Brahmanasandeesam a KBS bulletin from Wadakanchery, in their July 2010 issue gives the literal meaning of the Mantra:
O God! You are Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Almighty. You are all light. You are all knowledge and Bliss. You are Destroyer of fear, You are Creaoer of this Universe, You are the Greatest of all. We bow and mediate upon Your light. You guide our intellect in the right direction
The mantra, however, has a great scientific importance too, which somehow got lost in the literary tradition. The modern astrophysics and astronomy tell us that our Galaxy called Milky Way or Akash Ganga contains 100.000 million of stars. Each star is like our sun having its own planet system..................
The important point hinted in the mantra are;-
1. The total kinetic energy generated by the movement of galaxies acts as an umbrella and balances the the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as PRANAVAH (body 0f energy) This is equal to 1/2 MV2 (Mass of galaxies x velocity)
2. Realising the great importance of the syllable OM, the other later date religions adopted this word with a slight change in accent, Viz. Amen, Ameen.
Mani.T.V.S Trissur, Kerala
Brahmanasandeesam a KBS bulletin from Wadakanchery, in their July 2010 issue gives the literal meaning of the Mantra:
O God! You are Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Almighty. You are all light. You are all knowledge and Bliss. You are Destroyer of fear, You are Creaoer of this Universe, You are the Greatest of all. We bow and mediate upon Your light. You guide our intellect in the right direction
The mantra, however, has a great scientific importance too, which somehow got lost in the literary tradition. The modern astrophysics and astronomy tell us that our Galaxy called Milky Way or Akash Ganga contains 100.000 million of stars. Each star is like our sun having its own planet system..................
The important point hinted in the mantra are;-
1. The total kinetic energy generated by the movement of galaxies acts as an umbrella and balances the the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as PRANAVAH (body 0f energy) This is equal to 1/2 MV2 (Mass of galaxies x velocity)
2. Realising the great importance of the syllable OM, the other later date religions adopted this word with a slight change in accent, Viz. Amen, Ameen.
Mani.T.V.S Trissur, Kerala
Shri Mani,
I agree that the Gayatri mantra has a charm due to its use of the word "naH" meaning "us". It becomes a prayer on behalf of all and it is in this tone that the fame of Gayatri has been explained. But if you study the whole hymn (suktam III.62.1) you will find the first rik as under:
इमा उवाम् भृमयॊ मन्यमाना युवावतॆ न तुज्या अभूवन्
क्वत्यदिन्द्रावरुणा यशोवाम् यॆनस्मासिनम् भरथस्सखिभ्यः ॥
imaa uvaam bhr^mayo manyamaanaa yuvaavate na tujyaa abhUvan
kvatyadindraavaruNaa yaSovaam yenasmaasinam bharathassakhibhyaH ||
Meaning :
O Indra-Varuna ! Let not the prayers recited by us, who are wanderers, relating to you, extolling you, capable of attaining you, become offered to another deva who is your equal. Where is that food which you created out of your power for being given to us?
It looks, therefore, that the sukta relates to prayer for food during a time of famine or at least acute shortage of food, in search of which a group of people were roaming about. Hence the word "naH" in the Gayatri will also denote only that group, as the rik stood originally. That is its universality does not appear to be inherent in it but thrust upon it by later commentators.
The no-frills meaning of Gayatri will be:
We meditate upon the splendour of the Deva, Savitr^, who impels our intellect.
As regards the astronomical/cosmological details quoted by you, the correct position is as under:
1. Our Galaxy called Milky Way or Akash Ganga contains countless number of stars but no one can say whether it is 100.000 million of stars.
2. The stars are of different types and many of them may not be having planetary systems.
3. "The total kinetic energy generated by the movement of galaxies acts as an umbrella and balances the the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as PRANAVAH (body 0f energy) This is equal to 1/2 MV2 (Mass of galaxies x velocity)"-
This statement looks full of errors. First, mass X velocity may be KE but then what is "half MVsquared" (I presume this what you intended)? Again what has KE to do with such a cosmic scenario? If you think that the power of Gayatri mantra or the Deva savitr^ is moving the stars (and planets) at their speeds, what about the power which created them and gave the ability to shine?
4. " Realising the great importance of the syllable OM, the other later date religions adopted this word with a slight change in accent, Viz. Amen, Ameen."
"OM" is not a part of the original gayatri as it appears in the rigveda; it is a later addition and if it is added to the rik, it will alter the poetic metre from gayatri to a non-metric (without poetic metre) rendering.