By far the most famous and one of the most ancient mantras is the Gayatri Mantra. This powerful, sacred mantra – when chanted again and again most intensely and most soulfully – has taken countless sincere seekers to the highest heights of spiritual consciousness. These are the Gayatri Mantra lyrics in their original Sanskrit language with English transliteration:
Aum bhur bhuvah svah
Tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah pracodayat.We meditate on the transcendental glory of the Deity Supreme,
Who is inside the heart of the earth,
Inside the life of the sky,
And inside the soul of the heaven.
May He stimulate and illumine our minds.
The Gayatri Mantra is the most hallowed mantra of the Vedas. It is the mother of all the mantras. Mantra means incantation. A mantra can be a one-syllable word or a few words, a sentence or a few sentences. The Gayatri Mantra can offer to the sincere seeker the Light of the Infinite, the Delight of the Eternal, and the Life of the Immortal.
Watch the following beautiful soulful video where Sri Chinmoy recites the Gayatri mantra while the sun is slowly rising up. Sunrise is one of the most sacred times during the day and reciting mantra at sunrise gives one a very strong experience.
Meditation exercise
Please try to find a quiet and peaceful spot to start your mantra meditation. Take a few deep breaths (through the nose) in and out to relax. Try to let go of all stress and feel peace inside your being. Now slowly begin to repeat the words to the Gayatri Mantra – either softly voicing the words or singing Sri Chinmoy’s tune to the Gayatri Mantra very softly and devotedly. As you repeat the sacred sounds of this ancient mantra, kindly feel that you are joining an uninterrupted flow of profound aspiration from countless spiritual seekers throughout thousands of years – all striving for inner peace and inner growth. In time, you may find yourself inundated with more and more peace – even feeling that you are a part of the pure, ancient flow of peace embodied in the Gayatri Mantra.
“The Gayatri is eternal knowledge divine.”