Gayatri Mantra

Aum ! Earth, Space and the Heavens
Let That Savitur adorable, Luminous divinity energize my Mind
and stimulate and intellect.

Gayatri is the auspicious hymn which Mahabharata designates as the essence of the Veda, the Wisdom, which one sources like the bees which source honey from the flowers which bloom. Gayatri is said to be the very life-essence of Veda, because without Gayatri Wisdom is lifeless –
.
It helps the singer to swim across from sinking in obscurity -

Sri Shankaracharya explains the nature of illumination- Since the mantra fortifies the organs it is known as Gayatri and by suggestion the organs also are called Gayatri – It is an appeal to the supreme Consciousness to illumine the intellect by which the individual self within will be enlightened to the universal Self without.

In vedic philosophy the prior and the posterior are referred as - the Prime Existence and the effulgence, together referred as , the Prime Existence, ‘That’ and ‘This’, one being the world beyond and the other being this world here, the essence and the form, the essence not being different from the form, the form not being different from the essence, the Prime Existence being both the essence and the form, the essence being concealed by the form. ‘That’ is unseen but is the seer, unheard but the hearer, unthought but the thinker, unknown but the knower. ‘This’ is what is seen, what is heard, what is thought, and what is known.

Manifestation is not compulsion for the Prime Existence but an impulsion, a sudden desire, inclination, urge to become effulgent, even when manifestation ceasing to be and the Existence continues to be, even as dew drop ceasing to be the water continue to be, even as ice ceasing to be and the water remaining to be. Therefore, on being manifest as the form there is no diminution in the undifferentiated essence, the Consciousness. Upanishads speaks : -
- That was Complete, This is Complete; from Complete is the Complete evolved. The Complete having evolved, the Complte remained Complete. Upanishads speaks of this state as ‘Where, verily, everything has become the Self, then by what and by whom should one smell .. see .. hear .. speak .. think .. understand another? By what one should know that by which all this known?’.As Sri Aurobindo mentioned ‘Life is involved in Matter and Mind in Life because in essence Matter is a form of veiled Life. Life is a form of veiled Consciouness’.

The seeker, therefore, prays Pushan – The face of the Prime Existence is covered by the golden disc. Unveil it, O Pushan, so that I who adore the Prime Existence may see it. The seer of Gayatri mantra likewise, making Earth, Space and the Heavens as the witness, prays for Savitur, That adorable, Luminous divinity beyond the visible gross Sun to energize his Mind and stimulate and intellect, the essence of the Gayatri mantra being experienced with the form of Savitur as the basis - as Sri Shankarachaarya says. In Mahabharata Sanatsujatiya declares that just as moon is pointed out pointing branch of the tree, even so Veda the wisdom is revealed using vedic scriptures as the pointer -

Manifestation is not compulsion for the Prime Existence but an impulsion, a sudden desire, inclination, urge to become effulgent, even when manifestation ceasing to be and the Existence continues to be, even as dew drop ceasing to be the water continue to be, even as ice ceasing to be and the water remaining to be. Therefore, on being manifest as the form there is no diminution in the undifferentiated essence, the Consciousness. Upanishads speaks :
- That was Complete, This is Complete; from Complete is the Complete evolved. The Complete having evolved, the Complte remained Complete. Upanishads speaks of this state as ‘Where, verily, everything has become the Self, then by what and by whom should one smell .. see .. hear .. speak .. think .. understand another? By what one should know that by which all this known?’.As Sri Aurobindo mentioned ‘Life is involved in Matter and Mind in Life because in essence Matter is a form of veiled Life. Life is a form of veiled Consciouness’.

In vedic philosophy the prior and the posterior are referred as - the Prime Existence and - the effulgence, together referred as , the Prime Existence, ‘That’ and ‘This’, one being the world beyond and the other being this world here, the essence and the form, the essence not being different from the form, the form not being different from the essence, the Prime Existence being both the essence and the form, the essence being concealed by the form. ‘That’ is unseen but is the seer, unheard but the hearer, unthought but the thinker, unknown but the knower. ‘This’ is what is seen, what is heard, what is thought, and what is known.

Every seeker is enjoined to seek Savitri or Gayatri for intellectual receptivity to access and integrate oneself with the vigour and energy to be enlightened of the wisdom of the Divine Essence, since it alone transports one from non-Existence to the Prime Existence, from obscurity to illumination, from mortality to immorality – The Path to be tread is difficult to be accessed since it is concealed with the flashing things in manifestation. Sharp as edge of a razor, hard to cross and difficult to tread is the Path to Perfection, so the sages declare –

The sages call ! Earth, Space and the Heavens as the eternal sentinels from the beginning, (if there was anything like the beginning and anything like the end), who witnessed the immutable, ungraspable, all-pervading, omni-present subtle and undecaying Prime Existence and the manifest world of diverse effulgence. The seeker, therefore, chooses to internalize his search using the gross Sun in the sky to seek That Savitru – just as moon is searched using branch of the tree as the pointer and expects with sustained austerity and penance, to hear the strange sound, which can only be called the sound of the Prime Existence itself.

Maitri Up. (VI.7) suggests that the splendour of Savitru, existing in the Aditya-Savitru should be sought by those desirous of the Self, so say the communicators of the wisdom of Brahman –
Further, may we meditate on the splendour of the divine, Savitru verily being the divinity. Therefore, the seers says, I meditate as that which is referred as his splendour, so say the communicators of the wisdom of Brahman –
Now splendour is that which is concealed in the yonder Sun, therefore Sun is called having the form of splendour –

Seeing the Sun in the sky as the source of the gross light illumining the animate and inanimate world, the Seer uses Sun as the symbol That, even as Krishna used in Bhagavad Gita – and
is nothing else than the luminous Consciousness. the Infine and the Absolute.

It is difficult to reduce that sound into language and cannot be spoken except going back as far back as we can go, Gayatri, represented not by any symbol or image but by secondary assistance, which is beyond any symbol or image. Therefore, Gayatri is heard not by seeing the Sun in the sky but by being receptive to the sound waves stirring and reverberating within when your sense and mind remain silent, even the intellect not stirring, the thoughts waves, all thinking and language ceasing in pure silence, with not even a ripple. Suddenly there is a flash of light, roll of thunder, like winking of the eye, with nothing in sight, except luminous Light, simply the very essence of all existence, verily the Prime Existence.

It is not realization but only remembering, what was forgotten. It is a communion, not a communication intense personal communion, transmission beyond the mantra, using the words are only as the medium for recollecting That which is beyond the words, That being only the real content the Sun in the sky and the words of the mantra being only the container. If you emphasize Sun, the container then you miss the content – Savitru the divine luminous spirit.

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Nagesh Sonde

Gayatri Mantra