The Gayatri Mantra is one of the most powerful Mantras from the Rig Veda. Gayatri is derived from the root word Gayatra which in Sanskrit means a song or a chant. Surya Dev is a sky deity. He is the Pratyaksha Devata as he is visible and the Gayatri Mantra is a prayer in tribute to the Surya Devata.
Surya is a life giving force associated with energy, warmth and fertility. Gayatri is linked to Savitr a solar deity in the Vedas. Devi Gayatri is the Mother of all Gods. Her divinity includes in her Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and also, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. So when one recites the Gayatri Mantra he will be blessed with wisdom, wealth and valour.
The Gayatri Mantra acts as a Kavacham that makes an armour around our body giving us protection guidance and enlightenment. Devi Gayatri is also called as Ved Mata – the Mother of the Vedas. She is depicted as having four arms symbolising the four Vedas.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagwan Krishna states, ”I am the Gayatri verse sung daily by the initiated.”
ॐ भूर् भुवः स्वः।तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं।भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि।धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
When translated the above Gayatri Mantra means, ”We meditate on the Glory of the Creator; who has created the Universe; Who is worthy of worship; Who is the embodiment of Knowledge and light; Who is the remover of all sin and ignorance. According to Shri Aurobindo, ”The Sun is the symbol of the divine light that is coming down and Gayatri gives expression to the aspiration asking that Divine light to come down and give impulsion to all activities of the mind.”
During the Upanaayana ceremony for young males and during other rituals the Gayatri Mantra is recited. It is said that Rishi Vishwamitra first uttered the Gayatri Mantra on Jyeshta Shukla Dashmi Day and this day is observed as Gayatri Jayanti when Rishi Vishwamitra shared the divinity of the Gayatri Mantra to the world.
Scholars from western countries too have acknowledged the efficacy of the Gayatri Mantra. Dr. Howard Steingeril, an American Scientist, collected Mantras, hymns and invocations from all over the world and after testing their strength at a Physiology laboratory observed that the Gayatri Mantra produced 110,000 sound waves per second. This was the highest and found to be most powerful hymn in the world through combination of sound and sound waves of a particular frequency.
This Mantra is skilled of developing specific spiritual potentialities. Hamburg University initiated research to find the efficacy of the Gayatri Mantra, both on the mental and Physical plane of creation.
Gayatri Mantra is broadcasted daily for 15 minutes from 7 pm onwards over Radio Paramaribo Suriname, South America for the past two years and in Amsterdam and Holland for the last six months.
–by Indira Satyanarayan