You don't recite a personal mantra in your daily life?

It is a common sight in buses and trains that Hindu working women, commuting to work in the morning, open printed booklets of mantras and shlokas and read them silently, after they find a seat. Women exchange specific mantras and shlokas for specific problems (such as a daughter due for marriage, a son to do better in his studies, a husband or other relative suffering from a disease, etc.), chant them with great care and faith, and often see the rewards coming up.

Among men, orthodox brahmins who normally finish a morning puja before they turn up for office, are mostly seen chanting mantras or shlokas on their way to work, or at home when they are free. This practice, sadly, is on the wane, due to the material currents of modern life, and is rarely seen among today's youth.

A personal mantra, recited clearly and calmly in mind, mentally listening to the accent of incantation, can be a powerful, beneficial force, due to the vibrations set up by its words in the subtle matter of the higher planes.

A personal mantra may be personal, or not. When personal, it is usually on a personal god (Ishta Devata), chanted for personal favours or security. When chanted for the general welfare, praising God, it becomes impersonal, but still remains a personal mantra, as it is recited by a single person. Gayatri mantra is the most famous among the mantras that seek general spiritual welfare.

Gayatri mantra

Known as the Mahamantra, Gayatri mantra is an invocation to the Solar Deity. Found in the Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas, and popularised by Viswamitra Rishi, the mantra runs as follows:

Aum,
Bhoor Bhuva Suvaha,
Tat savitur varenyam,
Bhargo devasya dhimahi,
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat.


Meaning of the phrases

Aum - The primordial sound of creation (that rules)
Bhoor Bhuva Suvaha - the earth, the astral world and the heaven
Tat - (came from) Brahman
Savitur - (who is Savitri and is) the cause of all forms.
Varenyam - (So we) adore (him).
Bhargo devasya - (Upon his) divine, resplendent glory
Dhimahi - we meditate.
Dhiyo yo nah - (May that Supreme Being inspire) our knowledge
Prachodayat - (and) enlighten us.

Overall meaning

Aum, the sound of creation that rules the three worlds: the earth, the astral and the heaven, came from Brahman, who is Savitri, the Sun God, and is the cause of all forms. So we adore him.

Upon his divine, resplendent glory we meditate. May that Supreme Being inspire our knowledge and enlighten us.

Bishop Leadbeater has suggested this English translation for recital:

"Om: We adore the resplendent glory of Savitri our Lord;
may He inspire our devotion and understanding."

What is the connection between Gayatri and Savitri? Who are they?

The Gayatri mantra is the essence of the Vedas. The energetic mantras of Vedas is worshipped in the feminine form Gayatri. (In Sanatana Dharma, energy or shakti is feminine). When spoken with reference to our solar system, she becomes Savitri, the Sun. And when spoken with reference to knowledge, the inner Sun, she is Sarasvati, the mother of all knowledge.

When should this mantra be recited?

While the best times are the times of dawn (when night meets day), and dusk (when day meets night), Gayatri mantra, according to Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba, can be recited at all times by every one, irrespective of caste, creed, country, religion or gender, since it is a truly universal mantra.

Bishop C.W.Leadbeater elaborates the mysic vision he had on Gayatri mantra, in his book The Masters And The Path. Below is an excerpt of the entire passage:


Pages 145-146
The Gayatri is perhaps the greatest and most beautiful of all the ancient mantras. It has been chanted all over India from time immemorial, and the Deva kingdom has learnt to understand it and respond to it in a very striking manner-- a manner which is initself most significant, as showing that, in an antiquity so remote that the very memory of it has been forgotten, the altruistic use of such mantras was fully comprehended and practiced. It begins always with the sacred word Om, and with the enumeration of the planes upon which its action is desired-- the three worlds in which man lives, the physical, the astral and the mental; and as each plane is mentioned, the Devas belonging to that plane flock round the singer with joyous enthusiasm to do the work which by the recitation of the mantra he is about to give them. Students will remember that in India Shiva is sometimes called Nilakantha, the Blue-Throated, and that there is a legend connected with that title. It is interesting to note that some of the Angels who respond when the Gayatri is chanted bear that characteristic of the blue throat, and are clearly first-ray in type.

This wonderful mantra is an invocation to the Sun-- of course really to the Solar Logos, who stands behind that grandest of all symbols; and the great shaft of light which immediately pours down upon and into the reciter comes as though from the physical Sun, in whatever direction that Sun may happen to be. This shaft of light is white tinged with gold, and shot with that electric blue which is so often seen in connection with any manifestation of the power of the first Ray; but when it has filled the very soul of the reciter it promptly shoots from him again in seven great rays or cones having the colours of the spectrum. It is as though the singer acts as a prism; yet the colour-rays which dart forth are of a shape the reverse of what we usually find in such cases. Commonly when we send out rays of spiritual force they spring forth from a point in the body-- the heart, the brain, or some other centre; and as they shoot out they steadily broaden fanwise, as do those shining from a lighthouse. But these rays start from a basis wider than the man himself--a basis which is the circumference of his aura; and instead of widening out they decrease to a point, just as do the rays of a conventional star except that they are of course cones of light instead of mere triangles.

Another remarkable feature is that these seven rays do not radiate in a circle in all directions, but only in a semi-circle in the direction which the reciter is facing. Furthermore these rays have a curious appearance of solidifying as they grow narrower, until they end in a point of blinding light. And a still more curious phenomenon is that these points act as though they were living; if a man happens to come in the way of one of them, that point curves with incredible rapidity and touches his heart and his brain, causing them to glow momentarily in response. Each ray appears to be able to produce this result on an indefinite number of people in succession; in testing it on a closely-packed crowd we found that the rays apparently divide the crowd between them, each acting on the section that happened to be in front of it, and not interfering with any other section.

As to the question of the language of the mantra, it seems to be of minor importance. The repetition of the words in English1 having a clear intention behind them, produced the full effects. The recitation of the same thing in Sanskrit with the same intention brought about an identical result, but in addition built round the radiating shafts a sound-form resembling a wonderfully intricate kind of carved wooden frame-work; it provided us with something which might be imaged as a seven-fold gun through which the rays were shooting out. This sound-form extended only for a short distance, and did not seem to make any difference at all to the power or size of the rays.

1. The literal rendering of this celebrated versicle into English is: "Om: We adore the resplendent glory of Savitri our Lord; may He inspire our devotion and understanding." But in the course of ages it has come to imply to the devout Hindu very much more than is conveyed by the mere words.

A Sanskrit scholar tells me that, while the ordinary word for the sun is Surya, this especial title Savitri is used always to imply the Sun (that is to say the Solar Logos) as inspirer or encourager. It seems to have a signification closely allied to the word Paraclete, which is often, but very unsatisfactorily, translated as the Comforter. (See The Hidden Side of Christian Festivals, p. 2O2). My friend also emphasizes the fact that this is not a prayer to the Logos to give us wisdom or devotion, but the expression of an earnest aspiration and resolve that His influence shall so act upon us as to call out and to strengthen that which already exists within us.


Recite Gayatri mantra with faith, when you commute to and from work, and at other times when you are mentally free. You will definitely find the difference.