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for the experiences it can bring. Thus, the wise sages contemplated to discover a milder form of Om, and the Gayatri mantra was revealed to them, which ordinary people could practise without drastic effects.
According to vedic philosophy, prana has three forms. So Gayatri, as the presiding deity of prana, is seen as a little girl, innocent and childish, in the early morning; as a charming young woman in full bloom at noon, and as an old woman, embodying wisdom or jnana, in the evening. The colour of Gayatri in the morning is red like the rising sun; at noon she is golden, and in the evening smoky grey. These are the characteristics of prana, represented by the different forms of Gayatri, and this is how Gayatri worshippers may visualize her during their thrice-daily worship.
Some believe that the Gayatri mantra is directed towards the external sun, but ultimately it is directed towards the brilliance of the internal sun. The inner sun must shine so that the consciousness becomes enlightened. In the external firmament, first there is darkness, broken only by the flickering light of stars. Then a dim light shoots forth from the horizon, indicating the break of dawn, and finally the brilliant sun rises, lighting up everything. As it happens in the external horizon, so it is in the inner horizon. Internally also, there is darkness at first. From time to time one sees some visions, which are like stars. Then one experiences traces of light within the horizons of the mind, as the sun is about to come up. That breaking of light is called Gayatri. It represents the sun which illuminates the whole world and also the inner self which illuminates all the planes of existence and consciousness. The external sun only illumines the gross world, but when inner enlightenment takes place all the planes of existence become perceptible.
Gayatri is referred to as the Mother of the Vedas and the Gayatri mantra appears in the Rig Veda, the oldest written literature in the library of humankind. Thus, human beings have been chanting the Gayatri mantra for a long time There is no restriction in the chanting of this mantra, because
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