Gayatri mantra and the story behind it

 

There is a big problem with Sanatan dharma (Hinduism); since it is as old as time itself, it is completely distorted, one theory contradicts others, there are countless debates also manmade stories but we can always learn from these stories just as an ant cleverly eats sugar from a sugar / sand mixture

 

One such story is of the king Kaushik who later came to be known as Vishvamitra

 

While travelling with his army king Kaushik halted at the ashram of Brahmarishi Vashista who was able to feed the entire army because he was gifted with kamadhenu, a miraculous cow of plenty who provides her owner whatever he desires. The king had all resources but like always the more you get the less you have, so now the king desired to have Kamadhenu, when the sage refused he tried to take away the cow by force (are not all rulers / lawmakers like that, always above and misusing the law)

 

This time instead of life giving food, an army came out of Kamadhenu who soon defeated the entire army of the shocked king. Angry with a bruised ego he wanted to take revenge and get the cow by all means, realizing the limitations of human strength, he turned towards penance (tapasya), after all ascetic practices carried out to achieve spiritual power, he became a Rajrishi, having control of the elements which he could also use in a destructive way

 

He attacked and destroyed Vashista’s ashram also killed his sons but could not manage to harm Vashista who simply kept his spiritual staff in front of him as a shield, humiliated for the second time, now the king wanted to be a  Brahmarishi so that he may have the same powers as Vashista rishi

 

Here starts his journey, where he renounced his kingdom, all the luxuries he was used to, even simple food and at a later state even his breath was brought to the bare minimum required. There were many instances during this journey which freed him of his greed, jealousy, anger, and other negative emotions, like the episode with menka where he could free himself of the attachment towards a woman. 

 

Now the time came when he could be declared as a Brahamrishi; he wanted to accept the title in the presence of Vashista.

 

Vashista appeared and this time too he blessed him like he used to bless him before, Kaushik was expecting to be greeted by Vashista as a Brahamrishi, since they were equals now and not be blessed by him, since blessing is only given to the one who is lower than own self, by now having overcome his hate and anger, he had the ability to self reflect on himself, as to why  Vashista still did not consider him to be the equal to him and he got his final awakening, he realized the nature of his ego, the futile quest / ego exercise to become a Brahamrishi just to let Vashista  down, he reflected on his wrong doings, now he did not feel like accepting the title and the powers. This was the time, sensing the positive change in him; Vashista greeted him as he would greet a Brahamrishi and addressed him as a Brahamrishi

 

Kaushik had become a Brahamrishi solely on virtue of his penance (tapasya) without any help from anyone; his story is an example of what a human could achieve solely on basis of will power and strength, he had also gone against the God’s to create a separate constellation, the heaven for trishanku. Knowing this quality about him the God’s requested him to find a solution to guide humans in the dark ages.

 

So once again after his countless years of penance, he once again went into deep mediation and from ether he extracted the 24 syllables of the Gayatri mantra and gifted it for the benefit of mankind; hence he came to be known as Vishvamitra—the friend of the universe (vishva meaning universe and mitra meaning friend)

 

Tat

sa

vi

tur

va

re

ṇi

yaṃ

 

bhar

go

de

va

sya

dhī

ma

hi

 

dhi

yo

yo

naḥ

pra

cho

da

yāt

 

 

Note: while chanting vare ṇi yam it is treated as vare ṇyam, that is ni is not pronounced

The Gayatri mantra is in the Rig Ved. Ved is the highest intuition possible for a being, since all knowledge is stored in ether from where it is invited; nothing is invented by human only invited from ether

 

Upper caste believe that only they have the right to chant the Gayatri mantra, if that was the case Vishvamitra would have been named brahmin mitra (friend of Brahmins and not as a vishva mitra—friend of the universe)

 

Click below link to read the inspirational story of how the Ashtakshari mantra--“Om Namo Narayana”  was given to all irrespective of caste

 

https://bhoj11.blogspot.com/2012/07/ramanuja-saint-who-broke-tradition-for.html

 

Now most of the recensions / sakhas of the Vedas are lost because of the Brahmin’s who were the custodians of the Vedas they have done nothing except turning religious places into business houses, amassing wealth and looking down on their fellow beings

 

We can gain from the story of a mortal who overcame all human vices and on basis of his will power and strength alone became so useful to society, that he came to be known as Vishvamitra—the friend of the universe.

 

In the dark ages we are orphaned spiritually with no guidance, we have to find our own way amidst endless suffering. The Gayatri mantra develops our Buddhi (intellect) with which we can differentiate between right and wrong (the difference between a human and an animal is that humans  have buddhi / intellect) In a society which is constantly trying to make us into something else, politicians and religious leaders use mind control, it is for us to sharpen our buddhi / intellect

 

Before we chant any Ved mantra we touch our head and mention the name of the Rishi who gifted us this mantra (alike placing his feet on our head)  touch our nose and name the Chandas or  Vedic metre of the mantra, since the mantra would have been distorted in time had the Vedic meter not followed, hence Vedic meter is as important as breath, hence we touch nose, no life without breath similarly no life in the mantra without its chandas (the vedic meter of Gayatri mantra is Gayatri) then touch the heart and name the presiding deity of the mantra

So in the case of Gayatri mantra

touch	say
head	vishwamitra rishihi	विश्वामित्र ऋषि:
Nose	Gayatri chandah	गायत्री छंद:
heart	Savita Devta	सविता देवता

 

There is a longer version of the Gayatri mantra form Yagur Ved which is explained in this video, also the meaning and correct pronunciations are given in this video

 

Longer version of the Gayatri mantra, not used for chanting but during sandhya prayers and pranayam

 

ॐभूः ॐभुवः ॐस्वः

ॐमहः ॐजनः ॐतपः ॐसत्यम्

ॐ तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गोदेवस्यधीमहि

धियोयोनःप्रचोदयात्।

ॐआपोज्योतीरसोऽमृतं ब्रह्म भू र्भुवः स्वरोम्॥

 

Om Bhuuh Om Bhuvah Om Svah

Om Mahah Om Janah Om Tapah Om Satyam

Om Tat-Savitur-Varennyam Bhargo Devasya Dhiimahi

DhiyoYo Nah Pracodayaat |

Om AapoJyotiiRaso[a-A]mrtam Brahma Bhuur-BhuvahSvar-Om ||

 

 

There is a verse in the Ramayana which also helps to develop buddhi / intellect (as told by the Shankaracharya of Govardhan math Swami Nischalananda Saraswati)

 

जनकसुता जग जननि जानकी । अतिसय प्रिय करुनानिधान की ॥

ताके जुग पद कमल मनावउँ ॐ जासु कृपा निरमल मति पावउँ ॥

 

janakasuta jag janani janaki. atisay priy karunanidhan ki॥

take jug pad kamal manavun. jasu kripan niramal mati pavun

 

This is the video of the above verse

 

Research reports on the benefit of chanting the Gayatri mantra, both for ourselves as well on behalf of others are available on the net.

 

May we all chant this great mantra and purify our buddhi / intellect

 

Speaking about mantras, the maha mantra which ISKON--The International Society for Krishna Consciousness followers chant is taken from the Kali-Santarana Upanishad also called Kalisantaraṇopaniṣad. When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu promulgated the Mahamantra, it was rendered with Krishna's name's first, the original maha mantra is with Ram’s name first

 

Hare Ram Hare Ram , Ram Ram Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna , Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

 

The pronunciation of word RAM is same as pronouncing OM—first lips are open then closed, but if you say rama instead of ram, the lip moment is open-close-open

 

OM is the moola (root) mantra of the Vedas, hence it contains all that is in the Vedas