Thursday, November 10, 2011

Gayatri Mantra: A scientific View


            
  
 
Gayatri Mantra:    A     scientific     View
Aum Bhur Bhuva Swah, Tatsavitur varenyam, Bhargo dewasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo nah prachodayat.
Gayatri mantra has been bestowed the greatest importance in Vedic Dharma. This mantra has also been termed as Savitri and Ved-Mata, the mother of Vedas. The literal meaning of the mantra is :
O God! You are the Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Almighty. You are all Light. You are all the Knowledge and Bliss. You are Destroyer of fear, You are Creator of this universe, You are the Greatest of all. We bow and meditate 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 approximately 100,000million( 1 Lakh) of stars. Each star is like our sun having its own planet system. We know that the moon moves round the earth and the earth moves round the sun along with the moon. All planets round the sun. Each of the above bodies revolves round at its own axis as well. Our sun along with its family takes one round of the galactic centres in 22.5 crore years (1 crore is 10 million).
Our All galaxies including ours are moving away at a terrific velocity of 20,000miles per second. And  now the alternative scientific meaning of the mantra as step by step:
A) Om Bhur Bhuvah Swah:
    Bhur the Earth, bhuva the planets(solar family),
    Swah the Galaxy
We observe that when an ordinary fan with a speed of 900RPM(rotation per min.)moves it makes noise. Then one can imagine, what great noise would be created when the galaxies move with the speed of 20,000miles per second.
This is what this portion of the mantra explains that the sound produced due to the fast moving earth, planets and galaxies is Om.     
The sound was heard during meditation by Rishi Vishwa Mitra, who mentioned it to other colleagues. All of them, then unanimously decided to call this sound. Om the name of God, because this sound is available in all the three periods of time, thence it is sat (permanent). Therefore, it was the first ever revolutionary idea to identify formless God with the specific title form) called upadhi. Until that time, everybody recognised God as formless and nobody was prepared to accept the new idea. In the Gita also, it is said, "Omiti ekaksharam brahma", meaning that the name of the Supreme is Om , which contains only one syllable (8/12). this sound Om heard during Samadhi was called by all the seers nadabrahma(a very great noise), but not a noise that is normally beyond a specific aplitude and limits of decibels suited to human hearing. Hence the rishis called this  sound  Udgith musical sound of the above, i.e.,heaven. They also noticed that the infinite mass of galaxies moving with the velocity of 20,000miles/ second was generating a kinetic energy=1/2 MV2 and this was balancing the total energy consumption of the cosmos.Hence they named it Pranavah, which means the body (vapu)or storehouse of energy(prana) .
(B) Tat savitur varenyam:
Tat that (God), savitur the Sun(star), varenyam worthy of bowing or respect. Once the form of a person along with the name is known to us, we may locate the specific person. Hence the two titles (upadhi) provide the solid ground to identify the formless God, Vishwamitra suggested. He told us that we could know(realise) the unknownable formless God through the known factors, viz.,sound Om and light of suns,(stars)
A mathematician can solve an equation x2+y2=4: if x=2; then y can be known and so on.An engineer can measurre the width of a river even by standing at the river bank just by drawing a triangle.So was the scientific method suggested by Vishwamitra in the mantra in the next portion as under:-
(C) Bhargo devasya dheemahi:
Bhargo the Light ,devasya of the deity , dheemahi we should meditate.
The rishi instructs us to meditate upon the available form (light of suns) to discover the formless Creater (God). Also he wants us to Jaapa of the word Om (this is understood in the Mantra).This is how the sage wants us to proceed, but there is a great problem to realise  it,as the human mind is so shaky and restless that without the Grace of the Supreme(Brahma) it cannot be controlled. Hence Vishwamitra suggests the way to pray Him as under:
(D) Dhiyo yo nah Prachodayat:
Dhiyo intellect, yo  who, nah we all, prachodayat guide to right direction.
O God!  deploy our intellect in the right path.
          
Full scientific interpretation of the Mantra:
The earth(bhur), the planets(bhuva) ,and the galaxies(swah) , are moving at a great velocity, the sound produced is Om ,(the name of formless God.) That God (tat), who manifests Himself in the form of light of suns(savitur) is worthy of bowing/respect( varenyam) . We all, therefore, should meditate (dheemahi) upon the the light(bhargo) of that deity(devasya) and also do chanting of Om. May He(yo) guide in right direction(prachoday at) our (nah) intellect(dhiyo) .
So we notice that the important points hinted in the mantra are:-
1.  The total kenetic energy generated by the movement of galaxies acts as umbrella and balances the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as the Pranavah(body of energy). This is equal to 1/2 mv2(Mass of galaxies x velocity2)
2. Realising the great importance of the syllable Om , the other later date religions adopted this word with the slight change in accent , viz.,amen and ameen.
3. The God could be realised the saguna(gross) upasna(method) .
i.e.,
(a) by chanting the name of the supreme as Om   
      and
(b) by meditating upon the light emitted by stars 
      (suns)
Be blessed, children and hope this gives the answer to your curiosity

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