Wednesday 6 July 2011

What is the Vedic meaning of Gayatri

The vedic meaning of the Gayatri mantra is varied according to the knowledge source from which it is taken. It is often seen as a prayer to the sun God Savitr, to give blessings to the earth. This name Savitr is included in the mantra. The structure of the mantra is such that it invokes various deities.
The mantra in sanskrit is as follows:


 'Om bhur bhurva svaha
tat savitur varenyam
bhargodevasya dhi mahi
dhiyoyo na prachodayat'
According to the followers of Sathya Sai Baba, the meaning of the Gayatri mantra is as follows:
"We contemplate the glory of Light illuminating the three worlds: gross, subtle, and causal.

I am that vivifying power, love, radiant illumination, and divine grace of universal intelligence.

We pray for the divine light to illumine our minds."

http://www.sathyasai.org/devot ion/prayers/gayatri.html.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba is a guru of India with much vedic education from a young age and is considered the vedic authority by many.  A more symbolic meaning is also given on the website "Gayatri", the milk from the four teats called four Vedas of the udder of the Cow that is Godhead; it has in it the sustenance that will make you shine with spiritual health.

The Gayatri also has a significance in the Iskcon movement. Those who take a second initiation are given the gayatri mantra to chant.This is a more advanced intiation when the devotee is considered a Brahmin, or of the priestly order and has the right to perform marriages and death rites.

The Gayatri mantra comes from the Rig Veda, predating the puranas, the body of knowledge from India. The vedas had dieties that are not often found in the puranas, such as the diety invoked here, namely Savitr. Sri Aurobindo writes in his commentary on the Rig Veda, Hymns to the Mystic Fire.

"We have to invoke the gods by the inner sacrifice, and by the word call them unto us - that is the specific power of the Mantra, - to offer to them the gifts of the sacrifice and by that giving secure their gifts, so that by this process we may build the way of our ascent to the goal... We give what we are and what we have in order that the riches of the Divine Truth and Light may descend into our life."

From these various items of information we can form a composite of the meaning. We should bear in mind that the orgin of the mantra; the Rig Veda, was written by Rishis or seers, who used intuitive perception to understand Divine reality.

Therefore it could be argued that chanting the mantra will lead to intuitive perception of its Vedic meaning.

No comments:

Post a Comment