Significance Of Gayatri Mantra - Who Is The Author Of Gayatri Mantra?

Gayatri Mantra is a verse in Rig Veda (3.62.10) and is addressed to Sun. It is found in Rig Veda book 3 hymn 63 line 10. The significance of Gayatri Mantra is that it is dedicated to the visible god or 'pratyaksha brahman'. The author of Gayatri mantra is Sage Viswamitra.

Who Is The Author Of Gayatri Mantra?

Vedas are believed to have been directly conveyed by God to saints on earth. Thus Vedas contains the hymns written by several sages. These sages had attained divine power and they lived for a very long period and could travel around the universe.

It is widely believed that Sage Viswamitra composed the Gayatri mantra.

Vishwamitra Maharishi played an important role in many major incidents in the Hindu Puranas.

Gayatri Mantra

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं ।
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥

Om Bhuur Bhuvah Svah
Tat Savitur Varennyam |
Bhargo Devasya Dhiimahi
Dhiyo Yo Nah Pracodayaat ||

We meditate on the great glory of the God Savita that He many inspire our thoughts or works. The power of Savita is symbolized as golden effulgence, for light is the best objective representation of the consciousness which enlightens the mental and bodily changes and is the driving power of all life.

Significance Of Gayatri Mantra 

When Vedas talk about the Sun it is not merely the sun that rises in the morning and sets in the evening. Along with the external reality, Vedic teachers want us to realize that the same divine light and energy in the external sun is within us. The same divine light in sun is present in all animate and inanimate in the universe.

Gayatri mantra tries to tell us that Sun is not an entity outside us. The divinity in it is within us too. 

One of the earliest translations of Gayatri Mantra captures its true essence. Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke translates Gayatri Mantra like this - “Earth, Sky, Heaven. Let us meditate on (these, and on) the most excellent light and power of that generous, sportive, and resplendent sun, (praying that) it may guide our intellects.”

• Gayatri Mantra is an excellent way to start a day. 
• It is a great mantra to meditate. 
• It brings one in contact with ‘Brahman.’ 
• It glorifies the Pratyaksha Brahman - Sun - without whom no living being can exist.

Savita is the deity of Gayatri mantra. Savita is worshipped at sunrise, noon and sunset, the main points of solar transformation throughout the day.

Understand the true essence of Sanatana Dharma – everything in this world is nothing but Brahman and everything contains the essence of Brahman. 

Concentrate on Gayatri Mantra Not On Innumerable Interpretations

There are innumerable interpretations of Gayatri Mantra. Scholars have been interpreting Gayatri for ages and it still continues. The net result is that ordinary people no longer knows what it means. People have begun to attach undue importance and we have all sort of stories on Gayatri Mantra. Each syllable in the Gayatri has been put under scanner and undue significance has been attributed.

Then there are the scientific interpretations of Gayatri Mantra. Some of them can make excellent science fictions.

One can easily get lost in the sea of scholarly and scientific articles on Gayatri Mantra. Most of these articles are the product of ego of the author who wanted to show off his/her knowledge. Some of the interpretations were meant to purely glorify the Vedic age and Hinduism.

Similarly, by attributing newer qualities to Gayatri Mantra nothing is going to change. It only creates confusion to an ordinary devotee and instills with more wrong ideas and notions.

The number of times to repeat the Gayatri Mantra should be decided by devotee. Chant the mantra with full concentration. Stop when you feel you have had chanted enough or when you feel you no longer can concentrate.

Importance of Gayatri Japa

The mantra is constantly chanted in several grahya and Srautasutras – the ritualistic adjuncts of the Vedas.

It is also chanted in the Hindu religious codes and social laws (Dharmashastra).

Gayatri forms the primary mantra into which young boys and girls are initiated. This is part of the Upanayana ceremony.

Atharva veda (19.71.1) gives the title of Vedamata (Mother of Vedas) to Gayatri Mantra. It states that the recitation would confer on the person long life, glory, children and wealth.

As per Apastamba Dharmasutra, Gayatri Japa is equal to the recitation of all the four Vedas.

It has been repeatedly mentioned in the Hindu religious codes that Gayatri Japa is extremely potent, either by itself or with other prayers and rituals. It is chanted as part of penance and sin redemption.

Vasishta Dharmasutra (26.15) states the number of times Gayatri is to be chanted. Gayatri Japa should be chanted 1000 times or 100 times or at least ten times daily for a person to purify oneself.

As per Samvarta Dharmashastra (VI. 147 – 48), the person chanting Gayatri should first take a bath, the do achamana (sipping of water), perform pranayama, wear dry clothes and put pavitra – a loop made using darbha grass on the right hand. The person should then sit on hard ground in a clean place and commence the recitation of the Gayatri mantra. All sins committed by him in this world and the previous birth will be wiped off when the Gayatri Japa is performed continuously for five days.