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The Vedic Gayatri Mantra & Its Metamorphosis in the Jainism
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Vedic seer Visvamitra, originally the son of king Gathin (Gadhi) Kušika of Kanyakubja. The text of the formulae is as follows:
Om/bhür/bhuvah/svaḥ tat savitur varenyarh
bhargo devasya dhimahi/dhiyo yo nah pracodayat//
Herein God Savitar's power is invoked in order to stimulate one's thought-power. The God's power of stimulation is tranferred to the spiritual world, and he becomes the inspirer and quickener of thought; as Savitar awakens the world to do its work, so he awakens the spirit of man; the morning glow is an emblem of the inward illumination which the earnest worshipper or student desires for himself at the beginning of the day, or in the post-Vedic period at the beginning of the Vedic study."
(II) THE VEDIC INTERPRETATION
(A) One of the earliest authentic Upanishdic extolment of the Gayatri has been preserved by the Vedic tradition in the Chandogya Upanisad, where the nomenclature 'Gayatri is derived from the two roots gai and trai, meaning literally, 'that which, singing, protects'. The meaning of the formulae as a whole stands thus:
OM! The earthly, atmospheric and celestial spheres (bhür bhuvaḥ svab)! Let us contemplate the wondrous solar spirit of the Divine Creator (tat savitur devasya varenyam bhargo dhimahi)! May he direct our minds (yo nah dhiyah pracodayat) 114
(B) The Gayatri-vyäkarana of Yogi Yajnavalkya explains it in the following way: "Tat, means that. Tat is apparently here treated as in the objective case, agreeing with varenyam, etc., but others holding that the vyähṛtiBhür bhuvah svah-forms part of, and should be linked with, the rest of the Gayatri treat that as part of a genitive compound connected with the previous vyähṛti (in which case it is teṣām). The word yat, "which" is to be understood (it may, however, be said that yat is there in yo nah). Savitub is the possessive case of Savity, derived from the root vsu, "to bring forth". Savity is, therefore, the Bringer-forth of all that exists. The Sun (Sarya) is the cause of all that exists, and of the state in which it exists. Bringing forth and creating all things, it is called Savity......By Bhargah is meant the Aditya-devata, dwelling in the region of the Sun (Surya-mandala) in all His might and glory. He is to the Sun what our spirit (Arma) is to our body. Though He is in the region of the Sun, in the outer or material sphere, He also dwells in our inner selves. He is the light of the light in the solar circle, and is the light of the lives of all beings...In short, that Being whom the Sadhaka realizes in the region of his heart is the Aditya in the heavenly firmament. The two are one. The word is derived in two ways: (1) From the root Bhr), "to ripen, mature, destroy, reveal, shine." In this derivation Surya is He who matures and transforms all things. He Himself shines and reveals all things by His light. And it is He who at the final Dissolution (Pralaya) will in His form of destructive Fire (Kalagni) destroy all things. (2) From bha "dividing all things into different classes"; ra "colour, for He produces the colour of all created objects"; ga "constantly
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