gAyatrI mantra

[Guest guest]

To all respectable devotees of sri maatha

 

In south Gayathi Mantra is chanted only by men and

particularly after brahma upadesam. Whereas in north

india even ladies and kids (even before brahma

upadesam) chant this mantra.

 

can anyone tell why is this practive prevailant over

our country.

 

Mangala

[Guest guest]

In addition to the quotation posted by Sri Ganapathy. Here is my

brief 2c. I am trying to present the views of both sides (with the

little I know).

 

 

1) gAyatrI is a veda mantra and all the rules that apply to veda

mantra apply to gAyatrI (also known as sAvitrI mantra).

 

2) Whether woman can chant veda-s or not is a issue that is contested

these days. Traditional maTha-s of all the three major sampradaya-s

say no. And their view is the one that is/was practised for the last

two thousand years. Considering the faith and purity with tradition

is followed; it is hard to contest that they might have changed the

rules sometime in the last thousand years.

 

3) There is no clear "why". I have heard few reasons a) Due to

impurity associated with monthly cycle b) Things such a child bearing

and rearing are by itself huge tasks which will give no no time and

etc. c) Effect of mantra-s such as making them less fertile etc. All

this is hearsay.

 

 

Now on the contrary:

 

a) There are verses in veda; whose R^ishhi are a females. If a woman

can be a mantra drashhTa (seer) and spell out a mantra to be used by

others. Then it is meaningless to say woman can not chant veda-s.

 

b) There different new traditions that squarely disagree with the

restrictions. For instance, Ramakrishna Mission and Aurobindo's

school. Again you can see the following links which quote a verse

from shruti that says veda-s are OPEN to all.

 

http://www.vedah.com/org/literature/sandhyaMantras/whoMay.asp

http://www.vedah.com/org/literature/yajurVeda/knowledge4All.asp

 

c) Unless one produces an authentic verse from shruti itself which

*directly* says (not just the use of masculine gender) that women

cannot chant veda-s; it is difficult to convince people otherwise.

 

d) Also, if one goes through the smriti books such as vaidyanAtha

diixitiyam etc, you will see that we bend and ignore many many rules,

even on simple things such as brahmaNa-s shaving their face by

themselves etc. Hence, why not one more! Why being male chauvinistic

in breaking rules?

 

--

One point you say is not fully correct. Even in Northern parts of

India there are traditional brahmaNa-s who hold that women cannot

chant veda-s. Hence, I think you can not generalize like that.

 

What can you do?

-----------------

 

1) Best is to find a teacher who will teach you or permit you to

learn veda-s or chant gAyatrI. There are quite a few who do that.

Then the responsibility belongs to the teacher. If someone questions

you; you can always question them back for a proof and give your

counter proof.

 

2) If anything in puraaNa is accessible to all. Then gAyAtrI mantra

is quite well discussed in Book-12 of devii bhagavata puraaNa. Hence

you may access it via that puraaNa. (I am not sure about this

argument, as I have to reread Book 12 to see if it have any special

clauses etc.)

 

3) A simpler thing would be just to stick to the rules of tradition

your family follows. This is status quo.

 

 

An interesting note:

--------------------

 

Few years ago, Indian government published gAyatrI mantra on greeting

card and mailed it to all (for deepavali). And DK (Dravidar Kazhagam)

filed a law suit against it and supreme court decided that this

mantra is an Universal Prayer and does NOT break the secular thread

of the Nation. And the Government is not at fault. I think, even

though for wrong reasons, DK's position that gAyatrI mantra cannot be

printed on a greeting card for mass tribution would have been favored

by traditional scholars. Sometimes, life gets interesting, you get a

defense for dharma from unexpected quarters.

 

 

My 2c. Needless to say, I am quite ignorant and could be wrong. In

arguments, I have taken both sides of the issues and was equally

ineffective on either side :-))

 

 

Ravi

 

 

 

, mangala iyer <lilakku97> wrote:

> To all respectable devotees of sri maatha

>

> In south Gayathi Mantra is chanted only by men and

> particularly after brahma upadesam. Whereas in north

> india even ladies and kids (even before brahma

> upadesam) chant this mantra.

>

> can anyone tell why is this practive prevailant over

> our country.

>

> Mangala