GREATNESS OF GAYATRI MAHA MANTRAM

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE GREATNESS OF GAYATHRI MAHA MANTHRAM
(By Raghavarao, Duggirala.)


FREMONT, Dt.14th July, 2008.



Gayathri Maha Manthram is a very sacred and powerful manthra bestowed on mankind by Brahmarshi Viswamithra. It is a manthra embedded in Vedas. The creator of this maha manthra is Brahmarshi Viswamithra, who derived his strength in defeating Brahmarshi Vasishtha or acquiring the stage of 'BRAHMARSHI', the ultimate status of knowledge and enlightenment equivalent or next to God.


2. As you might have seen in Viswamithra Hindi TV serial on Doordarshan ( Dasari Narayanarao's one of the best puranic serial on TV - not NTR's feature film), Devi Gayathri has taken form out of 'amsas' of trinity - Brahma, Vishnu, Maheswara and their consorts Maha Saraswati, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Sakthi Parvati. It is a boon granted to mankind by the God through the medium of Viswamithra, for obtaining enlightenment, the final stage.

3. The creation of Gayathri and formation of Maha Manthram has been very well picturised in this TV serial. It is one TV serial where recitation of veda manthras in Krishna Yajurveda style had been embedded and I attribute the entire success of serial to these veda manthrams where a lot of time has been spared. The other TV serial where preference has been given to veda manthras is again a Hindi serial Chanakya where veda manthras have been recited in Sukla Yajurveda style. In this serial, the recitation of Namakam and Chamakamin Sukla Yajurveda style, appears in a number of episodes. Of course, here I note with regret, both these serials have been abruptly ended/closed because the DD Authorities have not granted extension of two or more episodes for proper completion of the serials. You will see the present day serials are running years together and are unending?

4. In Chanakya TV serial we see one man's wish and untiring efforts to keep the country united and he struggled throughout his life to achieve this object. He succeded in his efforts and hence he became a legend. I felt that this serial should be shown in schools so that the future generation will also see the importance of one Nation - one praja.

5. Brahmajnanis became most powerful by reciting this maha manthra and they have made this maha manthra part and parcel of their daily prayers embedding the same in 'sandhya vandanam'. They preferred gurusthanam to ruling Kingdoms. The recital of Gayathri Maha Manthra is known to grant brilliance of intellect and guide one's thoughts in the rifght direction. It is said that for the siddhi of this maha manthra, one has to repeat it consciously a number of times / a lakh of times for each letteri n the manthra eg., Gayathri Maha Manthra has 28 letters and hence 28 lakh times. In the life history of Swamy Chinmayananda, the exponent of Bhagavadgitha, I have read that he stayed for about an year in Gangothri in Himalayas for the purpose of reciting Gayathri Mahamanthram - akshara lakshas / 28 lakh times. You know the result. He has been gifted with oratory skills unparallel in explaining the Bhagavadgitha and ultimate bliss.

6. Here is the text of Gayathri Maha Manthra --

Om bhu rbhu va svah ta tsa vi tu rva re nyam bha rgo de va sya dhee ma hi
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

dhee yo yo nah pra cho da yat.
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

7. Vedantis and Brahmarshis proclaimed that Om is the basis of everything - earth, the space in between and the heavens and cosmos. We invoke that Lord who is the form of entire universe in the form of the SUN, the pratyaksha narayana. We meditate upon the greatness and splendor of that efflugent, all-knowing and all-pervading Lord. May he brighten our minds and direct our intellects in the right direction - just as the SUN brightens and illuminates everything in the universe.

8. As I said earlier, 0m is the Lord. Bhuh, bhuvah and svah are mystical utterances, representing this world in which we live, the intermediate world, and the heavens, that bring auspiciousness. These three also denote sat, chit and ananda. Om is equal to bhuh, bhuvah, and svah which signify the Lord. Om bhurbhuvah svah is followed by the actual Gayathri Manthra, which has two verses or two parts.

9. The first part or line of Gayathri Maha Manthra is tat sa viturva renyam bhargo devasya dheemahi. Dheemahi, means meditating upon, bhargo, the splendor, which is described as varenyam, the most adorable whose splendor or glory is this? Tat Savituh devasya (tatsavitu -letters 6 to 9), the splendor and glory of the self-effulgent SUN - the pratyaksha narayana. This is a prayer to all pervading, all illuminating, all brightening Lord who manifests in the form of SUN.

10. The second part or line of the maha manthra is - dhee yo yo nah pra cho da yat. Means, let Lord guide our thoughts. The prayer is - may the self-shining, self-effulgent, self-illuminating deity guide our thoughts in proper direction.


11. Light, illumination, stands for knowledge and its awakening. So, a prayer to the Lord in the form of illumination and light in the form of SUN becomes a prayer of knowledge and its acquisition. The SUN symbalises, the Lord who is of the nature of knowledge. The Lord, formless, is thousand times brighter and more illuminating than the SUN visible to our naked eye. That is the reason when Lord Krishna shown his viswaroopam in Kurusabha, people could not see with the human natural eyes; but required divya chakshus, divine eyes. The prayer in the Gayathri Mahamanthra is a prayer direct to the pratyaksha narayana, the SUN, seeking his grace to inspire our thoughts and give our minds the same brilliance that is in his nature. As the SUN symbalises Eswara, the Lord, our prayer in the maha manthra is direct to the Eswara, the Lord, seeking His grace to guide us to attain him and reach his padapankaja. Our atma is also a part of the self-shining paramata, and hence this prayer also seeking the grace of our own self to illuminate our thoughts and to guide our minds in the right direction. This also precisely is the teaching of Ramana Maharshi, who envisaged enquiry into 'I' i.e., the self.


Om tat sat - Ssanti, Ssanti. Ssantihi.