Sandhyavandanam -7

In the second part uttarangam we are now seeing Gayatri japa. We dwelt with Avahanam and Nyasah and now seeing the japa vidhihi. We saw Gayatri is a mantra that is chanted with five stops. Since in the beginning we said nichrut gayatri chandah it should have 23 letters only and not 24. So tat savitur varenyam is chanted not vareni-yam. This nichrut gayatri is used for pranayam, argyam, japa and danam. Up to this we saw in the last class, now we shall proceed.

            Japa is of three types. One is ‘oocha” japa, “manda japa” and thirdly “manasa japa”. Oocha japa is a loud chanting audible to people around. Often it is audible but mostly disturbing to others who are engaged in some other vyavahara. Manda or Upangkshu is chanting by just moving the lips and it is audible only to the meditator only. It is not audible to the people around, say murmur chanting where lip and tongue movements are there. Lastly there is manasa japa where there is no lip, tongue or throat movement. The chanting is only in the mind. Of these which is the best to be adopted? All three can be adopted but there is a gradation. Not only in Gayatri any mantra that is chanted the best is manasa (uttamam), then upangkshu (madhyamam) and finally oochamam. In terms of punyam if loud chanting gives one unit of punya, then murmuring upangkshu has ten, while manasa gives 100 times benefit of the other. Manasa japa is difficult as you cannot be mechanical. Whereas in vachika japa the mouth can keep on chanting while the mind may be busy planning the activities of the day. For some it is only while doing gayatri japa they will ask: who called? What is the message? (all this when they are supposed to be chanting!). While chanting we should not hold on to “yagno pavitam” This is an incidental point but what I saying is it is mechanical when it is loud chanting but if it is mental then you have to involve yourself. Since it is difficult therefore the punyam is more. What is more difficult will give more punya. But if a person cannot do manasa japa then start with oocha japa, gradually come to mandha japa before coming to manasa japa.

During the japa don’t think of the deity – not only with respect to gayatri japa but any japa – the imagination of the deity is before the mantra in the invocation sections. Because if you use imagination the concentration on the chanting would be less. Therefore Devi visualization is before the japa, in the japa the concentration is only on the mantra. Even on the concentration on the mantra can be two folds: it can be “shubda pradana” or it can be “artha pradana”. In the former I don’t think of the meaning but I only visualize the sounds: Om bhoor-bhuva-suvah tat savitur varenyam…”. I only visualize the shubda and that shubda alone is sacred and capable of giving the phalam. In the japa the chanting is shubda pradana only. The meaning can be visualized before the japa or after the end of japa but not during. While in artha pradana I give importance to the meanings and not much to the individual words or shubdas. In Sandhyavanadam the gayatri japa is only shubda pradana only.  

            Now I will take up the artha part.  As we have already seen in the Gayatri japa we are adding pranava and vyakriti. Om which is pranava mantra as well as Bhur-bhuvah-Suvah which is vyakriti are added to the Gayatri mantra. They are appendages. We will see the meaning part by part.

            Omkara is very much glorified in the scriptures. It is said that irrespective of the meaning of OM , it’s very sound is a purifying mantra. Brahmaji created the world saying two words: Om and atha. Therefore they are mangalam whatever be the meaning; the very sound is auspicious. Omkara is supposed to be the best name of the Lord. Of all the names the Lord has OM is the best as mentioned in the Gita. Om, tat, and sat are the three names of the Lord. Because of this Omkara is known by the name pranava. Pranava means a name that is ideal for the Lord. I will give two reasons why Omkara is the best name for the Lord. One is Omkara is “ekaka aksharam”. It is a one syllable word. And the Lord is also one. Omkara ekakah, Brahman ekam. Omkara is aksharaha (it means syllable) and Brahman is aksharam (meaning the imperishable one). Besides are the philosophical similarities that we find in Mandokya Upanishad. Omkara is the ideal name of the Lord and by chanting Om we remember the lord. Om is derived from the root “rakshati”; the word means one that protects. It is applicable to the mantra also, applicable to the Lord also.

            Now we will go to Vyakriti mantra. It is also auspicious irrespective of its meaning. It’s very sound is sacred. Bhor-bhuvah-suvah are three words uttered by Brahmaji Himself. Brahma Vyakritha iti vyakriti. It has been uttered in the beginning like Omkara. The second meaning of vyakriti is “that removes all the sins when uttered by a person.” That is why for any puja we use “Om bhur-bhuvah-suvah” for it is a great purifier. The words bhur-bhuvah-suvah refers to three lokas which are the manifestations of the Lord. The simple meaning is: I remember the Lord Om who manifests in the three lokas. The same thing can also be seen from Vedantic angle too. In Vedanta Omkara represents nirgunam turiyam. Bhur-bhuvah-suvah represent sagune, vishwa and thaijasa prajna. I remember the nirgunam Brahman who alone is manifesting at saguna vishwa, saguna virat and saguna hiranyagarba and saguna prajan Ishwarah. That Lord I remember.

            Now we will go the Gayatri mantra. First I will take the samanya arthah (general meaning for the general public) and then I will take the vedantic artha. The samanya artha is just the invocation of surya devata. Yaha Nahah dheyayah prachodayat Savitur devasya tat varenyam bhargah deemahi. Deemahi means we meditate upon. Meditate on varenyam bhargah. Varenyam means sacred, auspicious, adorable, shresttam. Bhargah means brilliance, effulgence. So we meditate on the most scared and effulgent light of whom? Devasya Savituh. We meditate on the effulgence of the sun. In what way it is sacred? Yaha Nahah dheyayah prachodayat. Whose effulgence alone, which energy alone, which light alone ENLIVENS, energizes, activates our dheeyah, our intellect, our budhi.  So the simple running meaning of the gayatri is: we meditate upon that sacred effulgent sun god which activates all our intellects. And if you want an explanation for this we have to go to the Gita. Yada Nityagadam thejah jagat bhasayathe kilam. Yahchadramathi Ychchaggnu, thetejo vidhi mamakam. The light and energy in the sun belongs to me. Therefore you can look upon the sunlight as pratyasha symbol of the Lord. Because I am in the sun as the light and therefore you can worship me. What is the glory of sunlight? That energy pervades the whole earth, nourishes all beings, activates all beings, nourishes even plants and animals. Even thought the sunlight nourishes all beings here the student is interested in budhi (intellect) very much. Grishasta is interested in health and money. He has to run a family and he does not have much time to read at all. If at all he reads, he will read Cineblitz or Filmfare. For reading those magazine you don't need any mind; whatever little is there it will go..(laughs). Grihasta does not seem to use much of the budhi, this is mostly used by brahmacharies and Sanyasis. As in medha suktam, mayi’ medhāṃ mayi’ prajāṃ mayyagnistejo’ dadhātu mayi’ medhāṃ mayi’ prajāṃ mayīndra’ indriyaṃ da’dhātu mayi’ medhāṃ mayi’ prajāṃ mayi sūryo bhrājo’ dadhātu. Most of the brahmachari’s prayers seek medha and prajna. Since Gayatri is a prayer for brahmachari; here I am using it to mean any spiritual seeker. Not just an unmarried person. By brahmachari I meant a vedic student. For them memory and intellect is important and so may the sun god bless me. This not directly asked but it is implied in the gayatri. This is the samanya artha of gayatri.

            Now I will come to the vishasha arthah, Vedanta arthah. To understand this one must have a background of Upanishadic teaching. Those who don’t have this prior study can ignore this portion. Here dheemayi means we meditate upon. Nidhidyasanam kurmaye. We meditate on tat bhargah varenyam. This refers to Sat-chit-ananda svarupam. We mediate on Sat-chit-ananda swarupa of what? Of the Lord Ishwarah.

           How do you arrive at the meaning? We will analyze one by one. Here Savituh literally means that which procreates the universe. The root “su” means to procreate or give birth to. Here Savita means that which is the creator of the universe. Savita is primarily used as the material cause of the universe. The mother is the material cause of the baby, similarly Ishwarah is the material cause of the creation. Savita is equal to upadana karanam. Devasya means that which is effulgence, chettana swarupam or the intelligent principle. By using the word devasya the lord is supposed to be the intelligent cause of the creation also, the nimitha karanam. Therefore the lord is both the material cause of creation as well as the intelligent cause as well. Savitu devasya means abina, nimitha, upadana karanam, bhutasya brahmanah. Sanskrit commentators go crazy on these words giving truckfulls of vyakyanams. Even Sankara wrote voluminously on this. And that Ishwara has got what nature? Tat bhargah varenyam. Tat refers to sat swarupam. The nature of existence. Bhargah means that which is light, effulgent. It is from the root “brij” to roost, to burn down. Bhargah means brightness that which is capable of removing darkness. This indicates chaitanyam for it is only thing that destroys ignorance. Ajnanam bharjathe, samsaram bharjathe. So we have both the meanings: that which is effulgent and that which destroys ignorance. By removing darkness, ignorance it removes samsara also. So bhargah stands for effulgent chit swarupam. The third word is varenyam. Literally it means that which is worth choosing by all. Varana Yugyam. What is that which is chosen by all? Money? Position? On vedantic analysis we say in and through everything, everyone chooses only one thing and that is “anandah”, “purnatvam”, and fulfillment. There is only one purushartha and that is ananda. Therefore varenyam is ananda swarupam. Tat means sat swarupam, bhargah is chit swarupam and varenyam is ananda swarupam. All these three swarupams belong to Savituh devasya. To Ishwarah eka swarupam. What kind of swarupam it is? Yah, which chaitanyam. So that all pervading sat-chit-ananda swarupam which is the cause of the universe is behind our intellects also as sakshi rupah yah. Shkethrugnya rupah yah. There is a grammatical beauty also here: starting with neuter gender Brahman the stanza comes to masculine gender athma. Tat refers to Brahman while yah refers to athma. So that Brahman which in the form of sat-chit-ananda and is the cause of creation is athma. Dheeyayah, all our thoughts, vrittis, prachodayat. So according to this interpretation tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya deemayi indicates Brahman chaitanyam, Dheeyoyonah prachachodayat indicates athma chaitanyam. So we meditate on the athma chaitanyam which is nothing but brahma chaitanyam. This is Gayatri looked from Vedantic angle. If a person chants Gayatri before the study of Vedanta it becomes upasanam. But the very same Gayatri after the study of Vedanta is nidhidhyasanam.  Aham Brahmasmi Dhyanam. That is why Gayatri is recommended even for sanyasi who has dropped all other upasanas, Gayatri is okay for him as it contains Upanishadic sara. With Gayatri Vishasha part is over.

            Then the next part of Japa is a conclusion with a pranayama. How many times Gayatri chanting? It depends on a person’s facility. If possible 1008 (uttamam) if not 108 if not 64 if not 32 or 27 and minimum10. In Kaliyuga we reduce it to at least 3. After sometime it will become one as in family planning: we both and our one! After that pranayama is done to conclude the japa.

            After pranayama there is a formal sending back of Gayatri devi. Since we invoked Gayatri we have to send it her back and it is called “Gayatri Upasthanam” mantra. Literally upasathanam means worship, namaskara, adoration. This mantra: uttame shikhare devi bhoomyaam parvata moordhani, braahmanebhyo hyaujnaanam gachcha devi yathaa-sukham. So hey, Gayatri devi. Anujnanam means permission or taking leave of. From whom? These brahmanas who are chanting the gayatri mantra. So after taking permission from brahmanas what you should do? Gachcha, please go away. Yathaa-sukham, please go away comfortably. I can entertain you only this long! Where should you go? Bhoomyam parvata moordani. May you go to the top of the Himalayas. Back to the tip of meru parvata which is on the earth. That to uttame shikhare, the highest top. Please go back to the highest peak which is your abode. I am nicely sending you back so that I will invite you during madhyanam or Sayam Sandhya again. So go back safely with the intention to come back when I call you again. With the entire Gayatri japa part is over. With this the sixth stage of uttarangam is over. We will go to the seventh stage which we will do in the next class. Hari Om.