Monday, September 21, 2015

Sacred Sanskrit: Gayatri Mantra (video)

Deva Premal via Liana Tuisk (youtube.com); explanation by Wiki; Wisdom Quarterly
Maybe the planet Earth (Bhumi, Gaia, Tierra) is not such a bad place to be after all. Maybe we should even do our best to preserve it, maintain it, give it what it needs to be greener and cleaner, more supportive of life and beauty.

The mantra personified into a goddess (wiki).
(Wiki) The Gāyatrī Mantra is a highly revered mantra from the Vedas, the sacred "Knowledge Books" from the Indus Valley Civilization revered today throughout India.

Like all Vedic mantras, the Gayatri Mantra is considered to be without an author. Like all other Vedic mantras, it is believed instead to have been revealed to a Brahma-rishi (a "seer of Brahma"), in this case Vishvamitra.

It is a verse from a sukta of the Rigveda (Mandala 3.62.10). Gāyatrī is the name of the Vedic meter in which the verse is composed. As the verse can be interpreted to invoke Savitr, it is also called the Sāvitrī mantra. Its recitation is traditionally preceded by oṃ and the formula bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, known as the mahāvyāhṛti "great (mystical) utterance."
 
Be the change you want to see: save the world.
The Gayatri mantra is repeated and cited very widely in Vedic literature and praised in several well known classical Hindu texts such as the Manusmṛti ("There is nothing greater than the Savitri (Gayatri) Mantra," Manu II, 83), the Harivamsa, and the Bhagavad Gita.

The mantra is an important part of the upanayana ceremony for young males in Hinduism and has long been recited by dvija men as part of their daily rituals. Modern Hindu reform movements spread the practice of the mantra to include women and all castes and its use is now very widespread. More plus citations

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