The word Loka in Sanskrit is generally translated ‘world’, but in its etymological meaning it signifies ‘a field of experience’. The entire possibility of experience in life has been terraced by the rșis into fourteen worlds: seven higher lokas and seven lower worlds. There are three worlds in which a limited ego-centre comes to play its game of reincarnation and repeated deaths. These are: (i) Bhū-loka, the physical earth; (ii) Bhuvar-loka, the world next to the physical and closely connected with it, but constituted of finer matter, and (iii) Suvar-loka, has heavenly world.

Beyond these are the four other worlds wherein the ego comes to move about and enjoy in its higher evolutionary life, and they are called the Mahar- loka, Janah-loka, Tapah-loka and Satya-loka. In the Hindu literature, we also find conceptions of other worlds as: Indra-loka, Candra-loka, Sürya-loka, Pitr-loka and so on, which are special ‘realms of experiences’ located within the above regions.

Below these seven worlds, there is yet another set of seven worlds called the talas. They are named as Pa-talam, Rasä-talam. Tala-talam. Su-talam. Vi-talam., and A-talam.

Of these fourteen ‘worlds’, Bhur-Bhuvah-Svah denoting the three worlds’, are called the vyāhrtis. In the Gāyatrī mantra when these vyāhrtis are chanted, the meditator can visualise the three worlds’ as arising from, existing in and disappearing into AUM. He can subjectively identify them with the waking, dream and deep sleep conditions of consciousness, transcending which extends the realm of the Infinite. All of them are represented in the symbol Om. In this sense, the vyāhrtis in the Gāyatrī represent in one sweep the ‘entire world’ of the subjective and objective experiences of man.

The Gāyatrī Mantra

The Hindu concept that the Gāyatrī mantra was declared at first by the Creator Himself, at the very beginning of creation, may be considered as an over exaggeration which is an unavoidable feature in many portions of the Vaidika literature. But it is also a fact that even the western scholars, who have been accepted by all as having a better historical sense, have themselves declared the Gāyatrī mantra as one of the oldest available divine hymns. And it is true that many revolutionary changes have taken place in our religious belief, and yet this mantra continues to persist and has even today a compelling charm of its own to millions of Hindu hearts. It is not only believed, but it has been actually observed, that by the repetition of this mantra with the right understanding of its sacred meaning, the ordinary negative tendencies in a human mind can be erased out to a large extent.

This mantra is never chanted for the purposes of material gains, physical or otherwise. Its very invocation concludes with an appeal to the pure consciousness to illumine more our heart – that is to say, it is a prayer unto the Self to unveil Itself and come to manifest as pure wisdom in our life.

Gāyatrī mantra is otherwise called Savitri mantra. In the ancient literature of Vedanta, this mantra was indicated familiarly as Savitri and this term has been given to Gāyatrī because it is dedicated to the deity called Savitr. In some rare old books, we find this mantra titled as Savitri-Gāyatrī; it only means that it is an invocation dedicated to Lord Sun couched in the metre called Gāyatrī. This is considered to be the most important Vaidika mantra, written out in this metre and, therefore, by tradition this mantra has come to be known as Gāyatrī.

The Gāyatrī metre is generally constituted of three lines of eight syllables each. The three lines of Gāyatrī-Savitri mantra are as follows:

You will find in the above that the first line has only seven syllables. This is explained generally in two ways: (a)the syllable ‘nyam’ is constituted of ‘ni’ plus ‘am’ and, therefore, there are the required eight letters in the line, and (b) that the line is to be read along with Omkara which would supply the missing syllable. The former is the idea of Sri Sankarăcārya. In his commentary on Brhadaranyaka-upanişad, Sankara splits the letter ‘nyam’ into its two component parts and considers that the rules of the metre are thereby fully obeyed.

The seer of the mantra is the royal sage Visvāmitra. All the mantras belonging to the third mandala of the Rg-veda are attributed to sage Visvämitra. The Gāyatrī mantra is also seen in the Sukla Yajur-veda and Krsna Yajur-veda.

This mantra is dedicated to the Lord Savitr. That Savitr represents Lord Sun is the accepted version even though there are some scholars who protest against this. The Sun gives all illumination to the world and any prayer for light should certainly be addressed to the source of all light in the material world – the sun. In the Gita the Lord says, “The light that pervades the sun and the moon is all His light. Thus Savitr, the Lord of Gāyatrī is nothing other than the light of Consciousness, the Infinite, the Absolute.

which means : ‘We meditate upon the auspicious godly light of the Lord Sun; may that heavenly light illumine our thought flow in our intellect.’ This mantra is always chanted along with pranava and the vyährtis. The usual prescribed daily worship (sandhyā karma) of a Hindu mainly included repetition of this Gāyatrī mantra. In the ancient days, sandhya vandanā, the daily prayer, was only a purificatory act, it is only a method of reintegrating one’s own mind that has run wild during the day and has drowned completely in total inertia in the night.

In Manusmrti [#102] we read: ‘In the early dawn by doing this japa standing, one ends all sins committed during the night and by doing this japa in the evening by sitting, one ends one’s sins committed during the day.’ Sin here means, as everywhere else in our sacred books, the agitations created in our mental life by our own negative actions and the tendency to repeat the same, which is left by them as impressions upon the mind.

It is only afterwards, the importance of Gāyatrī grew to its present status. Later on, sometime during our steady slipping into our present decadent state, the belief that Gāyatrī cannot be chanted without the sacred thread became much rampant; a belief which we seldom meet with in the ancient lore. When we are thus daily using this mantra in our worship, it is chanted along with the pranava and the vyährtis. We may or may not add the pranava to the second line:

There are two sandhyās in a day. The term ‘sandhya’ means the blending point of day and night. In the ancient literature we fail to find any importance for the mid-day worship. According to the literature of Vedānta, the rşis seem to insist only upon the morning and evening prayers. This mid-day prayer might have filtered into our creed, perhaps, as an unnecessary borrowing from the Mohammedan cult.

Early morning when the east blushes in light and in the evening when the golden light fades into darkness we have the two sandhyās. Generally, the morning prayers are done most profitably between 4-30 a.m. and 5 a.m. which is called the Brāhma-muhurta; and in the evening the interval between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. is the sacred hour for the evening prayers.

In Manusmrti we find very interesting and clear directions on these prayers and worship: ‘Afterwards getting up from bed, after answering the calls of nature, purifying yourself completely, disallowing the mind to wander hither and thither, sincerely perform the morning japa standing on your feet and repeating the mantra very very slowly.’

Elsewhere we also read, ‘In the morning worship till the sun rises above the horizon do the japa standing and in the evening worship sitting down do your japa until the stars emerge out.’

These beliefs only prove that the very name of the mantra is fully justified. The term Gāyatrī itself means [Gāyantam trāyate iti Gāyatrī]: ‘That mantra which protects him who chants it.’ It is also believed in India that on starting for any important and great work if a man detects some bad omen, he must immediately sit down and chant eleven times the Gāyatrī. If, on starting again, he meets with a new set of bad omens, he is to sit down again and chant Gāyatrī for sixteen times. These will remove the effects of the bad omens encountered, is yet another belief.

In India, a Hindu boy is initiated into the Gāyatrī mantra very early in his life. This is done during a social ritual called the upanayana ceremony, presided over, by the head of the family and family priest. In the literature of Vedānta we find mention of the Gāyatrī diksa. The term dikṣā means a discipline which one must undergo in order that one may become fit for taking part in any Vaidika ritual. The word upanayana means ‘bringing near’ – bringing preceptor who initiates the boy by giving him the sacred Gāyatrī mantra.

The deeper philosophic import of Gayatri is very clear.
The mantra as it stands obviously invokes the Lord Sun and pleads to Him to illumine the intellect of the seeker. The sunlight cannot, it is certain, illumine the intellect in us…the white and the grey matter of the brain!!!

In our inner life, the sun represents, the light giver, the illuminator of all experiences, the Atman. This pure Consciousness in us, the inner centre of our personality, around which the matter envelopments function with mathematical precision…just as around the sun, the centre of the universe, the entire solar system revolves, each planet and star at its appointed speed and each along its appointed path… is being invoked to shine more and more in our intellect.

If the sun were not there, life would have been impossible. Without the Ātman the matter envelopments would become inert and dead. When this inner sun of life is appealed to for illumining the intellect better, it reads as an absurd paradox. The infinite light of Wisdom, the supreme Self, is never contaminated in its eternal effulgence. It is ever the same. Its intensity cannot increase or decrease.

Therefore, all that the devotee means is,

This is an excerpt from the book By Swami Chinmayananda ‘Tune in the Mind’ – Japa Gayatri. You can buy it here Tune in the Mind.