Power of Gayatri Mantra

[15/09, 8:53 PM] Ajay Chennai: Om Sri Sairam

*Gayatri Mantra- Post #1*

(All Quotes are Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s except where someone else is attributed)

*What is the Gayatri Mantra?*

“The Gayatri Mantra is the Universal Prayer enshrined in the Vedas, the most ancient Scriptures of Man. Repetition of this Mantra will stimulate and develop the Intelligence.”

Swamy Sivananda-“Of all the Mantras, the Supreme and the most potent power of powers is the great, glorious Gayatri Mantra.”

Gita “Among all education, I am spiritual education;  among all poetries and mantras, I am the poetry and mantra of Gayatri; among living beings, I am their prana; among mountains, I am Mount Meru (the collective Meru mountains of current Tajikistan, Cambodia-Angkor Vat and Tibet), among women, I am their fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience; among the senses I am the mind; among months I am November and December, among cheats, I am their gambling, among punishments I am their rod of chastisement; among secrets, I am their silence; among those seeking victory, I am their morality....”

Swamy Keshavadas -The Gayatri Mantra is the key to opening the door of Cosmic Consciousness.

*Who can speak or chant the Gayatri Mantra?*

“The Gayatri Mantra is a Prayer that can well be spoken with yearning by men and women of all creeds and climes in all centuries.”

“There are many who argue that the Pranava can be repeated only by a few, and that others are not entitled to it. This is wrong. This false conclusion has been arrived at since they do not know the Truth. It springs from a mistaken belief. The Gita does not mention this group or that group. Krishna declares 'whoever' without any qualifying words limiting it to one class or sex." – Geeta Vahini

“The Gayatri Mantra is the elaboration of the Pranava Sabda or OM. It is now held so venerable and valuable that initiation into the Adhyatmic life is achieved by its contemplation.”

Mahatria- “There are only two mantras which can unlock and open up all the seven chakras in the body. One is Pranava and the other is the extension and elaboration of Pranava- the Gayatri Mantra.

In the olden days, while men ventured out to provide for the family, women remained at home and did not have opportunity to expend their physical, psychological and spiritual energies. That is why Gayatri Mantra was prohibited for women because it unlocked huge spiritual energies within them. Today both men and women go out of the house; both men and women work very hard to provide for their families and both of them spend more energy than what they derive from breath, sleep, food and mediation. That is why the Gayatri mantra is not only a prescribed sadhana but also an extreme necessity for obtaining additional source of energy today to meet life demands of both the genders.”

Swami Vivekananda “Vedas and the Gayatri Mantra must be propagated among all, as before during the times of Ramayana, irrespective of caste, creed, sex or religion. Women should also perform Sandhya as did Sita, in the olden times”

Jai Sairam
[15/09, 8:54 PM] Ajay Chennai: Om Sri Sairam

*Gayatri Mantra- Post #2*

*When should the Gayatri Mantra be recited?*

(All Quotes are of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s except where someone else is attributed)

“The Gayathri mantra has to be recited three times a day--- in the morning at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset. These are called "Sandhya Kaalam"---the time of coming together of night and day, of morning and evening, and of day and night.”

“Time, like man, has three qualities: Sathwa, Rajas and Thamas (poised, passion and inertia). The day is divided into three parts. The four hours between 4 and 8 a.m. in the morning and between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the evening have the Sathwa (equanimous) quality. The eight hours between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. are Rajasic (Passionate). The eight hours between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. which are mainly used for sleep, are Tamasic (inaction). The eight hours of the day (from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) are employed by all beings, including animals and birds, in the discharge of their day to day duties and are regarded as Rajasic (active pursuit). When the four Satwic hours of the morning (4 a.m. to 8 a.m.) are used for engaging oneself in good actions like worship, virtuous deeds, keeping good company, one is sure to raise, himself from the human to the Divine level. It is during the Satwic period (from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.) the Gayathri mantra should be recited”

“The Gayatri Mantra can be recited at any time, at any place and any number of times in a day."

"Internal Purity as well as external and the location where it is chanted makes Gayatri more effective.”

"Whether in a bus or a car or a railway station...in a bazaar or in a road..the Gayatri can be chanted."

"Same place and same set of pure clothes allow the vibrations from the spiritual sadhana or Gayatri to accumalate..."

Pandit Shrirama Sharma “Experience shows that there is maximum absorption of this energy during the sandhya times where the gross, subtle and causal body is permeated by the illuminary energy of Savitha”

J Swamy “Man suffers from three forms or desires or struggles and these are call tapatrayas- three forms of heat. They are physical (desire for sensual gratification), mental (desire for psychological satisfaction- through power, position, relationships and through bounties/protection from calamities of nature- health, fortituous environments etc) and spiritual (desire for happiness and completeness)- Adhi-Bhautika,  Adhi-Daivika, or Adhyaatmika. At dawn- Sandhya all these desires are in alignment and the recitation of Gayatri alleviates the three tapatrayas”

Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati “There are three states of transition of consciousness. From Walking to Dreaming (Unmani- No Mind- free of thoughts), from Dreaming to Deep Sleep (Aladani- manifestation of subconscious vasanas and samskaras) from Deep Sleep to Turiya (Samadhi). These three states can be invoked during Sandhya and the recitation of Gayatri reduces any negative effects that may arise therefrom"

Jai Sairam
[16/09, 12:00 PM] Ajay Chennai: Om Sri Sairam

*Gayatri Mantra- Post #3*

*When should the Gayatri Mantra be recited (continued)?*

(All Quotes are of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s except where someone else is attributed)

“When you bathe, the body is being cleansed; let your mind and intellect also be cleansed. Make it a point to repeat it when you bathe as well as before every meal, when you wake from sleep, and when you go to bed. And also repeat shanthi (peace) thrice at the end, for that repetition will give peace to three entities in you --body, mind, and soul.”

So our Swamy recommends that we chant the Gayatri Mantra
(1) Before every meal
(2) When we wake up from bed
(3) When we go to bed.

Swamy Sivananda “A man can repeat Gayatri mentally in all states while lying, sitting, walking etc. There is no sin of commission and omission of any sort in its repetition. One should thus perform chant the Gayatri Mantra three times every day, in the morning, noon and evening.

Swamy Sivananda “Get up at 4 a. m. in Brahmamuhurta and start Japa and meditation on Gayatri sitting on Padmasana, Siddhasana or Virasana, facing North or East. Burn incense in the room. The incense is symbolic of the purification of the environment and the seeker. In summer you can take a bath. In winter you can simply wash your face, hands and feet and do achamana only. Have another sitting at night between 7 and 8 p. m. Constantly feel that you are receiving light, purity and wisdom from Gayatri”

*Should the Gayatri Mantra be recited or meditated upon? Should it be chanted in the open or secretly?*

“Gayatri has three elements- Adoration, Meditation and Prayer”

Swamy Nirmuktananda “The beginner chants the Gayatri Mantra. The sound connects him to the form of Gayatri which helps in adoration. Further, Gayatri is a prayer too. The petition to stimulate and awaken the intellect is made orally.  Thus the mantra is chanted by one who begins the Gayatri Sadhana”

K Narayanaswamy  “If you feed any sound into an oscilloscope, every sound has a form attached to it. Similarly, every form also has a sound attached to it. Every form in the existence is reverberating in a certain way and creates a certain sound. When you utter a sound, a form is being created. There is a whole science of using sounds in a particular way so that it creates the right kind of form. We can create powerful forms by uttering sounds in certain arrangements. This is known as the Nada Yoga, the yoga of sound. If you have mastery over the sound you also have mastery over the form that is attached to it. Sanskrit is one language where form and sound are connected. Sanskrit is like a blueprint of the existence. What is in form, we converted into sound. Therefore for a mantra to be effective, it is chanted orally. Its intonation has to be correct even if one does not know its meaning because it invokes the related form"

Pt. Shrirama Sharma “The advanced seeker meditates on Gayatri”

Swamy Karunananda (not Karunyanananda in Sathya Sai Tapovan), “Secret and sacred went together in the orient from time immemorial. Anything that is kept secret is considered a sacred thing, contrary to the occident. In the occident, anything that you need to be ashamed of was always kept secret.

In India, you will always keep your weaknesses out in the open. Anything you feel sorry for, any sinful or wrong act, you will keep it open infront of your parents, or Guru or your friend. Untruth was never kept a secret but was kept open. Overtime, the weakness would get diluted and eventually eliminated. Secrecy was always something that is sacred and respecting and honouring the secretness was considered a very big virtue.

In the west that which is sacred was never kept a secret. Anything one needs to be ashamed of in one’s life was always kept secret. If one is keeping a secret, that means he/she is hiding something, one is away from truth. Lack of transparency, in the west, is associated with attachment, possessiveness and manipulative intent. Secrecy is considered as relating to something deceitful, trecherous, untruth, cunning and dishonest. These are the attributes that are conjoined with secrecy in the west.

These are two very different attitude towards secrecy between the east and the west. However, the secret of that which is secret is this- that which is kept as a secret grows and multiples- whether it is a vice or a virtue!

In India, you are close to the truth when you keep something secret. In India, anything that is secret is reverent, holy, personal, intimate, uplifting to entire community, loving and is connecting to the infinity, to the divinity. These are the attributes joined to secrecy here in India. That is why mantras are given as a secret.  

When Gayatri Mantra is given, during Upanayanam and Brahmopadesam, they take a blanket and cover the parent’s, the child’s and the teacher’s head and then the child will be given the mantra secretly in his right ear.

Thus, chanting the Gayatri mantra with fingers and torso covered by a cloth, in a secluded place with no intrusion of any other person and chanting orally or mentally or meditation on the form in secrecy honors the effectiveness of the mantra. That does not mean in today’s day and age Gayatri Mantra cannot be chanted in public in the open. It can be. The relationship between the secrecy, growth and effectiveness should however be understood

Jai Sairam
Om Sri Sairam

*Gayatri Mantra- Post #4*

Sound is synonymous with Brahma. It is Brahma from whom the original first creative vibration issues forth resulting in seven-time chanting of OM. Just as the pendulum of a clock keeps on moving by swinging to and fro, in the same way the sound waves of Om create vibrations which regulate this creation.

Yogis have found that sound especially rendered to different ragas have an impact on mind, emotions and nature. Singing of Deepak-raga lights up extinguished lamps. It starts raining when megh-malhar tune is sung. ( If any one remembers the film Lagaan- the song sung by Aamir Khan Khan- Gagan Gagan was composed by AR Rehman in Megh Malar Raga and in the movie rain comes thereafter). The melody created by playing flute makes the snakes wave their hoods in synchronicity, deer gets swooned and cows start yielding more milk. The warbling of cuckoo incites passion. Even strong iron bridges may collapse by the sound created by the in-step, coordinated and rhythmic marching of a troop soldiers. The army is, therefore, forbidden to march rhythmically, in-step, while crossing a bridge. Dr. Hutchinson of America has achieved success and fame in curing several patients suffering from incurable and painful diseases by different musical sounds. In India, Tantriks keep a Thali (large metallic plate) on a pot and play it in a special rhythm and are capable of curing persons bitten by poisonous snakes, scorpions etc. and those suffering from thyroid goitre, Vishvel (poisonous creeper), ghosts, mania etc.

The masters of Mantra-Vidya know that words are uttered by different parts of the mouth such as, throat (larynx), tongue, teeth, lips and the root of the tongue. During speech, the nerve-fibres of the particular parts of the mouth from which sound emits stretch upto different parts of the body and put pressure on the corresponding glands. If particular glands of the person concerned are diseased or dysfunctional he starts stammering while uttering the specific words. There are many large and small, visible and invisible glands in the body. Yogis know that some specific energies lie hidden in these glands. The utterance of different words has its impact on different glands and by such impact the energy of these glands gets stimulated. Mantras have been composed on this basis.

There are twenty-four letters in Gayatri- Mantra which are related to twenty-four such glands located in the body which, on getting stimulated, activate and awaken the powers of righteous wisdom. By uttering Gayatri Mantra the sitar of the subtle (Sookshma) body of the seeker starts playing, tinkling at twenty four points, creating sound waves which impact important elements of the invisible world. It is this impact which becomes more and more pronounced and tangible through Gayatri Sadhana.

Jai Sairam

Om Sri Sairam

*Gayatri Mantra- Post #5*

*What is Gayatri the essence of?*

“Veda Vyas said

The essence of milk is butter

The essence of flower is honey

The essence of experience is truth

The essence of the Puranas is the aphorism- Help Ever, Hurt Never

The essence of the Vedas is the Gayatri”

Swamy once asked a student if he understood the meaning of meaning of Sai Suprabhatham which he chanted early that morning. He asked him the meaning of “Jignaasu Lokau pathishtathi Chaasramesmin”. The boy said “ Seekers of Truth from every land now are singing your name”

Swamy then asked “Who is a seeker of truth?” The boy was silent. For difficult questions, silence is often the best answer. If we give an half- baked answer from half baked knowledge, the probability of one’s answer being ripped apart by Swamy is very high. The boy admitted “I don’t know, Swamy”- Very safe strategy indeed!

“A Jignasu is one who is seeking truth with a spirit of enquiry. He must have a questioning mind. The Divine will definitely help all inquiring minds in their pursuit of truth. What is also needed is intensity and earnestness! One cannot have a leisurely attitude which asks questions about God at random, not even waiting for the answer. Such an effort will not help to reveal the profound depths of truth.

Butter is present in the milk, but it needs churning to bring it out; Honey is present in a flower but it needs extraction from the comb using centrifugal force; so is the truth hidden in experience; it has to be churned out by inquiry and deep meditation.”

One has to thus make earnest intense effort, make inquiry and meditate deeply for the essence of Vedic Truth to be extracted through the process of chanting Gayatri

*Why is Gayatri the essence of Vedas?*

"They say that all the knowledge of Vedas has come from this mantra hence it is called as Mahamantra" Yajurveda

As per Brihadaryanka Upanishad "Gayatri is based on truth & truth is based on strength; strength is breath & breath is based on Brahman"

“Namaste Vayu. Tvameva Pratyaksham Brahmaasi” says the Shanthi Panchakam.

Veda means knowledge, and this prayer fosters and sharpens the knowledge -yielding faculty.

As a matter of fact the four core-declarations mahavakyas - Prajnanam Brahma, Ayam Atma Brahma, Tat Tvam Asi, Aham Brahma Asmi enshrined in the four Vedas are implied in this Gayatri mantra.

(to be continued)

Jai Sairam