Gayatri Mantra

[Guest guest]

I had printed out some pages of Ken Knight's wonderful presentation

on the Advaitin group, in the hopes of studying them slowly and

absorbing more of the beautiful and mysterious nectar of the RgVeda.

A few days ago, there was one page laying around I picked it up, and

as I read through it, even though I had read it before, for the first time

I realized that I recognized the words in this passage...

 

"...Maybe we should try to find the cave of the heart and see if there is any

light there. In that same hymn, which is also very famous and known by the name

ViSvedevas to whom it is dedicated as well as being the name of the poet, you

will find mention of the GAyatrI metre. This will now require us to go further

back in time into those Mandalas of the earlier collection, in this case to

3.62. to the most well known mantra in this GAyatrI metre:

 

10, tát savitúr váreNyam bhárgo devásya dhiimahi |

 

dhíyo yó naH pracodáyaat ||

 

'May we meditate on the Supreme

On the all-pervading radiance of the ultimate source of divine light.

May He inspire the innermost thoughts of our hearts.' ...

 

I thought to myself with that light that shines so bright when recognition

strikes,

"I know those words, I do!!!" I am sure I can find them on my Chants of India

CD.

Well, I could not find the insert with the words, so as fate would have it, I

listened to the CD, and there they were, in all their glory and mystery, being

chanted with such beauty

as to draw you in to bathe in the Light. And for the first time, the

connection that

they were the Gayatri mantra came together. I had read about it before, and had

even read that women were not allowed to chant it during some periods of

history,

perhaps even now in some parts. I had not thought much of that revelation, and

had gone on to other pursuits, not knowing that the I had sung/chanted the

Gayatri

mantra numerous times everytime I listened to this CD. Numerous were my

transgressions.

 

I decided I would put together a webpage with the music, something to add

to my little folder on the RgVeda and before I got very far, Adiji requested on

her list...

"What does the Gayatri Mantra mean to you?"

 

Well, dear Adiji, this is what it means to me...no profound discourse on it

meaning,

perhaps not even a proper rendition of its chanting, but this is what it means

to me...

 

 

http://www.omshaantih.com/Scriptures/Rig%20Veda/Gayatri/Mantra.htm

 

Love and gratitude,

 

Joyce

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

, "Lady Joyce" <shaantih@c...>

wrote:

> I had printed out some pages of Ken Knight's wonderful presentation

> on the Advaitin group, in the hopes of studying them slowly and

> absorbing more of the beautiful and mysterious nectar of the

RgVeda.

 

 

Namaste,

 

There are various translations to the Gayatri but in the end it is

the sound that is all that matters. I have been using it for a long

time daily and it probably contributed to whatever progress I have

made personally. My children who no longer go to any spiritual

situations etc etc still use it when they need to, it is the first

thing that comes to their minds, in cases of urgency or

need.......ONS...Tony.

[Guest guest]

Thank you Lady Joyce ! You are indeed a 'wonder' woman ! what a

beautiful web page you have created on Ved MATA Gayatri! mY heartfelt

thanx to you!

 

here is a commentary on this great mantra

 

COMMENTARY ON THE GAYATRI

 

Unveil, O Thou who givest sustenance to the Universe, from whom all

proceed, to whom all must return, that face of the True Sun now

hidden by a vase of golden light, that we may see the truth and do

our whole duty on our journey to thy sacred seat.

 

 

- The Gayatri

 

I have adopted a translation as above, which is excellent in its

giving of the meaning of this verse. What is the Gayatri? It is the

sacred verse of the Hindus and begins with Om, their sacred word and

letter. Its first words are: Om, Bhur, Bhurvah!

 

The first word contains in it a declaration of the three periods of a

Manvantara and the three powers of that great Being who alone Is. Of

a manvantara it is the beginning, the middle, and the end, and the

three powers are Creation (or manifesting), Preservation (or carrying

on), and Destruction. The three first words, Om, bhur, bhurvah, draw

attention to and designate the three worlds. The whole verse is an

aspiration in the highest sense. Every Brahman at his initiation is

further instructed in this verse, but from giving that I am

necessarily excused, as I cannot give it in a way in which I have not

received it.

 

Unveil is the cry of the man who is determined to know the truth and

who perceives that something hides it from him. It is hidden by his

own Karmic effects, which have put him now where the brain and the

desires are too strong for the higher self to pierce through so long

as he remains careless and ignorant. The cry is not made to some man-

made god with parts, passions, and attributes, but to the Self above

who seeth in secret and bringeth out to light. It is directed to that

on which the Universe is built and standeth, - no other than the Self

which is in every man and which sitteth like a bird in a tree

watching while another eats the fruit.

>From this the whole Universe proceeds out into manifestation. The

ancients held that all things whatsoever existed in fact solely in

the idea, and therefore the practitioner of Yoga was taught - and

soon discovered - that sun, moon, and stars were in himself, and

until he learned this he could not proceed. This doctrine is very

old, but today is adopted by many modern reasoners. For they perceive

on reflection that no object enters the eye, and that whether we

perceive through sight or feeling or any other sense whatever all

objects are existing solely in idea. Of old this was demonstrated in

two ways. First, by showing the disciple the actual interpenetration

of one world by another. As that while we live here among those

things called objective by us, other beings were likewise living in

and among us and our objects and therein actually carrying on their

avocations, perceiving the objects on their plane as objective, and

wholly untouched by and insensible to us and the objects we think so

material. This is no less true today than it was then. And if it were

not true, modern hypnotism, clairvoyance, or clairaudience would be

impossible. This was shown by a second method precisely similar to

mesmeric and hypnotic experiments, only that to these was added the

power to make the subject step aside from himself and with a dual

consciousness note his own condition. For if a barrier of wood were

erected in the sight of the subject which he clearly perceived and

knew was wood, impervious to sight and an obstacle to movement, yet

when hypnotised he saw it not, yet could perceive all objects behind

it which were hidden in his normal state, and when he pressed against

it thinking it to be empty air and feeling naught but force, he could

not pass but wondered why the empty air restrained his body. This is

modern and ancient. Clearly it demonstrates the illusionary nature of

objectivity. The objectivity is only real relatively, for the mind

sees no objects whatever but only their idea, and at present is

conditioned through its own evolution until it shall have developed

other powers and qualities.

 

The request made in the verse to unveil the face of the True Sun is

that the Higher Self may shine down into us and do its work of

illumination. This also spreads forth a natural fact unknown to

moderns, which is that the sun we see is not the true sun, and

signifies too that the light of intellect is not the true sun of our

moral being. Our forefathers in the dim past knew how to draw forth

through the visible Sun the forces from the True one. We have

temporarily forgotten this because our evolution and descent into the

hell of matter, in order to save the whole, have interposed a screen.

They say in Christian lands that Jesus went into hell for three days.

This is correct, but not peculiar to Jesus. Humanity is doing this

for three days, which is merely the mystical way of saying that we

must descend into matter for three periods so immense in time that

the logarithm of one day is given to each period. Logarithms were not

first known to Napier, but were taught in the pure form of the

mysteries, because alone by their use could certain vast calculations

be made.

 

Which is now hidden by a vase of Golden Light. That is, the light of

the True Sun - the Higher Self - is hidden by the blood contained in

the vase of the mortal body. The blood has two aspects - not here

detailed - in one of which it is a helper to perception, in the other

a hindrance. But it signifies here the passions and desires, Kama,

the personal self, the thirst for life. It is this that veils from us

the true light. So long as desire and the personality remain strong,

just so long will the light be blurred, so long will we mistake words

for knowledge and knowledge for the thing we wish to know and to

realize.

 

The object of this prayer is that we may carry out our whole duty,

after becoming acquainted with the truth, while we are on our journey

to thy Sacred Seat. This is our pilgrimage, not of one, not

selfishly, not alone, but the whole of humanity. For the sacred seat

is not the Brahmanical heaven of Indra, nor the Christian selfish

heaven acquired without merit while the meritorious suffer the pains

of hell. It is that place where all meet, where alone all are one. It

is when and where the three great sounds of the first word of the

prayer merge into one soundless sound. This is the only proper

prayer, the sole saving aspiration.

 

AN OBSCURE BRAHMAN

 

Path, January, 1893

 

http://www.blavatsky.net/theosophy/judge/articles/commentary-on-the-

gayatri.htm - 8k - Cached - More pages from this site

[Guest guest]

Thank you for sharing Joyce. The Gayatri (Goddess -

Gayatri is a female name) mantra is sacred and

generally all Hindus know it by heart and have a

special connection to it. It is chanted at all types

of religious ceremonies. It was the first mantra I

learned from my father.

 

Sri Ramana once said that if one recites the Gayatri,

there is no need for other mantras.

 

In Yogic system of saguna/savikalpa meditations, both

light and sound are considered doorways to higher

consciousness and ultimately to the Self.

 

Love to all

Harsha

 

--- Lady Joyce <shaantih wrote:

> I had printed out some pages of Ken Knight's

> wonderful presentation

> on the Advaitin group, in the hopes of studying them

> slowly and

> absorbing more of the beautiful and mysterious

> nectar of the RgVeda.

> A few days ago, there was one page laying around I

> picked it up, and

> as I read through it, even though I had read it

> before, for the first time

> I realized that I recognized the words in this

> passage...

>

> "...Maybe we should try to find the cave of the

> heart and see if there is any light there. In that

> same hymn, which is also very famous and known by

> the name ViSvedevas to whom it is dedicated as well

> as being the name of the poet, you will find mention

> of the GAyatrI metre. This will now require us to go

> further back in time into those Mandalas of the

> earlier collection, in this case to 3.62. to the

> most well known mantra in this GAyatrI metre:

>

> 10, tát savitúr váreNyam bhárgo devásya dhiimahi |

>

> dhíyo yó naH pracodáyaat ||

>

> 'May we meditate on the Supreme

> On the all-pervading radiance of the ultimate source

> of divine light.

> May He inspire the innermost thoughts of our

> hearts.' ...

>

> I thought to myself with that light that shines so

> bright when recognition strikes,

> "I know those words, I do!!!" I am sure I can find

> them on my Chants of India CD.

> Well, I could not find the insert with the words, so

> as fate would have it, I listened to the CD, and

> there they were, in all their glory and mystery,

> being chanted with such beauty

> as to draw you in to bathe in the Light. And for

> the first time, the connection that

> they were the Gayatri mantra came together. I had

> read about it before, and had

> even read that women were not allowed to chant it

> during some periods of history,

> perhaps even now in some parts. I had not thought

> much of that revelation, and

> had gone on to other pursuits, not knowing that the

> I had sung/chanted the Gayatri

> mantra numerous times everytime I listened to this

> CD. Numerous were my transgressions.

>

> I decided I would put together a webpage with the

> music, something to add

> to my little folder on the RgVeda and before I got

> very far, Adiji requested on her list...

> "What does the Gayatri Mantra mean to you?"

>

> Well, dear Adiji, this is what it means to me...no

> profound discourse on it meaning,

> perhaps not even a proper rendition of its chanting,

> but this is what it means to me...

>

>

>

http://www.omshaantih.com/Scriptures/Rig%20Veda/Gayatri/Mantra.htm

>

> Love and gratitude,

>

> Joyce

 

=====

/join

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks for all the beautiful words on the Gayatri. Some years ago I met a

teacher who told me that there was a part of the mantra that was to be done

silently and that this gave the other part of the mantra ( the part you hear

chanted ) a greater power. This was long ago, and at the time I didn't care :-)

Anyone know about this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

, "adi_shakthi16"

<adi_shakthi16> wrote:

> Thank you Lady Joyce ! You are indeed a 'wonder' woman ! what a

> beautiful web page you have created on Ved MATA Gayatri! mY

heartfelt

> thanx to you!

>

 

Namaste,

 

I have seen several translations of the Gayatri, Taimini's is one of

the best,IMO. Most people that I have heard chanting it don't chant

it properly, especially westerners. They cut short the mmmms and

they don't pronounce the ttts properly etc. AS the Gayatri or metre

is all about sound it is important, any words can be used really,

for it is all about sound as are the Vedas..........ONS..Tony.

[Guest guest]

, Harsha <harshaimtm> wrote:

> Thank you for sharing Joyce. The Gayatri (Goddess -

> Gayatri is a female name) mantra is sacred and

> generally all Hindus know it by heart and have a

> special connection to it. It is chanted at all types

> of religious ceremonies. It was the first mantra I

> learned from my father.

>

> Sri Ramana once said that if one recites the Gayatri,

> there is no need for other mantras.

>

> In Yogic system of saguna/savikalpa meditations, both

> light and sound are considered doorways to higher

> consciousness and ultimately to the Self.

>

> Love to all

> Harsha

 

 

yes. thank you very much, joyce. i learned the gayatri in india in

1977, and it still rises and plays itself in my mind... and rarely a

day passes without me singing it joyously at least once.

 

 

yosy

>

> --- Lady Joyce <shaantih@c...> wrote:

> > I had printed out some pages of Ken Knight's

> > wonderful presentation

> > on the Advaitin group, in the hopes of studying them

> > slowly and

> > absorbing more of the beautiful and mysterious

> > nectar of the RgVeda.

> > A few days ago, there was one page laying around I

> > picked it up, and

> > as I read through it, even though I had read it

> > before, for the first time

> > I realized that I recognized the words in this

> > passage...

> >

> > "...Maybe we should try to find the cave of the

> > heart and see if there is any light there. In that

> > same hymn, which is also very famous and known by

> > the name ViSvedevas to whom it is dedicated as well

> > as being the name of the poet, you will find mention

> > of the GAyatrI metre. This will now require us to go

> > further back in time into those Mandalas of the

> > earlier collection, in this case to 3.62. to the

> > most well known mantra in this GAyatrI metre:

> >

> > 10, tát savitúr váreNyam bhárgo devásya dhiimahi |

> >

> > dhíyo yó naH pracodáyaat ||

> >

> > 'May we meditate on the Supreme

> > On the all-pervading radiance of the ultimate source

> > of divine light.

> > May He inspire the innermost thoughts of our

> > hearts.' ...

> >

> > I thought to myself with that light that shines so

> > bright when recognition strikes,

> > "I know those words, I do!!!" I am sure I can find

> > them on my Chants of India CD.

> > Well, I could not find the insert with the words, so

> > as fate would have it, I listened to the CD, and

> > there they were, in all their glory and mystery,

> > being chanted with such beauty

> > as to draw you in to bathe in the Light. And for

> > the first time, the connection that

> > they were the Gayatri mantra came together. I had

> > read about it before, and had

> > even read that women were not allowed to chant it

> > during some periods of history,

> > perhaps even now in some parts. I had not thought

> > much of that revelation, and

> > had gone on to other pursuits, not knowing that the

> > I had sung/chanted the Gayatri

> > mantra numerous times everytime I listened to this

> > CD. Numerous were my transgressions.

> >

> > I decided I would put together a webpage with the

> > music, something to add

> > to my little folder on the RgVeda and before I got

> > very far, Adiji requested on her list...

> > "What does the Gayatri Mantra mean to you?"

> >

> > Well, dear Adiji, this is what it means to me...no

> > profound discourse on it meaning,

> > perhaps not even a proper rendition of its chanting,

> > but this is what it means to me...

> >

> >

> >

> http://www.omshaantih.com/Scriptures/Rig%20Veda/Gayatri/Mantra.htm

> >

> > Love and gratitude,

> >

> > Joyce

>

> =====

> /join

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

, "yosyx" <yosyflug@0...> wrote:

> , Harsha <harshaimtm>

wrote:

> > Thank you for sharing Joyce. The Gayatri (Goddess -

> > Gayatri is a female name) mantra is sacred and

> > generally all Hindus know it by heart and have a

> > special connection to it. It is chanted at all types

> > of religious ceremonies. It was the first mantra I

 

Namaste,

 

Gayatri is a metre..........ONS..Tony.

[Guest guest]

, Harsha <harshaimtm> wrote:

> Thank you for sharing Joyce. The Gayatri (Goddess -

> Gayatri is a female name) mantra is sacred and

> generally all Hindus know it by heart and have a

> special connection to it. It is chanted at all types

> of religious ceremonies. It was the first mantra I

> learned from my father.

>

> Sri Ramana once said that if one recites the Gayatri,

> there is no need for other mantras.

>

> In Yogic system of saguna/savikalpa meditations, both

> light and sound are considered doorways to higher

> consciousness and ultimately to the Self.

>

> Love to all

> Harsha

 

 

<< yes. thank you very much, joyce. i learned the gayatri in india in 1977,

and it still rises and plays itself in my mind... and rarely a day passes

without me singing it joyously at least once. yosy >>

 

Il love the version from Deva Premal on her CD The Essence.

 

I mostly love what she says about the Gayatri Mantra

 

She says: " This is the most ancient mantra known to man. For me it is

especially precious because my father sang it to me for the 9 months while I was

in my mother`s womb. After I was bornwe continued to chant it daily together for

another 10 years, at which point it became so much a part of my lyfe I can't

remember for sure exactly when or why I stopped singing it (propably teenage

rebellion!).

It was re-introduced into my life much later when I heard a beautiful version

sung by my friends from London, and no longer seing it as something handed down

by my parents."

 

Antoine

>

> --- Lady Joyce <shaantih@c...> wrote:

> > 10, tát savitúr váreNyam bhárgo devásya dhiimahi |

> >

> > dhíyo yó naH pracodáyaat ||

> >

> > 'May we meditate on the Supreme

> > On the all-pervading radiance of the ultimate source

> > of divine light.

> > May He inspire the innermost thoughts of our

> > hearts.' ...

> >