Gayatri Mantra

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

I am posting an edited talk given by my guru Pujya Swami Dayananda

Saraswati on the Gayatri Mantra.

 

with love and prayers.

 

Gayatri Mantra - Swami Dayananda Saraswati

 

Om bhuurbhuvah svah tat saviturvarenyam

Bhargodevasya dhimahi dhiyo yo nah pracodayaat

 

An Initiation in to the Sastra

 

The Gayatri mantra is so profound in the meaning, that if you have

studied the mantra, it is as though you have studied the whole Vedas.

This mantra appears in all the four Vedas: Rg, Yajus, Saama and

Atharva. It is a very potent mantra and has been chanted by people for

ages. At the time of the investiture ceremony of the sacred thread

(upanayanam) the boy is initiated to the gayatri mantra. For him it is

only a prayer, and he is given only a simple word meaning so that he

knows what he is praying. This initiation into the Gayatri mantra opens

up for the boy, the mother lode of the spiritual wisdom of the Vedas.

 

Preparing the mind

 

Chanting a mantra helps you gain a certain insight into your mind.

While chanting, you generally use the mind, and thus chanting reveals

the ways of the mind. When you begin chanting a mantra, you discover

that your mind is occasionally distracted from your intended activity,

because the mind is used to mechanical thinking.

 

In mechanical, goal-less thinking there is no question of intrinsic

distraction. One thought can lead to another thought, and yet another,

and so on. For example, you see a car. You notice it is a Ford. A

Lincoln like the one you used to have. You think of the places you went

in that car, and so on. This is how a pattern of thinking evolves with

reference to an object, and this continues until there is an external

distraction. Then another pattern starts. The worst part of mechanical

thinking is that it automatically gets into an undesirable thinking

pattern. Even when you do not want to be sad, you become sad. You do

not have any control over the way you think. So, you cannot really

predict what is going to be the next thought. If you become aware of

your thoughts, you can at least be conscious of what is happening. That

requires a certain space between you and your thinking. Then you can

perhaps direct your mind. You need not think yourself into sadness,

frustration or anger. This would be very useful for an adolescent, and

that is why mantra initiations take place at that age.

 

When I give mind an occupation, like chanting a given mantra for a few

minutes, I have made a commitment to myself as to what my next thought

will be unlike in mechanical thinking. Because of this commitment, I

know that the given mantra will be my next thought. If any other

thought occurs and starts a chain of thoughts, it is clearly an

infraction of the commitment. Once you have made a commitment,

distraction becomes evident. To bring back the mind, Lord Krishna says

in the Gita:

 

Yato yato niscarati manascancalamasthiram |

Tatastato niyamyaitad aatmanyeva vasham nayet ||

 

 

‘For whatever reason the mind which is unsteady and in constant flux

goes away, may one bring it back from there by restraint into the power

of one’s own self’.

 

Thus, whenever the mind moves away from the object of contemplation,

bring it back. This is also part of meditation. Thus, deliberately, the

mind is brought back.

 

The Three meanings of the Word Om

 

Om is a beautiful one syllable word. In the kathopanishad it is said:

 

Sarve vedaah yat padam aamananti

Tapaamsi sarvaani ca yad vadanti

Yad icchantah brahmacaryam caranti

Tat te padam sangrahena braviimi Om iti etat

 

‘ I tell you briefly of that goal which all the Vedas with one voice

propound, which all the austerities speak of, and wishing which people

practice Brahmacarya; it is this, Om’

1:15

 

The Gayatri mantra starts with the word Om. It is a name, abhidana,

for the lord. Abhidheya, what is implied by the name om, is also the

Lord. Here, the meaning of the name Om, the Lord, is the cause for the

creation (jagat karanam). There are three approaches to arrive at this

meaning.

 

Linguistic Meaning of Om

 

In the linguistic sense Om is a word from the Sanskrit language having

its own root. It is derived from the root ‘ava’ which is in the sense

of raksanam, protection and also sustenance. Therefore ‘ava-man’ means

the one who protects and sustains this entire creation (jagat) by

lending his existence and consciousness.

 

By the rules of Sanskrit grammar, the suffix ‘man’ in the word ‘ava-

man’ loses the last vowel and what follows it, which gives ‘avam’.

Through vocalization process, ‘va’ becomes ‘u’. Further, ‘a’ and ‘u’

combine to form the diphthong, ‘o’ finally yielding Om.

 

Super-Imposed Meaning of Om

 

This is where the Upanishads load a certain meaning upon ‘a’, ‘u’,

and ‘m’. It is super-imposed deliberately, like on a cloth you

super-impose the entire constitution of the country and call it a

national flag. Thus, here ‘a’ implies your waking world – your physical

world. The ‘u is the subtle, thought world. The ‘m’ is the unmanifest,

causal state, as in dreamless sleep. And when you are fully awake, it

becomes completely manifest at the physical level. In the physical body

you experience the physical world. Therefore, the totality of the

physical world as the waker, the thought world as the dreamer, and the

unmanifest world as the sleeper is ‘a-u-m’. This is you, the world and

God, all in one.

 

Phonetic Meaning of Om

 

The manifest world (jagat) is seen as one; but severally, we can say

it has many forms with corresponding names. Every form is the Lord’s

form and the name for that form is the Lord’s name. If the Lord is all

and you want to give the Lord a name, a name not in any particular

language or alphabet, a name that is purely phonetic, that includes all

the names that are there, what should you do?

 

In any language, when a person opens the mouth and makes a sound

without any other effort, it is ‘a’. When you close the mouth and make

a sound it is ‘m. All other sounds in any language fall between ‘a’ and

‘m’. All the words in all languages are made up of letters and letters

are, even if there is no script, are sounds. The one sound that

represents all these sounds produced by the letters ‘a-u-m’ is Om.

 

Meaning of the Mantra

 

Om bhuurbhuvah svah – Om is equated with bhuuh, bhuvah, svah. They

stand for the earth, the beings and anything beyond our comprehension.

Thus, everything from earth to beings and onwards to the unknown is

called ‘bhuurbhuvasvah’. Thus, the Lord, Om, is everything.

 

Tat saviturvarenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi – ‘tat varenyam’ the one

that is most worshipful, the one that should be worshipped by you.

Whomsoever you worship, that worship goes to the Lord alone. Even, when

you worship a particular deity, it is the Lord’s aspect.

 

‘bhargah’, all knowing.

 

‘savituh devasaya’ – the sun, spotless and bright. The Lord is

effulgent and all knowledge. And that Lord is the one upon whom we

meditate or whom we pray to, ‘dhimahi’. We pray, with our heart and

mind, to that Lord who is self-effulgent, all knowing,

all-consciousness and most worshipful.

 

‘dhiyo yo nah pracodayaat – ‘dhiyah’ the thoughts, the mind; ‘nah’

ours, ‘yah’ the one; ‘pracodayaat’’, illumine or brighten. The meaning

is ‘May He (the Lord) brighten our minds.’ Note that not only do you

pray for yourself but for others also. In order to live a peaceful

life, a meaningful life, people around you also should be content.

Otherwise there will be problems as you deal with them on a day-to-day

basis.

 

The Pursuit For Maturity

 

The word ‘pracodayaat’ also has another meaning; ‘to direct’. Thus, the

meaning of the last line can be: ‘May He direct our minds to the ways

of thinking that will lead us to our growth towards proper clarity and

self-discovery’. Our whole life is determined by our thinking. Clear

thinking and good decisions make one’s life into a life of maturity and

growth. Life is nothing but a series of decisions. And those decisions

have to come from a clear mind. Being prayerful brings clarity and His

grace. Prosperity and such come when right decisions are made. When you

are invoking the all-knowing Lord (bhargah), you are invoking the

knowledge. And when you understand Him to be bhargah, your mind becomes

effulgent, brilliant, and clear. There is nothing more fascinating

than clarity. It is that clarity we invoke. This is the greatest

blessing one can have. Thus, we pray ‘May He lead our minds to right

thinking’.

 

 

 

 

 

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