Friday 2 September 2011

Scientific Meaning of Gayatri Mantra

Gayatri Mantra is supposed to provide immense energy. Although long before women were not supposed to chant this Mantra, since they were already considered an epitome of energy, but in Kali Yug, soul has no gender hence women can also chant this Mantra.
Gayatri Mantra has been bestowed the greatest importance in Vaidik Dharm. This Mantra has also been termed as Savitri and Ved Maataa, the mother of the Ved. The literal meaning of the Mantra is:

God! You are Omnipresent, Omnipotent 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 somehow has got lost in the literary tradition. The modern astrophysics and astronomy tell us that our Galaxy called Milky Way or Aakaash Gangaa contains approximately 100,000 million 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 go round the Sun.

Each of the above bodies revolves round at its own axis as well. Our Sun along with its family takes one round of the Galactic center 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 scientific meaning of the mantra step-by-step ----

Om bhoor bhuvah swah:
Bhoor the earth, Bhuvah the planets (solar family), Swah the Galaxy.
We observe that when an ordinary fan with a speed of 900 RPM (rotations 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 the Mantra explains that the sound produced due to the fast-moving earth, planets and galaxies is Aum. The sound was heard during meditation by Rishi Vishwaamitra, who mentioned it to their colleagues. All of them, then unanimously decided to call this sound Aum, the name of God, because this sound is available in all the three periods of time, hence it is regarded as permanent. Therefore, it was the first ever-revolutionary idea to identify formless God with a specific title (form) called Upaadhi. Until that time, everybody recognized God as formless and nobody was prepared to accept this new idea. In the Geetaa also, it is said, "Aumiti ekaaksharam Brahm", meaning that the name of the Supreme is Aum, which contains only one syllable (8/12).
This sound Aum heard during Samaadhi was called by all the seers as Naad-Brahm (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 Rishi called this sound Udgeeth musical sound of the above, ie, Heaven. They also noticed that the infinite mass of galaxies moving with a velocity of 20,000 miles per second was generating a kinetic energy = 1/2 MV2 and this was balancing the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence they named it Pranav, which means the body (Vapu) or storehouse of energy (Praan).

Tat Savitur Varenyam:
Tat means that (God), Savitur means the Sun (star), Varenyam means 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 (Upaadhi) provide the solid ground to identify the formless God Vishwaamitra suggested. He told us that we could know (realize) the unknowable formless God through the known factors, viz, sound Aum and the light of Suns (stars).
A mathematician can solve an equation 2x+4y=4; if x=2; then the value of y can be known and so on. An engineer can measure the width of a river even by standing at the riverbank just by drawing a triangle. So was the scientific method suggested by Vishwaamitra in the Mantra in the next portion as under ----

Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi:
Bhargo means the light, Devasya means of the deity, and Dheemahi means we should meditate upon. The Rishi instructs us to meditate upon the available form (light of Suns) to discover the formless Creator (God). Also he wants us to do Jaap of the word Aum (this is understood in the Mantra) . This is how the sage wants us to proceed, but there is a great problem to realize it, as the human mind is so shaky and restless that without the grace of the Supreme (Brahm) it cannot be controlled. Hence Vishwaamitra suggests the way to pray Him as under.

Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayaat:
Dhiyo means intellect, yo means who, nah means we all, Prachodayaat means to guide to right direction). O God! Deploy our intellect on the right path.

Full Scientific Interpretation of the Mantra:
The Earth (Bhoor), the Planets (Bhuvah), and the Galaxies (Swah) are moving at a very great velocity, the sound produced is Aum, (the name of the formless God.) That God (Tat), who manifests Himself in the form of light of Suns (Savitur) is worthy of bowing or respect (Varenyam). We all, therefore, should meditate (Dheemahi) upon the light (Bhargo) of that Deity (Devasya) and also do chanting of Aum. May He (Yo) guide us in right direction (Prachodayaat) 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 galaxies acts as an umbrella and balances the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as the Pranav (body of energy). This is equal to 1/2 mv2 (Mass of galaxies x velocity)
(2) Realizing the great importance of the syllable Om, the other later date religions adopted this word with a slight change in accent, viz., Amen or Aameen.
(3) The God could be realized through the Sa-Gun (gross) Upaasanaa (method), ie, (a) by chanting the name of the supreme as Om and (b) by meditating upon the light emitted by stars (Suns).

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