It has been just a couple of days since UPAKARMA. So, many Brahmins must have spent a good part of their morning chanting the Gayatri Mantra thousands or lakhs of time.
I did a search to find the meaning/ translation of this mantra. Here is what I came up with:
Gayatri mantra has been bestowed the greatest importance in Vedic dharma.This mantra has also been termed as Savitri and Ved-Mata, the mother of the Vedas. The literal meaning of the mantra is:
O God! You are Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Almighty.You are all Light. You are all Knowledge and Bliss.You are Destroyer of fear, You are Creator of this Universe, You are the Greatest of all. We bow and meditate upon Your light. You guide our intellect in the right direction.
And now the meaning of the mantra step by step:
Om bhur bhuvah swah:
Bhur the earth, bhuvah the planets (solar family), swah the Galaxy.[ We observe that when an ordinary fan with a speed of 900 RPM (rotations Per minute) moves, it makes noise. Then, one can imagine, what great noise would be created when the galaxies move with a speed of 20,000 miles per second. This is what this portion of the mantra explains that the sound produced due to the fast-moving earth, planets and galaxies is Om. The sound was heard during meditation by Rishi Vishvamitra, who mentioned it to other colleagues. All of them, then unanimously decided to call this sound Om the name of God, because this sound is available in all the three periods of time hence it is set(permanent). Therefore, it was the first ever revolutionary idea to identify formless God with a specific title (form) called upadhi. Until that time, everybody recognized God as formless and nobody was prepared to accept this new idea.
In the Gita also, it is said, "Omiti ekaksharam brahma", meaning that the name of the Supreme is Om, which contains only onesyllable. This sound Om heard during samadhi was called by all the seers nada-brahma a very great noise), but not a noise that is normally beyond a specific amplitude and limits of decibels suited to human hearing. Hence the rishis called this sound Udgith musical, sound of the above, i.e., heaven.
Tat savitur varenyam:
[Tat that (God), savitur the sun (star), varenyam worthy of bowing or respect. Once the form of a person along with the name is known to us, we may locate the specific person. Hence the two titles (upadhi) provide the solid ground to identify the formless God, Vishvamitra suggested. He told us that we could know(realize) the unknowable formless God through the known factors, viz., sound Om and light of suns (stars). A mathematician can solve an equation x^2+y^2=4; if x=2; then y can be known and so on. An engineer can measure the width of a river even by standing at the river bank just by drawing a triangle.So was the scientific method suggested by Vishvamitra in the mantra in the next portion as under:-
Bhargo devasya dheemahi:
Bhargo the light, devasya of the deity, dheemahi we should meditate. The rishi instructs us to meditate upon the available form (light of suns) to discover the formless Creator (God). Also he wants us to do japa of the word Om (this is understood in the Mantra). This is how the sage wants us to proceed, but there is a great problem to realise it, as the human mind is so shaky and restless that without the grace of the Supreme (Brahma) it cannot be controlled. Hence Vishvamitra suggests the way to pray Him as under:
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat:
Dhiyo (intellect), yo (who), nah (we all), prachodayat (guide to right Direction). O God! Deploy our intellect on the right path.
Full scientific interpretation of the Mantra: The earth (bhur), the planets (bhuvah), and the galaxies(swah) are moving at a very great velocity,the sound produced is Om, (the name of formless God.) That God (tat), who manifests Himself in the form of light of suns (savitur) is worthy of bowing/respect(varenyam). We all, therefore, should meditate (dheemahi) upon the light (bhargo) of that deity (devasya) and also do chanting of Om.
May He(yo) guide in right direction (prachodayat) our (nah) intellect (dhiyo).
Showing posts with label Spirituality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spirituality. Show all posts
Friday, August 11, 2006
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
I have had a lot of spare time, this past week or so.On one such lazy night, i decided to watch the tamil movie- Anniyan, having heard that it was a very well made movie.
I won't comment about the movie itself.....
I became particularly interested with the references to the Garuda Purana. All that i knew was that the Garuda purana is read at the time of death, before the cremation etc. I decided to dig a little for some more information.Here is some of the info i found about the various hells and the punishments meted out to sinners.
[Believe all that is written below, if u wish!!]
When a person dies, Yama’s messengers (yamaduta) come to take him to Yama. Yama’s messengers are terrible of appearance and they hold sticks and clubs in their hands. The atman leaves the dead physical body and adopts a very small form, as long as a finger. In this form, the dead person is taken to Yama’s abode. The actions performed in one’s life (karma) determine what is going to happen to a dead person thereafter. He is first sent to hell to serve out his sentence for the sins he has committed. Thereafter, he is born again. And what he is born as depends on the karma of the earlier life.
To take care of different types of sinners, there are different narakas.
The most important naraka is rourava, reserved for those who lie or bear false witness. The hell has a long expanse and is full of huge pits. These pits are full of burning coal. The sinner is let loose at one end of the hell and is made to walk to the other end. Naturally, he keeps falling into the pits and gets severly burnt. When he reaches the other end of the hell, he is released from rourava. He then goes to other hells if there are other sins to be accounted for.
Another hell is named maharourava. It is covered with burning sands. The fires that burn there are so bright that they hurt the sinner’s eyes. The sinner’s hands and feet are tied and he is thrown into the hell. There he burns. To compound his miseries, the hell is populated by fierce crows, vultures, wolves, mosquitoes and scorpions. These bite him and sting him and eat his flesh as he burns. After several years spent in maharourava, sinners are released.
Unlike rourava and maharourava, the hell named atishita is extemely cold. There is no light there and everything is in total darkness. The only heat that sinners can generate is by clinging on to each other’s bodies. There are hailstorms which make the skin smart. And there is no food to eat. To satisfy their hunger, the sinners end up eating each other’s flesh and blood and bones.
The hell named nikrintana is quite different. There sinners are tied to stakes and their bodies are sliced with sharp chakras. The slicing begins with the feet and then moved up the body to the head and then again starts with the feet. The tragic part of this is that the sinners do not die in the process. For as soon as a part of their body is join up again. Thus a sinner does not die, but continues to endure the misery. And so it continues for a thousand years before there is release.
A hell named apratishtha is a place where sinners are whirled round and round until they begin to vomit blood and their intestines come out of their mouths.
Asipatravana naraka is a huge expanse. The edges of the hell are extemely hot and there is a grove of trees in the centre. The centre is also cooler. The sinners are let loose at the edges and they suffer so much from the heat that they dash towards the centre. Asi means sword and patra is the blade of a sword. Vana is a forest. The hell is so named because the trees in the grove have leaves that are as sharp as the blades of swords. When sinners dash into the grove, their flesh is sliced with the leaves of the trees. And the grove is also full of fierce dogs which immediately eat up the torn flesh.
Next is the hell named taptakumbha. This has hot (tapa) pots (kumbha). The pots are full of boiling oil. The sinners are hung upside down inside these pots and roasted. And while they are being boiled in oil, vultures tear apart whatever portions of their bodies continue to be exposed.
There are many hells. But the seven major ones are the ones that have just been describedrourava, maharourava, atishita, nikrintana, apratishtha, asipatravana and taptakumbha.
All the hells are located under the earth. The hells are so terrible that a single day there seems like a hundred years on earth. Imprisonment in any naraka is for a fixed term. When all these tenures in different hells are over, it is time for the sinner to be born again. And what he is born as is determines by the karma of his earlier life. The greater the sins he committed in his earlier life, the more inferior the form he is born as . And so the cycle of birth, atonement and rebirth continues.
Rewards for punya are received in heaven. But these rewards are not forever. Once the term is over, the person has to be reborn.
The Garuda purana deals with not just on how the dead are punished for their sins. It deals with a whole lot more.
The Garuda Purana has nineteen thousand shlokas. It is a medium-sized Purana. The thousand shlokas of the Garuda Purana are divided into two parts, a purva khanda (first part) and an uttara khanda (subsequent part). Each khanda has several chapters (adhyaya). The purva khanda is much longer, it has two hundred and thirty-four chapters. The Uttara khanda has only forty-five.Garuda Purana is in the form of instructions by Lord Maha Vishnu to Sri Garuda (The King of Birds). This Purana deals with astronomy, medicine, grammar, and gemstone structure and qualities. In addition, the Garuda Purana is considered the authoritative Vedic reference volume describing the [Nine Pearls], which includes not only the well known Oyster Pearl, but also the Conch Pearl, Cobra Pearl, Boar Pearl, Elephant Pearl, Bamboo Pearl, Whale Pearl, Fish Pearl, and Cloud Pearl.The latter half of this Purana deals with life after death. .This link gives a lot more information about the Garuda purana. I have not yet read it completely[nor am i sure of its authenticity], but it does make for an interesting read.
I won't comment about the movie itself.....
I became particularly interested with the references to the Garuda Purana. All that i knew was that the Garuda purana is read at the time of death, before the cremation etc. I decided to dig a little for some more information.Here is some of the info i found about the various hells and the punishments meted out to sinners.
[Believe all that is written below, if u wish!!]
When a person dies, Yama’s messengers (yamaduta) come to take him to Yama. Yama’s messengers are terrible of appearance and they hold sticks and clubs in their hands. The atman leaves the dead physical body and adopts a very small form, as long as a finger. In this form, the dead person is taken to Yama’s abode. The actions performed in one’s life (karma) determine what is going to happen to a dead person thereafter. He is first sent to hell to serve out his sentence for the sins he has committed. Thereafter, he is born again. And what he is born as depends on the karma of the earlier life.
To take care of different types of sinners, there are different narakas.
The most important naraka is rourava, reserved for those who lie or bear false witness. The hell has a long expanse and is full of huge pits. These pits are full of burning coal. The sinner is let loose at one end of the hell and is made to walk to the other end. Naturally, he keeps falling into the pits and gets severly burnt. When he reaches the other end of the hell, he is released from rourava. He then goes to other hells if there are other sins to be accounted for.
Another hell is named maharourava. It is covered with burning sands. The fires that burn there are so bright that they hurt the sinner’s eyes. The sinner’s hands and feet are tied and he is thrown into the hell. There he burns. To compound his miseries, the hell is populated by fierce crows, vultures, wolves, mosquitoes and scorpions. These bite him and sting him and eat his flesh as he burns. After several years spent in maharourava, sinners are released.
Unlike rourava and maharourava, the hell named atishita is extemely cold. There is no light there and everything is in total darkness. The only heat that sinners can generate is by clinging on to each other’s bodies. There are hailstorms which make the skin smart. And there is no food to eat. To satisfy their hunger, the sinners end up eating each other’s flesh and blood and bones.
The hell named nikrintana is quite different. There sinners are tied to stakes and their bodies are sliced with sharp chakras. The slicing begins with the feet and then moved up the body to the head and then again starts with the feet. The tragic part of this is that the sinners do not die in the process. For as soon as a part of their body is join up again. Thus a sinner does not die, but continues to endure the misery. And so it continues for a thousand years before there is release.
A hell named apratishtha is a place where sinners are whirled round and round until they begin to vomit blood and their intestines come out of their mouths.
Asipatravana naraka is a huge expanse. The edges of the hell are extemely hot and there is a grove of trees in the centre. The centre is also cooler. The sinners are let loose at the edges and they suffer so much from the heat that they dash towards the centre. Asi means sword and patra is the blade of a sword. Vana is a forest. The hell is so named because the trees in the grove have leaves that are as sharp as the blades of swords. When sinners dash into the grove, their flesh is sliced with the leaves of the trees. And the grove is also full of fierce dogs which immediately eat up the torn flesh.
Next is the hell named taptakumbha. This has hot (tapa) pots (kumbha). The pots are full of boiling oil. The sinners are hung upside down inside these pots and roasted. And while they are being boiled in oil, vultures tear apart whatever portions of their bodies continue to be exposed.
There are many hells. But the seven major ones are the ones that have just been describedrourava, maharourava, atishita, nikrintana, apratishtha, asipatravana and taptakumbha.
All the hells are located under the earth. The hells are so terrible that a single day there seems like a hundred years on earth. Imprisonment in any naraka is for a fixed term. When all these tenures in different hells are over, it is time for the sinner to be born again. And what he is born as is determines by the karma of his earlier life. The greater the sins he committed in his earlier life, the more inferior the form he is born as . And so the cycle of birth, atonement and rebirth continues.
Rewards for punya are received in heaven. But these rewards are not forever. Once the term is over, the person has to be reborn.
The Garuda purana deals with not just on how the dead are punished for their sins. It deals with a whole lot more.
The Garuda Purana has nineteen thousand shlokas. It is a medium-sized Purana. The thousand shlokas of the Garuda Purana are divided into two parts, a purva khanda (first part) and an uttara khanda (subsequent part). Each khanda has several chapters (adhyaya). The purva khanda is much longer, it has two hundred and thirty-four chapters. The Uttara khanda has only forty-five.Garuda Purana is in the form of instructions by Lord Maha Vishnu to Sri Garuda (The King of Birds). This Purana deals with astronomy, medicine, grammar, and gemstone structure and qualities. In addition, the Garuda Purana is considered the authoritative Vedic reference volume describing the [Nine Pearls], which includes not only the well known Oyster Pearl, but also the Conch Pearl, Cobra Pearl, Boar Pearl, Elephant Pearl, Bamboo Pearl, Whale Pearl, Fish Pearl, and Cloud Pearl.The latter half of this Purana deals with life after death. .This link gives a lot more information about the Garuda purana. I have not yet read it completely[nor am i sure of its authenticity], but it does make for an interesting read.
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