Vedic
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Gayatri is, in contrary to the later and more popular belief, not a mantra or a "goddess". It is the name of a "chhandas", "poetic metre". The poetic metre Gayatri is defined as a stanza having three lines, each line composed of eight syllables, thus the full stanza havng 3 X 8 = 24 syllables.
The Rig Veda has many mantras with this syllables, and many of them have been discussed along with the translations part.
Modern Hindus, as per the age of epics, tend to glorify a particular verse of Rig Veda (3.62.10) as a very great mantra, gayatri, and extreme versions even glorify a goddess named "gayatri"!!!
Ok. Let me tell the mantra and its meaning :
" tat saviturvareN*i*yam (8 syllables through reconstruction of shortened varenyam as vareniyam, which could have been correct)
bhargo devasya dhImahi ( 8 syllables)
dhiyo yonah pracodayAt" (8 syllables)
"That savita's most worthy (vareNiyam)
glory (bharga), the Divine one (devasya) may we attain;
May that inspire (pracodayat) our (nah) intellect (dhI)".
Savita is the name that literally means "sowing one". (or the "instigator")
Savita is the quality of God that sows life in us, as Vedas extoll, both physical and spiritual. The physical concept often involves metaphors praising god with solar qualities such as brightness, Truth, Supreme, Lord, shining, source of inspiration, which on the spiritual realm paves way to spiritual light, God, spiritual life creator and sustainer,....
Thus, here the meaning is that :
"May we attain (or receive) the most worthy glory sowed by God (or of the sowing God) , let that inspire our intellect".
But Griffith, erroneously translates here "dhI" as "devotion", but that is a hoax. God is not said to inspire the devotion, but the intellect. If it was devotion, the word needn't have been dhi. dhi specifically stands for intellect, imagination.
It seems that the poets of Rig Veda "saw" their poems, as the beautiful glorious plants sowed by the ultimate "sower", God (Savita), and this verses are dedicated to God for inspiring their intellect to reveal the glorious poems. That is primarily the intended meaning, that is congruent with the Rig Vedic philosophy.
But, this too is a poem, esp. a Rig Vedic one, and we should rightly expect more meanings. Yes, there are.
Taking Savita as sun, who sustains and "sows" the life according to physical poems in Vedas, you get this prayer as a thanksgiving to the sun. This must not be but, the meaning actually intended.
Certainly another meaning comes here.
According to Vedas, the sun metaphor also stands for "brahmacAri" symbol, the single "traveller to the Absolute (brahman)" (or absolute traveller..
)
In this context, Savita, the solar metaphor comes out to be meant as a prayer by the BrahmacAri of earth in his initiation, to the brahmacAri of heavens, the Sun, to be inspired by the Sun.
(Sun as brahmacAri is attested in Atharva Veda, where the brahmacAri sun, "sows his seeds, and the four quarters live by it".
Moreover, Savita's path is said to be free of evil, bound by rta (naturally ordained order). This is the glorious divine path asked by the worldly BrahmacAri in his initiation.
Yes, the initiation for Brahmins revolves around the teaching of this mantra. This is called "Brahmopadesam", "advice about the Absolute".
That shows the significance of these great lines for Brahmins.
Many people would now ponder over the missing words "bhuh bhuvah and suvah" in this passage.
Unfortunately, they do not feature in the actual verses in the Rig Veda, and were introduced only for rituals. These words are called "vyAhrtis". The words signify the applicability of the verse in "earth" (bhu) middle atmosphere (bhuvah) and sky (suvah), or even more - like start, present, end... etc. Vyahrtis are meant to have mystical properties, and their "mystery" is not explainable through words, hope the reader gets my point.
And since this mantra is most exploited by modern Hindus, please do not be cheated visiting some sites writing rubbish as translations!!!
The verse is treated with overwhelming emotions and sometimes overrated by the Hindus, and some even write half baked translations that shamefully display a non scholastic and basically foolish translation, without even giving importance to basic sanskrit words.
source : Rig Ved and my Brahmin friend who's also avedic scholar.
The Rig Veda has many mantras with this syllables, and many of them have been discussed along with the translations part.
Modern Hindus, as per the age of epics, tend to glorify a particular verse of Rig Veda (3.62.10) as a very great mantra, gayatri, and extreme versions even glorify a goddess named "gayatri"!!!
Ok. Let me tell the mantra and its meaning :
" tat saviturvareN*i*yam (8 syllables through reconstruction of shortened varenyam as vareniyam, which could have been correct)
bhargo devasya dhImahi ( 8 syllables)
dhiyo yonah pracodayAt" (8 syllables)
"That savita's most worthy (vareNiyam)
glory (bharga), the Divine one (devasya) may we attain;
May that inspire (pracodayat) our (nah) intellect (dhI)".
Savita is the name that literally means "sowing one". (or the "instigator")
Savita is the quality of God that sows life in us, as Vedas extoll, both physical and spiritual. The physical concept often involves metaphors praising god with solar qualities such as brightness, Truth, Supreme, Lord, shining, source of inspiration, which on the spiritual realm paves way to spiritual light, God, spiritual life creator and sustainer,....
Thus, here the meaning is that :
"May we attain (or receive) the most worthy glory sowed by God (or of the sowing God) , let that inspire our intellect".
But Griffith, erroneously translates here "dhI" as "devotion", but that is a hoax. God is not said to inspire the devotion, but the intellect. If it was devotion, the word needn't have been dhi. dhi specifically stands for intellect, imagination.
It seems that the poets of Rig Veda "saw" their poems, as the beautiful glorious plants sowed by the ultimate "sower", God (Savita), and this verses are dedicated to God for inspiring their intellect to reveal the glorious poems. That is primarily the intended meaning, that is congruent with the Rig Vedic philosophy.
But, this too is a poem, esp. a Rig Vedic one, and we should rightly expect more meanings. Yes, there are.
Taking Savita as sun, who sustains and "sows" the life according to physical poems in Vedas, you get this prayer as a thanksgiving to the sun. This must not be but, the meaning actually intended.
Certainly another meaning comes here.
According to Vedas, the sun metaphor also stands for "brahmacAri" symbol, the single "traveller to the Absolute (brahman)" (or absolute traveller..
)In this context, Savita, the solar metaphor comes out to be meant as a prayer by the BrahmacAri of earth in his initiation, to the brahmacAri of heavens, the Sun, to be inspired by the Sun.
(Sun as brahmacAri is attested in Atharva Veda, where the brahmacAri sun, "sows his seeds, and the four quarters live by it".
Moreover, Savita's path is said to be free of evil, bound by rta (naturally ordained order). This is the glorious divine path asked by the worldly BrahmacAri in his initiation.
Yes, the initiation for Brahmins revolves around the teaching of this mantra. This is called "Brahmopadesam", "advice about the Absolute".
That shows the significance of these great lines for Brahmins.
Many people would now ponder over the missing words "bhuh bhuvah and suvah" in this passage.
Unfortunately, they do not feature in the actual verses in the Rig Veda, and were introduced only for rituals. These words are called "vyAhrtis". The words signify the applicability of the verse in "earth" (bhu) middle atmosphere (bhuvah) and sky (suvah), or even more - like start, present, end... etc. Vyahrtis are meant to have mystical properties, and their "mystery" is not explainable through words, hope the reader gets my point.
And since this mantra is most exploited by modern Hindus, please do not be cheated visiting some sites writing rubbish as translations!!!
The verse is treated with overwhelming emotions and sometimes overrated by the Hindus, and some even write half baked translations that shamefully display a non scholastic and basically foolish translation, without even giving importance to basic sanskrit words.
source : Rig Ved and my Brahmin friend who's also avedic scholar.
