Daphné St-Pierre, a Montreal yoga teacher, is in India for a year of study and seva. Here she writes about the Gayatri Mantra, a powerful chant.


Dear yogis, yoginis,

Very few days after my arrival in India, I could see and hear the Gayatri mantra everywhere!!! I could not help but think of Hart, and the final session of our teacher training where all of us singing it together.

A patient who is very devoted to this mantra, repeats it everyday, offered to translate it. So I am sending it to you. Remember that there are many different interpretations, this is just one of them. Hart may have another...

namaste
Daphnee

Gayantri Mantra
OM bhoo bhuvaha swah
tut savituhu varenyam
bhargo devasya dhimahi
dhiyo yonhah
prachodayat


Goddess Gayatri symolizes the union of three basic forces of the universe. In Hindu mythology they are represented by three gods: 1 - Brahma - one who creates, 2 - Vishnu - one who nourishes or maintains, 3 - Shiva - one who destroys. The whole of Universe acts on this principle. i.e. creation, maintenance, destruction and creation, ....the cycle goes on.
The inexplicable (for want of a better word we call it 'GOD") which is omnipotent, omnipresent and omnicient just had to manifest itself (scientist call it the big-bang), for He too is not absolved from the principles of Karma.

OM
was the sound emitted when this manifestation started - the very beginning of the universe. That is why it is the sacred sound we make before we start any pious invocation.
BHOO
mother earth. We exist because she has taken it on her to support us. Our very being has mass because we are one with mother earth.
BHUVAHA
the sky. Here, it not only the sky in the earth concept, but the outher space, the deep space, the galaxies, in fact as for out as your mind can reach, as many skies as you can imagine, because that will give you a vague idea of the power, the magnitude, the magnificence of HIS manifestation.
(note: in sanskrit grammar, when bhoo bhuvaha are joinded, they become bhoorbhuvaha. they are joined with an R. The consonant R in sanskrit is pronounced with a harsh sound)
SWAH
the sun. the one who gave birth to earth which in turn gave birth to us - a being with intelligence, which gives us the power to think of the skies. The importance of the sun in our physical existance on this planet earht is supreme. In fact when you had to be a human being, when you needed to manifest yourself as a human being, you could do it only because the sun happened to be there. Some even say that Gayatri is the worship of the sun, but for him we wouldn't here.
TUT
this
SAVITUHU
all i.e.: bhoo, bhuvaha and swah which encompass the entire universe for us, as far as our mind can stretch.
VARENYAM
creator, conjurer of all this wonder
(note: here again savituhu and varenyam are joined with an R : tutsaviturvarenyam)
BHARGO
the one having celestial aura so brilliant, so enlightening that you cannot look at it with naked eyes.
DEVASYA
Godly. Only god could define what is godliness. It is only He who knows all.
DHIMAHI
the one who annihilates darkness
(A human being is not supposed to know what lies beyond the universe. He is not designed in such a fashion. His available senses will not permit him to have a glimpse or even conceive as to the realms that lie beyond.)
DHIYO
of this
YONAH
to me
PRACHODAYAT
Give this experience to me. Let me experience this - this power of yours, this power to manifest, this power to live my Karma, the power of Bhakti, the power of Gyana.

Now, this is a tall order. You are invoking the Power, the very Power, the only Power. are you capable of handling it? For it shall unleash so much energy at your disposal that you need to be a yogi (a complete yogi) to control it. That is why the use of Gayatri was not rampant in the olden days. It is perhaps the most powerful mantra in the universe (next to human breath). Unlike today, it was used with utter discretion. Women were not supposed to chant Gayatri mantra. It was taught by a father to his son at the time of the son's thread ceremony (a traditional ceremony perfomed at a young age), in total secrecy. Now this may seem a little paranoid, but they had their reasons.
Jesus once said: your right hand should not know what your left hand is doing.
What he ment was that your prayer to God should be so discrete that no one, nothing, absolutly no-one should even get an inkling about it or else it's sanctity would be broken at the first contact with anything else, because it is the most sacred communion of your soul with its creator. It is non of anyone's business. It is your business with God.

the end, hope you enjoyed it!...thank you Hart for introducing it to me. Thank you Aushit Ambekar for the translation