Gayatri

OM

BHUR BHUVA SVAHA

TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM

BHARGO DEVASAYA DHEEMA 

DHI YO YONAH PRACHODAYAT

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

“Gayatri is the Mother of all scriptures (Vedas). She is present, wherever Her name is chanted. She is very powerful. The One who nourishes the individual being is Gayatri. She bestows pure thoughts on anyone who worships Her. She is the embodiment of all Goddesses. Our very breath is Gayatri, our faith in existence is Gayatri. Gayatri has five faces, they are the five life principles. She has nine descriptions, they are ‘Om, Bhur, Bhuvah, Suvaha, Tat, Savitur, Vareñyaṃ, Bhargo, Devasya’. Mother Gayatri nourishes and protects every being and she channelizes our senses in the proper direction. ‘Dhīmahi’ means meditation. We pray to her to inspire us with good intelligence. ‘Dhīyo Yonah Prachodayāt’ - We beseech her to bestow on us everything we need. Thus Gayatri is a complete prayer for protection, nourishment and finally, liberation.”SSB

‘My Dear Students’, Vol 3, Ch 2, Mar 19, 1998

The Gayatri photograph is the second transformative image obtained following the initial Sai Baba of Shirdi photograph. When I encountered the Gayatri mantra, I lacked genuine knowledge or comprehension of what mantras entailed. The sounds, symbols, and mystical interpretations of an ancient language formulated by sages, blending prayer and action, meditation and respect when engaged with the proper intent. The inner prompting to recite it quietly in my heart space was validated by a vision of Satya Sai Baba, who manifested to me unexpectedly in meditation at the moment I Iinquired within, “should I chant this at all?”. In that instant, within my inner sight, He appeared gazing into my eyes. I never doubted its significance again and embraced it wholeheartedly, chanting silently from my spiritual heart. The mantra provided a pleasant escape from my countless difficulties.

What goes beyond cultures and beliefs is sounds and genuine vibrations. It serves as a strong saving grace of sound andsafety that encourages discernment and, in my view, safeguards in all realms.

. Immediately  after His Physical Blessing and the invocation of the Shrine,  in 2000 I was among the initial 50 individuals to enter the inner vestibule and felt “guided by my heart” to capture a photograph of it. It was one of the few images in the initial Blessing of this manuscript.  Following the process of circling the statue, the Shrine was locked and secured from the public. It merely occurred... alongside that Year's Padhuka Puja.  I wondered about the Gayatri Mantra and the transcendence of cultural influence, after all I was from a progressive Mennonite background, and a Hindhu Goddess, nor even the Virgin Mary was high on the list of biblical teachings  hobbling femininity.  

“Truth has been planted in the centre of the heart as Allah’s trust, entrusted to you for safe keeping. It becomes manifest with true repentance and with true efforts. It’s beauty shines on the surface when one remembers God and does the dhikr. 

At the first stage one recites the name of God with one’s tongue; then when the heart becomes alive one recites inwardly with the heart“ 

Abdu’l-Qadir Al-Gilani