Devotional

Gayatri Mantras DVD

Super Audio (Madras) Pvt Ltd has come out with a DVD on Sarva Gayatri Mantras and Mrutyunjay Stotras under its brand name Geethanjali.

The DVD is priced at Rs 250.

The Gayatri is the most powerful of Vedic mantras. This programme helps you harness the immeasurable power of various Gayatri mantras to attain great benefits.

The Sanskrit word mantra signifies an incantation which guarantees protection to those who think of it, chant it and meditate on it.

Healthy Habits For Healthy Kids Navagraha Stotram of vadhiraja Theertha New Launch : STARSELECT Thirunaraiyur or Nachiyarkoil Poorna, The Latest Flavour The Hero in Search of The Right Girl AIRTEL SUPER SINGER 2008 LIBA Launches New Programme Editorial: All Is Well That Ends.... 'Jeyam' Ravi and Raja to part ways மீனா, நயன், பசுபதி, விளக்கம் 'நான் கடவுள்' இளையராஜா கமல் திருப்பி தந்த அட்வான்ஸ்

Among such mantras, the Gayatri mantra is considered to be a storehouse of divine power and excels all other mantras in efficacy and potency. It is the Vedic mantra par excellence and is found unchanged in the Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas.

Gayatri is only the name of the metre of the mantra. About one-fourth of the hymns of Rig Veda are set in this metre. Another name of the Gayatri is Savitri mantra, as the deity it apparently propitiates is Savita, the Sun.

Considered to be the quintessence of all Vedic knowledge, the Gayatri is accepted by all sections of the Hindus through the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent.

It is said with the strength of the powerful Gayatri mantra, Sage Vasishtha successfully resisted the royal might of Viswamitra, when he exerted his utmost to wrest the Kamadhenu (wish-fulfilling divine cow) from him.

According to Atri Maharishi, one who recites the Gayatri mantra 1,100 times every day is untouched by sin. According to Yajnavalkya, the recitation of the Gayatri mantra reduces all sins to ashes. Manu, the great law-giver instructs us thus - "Go to a secluded place.. Be of a balanced mind. Sit near a body of water and do your daily ritual along with recitation ot Gayatri mantra".

The Indian sages were of the firm conviction that the significance and vibrations of the mantra would fortify man.

Closer to our times, Maharishi Debendranath Tagore, father of world poet Rabindranath Tagore, was a great votary of the Gayatri mantra and benefited greatly by chanting it. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya was able to establish the Benares Hindu University through his practice of Gayatri recitation. Mahatma Gandhi has stated in his autobiography that a votary of Gayatri cannot fall victim to any illness.

According to ancient Hindu tradition, the investiture of the sacred thread empowered a person to chant the Gayatri mantra. Brahmin boys were invested with the sacred thread at the age of eight, Kshatriya boys at 11 years and Vaishya boys at 12 years. 

The enlightened view is that any person, whatever his caste, creed or colour can chant the Gayatri mantra, provided he does it in the right spirit and understands its significance.

Manifold interpretations of the meaning of the mantra have been put forward by great savants and men of realisation. But, broadly, the thrust of the mantra can be understood thus - "We contemplate the divine light of tbe most excellent creator symbolised by the Sun and pray to him to illumine our intellect..."

While overtly the Gayatri mantra is addressed to the Sun, it is Brahman itself, the Supreme God, Paramatma, who is invoked and meditated upon in the mantra. It is not just the luminous Sun, but the lustre that pervades it that is contemplated. In this connection, one can recall that the great Chandogya Upanishad refers to the 'Supreme who appears with his two lotus-like eyes in his shining gold form in the illuminous solar orb...'

And what is the object of the prayer? Enlightenment which leads to the cessation of all bondage.

But even though the Gayatri mantra is an effective universal prayer for illumination, it is found to confer on its practitioners many other benefits like health, longevity and a strong intellect. While the caste Hindu is expected to chant the Gayatri mantra at the break of dawn, at noon and at the twilight hour, other Hindus and followers of other religions too can chant it and benefit from its purifying vibrations. The Gayatri mantra is not only an intimation to all mankind that the purpose of human existence is evolution to a higher spiritual plane but also a magnificent path to that great world.

In keeping with the Hindu tradition of following in the footsteps of the great, many great mantras have been fashioned in the model of the Gayatri mantra. They are on many gods and confer different benefits.

Apart from Savitur (the Sun), the other deities adored in these mantras are Brahma, Vani (also in various names at Saraswati, Sarada), Vishnu, Srinivasa, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Hayagreeva, Lakshmi, Dhara, Neela, Seetha, Radha, Lakshmana, Vishwaksena, Garuda, Hanuman, Ananta, Chakra, Shanka, Tulasi, Shila, Rudra, Siva, Dakshinamurti, Dattatreya, Ganapati, Subramanya, Dhurgi, Devi, Ghora, Guhya, Jwarahara, Nitya, Gauri, Bhagavati, Vadavanala, Parvati, Yogini, Shakti, Dhooma, deities representing the five great elements - Bhoomi, Aapa, Agni, Vayu and Aakasha and the nine planets.

Incarnations of Vishnu, manifestations of Siva, Ganapati, Skandha, Dattatreya, Saraswati, the goddess of learning, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and other sub-deities leading to the divine presence of Parashakti (Mother Goddess) are among those to whom the total number of 136 mantras are addressed.

Rewards of reciting particular Gayatri mantras:

The recitation of each of these Gayatri mantras gives different benefits and brings different rewards. To attain these rewards, one must recite the particular mantra every day 54 times or 108 times with devotion and single-mindedness.

This is only an limited indication of the rewards of reciting some Gayatri mantras. When one recites particular mantras guided by savants learned in the scriptures, the sky is the limit for the benefits one can reap, says the producer of the album.

The DVD can be ordered through chennaionline.com and it can be shipped to any part of the world, wherever you may be. In case you are in Chennai, you can use a local cheque or cash in favour of Chennaionline - door delivery is free in Chennai.

R Rangaraj

More Articles

Published on April 7^th, 2005