Gayatri japa

[Guest guest]

Namaste, Can mental Gayatri japa be done after sunset ? Kindly provide

Vedic quote to confirm or deny this. If there is no such Vedic quote,

then please let me know the opinion of your own Guru/acharya.

Apparently, the Haridware based organization Gayatri pariwar does not

to any restrictions on Gayatri japa vis-a-vis time of day.

 

regards,

Om Namah Sivaya

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "mahadevadvaita"

<mahadevadvaita wrote:

>

> Namaste, Can mental Gayatri japa be done after sunset ? Kindly

provide

> Vedic quote to confirm or deny this.

 

 

Namaste,

 

This reference may be helpful:

 

 

http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/mirrors/vv/literature/dharmasastras/ds2e.ht

ml

or

http://tinyurl.com/ygf6v3

 

 

Yogayagnavalkya:- Sandhya Devi is worshipped at

sandhya. It should not be done after sunset in

the evening. Prathas sandhya should not be done

after sunrise. Even Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva worship

sandhya at the right time. Hence, it follows that

brahmins also perform the sandhyavandhana.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh

wrote:

>

> advaitin, "mahadevadvaita"

> <mahadevadvaita@> wrote:

> >

> > Namaste, Can mental Gayatri japa be done after sunset ? Kindly

> provide

> > Vedic quote to confirm or deny this.

>

>

> Namaste,

>

> This reference may be helpful:

>

>

>

http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/mirrors/vv/literature/dharmasastras/ds2e.ht

> ml

> or

> http://tinyurl.com/ygf6v3

>

>

> Yogayagnavalkya:- Sandhya Devi is worshipped at

> sandhya. It should not be done after sunset in

> the evening. Prathas sandhya should not be done

> after sunrise. Even Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva

worship

> sandhya at the right time. Hence, it follows that

> brahmins also perform the sandhyavandhana.

>

>

> Regards,

>

> Sunder

>

 

Namaste,

 

While what is said above is very true of the Sandhya worship which

consists of arghya, tarpana, and a specified number of chants of the

Gayatri and winding up of the sandhya worship of that occasion,

morning, noon and evening, the specific japa of the Gayatri does not

strictly follow the rule stated above.

 

For example, a person might take up a sahasra gayatri japa (chant of

a 1000 numbers of the Gayatri mantra). In this case, even if the

Sandhya worship commences in the right time of say 5.30 or 6.oo pm,

the 1000 japa might get over well around 7 or go up to 8.

 

A friend who does 1000 every day, sometimes finds time to do this

only just before going to bed, at 10 or 11 pm although he would have

done the evening sandhya at the specified time. Another friend told

me that he does the Gayatri mantra on an extended basis while

commuting to his work and back involving more than an hour in the

company cab each way. He has a hand-held counter and does the

japa. The time he does this is often at odd hours.

 

Here is a quote from the book 'Yoga Enlightenment and Perfection':

 

//About the Gàyatri-mantra into which one is initiated during

upanayana, it is said in the sUta-samhitaa (IV.6.59):

 

(What need is there, O BràhmaNa-s, to say much? By the performance

of Gayatri-mantra japa and homa, a person gets all that he desires.

There is no room here for doubt.)

 

In the Manu-Smriti, it is said (II.79):

(He for whom the upanayana has been performed is freed from even a

great sin, like a snake from its sloughed skin, by chanting the

Gàyatri-mantra, together with the PraNava (Om) and the Vyàhriti-s

(BhUH, BhuvaH, SuvaH), a thosand times at a place outside the

village (such as on the bank of a river or in a forest).)

 

Sri Srinivasa Sastry (later Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha

SwaminaH of Sringeri) used to perform His nityakarmà (scripturally-

ordained religious observances to be practised regularly) with

meticulous care. Acharyal told me in 1972, "I felt a great fondness

for the Gàyatri-mantra and started chanting it mentally whenever I

could, right from the day of My upanayana. In about a month's time,

I was able to do so even while engaged in My regular activities. I

was happy to find that I soon mentally repeated the Gàyatri during

My dreams too. I did not disclose My practice to anyone."//

 

The above shows that there is no harm in doing the Gayatri japa

mentally at any time of the day. Further, in the Gita, the Lord

says 'sarveshu kAleshu MAm anusmara..'. This remembering of the

Lord at all times is facilitated by taking up a mantra. This

becomes a practice and one finds later that the chanting is going on

even as one is not conscious of it. The Gayatri is no exception to

this.

 

Warm regards,

subbu

Om Tat Sat