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