2007/06
The Gayatri Mantra is seen by many Hindus as the foremost mantra, the way to the Divine awakening of the mind and soul. The Gayatri Mantra is seen as the way to reach the most Supreme form of existence.
The Upanisads (sacred Hindu texts) contain many references to the Gayatri Mantra, and it is contained in all the four Vedas. The Goddess Gayatri is the Mother of all the Vedas and the consort of Brahma. She is made up of the coming together of Parvati, Laxmi and Saraswati to become Adi Parashakti, the Mother of Gods and the Supreme God of all Gods. She is also associated with the sun and is worshipped as the Sun Goddess.
Om bhu Om bhuvah Om Svah On mahah Om janah Om tapah Om satyam
Om bhu bhuvah svarah.
Om tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi.
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat.
Om apo jyoti raso mrtyam Brahma bhuvah svar Om.
It is believed that reciting the Gayatri Mantra creates the power of righteous wisdom. All problems are solved by those who have this gift. No calamity will befall them and they will not tread the wrong path.
It is not just reciting the mantra that is important, however. Understanding and purely being the essence of the Gayatri Manta is one of the most powerful ways to attain God and is the way to union with Brahma.
(Picture courtesy of Hindunet Inc)
O Earth! O Air! O Splendid bright space! O Abundance of Glory! O Cause of Creation! O Fire of devotion! O Absolute Truth!
O Ye Earth! O Ye Spaces! O Ye Heavens!
May we attain that desired radiance of the (Creator) God Savitri.
And may He inspire our prayers and stimulate our intelligence.
All reverence to that all-pervading holiness which penetrates all the waters, all the stars, the life essence and death.
Amen. O Earth! O Air! O Ye Heavenly Spaces!
As translated by LV
When we first achieve Self-realisation, for some of us it is difficult to establish a regular pattern of practice. We experience the Cool Breeze at a Sahaja Yoga program when we sit for meditation collectively. We resolve to try to meditate at home, but somehow the days and weeks go by and we forget how peaceful we felt, or if we remember we can’t seem to feel the same quality of calmness. For others, the desire to go inside and to commune with this “self” that we have “realised” at long last, is so strong that we make time every day for sitting quietly and raising the Kundalini, even if we have to curtail some other aspect of life.
One lady said, “It’s strange – even though I didn’t try to do meditation at home, I couldn’t stop thinking about it on and off all week!” This is the Spirit, the true self, trying to get her attention in any way it can.
You may have experienced something similar. Most of us work in the community or at home, or both. We have to spend time travelling, looking after others, attending mostly to things outside ourselves. We say things such as, “I know it would be good for me to meditate more but I just don’t seem to find the time.”
If this is true for you, perhaps just raising your awareness a little, no matter what else you are doing, may help. You can start by asking yourself, “Where is my attention?”
The answer may come, of course, that you are attending to what you are physically doing. It also may be that you are thinking about something else entirely. There are volumes written about how we should be in the present moment, controlling the “wild horse” of the mind, reining in our thoughts, “keeping our mind on the job.” When you are sweeping the floor, sweep. When you are in a meeting, pay attention to each contribution, each decision. If you are a busy mother you are probably doing one job, with your attention on another more important one – where your child is and what he is doing.
With so much competition for our attention from outside we rarely have the luxury of having the attention on the Spirit, inside. When we raise the Kundalini, however, this mothering energy gives us exactly what any mother does, the power to have the attention on the inner child, the Spirit. Just by desiring it you can learn to put your attention at the top of your head, at the fontanelle bone, where your Kundalini fountains out to meet the all-pervading energy that creates the Universe. If you have privacy you can use your right hand to “lift” the energy from the base of your spine to the top of your head a few times. Then, press your right palm against your fontanelle bone and rotate the scalp clockwise a few times, pressing firmly, until you feel that your attention is settled there at the top of the head. Continue with your outside activities and occasionally check again, “Where is my attention?”
Why do we try to have the attention at the top of the head? What is the significance of this? In the subtle body we have three energy channels, the central one of which is the channel of evolution to the fourth dimension, the Spirit. This channel culminates in an energy centre on top of the head corresponding to the limbic area of the brain in the physical body. It is called the Sahasrara Chakra or thousand-petalled lotus. The opening of this centre enables a human being to be in a state of “thoughtless awareness” or complete integration, both with the individual self in all its aspects and with the Great Self or collective consciousness. Both sides of the brain work together and we can go beyond thought to have a “bird’s eye view” of ourselves and the world. We experience the joy of oneness with everything. We feel complete.
The other two channels end in the Agnya Chakra or energy centre at the forehead where thinking occurs in all its forms – words, images, feelings. If our attention stays at this point we find we are thinking either of the past (left-sided energy) or the future (right-sided energy). As the past is finished and cannot be changed and the future has not yet come, there is no reality in either of these states. Reality is here and now, in the present moment; the place beyond thought but in full awareness of everything that is going on; the place of the witness. So why not take a “reality check” every now and then and lift your attention above the thoughts with the help of your Kundalini, your mothering energy. The more you do this the easier it will become to be in meditation and the more joy you will experience.
Christine Driver
(Photograph courtesy of Jin Neoh)
In the book, Pagan: the Origins of Modern Burma by Michael Aung-Thwin (University of Hawaii Press, 1985) the author says that written on one of the many hundreds of pagodas and temples that dot the plains of Pagan are the words, “A thousand monks, a thousand religions.” I read this book about twenty years ago, and yet this phrase has always remained with me. I have introspected on this over the years and now, as a Sahaja Yogi, perhaps I know what it means.
Its meaning is that within each of us is the religion, innately built. However, each person’s interpretation of religion is unique. The same Truth refracted through the prisms of our beings takes on myriad hues.
The monk is symbolic of the asceticism that we have to have on the inside because a monk is not created by a change of dress alone. It is the inner part that has to be changed; the outer part is just a reflection of what is happening within.
In Sahaja Yoga the innate religion is realised and actualised through the awakening of our Divine Mother, the Kundalini. Her main task is to give us Self-realisation so that this innate religion, the dharma or right conduct, manifests within us.
Each of us has a Guru Tattwa, i.e. the principle of the Divine Guru. It is called the Void or the Ocean of Illusion. Its physical location within us is the soft part of our abdomen with the navel as its centre. It has ten valencies corresponding to the Ten Commandments given to us by Moses. The ten valencies are unique to human beings, and for the understanding of each of these, an incarnation came on Earth. The first incarnation came ten thousand years ago in the form of King Janaka, with the last being Sai Baba of Shirdi. In between were Abraham, Moses, Lao Tse, Confucius, Zarathustra, Socrates, Mohammed and Guru Nanak.
The Adi or Primordial Guru principle is the combination of the quality of innocence of the three male deities, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. The Adi Guru principle is for the purpose of guiding the human beings across the Void, the Ocean of Illusion which is the place of our evolutionary process.
Once we attain the Guru Tattwa, we can become our own guru. The analogy of the monk is to show that the road to becoming one’s own guru is not easy. The journey has to be taken alone because it is our habits and conditionings that have to undergo transformation and/or transmutation to take on their hues of dharma.
Greta More
© June 2007
(Picture courtesy of Divine Life Trust, www.dlshq.org)