Bhargo devasya dheemahi,
Dheeyo yonah prachodayat.

The translation:
"We meditate on the adorable glory of the radiant sun; may he inspire our intelligence."

What is mentioned, and what is not

Try a thought experiment. Imagine you are back in the time when the Gāyatrī Mantra is not a very common ringtone or doorbell tune, when Mantras from the Vedas cannot be played at the click of a button on YouTube, when there are no loudspeakers. In fact, go back about five centuries, when the Vedas were not yet committed to writing. How would you have known what exactly the “Gāyatrī” Mantra is? During investiture, the father whispers it into the ear of his son whilst they are both draped by a cloth so no-one can even lip-read them. Even the mother, in whose lap the son has been sitting till this moment in the investiture, is not allowed into the secret. Gāyatrī is merely the name of the metre, and there are several mantras in this metre in the Vedas. Even the name used for the most important and common Mantra is meant to obscure!

Even if you had a copy of the Vedas, you would be hard pressed to figure it out. In the Sūkta where it occurs, the next two Mantras too are in the Gāyatrī Metre and devoted to Savitṛ (3.62.10- 12), and there are others elsewhere (like 1.22.5-8). In the Bṛhadāraṇyakā Upanishad, the sage Yājñavalkya explains the significance of the “Gāyatrī” Mantra (without specifying which one exactly), but you could today read the Vedas from cover to cover without figuring out which Mantra it is that one must first be initiated to before one can even start being taught the Vedas. And the key Bījākśaras, Bhuḥ, Bhuvaḥ and Suvaḥ are simply never mentioned anywhere – in the Ṛg Veda Saṃhita, the Mantra (3.62.10) simply reads, “Tatsavitur vareṇyam bhargo devasya dhīmahi dhiyo yonaḥ pracodayāt.”

No effort was spared to ensure that no-one outside a very tightly regulated group knew even the first thing about them. Major, often critical, elements from Vedic knowledge were not mentioned expressly at all, deliberately leaving them to direct transmission from teacher to the taught. For this reason, one cannot argue that knowledge of something did not exist at a certain point in the Vedic composition simply because it is not mentioned where one expects it to be. Unfortunately, this is how academics and scholars seem to be studying the Vedas – whilst being totally divorced from their practice.

Extract from:
The 'evolution' of Hindu gods
By Anil Kumar Suri
Read more: http://bit.ly/1P8S1ZQ

Image:
Goddess Gayatri
after Raja Ravi Varma (1848 - 1906)
Ravi Varma Press (active late 19th century - early 20th century)
Chromolithograph
© University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum


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ॐ भूर्भुव स्वः तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं । भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि, धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥

Battlestar Galactica - Opening Theme Song The singing in the opening is actual lyrics, taken from the Gayatri Mantra: oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tát savitúr váreniyaṃ bhárgo devásya dhīmahi dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt. http://bit.ly/1ItNu1M

Wrong visual for Gayatri mantra as Gayatri mantra is invocation on Savithur (another name for SUN)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri_Mantra

Ramalingamji its not a representation of the Goddess Gayatri, but the embodiment of the meter gayatri where the great solar mantra gets its name from.

Oh my! And I'm in America!

Me to.

Agree..Michael Aram Tarr..yes...i m aware of that....my comment was on the visual mismatch of the meter or Savitha diety with the Devi Gayatri on the cover page...the meter has nothing to do with Devi Gayatri

Thanks for the clarification Ramalingam Ram Lingam Ulaganathan. I realise the error.

It has everything to with Devi Gayatri. It is the object oriented approach (just like object oriented programming) to the knowledge by personification. It's rather a coded form of the meter. The meters are part of (saraswathi) knowledge. This particular meter deals with the vitality (savitri) that lead to eternity (Gayatri)along with mundane benefits of wealth(Shriya) and strength (Bala). The five heads are of mukta(pearl) , vidruma(pink) , hema(golden) , neela(dark) , dhawala(bright white) colours indicating the above characterestics. Let us give out our best (radiate, like The Sun) and attain eternity . let our knowledge be towards this goal.

Your explanation is not in line with the actual translation. It is not the intent of RgVeda to personify where this mantra appears. To say Eternity is Gayatri sounds non Vedic. Since this is the main mantra in the Upanayana ceremony, it cannot mean wealth and strength.

Gayatri is described as having three feet (thri pada, meaning three stanzas), six stomachs (shat kukshi) and five heads (pancha seersha) with additional eye (upanayana) to see and understand vedic meaning.

Did the mantra drishta Vishwamitra mean what u are saying????

In mundane astrology, Gayatri 's 24 syllables represent the 24 fortnights.

It is a RgVeda mantra and not from Brhat Parashari

Interesting...I like it....there is too much to learn in one lifetime.

Astroly(jyotisha) is a subsect (upangam) of veda. We need a holistic approach to understand.

The Holy Geeta (BG 10.35) refers to it as a metre (chandas)....not any diety

Will stop here

The objective approach to the subjective knowledge in Rig veda is attempted in yajurveda. The personification of Gayatri is a part of it.

Request to go through http://m.speakingtree.in/spiritual-blogs/seekers/god-and-i/prataha-sandRequest vandana-morning-prayer-288580

This is a very powerful Mantra.A must for cleansing your soul, your environment And your personal space. Pls chant it. Thanks.

The first three of seven planes of consciousness,(bhu=plane of materialisation , bhuva= plane of vibration,suvah=plane of radiation) are called lower triad. The order of soul's retreat to salvation shall be this way. The rest of journey enroute remaining 4 planes,viz. Maha, Jana, thapa, Satyam . Thus truth is the ultimate attainable goal of every soul. By observing the principles of gayatri, we must pursue our journey. As our energy comes from the Sun(the energy acquired by primary producers of food cycle.) , we request the untiringly radiating Sun to propel our intellect towards the light of truth that absolute state,liberating our souls from bondages.

Jai Mata

Recited this when i was a kid. Good to know the meaning. Thanks for sharing

Peace, beauty & weapons. Kewl

This is a lithograph from the Ravi VArma Press, Lonavla

http://www.rarebooksdigest.com/2015/08/13/rare-books-digest-sentiment-analysis/