Gāyatrī

The Gāyatrī is the highest mantra of the three Vedas. It is called mantra-mātā, “the mother of all mantras”, and is honoured as Brahman (the highest reality) in the form of sound. It has twenty-four syllables in three pādas (lines). It begins with the praṇava Oṃ and the three mahā-vyāhṛtis (great sacred words), Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ. It is called the face of the whole Veda.

In Chapters 215–217, the Agni Purāṇa explains what the name Gāyatrī means, the inner meaning of each of its twenty-four syllables and the deities linked with them, and its place in the trikāla-sandhyā (prayers at the three junctions of the day). Its highest teaching is that the bharga of Savitā, the divine light of the sun called upon in the Gāyatrī, is none other than Śrī Mahāviṣṇu himself. The Liṅga Purāṇa adds an account of the forms Gāyatrī takes across five great cycles of creation.

The Words of the Mantra and How It Is Arranged

The full mantra, as the Agni Purāṇa gives it for japa (repeated chanting) in the sandhyā, is:

Oṃ Bhūr-Bhuvaḥ-Svaḥ Tat savitur vareṇyam Bhargo devasya dhīmahi Dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt

The Agni Purāṇa says that Oṃ comes first. Then come the three vyāhṛtis (Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, Svaḥ), which stand for the three worlds. Then comes the Gāyatrī of twenty-four syllables itself, and last of all Oṃ again at the close. This is the form laid down in scripture (vidhāna-sammata).

The three pādas carry three levels of meaning:

• First pāda (tat savitur vareṇyam): calling upon the divine light of the sun. “Tat” (that) is the shining Brahman as Savitā. “Vareṇyam” is that which is most worthy to be chosen by those who seek svarga (the heavenly world) and mokṣa (liberation).
• Second pāda (bhargo devasya dhīmahi): meditating on that divine light. “Bharga” is the highest light, and “dhīmahi” means “we meditate on” or “we hold in the mind”. It means we hold this brahma-tejas (divine radiance) as the object of our meditation.
• Third pāda (dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt): the prayer for light in the mind. “Dhiyaḥ” are the workings of the buddhi (intellect) of all beings. “Pracodayāt” means “may he move and inspire”. It asks that Viṣṇu, present in the sun and present in every action and every being, may guide our minds toward śubha (what is good) and toward liberation.

The Three Names of the Mantra

Chapter 216 of the Agni Purāṇa explains the three names by which this mantra is known:

1. Gāyatrī: from the root gai (to sing) and trā (to protect). “Gāyantaṃ trāyate iti gāyatrī”: “she who protects the one who sings or recites her”. She guards the prāṇa (life-breath) and body of the sādhaka (spiritual practitioner) who calls on her.
2. Sāvitrī: she who has come forth from Savitā (Sūrya, the sun). The presiding deity of the mantra is Savitā, the divine power of the sun, so the mantra that comes from Savitā and calls on Savitā is called Sāvitrī.
3. Sarasvatī: she who is the form of vāk (speech). The Gāyatrī is Brahman in the form of sound, the first vibration from which all speech, all knowledge and all śāstra (sacred teaching) come. So she is identified with Sarasvatī, the devī of speech.

Gāyatrī-nirvāṇa: The Inner Meaning of Each Word

Chapter 216 of the Agni Purāṇa contains the teaching called gāyatrī-nirvāṇa, the unfolding of the Gāyatrī down to its deepest nature. Each key word is given its innermost meaning.

“Tat”

“Tat” is the jyotiḥ-svarūpa (form of light) of the Parabrahman. It is the “that” beyond all names and forms, the highest Self, which cannot be pointed to except by this single word.

“Bhargaḥ” (Bhargo)

The word bharga is explained from three possible roots:

• “Bhā” (to shine): “bhātīti bhargaḥ”, “that which shines is bharga”. The light of the sun is called bharga because it lights up everything.
• “Bhraṣja pāke” (to cook or ripen): Sūrya ripens all the oṣadhis (herbs and crops), so he is bharga, the one who ripens the world.
• “Bhrāj” (to shine brilliantly): “bhrājate iti bhargaḥ”, bharga is the brilliance of Brahman.

All three explanations are accepted by the grammar rule “bahulaṃ chandasi”, which allows the same Vedic word to be traced to more than one root.

“Vareṇyam”

“Vareṇyam” is the highest and most excellent state, full of complete tejas (radiance). It is what all who seek svarga and mokṣa should always choose. The root is “vṛñ” (to choose): it is the worthiest of all choices.

“Dhīmahi”

Three meanings meet here:

• “We meditate”: from “dhī” (intellect) and “mahi” (we); we hold it in our mind
• “We bear” or “we sustain”: we hold that divine tejas as the content of our awareness
• “We meditate, for the sake of mukti (liberation), on that which is beyond waking, dreaming and deep sleep: that which is nitya (eternal), śuddha (pure), buddha (awake), eka (one), satya (true), jyoti-svarūpa (of the nature of light), the Parabrahman”

“Dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt”

“Yaḥ” means “he who”: that Puruṣa, Viṣṇu, whose bharga-tejas is present in the sun’s disc. “Naḥ dhiyaḥ pracodayāt”: may he inspire the workings of our buddhi. All the actions of all beings, seen or unseen, good or bad, move forward under Viṣṇu’s inner guidance. Under Bhagavān Viṣṇu’s direction, beings go toward svarga or naraka through their own karma. The Agni Purāṇa states plainly: “jagat-sṛṣṭy-ādi-kāraṇa-bhūtaḥ Śrī Mahāviṣṇuḥ eva apara-jyotiḥ”, meaning Viṣṇu alone, the cause of the creation of the world, is the highest light of the Gāyatrī. Some say it is Śiva, some say Śakti, some say Sūrya and some say Agni. The Agni Purāṇa settles the question: Agni and all the other devatās are vibhūtis (glories) of Viṣṇu, and it is he who is called Brahman in the Vedas and Vedāṅgas.

Gāyatrī as the Fourth Foot of Brahman

Chapter 216 gives the highest teaching: the Puruṣa seen within the disc of the sun, the Ādityapuruṣa, is the form of Brahman that can be perceived in this world. This is gāyatrī-brahma-rūpa-caturtha-pāda, “the fourth foot of Brahman”, shown as the Gāyatrī. The mahāvākya (great saying) “tat tvam asi” (“you are that”) and the other teachings of the Upaniṣads all point to this same saccidānanda Brahman (being, awareness and bliss) that is called upon in the Gāyatrī:

The Ādityapuruṣa in the sun is I myself; the infinite Oṃkāra is I myself; it is this Ādityapuruṣa alone who sets all jñāna and all śubha-karma in motion.

The Deities of the 24 Syllables

Each of the twenty-four syllables of the Gāyatrī has its own adhiṣṭhātṛ-devatā (presiding deity). When the sādhaka says the names of these deities during gāyatrī-japa, they destroy his pāpa (wrongdoing). The order, as the Agni Purāṇa gives it, is:

Placing the 24 Syllables on the Body

The Agni Purāṇa lays down nyāsa, the ritual placing of the twenty-four syllables one after another on twenty-four points of the body, from the feet to the crown. The points are: the two toe-joints, the two heels, the two calves, the knees, the thighs, the upastha (organ of generation), the vṛṣaṇas (testicles), the kaṭi (hips), the nābhi (navel), the udara (belly), the stana-maṇḍala (chest), the hṛdaya (heart), the kaṇṭha (throat), the adhara (lower lip), the tālu (palate), the nāsikā (nose), the netra (eyes), the bhrūmadhya (point between the eyebrows), the lalāṭa (forehead), the upper lip, the right and left sides, the śiras (head) and the whole face. Each syllable also has its own colour, from pīta (yellow) through the whole range of colours to palāśa-green, which gives the Gāyatrī a full visual form tied to the whole universe.

Gāyatrī and the Trikāla-Sandhyā

The Agni Purāṇa teaches that the proper setting of the Gāyatrī is the trikāla-sandhyā, the upāsanā (devotional practice) done three times a day, at dawn, noon and dusk. Chapter 215 lays down these steps:

• Begin with Oṃ, then the vyāhṛtis, then the full Gāyatrī, and close with Oṃ again
• Call on her with the dhyāna (meditation) mantra “Śuklā-śubhā…”
• Perform āvāhana (inviting her presence) with “Oṃ tejo’si…”
• Perform nyāsa of the 24 syllables on the body
• Perform japa the set number of times at each sandhyā
• Finish with homa (fire offering), using particular substances for particular fruits

Three years of daily gāyatrī-japa transforms the one who practises it. He becomes vāyumayo ākāśa-svarūpo parabrahma-prāptaḥ: he becomes like the sky itself and attains the Parabrahman.

Gāyatrī-Homa: Offerings and Their Fruits

The Gāyatrī is the highest mantra for homa. The fruit differs with each substance offered:

Ten thousand offerings bring the fruit that goes with the substance. One hundred thousand fulfil all desires. One crore (ten million) āhutis (offerings into the fire) free the sādhaka from the pāpa of brahma-hatyā (killing a brāhmaṇa), raise his whole kula (family line) and make him Śrī Mahāviṣṇu-svarūpa, of the very form of Viṣṇu.

Gāyatrī-Nirvāṇa and Liberation (Chapter 217)

Chapter 217 tells the story of Vasiṣṭha. He performed gāyatrī-japa and then praised Śiva as liṅga-mūrti (Śiva in the form of the liṅga) on the hill of Śrīśaila. Vasiṣṭha’s hymn names Śiva’s forms: kanaka-liṅga (golden liṅga), veda-liṅga, parama-liṅga (highest liṅga), ākāśa-liṅga (liṅga of space), sahasra-liṅga (thousandfold liṅga), vahni-liṅga (liṅga of fire), pātāla-liṅga, brahma-liṅga, saptadvīpa-liṅga (liṅga of the seven continents), sarvātma-liṅga (liṅga of the Self of all) and sarvaloka-liṅga (liṅga of all worlds), along with a vast list of his qualities in the universe. Vasiṣṭha prayed for parama-yoga-upadeśa (teaching of the highest yoga), a son equal to himself, the attainment of the undying Parabrahman, the highest śānti (peace) and an everlasting family line devoted to dharma. Śaṅkara (Śiva) was pleased, granted Vasiṣṭha his boons and then disappeared.

So the gāyatrī-nirvāṇa (dissolving into the final nature) named in the chapter’s title is this: through steady meditation on the Gāyatrī, the sādhaka comes to see that the bharga-tejas is Brahman, that Brahman is Viṣṇu, and that the Gāyatrī dissolves his separate identity into the Supreme. “Tat tvam asi”, “you are that”, is the Gāyatrī’s final gift.

Gāyatrī in the Ṛg-vidhāna

Chapter 259 of the Agni Purāṇa places the Gāyatrī at the root of all uses of the Ṛgveda. The Praṇava (Oṃ) has three mātrās (sound parts), A, U and M, which stand for the three Vedas, the three devas and the three sacred fires. Joined with the mahā-vyāhṛtis, which stand for the seven lokas (worlds), it gives the Gāyatrī its fullness across the universe. The Purāṇa says that the Gāyatrī mantra and the mahā-vyāhṛtis are the great mantras worthy of japa. Homa with the Gāyatrī and the vyāhṛtis together is sarva-phala-dāyaka: it gives every fruit.

Gāyatrī in the Five Kalpas (Liṅga Purāṇa)

A kalpa is a great cycle of creation. The Liṅga Purāṇa shows a side of Gāyatrī not found in the Agni Purāṇa: how she changes form across five kalpas, one after another. Parameśvara (Śiva as the Supreme) himself tells this to Brahmā. He describes how Gāyatrī goes with each of the five forms of Śiva known as the Pañcabrahma, and takes a different form in each cycle:

Parameśvara declares:

In the Viśvarūpa kalpa, when you (Brahmā) found me through yoga-samādhi, you will bear the name Viśvarūpa. Gāyatrī, the world’s foundation in cow-form, will be called Viśvarūpā. Those who meditate on me as Viśvarūpa will find me saumya (gentle), and will attain the four puruṣārthas (dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa).

So the Liṅga Purāṇa presents Gāyatrī as the eternal divine cow who goes with Parameśvara through every cycle of creation, taking on his colours and form in each. The usual Vedic Gāyatrī called upon in the trikāla-sandhyā is the Viśvarūpa-Gāyatrī, the form of the present age.

Sources

• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 215–217
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 259
• Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha (first part), Chapter 23