Mantric Gayatri

Many people in the world consider India as a land of spirituality. I reckon so. Some scholars even say that if you are born in India you inherit spirituality. Swami Vivekananda in his address at World Parliament of Religions in 1893 referred Hinduism in undivided India as the “mother of religions” with “the most ancient order of monks in the world”. I do not know if spirituality and religion go hand in hand forth I believe I have always been more of a spiritual person than a religious person. Now I know that many people may laugh and hate hearing that. I know.

Factually, I was born in a kashmiri pandit (hindu brahmin) family but was imparted spiritual lessons, which I think may or may not be religious. My spiritual education, what all little I tried to seek, comes mostly from my father, who had opportunities to study many religions and their philosophies under Fulbright and British Council Fellowship.

However, I am often confused by my apparent devoutness to any particular religion. It leaves in state of confusion and contradiction. But I am not an atheist. I love the concept of God and I love all HIS creations specially Nature. I love teachings of many religions from that of Hinduism to Buddhism to Christianity. And I do pray to God and whenever I pray, I pray with my whole heart. I often recite Gayatri Mantra in my prayers. But is Gayatri Mantra religious or spiritual? In my opinion, the philosophy of Gayatri Mantra is universal and not binded to any one particular religion.

In all my school days, we used to recite the Gayatri mantra every morning. But it is not long before when I sensed a strange affinity for Gayatri Mantra. I had just finished top in my third year in engineering, got campus placed in Wipro, followed by Samsung. It was a happy phase in my life. But little did I know that it would be followed by a period of turmoil. A period of great personal anguish and pain. I think the fall of 2005 has been the strangest period of my life. And in this period of sadness and despair, Gayatri Mantra injected in me an immense strength. It gave me power to defy odds. I could feel my spirit.

During this time, I vividly remember I was traveling with my father to Chandigarh from Amritsar one early morning and our driver played on one of the devotional hymn cassettes. As any other youngster, I never liked listening to a devotional song when cruise-traveling in car. I hated my driver for doing so. So with strong and quick objection, I asked him to immediately change the cassette but my father overruled. My gut rejection to the very idea of a devotional song playing in background made me feel spaced out and giddy for next few minutes. I rolled down my window to get some fresh air. But as time passed on, I started listening to the lyrics of this Gayatri Mantra based songs [ I do not know if I should call them 'Lyrics']. I started recalling the lessons from one of the discourse class in school where I had learnt the meaning of the Gayatri Mantra. I realized how beautiful the words were.

A basic translation of Gayatri Mantra, which is in Sanskrit, is as follows :

ॐ भूर्भुव: स्व: तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं । भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि, धीयो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ।।

Oh God, the Protector, the basis of all life, Who is self-existent, Who is free from all pains and Whose contact frees the soul from all troubles, Who pervades the Universe and sustains all, the Creator and Energizer of the whole Universe, the Giver of happiness, Who is worthy of acceptance, the most excellent, Who is Pure and the Purifier of all, let us embrace that very God, so that He may direct our mental faculties in the right direction.

What I felt and experienced in those next few hours of travel left a deep impact. It was very then when I decided that if ever I had a daughter, I would name her Gayatri.

But I guess I didn't have to wait much long, so when my older brother had a baby daughter and asked me to suggest a name for her, I was quick to recommend Gayatri. So it is.

And till today when I am asked to think of an enchanting word and a devotional song, I think of Gayatri and this particular song.

Nalin Chakoo