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GAYATRI MANTRA |
Il Guru Mantra, la Perla dei Veda | |
| a cura di JB |
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| Below you can find the notes I've taken about Gayatri Mantra during my reasearches - which aren't completed, yet. If you can make any sense out of this apparently "scattered order", I'm certain you'll find this extremely useful.. otherwise, just wait until I collect all the informations that I need before writing a proper summary. | Qua sotto ci sono gli appunti (in inglese) che ho raccimolato durante le mie ricerche a proposito del Gayatri Mantra - ricerche non ancora concluse. Se riesci a raccapezzarti aldilà dell'apparente disordine, sono certo che troverai queste spiegazioni estremamente utili.. altrimenti, non hai che da aspettare ch'io finisca di raccogliere tutte le informazioni che mi occorrono prima di scrivere un riassunto ben fatto (così come si conviene all'estrema Importanza dell'argomento trattàto). |
DESCRIPTION OF GODDESS GAYATRI: Gayatri (along with Savitri and Saraswati) is the presiding deity of the morning prayer and rules over the Rigveda and the garhapatya fire. (Every householder was expected to keep 5 or 3 sacred fires in his house to perform Vedic rituals.) She is depicted seated on a lotus, with five faces representing the five lives/winds (pancha pranas /pancha vayus: prana, apana,vyana, udana, samana) and the five elements (pancha tatwas: prithvi, jala, vayu, teja, aakasha): earth, water, air, fire, sky. The five faces (Panchamukhi) also represent the 5 parts of the Gayatri mantra: 1)Aum 2)Bhur Bhuvah Suvaha 3)Tat Savitur Varenyam 4)Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi 5)Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat. She has 10 hands carrying the five ayudhas: shankha; chakra, kamala, varada, abhaya, kasha, ankusha, ujjwala utensil, rudrakshi mala. / Gayatri Devi is an incarnation of Saraswati Devi, consort of Lord Brahma, symbolising the "shakti" (strength) and "dev" (quality) of Knowledge, Purity and Virtue. Saraswati Devi is held to be the patronness of the Arts, being a poet and musician, as well as skillful composer. In the form of Gayatri Devi [she has] given the four Vedas to mankind. The Vedas are widely considered to be the source of all true knowledge, the word "Veda" itself meaning "Knowledge". Gayatri Devi also gave to mankind the "Gayatri Mantra" / Gayatri is the master of the senses. Savitri is the master of the life principle. When Gayatri acts as the protector of life forces, she is known as Savitri: Savitri protects those who lead a life of Sathya (truth). Saraswathi is the presiding deity of speech. Man has to earn the grace of Gayatri, Savitri and Saraswathi to sanctify his life. Gayatri, Savitri and Saraswathi are latent in everybody.
EXOTERIC STUFF: people all over the world are chanting this deeply moving prayer at the very same time [thrice a day according to tradition: morning (Praathah Sandhya), afternoon (Maadhyahna Sandhya) and evening (Saayam Sandhya) - but "Chanting the Gayatri Mantra for three times in a day, i.e., morning, afternoon and evening, is not enough. You should chant this Mantra incessantly. Why should you stipulate a particular time period for chanting His name who is beyond time? Sarvada Sarvakaleshu Sarvathra Harichinthanam, chant His name at all places, at all times and under all circumstances." (Sai Baba)] because great sins are said to be expiated by a pious recitation of this Gayatri verse, which is performed periodically in the precints (outdoors, depending on the weather conditions) of the Shiva-Vishnu Temple, to propititate the Lord. Ghee (rectified butter) is applied during the homa by all the participants seated around the homa-kunda. [sì, vabbè..] / Savitri, a woman of chastity, who brought her dead husband, Sathyavaan, back to life with the power of her prayer. [=Iside!] / Upanayanam be done at the age of eight. One who is initiated into the Gayatri Mantra at an early age will become highly intelligent.
HISTORICAL NOTES: Due to its great power, the Gayatri Mantra had become, over time, the sole property of the Brahmins, who abused their power to maintain a hold of the common people. The great Hindu reformer, Swami (often called Maharishi) Dayanand Saraswati however freed the mantra from the iron clutches of those corrupt people, and thus made it freely available to the entire world. Through this, as well as various other acts, he strove to distance the Hindu community from the false beliefs and superstitions that had crept into it, and bring about a reversion to the true, Vedic faith.
The words from the Gayatri can be interpreted as follows:
OM = If we examine the Vedic conclusion from it's most condensed aphorism to its most extensive expression, we shall find that it begins with omkara: the Vedic symbol OM, the Supreme name of God, the primeval sound (from which all sounds emerge), the perceptive vibration of the cosmos, the seed mantra which contains everything within it. Means "Throughout the experience of Life", all of existence, life, the Almighty, Brahma.
BHUR BHUVAH SWAH: refer to body (materialization), life force (vibration) and soul (radiation). These three words collectively are known as the "Mahavyahriti". The Mahavyahriti can be summed up by comparison to the word AUM itself, and through this comparison to the tripartite structure, can be compared to the essential nature of God, which differentiates Him from the other two entities recognised in that structure (namely, matter and soul), in the same way as the comparison between the three parts of the word Satchidananda, another name also used to describe God... (BHUR Prana Earth Sat Existence; BHUVAH Apana Sky Chit Consciousness; SWAH Vyana Heaven Ananda Bliss) The Mahavyahriti express the nature of God, and demonstrate his inherent qualities:
BHOOR = Coming. The physical world where we are (Bhu-loka, the world of our experience, which is nothing but the combination of materials. This denotes the human body, which is also a combination of materials.). The embodiment of vital spiritual energy (pran). He who is our inspirer. Prana Earth Sat Existence. / Firstly, the word Bhur implies existence. God is self-existent and independent of all. He is eternal and unchanging. Without beginning and without end, God exists as a continuous, permanent, constant entity. Secondly, the word Bhur can also mean the Earth, on which we are born and sustained. God is the provider of all, and it is through His divine will that we our blessed with all that we require to maintain us through our lives. Finally, Bhur signifies Prana, or life (literally, breath). God is That which gives life to all. Whilst He is independent of all, all are dependent on Him. It is God who has given us life, God who maintains us throughout our lives, and God alone who has the ability to take away our life, when He so chooses. The only permanent entity, all others are subject to His own will.
BHUVAH = Going (the life force, which makes the body move). The mental world. He who is our creator. Destroyer of suffering. Apana Sky Chit Consciousness. Buvarloka is the world of mental acquisition. It is the support, the background of our experience. Our present position of experience is the effect of our mental acquisition. That we are here in the world of experience is not an accident; we have acquired this position by our previous karma. The physical sphere, this present world of experience, is only the product, the outcome of our previous mental impulses. And the subtle world of previous karma, the mental sphere, is known as Bhuvarloka. / Bhuvah describes the absolute Consciousness of God. God is self-Conscious as well as being Conscious of all else, and thus is able to control and govern the Universe. Also, the word Bhuvah relates to God's relationship with the celestial world. It denotes God's greatness - greater than the sky and space, He is boundless and unlimited. Finally, Bhuvah is also indicative of God's role as the remover of all pain and sufferings (Apaana). We see pain and sorrow all around us. However, through supplication to God, we can be freed from that pain and hardship. God Himself is devoid of any pain. Though He is Conscious of all, and is thus aware of pain, it does not affect Him. It is our own ignorance that makes us susceptible to the effects of Maya, or illusion, which causes us to feel pain. Through true devotion to God, we can be freed from the clutches of Maya, and thus be rid of pain and sorrow.
SVAH = Balance. The plane of reason. Radiation, the Constant Integrated Awareness (Prajnana Shakti) which sustains the life force. Embodiment of happiness, the abode of supreme joy. Vyana Heaven Ananda Bliss. Sva-loka is the plane of reason, above Bhuvarloka. The mental world (Bhuvarloka) means acceptance and rejection: what to do and what not to do - "I like this, I don't like that." Sva-loka, however, is the plane of decision, the world of intelligence (Buddiloka). Our intelligence tells us, "You may like this, but you don't do that, for then you will be the loser." / Swah indicates the all-pervading nature of God. He is omnipresent and pervades the entire multi-formed Universe. Without Form Himself, He is able to manifest Himself through the medium of the physical world, and is thus present in each and every physical entity. In this way, God is able to interact with the Universe created by Him, and thus sustain and control it, ensuring its smooth and proer running and function. Also, Swah symbolises God's bliss. All but God experience pain, suffering and sorrow. Devoid of all such things, God alone is able to experience supreme bliss. Happiness as experienced by humans is temporary, a transient state of mental satisfaction, which soon dissolves back into the mire of worldy troubles. Perfect, and without any form of deficiency, God alone experiences true bliss, permanent and unaffected by worldly pains and woes. One who realises God is able to join in this bliss, and thus God is able to impart true happiness to those who establish oneness with that Supreme Divinity.
TAT SAVITUR, a reference again to God Himself
TAT = That; indicates the three planes of experience (BHUR+BUVAH+SVAH= this material world, which is composed of three general layers, bhur, the physical world, bhuvah, the mental world, and svah, the world of intelligence. Of course, a more detailed analysis will reveal seven layers: Bhur, Bhuvah Svah, Maha, Jana, Tapa, and Satyaloka. This has been dealt with in detail by Sanatana Goswami in his Brhad-Bhagavatamrtam. Here, these seven strata have been summarized in three planes of existence: physical, mental, and intellectual. And these three planes of experience have been summarized in a word, tat.), isness, pure being, God. That essential nature / Literally, this word means "that", being used in Sanskrit to denote the third person. It is also mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita by Sri Krishna Himself, where He implies the selfless nature of the word. Being used in the third person, the word has implicit in it an idea of selflessness. Sri Krishna uses it to imply the selfless nature of charity (charity, or a gift, being used as an analogy for worship, in the form of action, implying that action should be preformed without regard to its fruits, but simply out of devotion and sense of duty, or Dharma). Tat then is used here in the Gayatri Mantra to indicate that the worshipper is referring to [that] God, and that the praise being offered to God in the prayer is purely directed towards Him, without thought of gaining any personal benefit from that praise.
SAVITUR = Bright, luminous like the sun. Knowledge. Male principle. illuminating existence. The soul. He from whom all creations emerge. Surya, the Sun God who is our life source - and the sun means, figuratively, that which shows or illuminates; that by which we can see. The three gross and subtle strata within this world are shown to us by a particular thing, savitur. What it that? The soul. Actually, the world is not shown to us by the sun, but by the soul. What really gives us perception and allows us to see gross things? It is not actually the sun that helps us to see; we see with the help of the soul. This is found in Bhagavad-gita (yatha prakasayaty ekah krtsnam lokam imam ravih). The soul reveals this world to us just as the sun does. The sun can show color to our eyes, the ear can reveal the sound world, and the hand can reveal the touch world. But really in the center is the soul. It is the soul who gives light to this world, who gives us an understanding of the environment, the world of perception. All perception is possible only because of the soul. Here, the word savitur, which generally means sun, can only mean soul, like the sun, shows us everything. All seven strata of our existence-represented by bhur, the physical plane, bhuvah, the mental plane, and svah, the intellectual plane-have here been reduced to one entity: tat-"that." "That" is shown by the sun which in this context indicates the soul. Here soul means individual soul. The individual soul is the cause of his world. Not that the mind is in the world, but the world is in the mind. Berkeley has said that the world is in the mind. Here it is being expressed that everything is seen with the help of the sun. If there is no sun, everything is dark- nothing can be seen. So without light, nothing can be seen. And in a higher sense, light means the soul. The soul is the subject and the soul's object is the seven planes of experience within this world. / Savita, from which Savitur is derived, is another name of God, this being the reason that the Gayatri Mantra is often known as the Savitri Mantra. The implication of Savita is of God's status as the fountain, the source of all things. It is through His Divine Grace that the Universe exists, and so this word sums up the Mahavyahriti, by describing God's ability to create the Universe and sustain it, as well as, at the right time, bring about its dissolution. Savita is also indicative of God's gift to mankind. Humans also have, in limited amount, the power, or shakti, of Savita. This shakti acts as an impetus in humans, and brings about the requirement for them to do something. They cannot sit idle, and are constantly searching for something to do. This is what is commonly known as the "creative urge". It is through this shakti that mankind has created art, and it is through this shakti also that scientific advances are made. The gift of Savita also gives creatures the ability of procreation. Hence, Savita can be thought of as meaning Father (or Mother) also. Finally, it is the power of Savita that enables mankind to distinguish right from wrong, and vice from virtue. Through this ability, we are able to in some part direct our own selves, and thus, Savita imparts to us a certain self-guiding ability. Thus, by using this word in the mantra, we demonstrate that we are making efforts ourselves also, since God will not help us unless we are willing to help ourselves.
VARENYAM BHARGO DEVASYA. This triplet is a further description of the attributes and qualities of God, this time related, rather then to intrinsic qualities, to His functional and instrumental qualities, and through those qualities, His relationship to us, His Creation:
VARENYAM = the most adorable, worshipable and venerable (puja), desirable, enchanting, supreme. The best choice. Indicates that although within this plane - the objective world - that is the subject, there is another domain (Bhargo, the Supersoul area) which is to be venerated and worshipped by the soul. / Varenyam signifies our acceptance of God, and can be translated as meaning "Who is worthy". Ever ready to obtain all the material riches of the world, more often than not, they are a disappointment once they have been achieved. God however is the one who, once realised and achieved, has the ability to truly satisfy. We therefore accept Him as the Highest reality, and it is to Him that we dedicate our efforts. Varenyam can also be interpreted as signifying one who is eligible. We have chosen Him to be our Leader and our Guide. We place our all into His hands, and accept Him regardless of anything else. We place no conditions on this acceptance, as it is all out of sheer devotion.
BHARGO = Permeated with Magnificence. Luster or effulgence. The destroyer of sins. One. The super subjective area (svarupa-sakti), the area of the Supersoul (this is mentioned in the first verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam). Srila Vysadeva says that here he is going to deal with another world whose pristine glory is so great that by its own ray, all misconceptions are brushed aside. The subject is the soul, and its object is all these worlds of experience. And the super subject, is the venerable area which is superior to the subject, the soul - that is the super subjective area. The word bhargo means "more subtle than the soul" and "holding a more important position than the soul". So this means the Supersoul, the Paramatma. In general, of course, the word bhargo ordinarily means light. Just as an X-ray can show us what the ordinary eye cannot see, bhargo is svarupa-sakti: higher, more powerful light that can reveal the soul. What is the nature of the svarupa-sakti? It is the vaibava, the extend body of Srimati Radharani. She holds the full service responsibility and the energy to serve Krsna. bhargo is no less than the vaibava, the extended body of Srimati Radharani, which contains everything for the service of Krsna. Bhargo represents Mahabava, the predominated moiety, and deva, Krsna, is Rasaraja, the predominating moiety. Bhargo is like the sun, or "who shows us by light." Just as rays of light extend from the sun, the whole internal potency is an extension of Mahabhava, Sri Radhika. She has developed herself into such a beautiful area of brilliance, of internal energy, and thereby she serves her Lord. All these necessary things have sprung from her. To help her in serving her Lord, they all come out. When the entire internal energy is condensed in a concise form, it is Mahabhava, Radharani. And when Radharani wants to serve, she extends herself in limitless different ways. And the whole spiritual world evolves to assist Srimati Radharani in the service of Sri Krsna. / Bhargo is taken to signify the Glorious Light that is God's love and power. It indicates His complete purity. Being absolutely pure Himself, God also has the ability to purify those that come into contact with Him. Thus, Bhargo is indicative of God's power to purify, and to destroy all sins and afflictions. In the same way as a metal ore placed into a fire will yield the pure metal, by merging with God, by realising His Divine Form and establishing unity and oneness with Him, we can cleanse ourselves and be made pure by His Grace. Though the soul, being itself Divine in nature, possesses that Light, it lacks lustre, having been made impure by the sins and vices, which are a result of the darkness of Maya. By removing the veil of Maya, and cleansing our soul, God can enable the soul to realise its true, Divine self, and thus purify it.
DEVASYA = Divine. Intrinsically pure and brilliant. The Supreme Lord. Deva means "who is beautiful an playful," that is, Sri Krsna: Reality the beautiful. He is not a nondifferentiated substance, but is full of lila, pastimes. Deva means pastimes and beauty combined and this is Krsna, the One to whom that energy (bhargo) belongs to. His domain is bhargo, brilliant, and it is varenyam, to venerated by the jiva soul. / The word Deva .. is generally thought of as meaning simply "God". However, its meaning is more complex than that. Deva, which forms the root of the words "Devata" and "Devi", means "quality" or "attribute", and can be thought of as another word for "Guna". Thus it is that the various Forms of God are given this name, as each of those Forms is related to a specific quality and function (for example, Brahma has the quality of Creation, Kamadeva has the quality of love, etc.). Also, Deva is thus used to describe anyone who is considered to possess a special quality. Since Deva is symbolic of the individual qualities of God, the word demonstrates the inherent oneness of those different Forms, and thus the use of this word can be taken as describing the fundamental unity of God. Thus we see that here, we reaffirm that central belief in the Hindu Dharma that "Ekam sat viprah bahudah vadanti" (Truth, or God, is one, but wise men call Him/It by diffeerent names). Thus, Deva is indicative of the various multifaceted entity that is the absolute Personality of God. It describes in one word all the functions, roles and different attributes of God, and symbolises therefore his absolutely essential nature - without God, nothing can exist.
DHEEMAHI = Meditation-focused, absorbed. to meditate and focus the mind on God. Receiving. May all beings perceive through subtle and meditative intellect. "Come meditate over.. / be imbibed by..". Worship, adoration, loving service (aradhana, puja, seva). The word buddhi means that which we cultivate with the help of our intelligence. But here, dhee is a reference to that venerable intelligence which descends into this plane to help us cultivate service. So dheemahi does not mean abstract meditation, but devotional service. This is the underlying meaning of the gayatri mantra. {Himachala forms the boundary on the northern side of India. 'Hima' means ice. It is white in color and melts easily. Whiteness symbolizes purity. 'Achala' means that which is steady. Your Hridaya (heart) also should be like Himachala, pure and steady. It should melt with compassion. Hri + Daya = Hridaya. Daya means compassion. God resides in your heart only when it is pure, steady and full of compassion. But today human heart has lost purity and steadiness due to limitless desires. Life is a long journey and your desires are the luggage. "Less luggage more comfort make travel a pleasure." The journey of life will become enjoyable only when you reduce the luggage of desires. The lesser the desires are, the happier you will be. The Gayatri Mantra teaches that you should offer everything to God. Perform all your actions to please God (Sarva Karma Bhagavad Preetyartham). Only then you will be free from all difficulties and misery. When you show your back to the sun, your shadow will be ahead of you. It will fall behind you only when you stand facing the sun. Similarly, Maya (illusion), which is like your shadow, will overtake you when you turn your mind away from God. It can be overcome only when you turn your mind towards God. So, Help ever, Hurt never. This is the true devotion and surrender. Devotion does not mean offering worship or doing Bhajans. They are all external activities. All these are futile if there is no inner purity. [Sai Baba]} What sort of meditation is possible in that plane of dedication? Not abstract meditation, but service cultivation, "to participate in the spontaneous flow, the current of devotion" / Meditation on God implies that we remove all other thoughts from our mind, since thoughts of the world render our mind impure, and thus we are unable to conceptualise the absolute purity of God. We must be able to concentrate, and direct our mental energies towards the task in hand - ie communion with God. In this, we demonstrate that God is the most important thing to us, and that we value Him above all else.
DHIYO YO NAH PRACHODAYAT: prayer is carried out for four main reasons: to praise and glorify God; to thank God; to ask forgiveness from God; or to make a request from God. Having carried out the other three parts (praise of His greatness, thanks for His generosity in Creation and maintaining us through our lives, and forgiveness by demonstrating our awareness of our own impurity, which we have realised is present and must be cleansed through contact with God), this part is now our request from God. Since our soul is the Light of Life within us, and that acts on our body via the medium of the brain, we ask God to make this contact pure and righteous. The soul is of course inherently pure, being itself Divine in nature. The body is under the complete control of the mind. The link is the mind, which is affected not only by the soul, but also the outside world. We ask in these four words that God help us to improve our intellect, and guide it towards what is right.
DHIYO YO-NAH PRACHODAYAAT: inspire the Female principle (=service) in our intellects [JB] "Gayatri is the embodiment of the mother-principle. Mother loves the child. She has a form, but her love has no form. That love is God." [Sai Baba]
The result of DIYO YONAH PRACHODAYAT will be that the capacity of our cultivation will be increased. As we serve, a greater capacity and willingness to serve will be given to us in remuneration - just as interest is added to capital in the bank. In this way, our dedicating principle will be increased again and again.
DHIYO = Intellect (activities of the intellect, of meditation, of service) / Having firmly set God in our hearts, we now must try to emphasise His presence and influence on our mind and intellect. Material prosperity holds no true meaning for the person who is truly devoted to God. Pain and suffering are of no consequence to him as, touched by God, he is imbued with God's own Divine Bliss, and all worldy sorrows pale to nothingness in comparison. However, still the individual must live in the world. Thus, it is important that the person's intellect remains focussed on serving God, and that it is able, through the medium of the body, to serve God to the best of its ability. Physical objects can be obtained very easily, if one is intelligent enough to know how to go about it. Intellect however cannot be obtained, but must be there from the very first. It is by use of this intellect, in fact, that one is able to cultivate all other qualities (building of wealth, "success" in life (in material terms), physical fitness, etc.) Thus, intellect is the key to all else in life, and as such, it is the most important possession. We ask God in the Gayatri Mantra to gift us with the highest intellect, and to help us by showing us the way to use that intellect.
YO-NAH = the Female principle (also: YO=who/that NAH=us/our -> Yo signifies yet again that it is not to anyone else that we direct these prayers, but to God alone. Only God is worthy of the highest adoration, only God is perfect and free from all defects. It is That God to Whom we offer these prayers. Nah means "Ours", and signifies the selflessness of the request we make of God in this part of the Gayatri Mantra. We offer this prayer, and make the request of God, not simply for ourselves, but for the whole of humanity. We seek the uplift of the whole of society. Hindu philosophy has since the beginning recognised the concept of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" - "The whole world is one big family". Thus, we pray not only for ourselves, but for each and every member of that great family, that we may all benefit from the greatness and generosity of the All-loving God.)
PRACHODAYAAT = Inspire, illumine, enlighten and ignite. the brilliance of enlightened awareness. Enthuses our capacity. / Prachodayat, the final word of the Gayatri Mantra, rounds off the whole mantra, and completes the request we make of God in this final part. This word is a request from God, in which we ask Him for Guidance, and Inspiration. We ask that, by showing us His Divine and Glorious Light (cf. BHARGO), He remove the darkness of Maya from our paths, that we are able to see the way, and in this manner, we ask Him to direct our energies in the right way, guiding us through the chaos of this world, to find sanctuary in the tranquility and peace of God Himself, the root of all Happiness, and the source of true Bliss.
AN EXCELLENT PURPORT
by Raghavan Iyer (Hermes, December 1979)
It is a very ancient and sacred teaching that the Gayatri, corresponding to Vach, consecrating the Light of the Logos in Sound, should only be invoked on behalf of universal welfare. In general, all those who have any attraction to spiritual ideas must cleanse their hearts and strengthen those feelings in them that are truly universal and limitless, even though they may not know in advance what limitless love is. They must be willing to move towards unconditional and boundless love. They must refuse to consolidate partial loves and blinding hates and especially those shadows of love which contribute to human sorrow and deception. In affirming true love they must show spiritual courage and kindle the light of daring in the heart. The more one attempts this, the more one can keep moving. There is no way in which one could really grow without repeatedly assisting in the disintegration of a limited equilibrium which worked at one time. Either one does it, or it will be done to one. If it is done from outside, it may happen slowly, but when it comes, one may collapse. Whereas, if one does it consciously, refusing to consolidate even the finest traits or the glittering simulacra of virtue, if one is willing again and again to take stock and rebuild one's self-conception, the more one will have a chance of bringing closer the inmost urges that are in line with the highly potent spiritual invocation of the Gayatri mantra, and of negating the familiar and latent elements of conditionality in one's nature.
In many old cultures wisdom is often shown in cooperating with the seasons of nature and the cycles of time. Individuals may make some sort of inward affirmation of benevolence towards all that lives. If one simply enjoys the thought of being a friend to every living being, one could make discoveries about oneself and about the correction of habits, and then one can take stock like a craftsman. One can discern certain patterns and link them up to causes that are recognizable in certain mental states and thought-patterns. One may then counteract them, but in the process of doing this, one must recognize that it cannot be accomplished all at once. At the surface level people do not self-consciously mature in the manner in which everything in nature grows, giving time sufficient scope to do its own healing magic. Therefore impatience arises with impetuosity as the stimulus, resulting in inertia and defeatism. This is the loud assertion of mortality, and even those who have heard the sacred teaching of immortality may still bring to it something of the intensity and the frenetic nature of mortality. This is implicit in the human condition, the translation downwards from the higher to the lower, from the immortal to the mortal, from Duration to the language of Time. One has to penetrate these categories and see that in the indivisible hidden moment there is a mirroring of boundless Duration, that within the invisible atom there is boundless Space. This is the metaphysical basis of the Gayatri invocation to the Spiritual Sun. To be able to use this daily and especially in reference to human relationships, in reference to all one's obligations, in reference to one's dharmas and karmas, requires great wisdom.
One must truly feel compassion for that in all human beings which represents inertia, stultification, coldness, disintegration and death. The major obstacles to growth, producing a stony and indifferent heart, are ignorance combined with inertia - tamas - leading to a repeated persistence in a restricted view of the world. One of the asymmetrical characteristics of the universe is that individuals can expand without limit, but personalities cannot contract without limit. One may contract to a point where one might even enjoy contraction, where one becomes habituated to the dingy, the cloudy, the chaotic and the claustrophobic. This is the sense in which many people, habituated to self-torture and self-torment, find that they cannot attach meaning to any language, and cannot give credibility to themselves with reference to the sacred. They may know the noblest teachings, but they bring to them a facile sort of analytical familiarity and a stale routine in their response. A point comes when they become cold, when the psychic fire has burnt itself out and the cool waters of wisdom wash over dead ashes.
This has analogies with what goes on in the astronomer s universe. When a planet goes sufficiently far away from the sun - and there is a decisive difference between the parabolic movement of some bodies and the elliptical movement of others - it cannot keep pace at a certain level of intense, rapid, whirling motion around the powerful, incandescent centre. Then a point is reached when one of these bodies in its slow movement is expelled, going further and further away from the solar centre. It becomes cold because it enters into a state which must eventually culminate in a kind of disintegration or death, a tragic fulfilment of Nature's laws. There is an analogy between what takes place in reference to matter in the galaxies and what takes place within the solar system of the human form. The Atman is like the sun (in the Gayatri mantram) and all the other principles are like planets or comets in relation to it. It is possible that a person, though familiar at some level with a sacred teaching, especially the idea of immortality, may be constantly translating downwards in terms of what is dark and sombre. The person may after a point experience something comparable to an extreme coldness, an amazing lack of any spiritual vitality. Sometimes this can combine with an extraordinary versatility in acting out roles in the world, an atavistic skill in mimetics.
The origin of this may be sought in one of two ways. Either in another life the person, having made considerable spiritual progress, may have been stymied and halted because of some deep-seated fear, pride or selfishness, and therefore there was a damage to the astral form which must reoccur in life after life until it is met by commensurate compassion, self-conquest and self-modification. But the person does not know this, though somewhere deep down he or she senses it. Or - and this is the general cause - it is the result of the gravity effect exercised by the sum-total of human weaknesses, stagnation and inertia upon anyone who, by the Light of the Logos, by the power of thought and the purity of sacred speech, tries, in the words of Jesus, to "Come out from among them and be ye separate." This is not easy. It is precisely when one tries to stand apart, as Arjuna found in the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, that one becomes acutely self-righteous because the weak can work through the virtues of the strong. One of the greatest causes, metaphysically, for the collective brake that eventually must work at individual levels as well, is self-righteousness. This is why the ancient teaching is, "Do not fancy you can stand aside from the bad man or the foolish man. They are yourself, though in a less degree than your friend or your master.... Therefore, remember that the soiled garment you shrink from today may have been yours yesterday, may be yours tomorrow." One cannot feel any different, any better than any being that is alive. Out of the very harshness of judgement or the ignorant attempt to separate oneself from even a Hitler, one will actually draw to oneself shadows of spiritual pride. To invoke the Gayatri mantram is truly to bid farewell to all self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is the illusory source of self-preservation - or what looks like it in the short run - but which in the long run is a barrier that sunders one from the whole of life.
The Voice of the Silence says, "Give up thy life, if thou would'st live." All the great Teachers have spoken in terms of eternal life versus what is thought to be life but which is really selfishness. One either lives in the immortal individuality that focusses the life of the universal or within the prison-house of the persona. A fundamental choice is involved in the Gayatri invocation and this is very much connected with the evolutionary processes of Nature. Physiologically, life is a losing race against death; every moment everyone is dying. Why, then, is there life in the physical body? Why is there homeostasis? Why is there resistance to the ocean of life and to all the forces of disintegration? This has to do with the power of cohesion, which involves the mind and its wakefulness. It involves the heart and its rhythms. But it also involves the spiritual will, an act of faith in one's purposefulness and in the meaningfulness of one's existence, in one's relevance to the human condition. To be able to find meaning and relevance from the largest standpoint, as in the Gayatri mantram, is from the beginning and also daily to say good-bye to ordinary conceptions of terrestrial life.
No doubt a person who intones the Gayatri mantram will participate in the world, will go through the duties of life, will enter into relationships that involve sharing the concerns of others with all their limitations. In this very process a pilgrim may lose the thread and become forgetful, rather like a visitor to Plato's cave, unable to penetrate through the cacophony of sounds in the dark den where the shadows have acquired exaggerated significance, unable to stand apart from the false language of success and failure, honour and dishonour, of human beings who entertain worldly perspectives. This is precisely the risk that is taken by every pilgrim who consciously incarnates for a high and holy purpose. At the same time, one must recognize that in the process of incarnation one is going to forget. In that sense, as Plato taught, the whole of life is involved with the basic problem of remembering and forgetting. How much one forgets depends upon what one cares for and chooses to remember. What one remembers at a deep level must be instructive to the levels at which one may forget. Human beings need a variety of aids, such as writing down what is true and good and beautiful, what is enduring and unconditional. Connecting ideas with events in nature, with the rhythms and cycles of day and night, of sleeping and waking, with the various seven-year cycles in life as well as the seven-day week, one may begin to discover analogies and correspondences. It is as if one is constantly cooperating with the eternal memory of Nature (enshrined in the Spiritual Sun) and always overcoming, amidst the inevitable forgetfulness, the danger of forgetting what is important. Hence the daily invocation of the Gayatri.
Wise disciples periodically renew the vow that they first took, continually summoning the golden moment of original awakening. If one thinks of the truest, most beautiful moment in one's life, when something was so real that one's whole being responded, it can be summoned repeatedly by the power of thought if one is not falsely convinced that it belongs to the past. Past and present have nothing to do with that which gives reality in consciousness to an idea. The individual must endow it with a sense of reality through the energy of meditation. Human beings become prisoners of the process of change and forget that the very capacity to endow reality springs from the timeless Self in man, and its pristine light of divine wisdom. The archetypal example of this may be found in the life of the Buddha. Even so great a being as Gautama Buddha knew before he took birth that to incarnate means to participate in the ignorance, pain and delusion of the world. It is also to risk much. It is said that the Buddha, having attained enlightenment and pondering the Bodhisattva path, looked upon the world and thought, "All human beings are like lotuses in a pond. There are those human beings, alas, very many, who, even if I remain in the world to show them the way to enlightenment, to the Spiritual Sun, will not listen. They are mired in maya and so much enjoy it that they are like lotuses still caught in the wet earth at the bottom of the pond, unable to rise to the light of the sun. There are human beings who are already like lotuses that have moved to the surface of the waters, opening out to the light of the sun, and who do not need me because they are able to bloom on their own. Why, then, do I have to remain in a body? For the sake of those, whoever they be, who are struggling in maya but wish and will to reach upwards. They need the assurance that they can do it. And for these I shall remain." Thus the AUM is enacted in word and deed.
It is indeed possible to preserve an extraordinary, cool, wise, detached, discriminating and beautifully proportioned sense of purpose to one's life. The point of this compelling myth about the Buddha is that when, as Gautama, he goes through all his trials before his supreme enlightenment, when he encounters Mahamaya, the great tempter Mara, one of the temptations 15 - and it is also one of the temptations of Christ - the charge that his work will be irrelevant, that he will not succeed. Such pre-vision puts one on the plane which is above success and failure, enabling one to grasp the central logic of an incarnation. The Bodhisattva vow is voluntary, but because it is recorded in time, it can only do so much and no more to mitigate the sum of human misery. If there is a sufficiently long period of evolution and a sufficient number of souls, as well as many hazards and repeated failures over many lives, something like this must be true. Therefore, the wish of the Bodhisattva to come to the world is merely to make some small difference to the earthly scene. But what is small relative to numbers may be very great when seen in terms of time. The potent impulse released by a Buddha or a Christ twenty-five hundred or two thousand years ago is alive today and will reverberate thousands of years from now. It has a vertical dimension as well as lateral influence. It is a vibration that can be repeatedly picked up, and if it is picked up by some individuals here and there who are totally seized with it and transform themselves, then they in turn become very powerful magnets for other souls to do the same, all tapping the supreme source of strength, the Spiritual Sun.
So mysterious, then, are the currents of Karma that much of what is called living is only on the surface of existence. It is perceived in terms of years and months and days, but this has application not even to the astral but to the physical form most of the time. It does not reveal the immortal saga of the soul, its immemorial pilgrimage through space and time, linked up to myriads of souls. One's conception of life must become so different, so universal, that in relation to that larger life one can consecrate a lesser life, but not the other way around. To become ensnared in the small, in ones s micro-conception of living, is to deny oneself an openness to a larger concept of life. One can test this every day and night. Negate each day and intone the Gayatri mantram before going to sleep. Repeat it as many times as one can, clearly and silently, and see if one can wake up with the mantram as one s first thought. Do this again and again through the week to see if one really can carry the vibration through deep sleep. To be able to do this is to know what it means to overcome the barriers between lives, the illusion of devachan, the debris of kama loka, to cut through the Mahamaya. To be unable to do it simply means that there is a great deal in oneself that is disconnected between the highest and the lowest. Instead of wallowing in a state of despair or panic, one should persist.
The Gayatri invocation is an infallible means to self-transcendence. Sometimes one cannot use it as well as at other times, but even if it is not the first thought on waking, one can keep reminders for oneself. It is eventually possible to train the memory cells in every single part of each vesture, all of which have their own mode of registration, enlisting them all in the service of one's highest motivation rooted in a universal plane of creative ideation. If one partakes of daily meditation, experiencing a sense of Duration, then one can repeatedly transcend the boundaries of time and its compression into secondary causes and effects. One can let go every psychic preoccupation with external relations in visible space, and develop a deeper, noetic sense of what it is to live inwardly. Daily, replenished by the cool stream of insight that flows from the Spiritual Sun, one may actualize the Gayatri mantram with a deep resolve that will endure without wavering, releasing a mighty current of unacknowledged but incalculable benefit for the entire human family and indeed for all living beings.
Feeling, while going about, that he is a wave of the ocean of Self: while sitting, that he is a bead strung on the thread of universal consciousness: while perceiving objects of sense, that he is realizing himself by perceiving the Self: and, while sleeping, that he is drowned in the ocean of bliss; - he who, inwardly constant, spends his whole life thus is, among all men, the real seeker of liberation.
All this world, consisting of name and form, is only the particular manifestation (vyashti) of the universal Substance (viraj); it moves and knows all objects by virtue of the primal life (mukhya-prana) that inspires it. This Self like the sun, is neither the doer nor the enjoyer. Thus, directly realizing, does he that is full of knowledge and realization live his life, through incessant contemplation of the Supreme Self.
Just as the one sun, independent of other objects, yet, by virtue of reflection in several waters, becomes many and has the same stability or motion as the medium reflecting it; so does the Supreme Self seem to be affected by properties by virtue of its reflection of all beings, high and low, but, when clearly realized, shines unaffected by those properties.
The Supreme Self has three aspects, namely, the full, the self and the not-self, the first being the unconditioned Self, the second being that which is conditioned by the consciousness, and the third being a mere reflection, in the same way as space has three aspects in respect of water, namely, that which is inside and outside of the water, that which is conterminous with water, and that which is reflected therein. When the conditioned self is merged in the unconditioned, then the condition together with its consequences vanishes altogether.
COMMENT
by Sai Baba
The real purpose of performing Karma is only to get rid of Mineness (Ahamkara); Karma or Work, offered for the love of God comes back as Grace. This is the strategy of escaping the bondage of Samsara. One must persuade the heart to meditate; persuade the heart and you persuade the people. If you do wrong, your heart feels it. The heart is a witness. Move from the gross to the subtle, from the sense, the mind and the intellect, getting closer to the Atman.
The effulgence of Atman transcends the senses, whose nature is fickleness. The senses do not have the capacity or power of decisiveness. Karma and Upasana are the two wings which enable us to fly upward to God. Karma is for disciplining the body, mind, and intellect; Karma is not slavery to senses or fate. Life is a long journey which is helped by Yantra, Tantra and Mantra; these make the journey easier. We must reduce our luggage. Being detached in Samsara is like mascara in the eye, like Ghee on the tongue; one need not leave the worldly activity. The journey should be continued till the end. Don't get off the train in wayside stations. One should pursue one's Svadharma, one's own calling, till the end of the journey. One should reach the real destination with enthusiasm and animation, with a pure heart. Your pole-star or light is the name of God; that supreme light is the light of life, Jivanjyothi.
The performance of duty by the God-given body is essential. Man's accumulated blemish or sin is washed away by such action. Karmakanda, the field of action, is like the flower from which follows the Upasana Kanda, the field of spiritual practice, which is like the raw fruit. This subsequently ripens into a sweet fruit of Jnana, Knowledge.
The One Supreme is described in different ways by the wise: Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudah Vadanti. The Puranas and the Vedas contain the knowledge about nature, Prakruta Jnanam. They teach the path of subtle action. They teach that immortality is the fruit of sacrifice. The path of enjoyment, Bhoga, leads only to illness and suffering, Roga. It is often said one cannot cross the path of Karma on a dusty road. It is only when you stop the moving vehicle that one is overtaken by the trailing dust. So long as you keep moving or performing Karma in a detached way, you are not overtaken by its bondage. Narada, who is omniscient, did not leave the field of action or Karmakanda.
There are really two aspects of conduct, good conduct and bad conduct; with egoism it becomes bad conduct. Ahamkara, mineness or selfishness, is the crown of all bad qualities. Wearing such a crown, even such notable personalities as Kamsa, Sisupala, Dantavakra, Vishwamitra, and Sathyabhama came to grief.
All the lights of life are lit up on Divali day; so, light up the darkness of the past, which enveloped the Light of the Real Self in the past. The technique is to remove the threads of attachment one by one; at the end, the 'cloth' disappears and the mind is clear and pure.
The mind is a bundle of desires. It is necessary to live in seclusion in order to avoid the wrong paths, thereby avoiding the five wrongs or blemishes of sight, mind, action, and intellect. Moksha or liberation is nothing but Mohakshaya, the depletion of infatuation of the mind. One should engage in spiritual practices, Sadhana, to the extent feasible. Strength and support are gained thereby for the performance of one's own duties and actions. Imitation and invidious comparisons with others are harmful and weakening.
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