Author: Sujata Nahar
Publisher: Mira Aditi
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 31
ISBN/UPC (if available): 81-88893-34-X
Description
"O Lord, who pervades the earth, the intermediate world and the world of light, we meditate on the supreme light of the illumining Sun-god, that he may impel our mind" - thus runs the Gayatri mantra, the chosen formula of the ancient Vedic search. It is addressed to Surya, the Sun, " as a god of revelatory knowledge by shoe action we can arrive at the highest truth. This sacred Vedic formula, of the Gayatri, observes Sri Aurobindo, was for thousands of years repeated by every Brahmin in his daily mediation and we may note that this formula is a verse from the Rig-Veda, from a hymn of the Rishi Vishwamitra.
Ages ago, the mid-twenties, Sri Aurobindo once asked a would-be disciple, " Do you know the meaning of the Gayatri Mantra?". The man replied, :it is a great power but I do not know the meaning. Sri Aurobindo explained. It means we choose the Supreme Light of the divine Sun we aspire that it may impel our minds. The Sun is the symbol of the divine light that is coming down and Gayatri gives expression to the aspiration asking that divine light to come down and give impulsion of all the activities of the mind.