Gayatri Words & Meaning
“The Hymn of hymns, oh Uddhava, is the Gayatri hymn. I shall explain it to thee from the beginning to end; pray hear.”
Ekanathi Bhagawata XXI
The Lord says, “Oh Uddhava, Gayatri hymn is the bedrock of all hymns.” All means many. That in virtue of which this number comes to be experienced is Gayatri. The tri-syllabic A+U+M means Omkar – The Logos. The next step starts with two numbers. The first one is the consciousness of one’s own being. It is the natural characteristic, the un-uttered word. It is the unknowingly spoken word given out everywhere and every moment and no one knows about it. This word, uttered unawares, is the Gayatri Hymn, the basis of all hymns.
Innumerable words are spoken subsequently; and all the universes spring from them, but the prime source of all is the Gayatri Chhandas, the unspoken word, the unuttered sound. Everyone has the same experience, and what is the experience born of this unspoken word? One’s own being.
There are innumerable varieties of being from the ant to the gods, but what is the original being? It is Gayatri. The experience of this being is one’s own being. This Gayatri Chhandas comes first, the rest only follows. The characteristic of that being is explained by the Lord as follows: “What is the nature of that hymn? Even though there be the power to create innumerable universes, it cannot be left hold of.”
What does Gayatri Chhandas mean?
It is the awareness of your own being, it is whatever you understand without speech. Wherever there is life, there is the hymn to support it. It vibrates in us, and in spite of years of miserable drudgery, we do not feel like parting with it. In virtue of this Gayatri Hymn Sri Rama and Sri Vishnu came to this earth as incarnations, but they mastered it. This unwitting consciousness of your own being is the same in us and in them, but they did it consciously and experienced it as such. Other beings get only to the surface of the meaning, which is only a perversion thereof; the yawning of the creatures lets out the syllables A+U+M.
Now Meditate on the meaning as you have understood above.
The sign of the experience is complete satisfaction of the mind.
You are Chakrapani, the being with a thousand hands and heads, the un-uttered sound. The word and its resounding sense are the first Person, and are experienced as such. The sign of the experience is complete satisfaction of the mind.
Gayatri Hymn is the substratum of the satisfaction of all and it bursts forth spontaneously, for the sound is ever glorious. The name that resounds in you without being uttered is your own indwelling spirit. It is enough if you silently listen to the ten sounds, five resoundings, dual reverberation and the single voice, and the symphony of them all. This basic Gayatri Hymn is with you only.
Great Rishis and Saints acquire immense power by reciting this hymn of twenty-four syllables.
Three groups of eight syllables make one series of twenty-four sounds. Gayatri Mantra consists of twenty-four syllables as follows:
Oam, Bhooh, Oam, Bhuvah, Oam, Swaha, Oam, Mahah, Oam, Janah, Oam, Tapah, Oam, Satyam, Tat, Savituih, Varenyam, Bhargah, Devasya, Dhimahi, Dhiyo, Yo, Nah, Prachodayaat.
Innumerable worlds are created and destroyed by its power, but consider the power of the bi-syllabic word Rama that easily cancels all this power and rests in perfection.
- VEDAS AS BASIC: They were basic to the subsequent interpretation, hence they are called basic, but the primal root, first cause of everything is this hymn.
- THE BEATITUDE OF BRAHMAN: The experience of one’s own being, of the vision of one’s own Self and the eventual peace that is unparalleled is called Brahmananda. The experience of one’s own nature without the help of others is later on interpreted as the Great Beatitude, (Paramananda).
- SPIRITUAL LIFE: Just as there is the luster of luster, so also is Gayatri Chhandas the very life of spirit. The Lord says, “I am hidden and it is my treasure, but that which hides me also reveals me. How do I appear when seen? Surely as non-dual, non-different.
He who listens to the vibrating hymn is hidden. With the devout recitation of this hymn everything will be distinctly clear, for it is already there; but if one wishes to realize my vision without it, he will have it, and it will be Advaita – non-dual.
What do the syllables of this immovable one signify? Absolute bliss of the Self, it is Sat (being), Chit (consciousness) and Ananda (beatitude). This is the essence of the Gayatri hymn. Its contemplation confers absolute bliss.
From: Self Knowledge & Self-Realization by Nisargadatta – see free writings downloads