In ancient times there were two recognized stages in the process of initiation. The first one was Vaedikii diikśá, that is, initiation as per the Vaedik [Vedic] school of thought, and the second one was Tántrikii diikśá, that is, initiation as per Tantra. The most important mantra in Vaedikii diikśá was the “Gáyattrii Mantra”. The spirit of Vaedikii diikśá was to pray to God to get the proper path, the path of bliss; and the spirit of Tántrikii diikśá was to move along that path. In the first phase the aspirant requested God to show the path, and in the second phase the sádhaka had to move along that path.⁽¹⁾ And this “Gáyattrii Mantra” was the most important mantra in Vaedikii diikśá.

Now, what’s the meaning of gáyattrii? It is a common error to say that that mantra is the “Gáyattrii Mantra”; because gáyattrii is not the name of a mantra, it is the name of a chanda. In the Vedas, there are seven recognized chandas, that is, seven recognized rhythms. Those rhythms are gáyattrii, uśńiik, triśt́up, anuśt́up, jagati, brhatii and paunkti. So gáyattrii is a chanda, gáyattrii is a rhythm, and not a mantra. And this particular mantra of Vaedikii diikśá was composed in gáyattrii chanda. The speciality, the special feature, of gáyattrii chanda is that it requires twenty-[four] syllables. To compose a poem it requires a chanda, and there should be three lines with eight syllables in each line – three times eight, twenty-four syllables. For each and every mantra of the Vedas, there are three requisite factors, three essentialities. These three essentialities are chanda, a rśi, and a devatá.

Chanda means the rhythm in which that mantra will be composed. Here in the case of this particular mantra, the chanda is gáyattrii. Gáyantaḿ tárayet yastu – “By chanting which one can get the path of liberation” is gáyattrii. Gáyat (gae dhátu [root verb] + shatr) + trae dhátu + d́a + uniip = gáyattrii. Do you follow? Here the chanda is gáyattrii, then the next requisite factor is a devatá, and finally a rśi.

The devatá is a particular word which has been used for a god, and according to that word⁽²⁾ the mantra is to be made. In this particular mantra, God has been addressed by the word “Savitá” – Tat Savitur vareńyam. “Savitá”. Hence the⁽³⁾ official name of this mantra is the “Savitr Rk”. Rk is the name of a mantra of the Rgveda. So the name of this particular rk is “Savitr Rk”.⁽⁴⁾ The word “Savitá” has been used in this mantra for God.

And the third important factor is a rśi. Rśi means he who composed that mantra. We will not say⁽⁵⁾ “he who wrote the mantra”, because the Vaedik rśis were illiterate, they could not write. The Vaedik people of Central Asia who came to India were illiterate, they had no script of their own. They learned how to write from the indigenous population of India, that is, from the Dravidians. The Sanskrit language has no script of its own. Sanskrit is written in various scripts of different portions of India.⁽⁶⁾ Sanskrit has no script of its own. In Bengal and Assam and Manipur and [[Tripura]] it is written in Bengali script. In North Bihar it is written in Maethilii script, in Orissa it is Utkal script. In Andhra it is Telegu script. In Madras it is Granthakśa, Granthalipi [Grantha script]. Sanskrit has no script of its own.⁽⁷⁾ In order to standardize Sanskrit education, they use Devanagari script in the prescribed books of universities and colleges. Devanagari is not the script of Sanskrit.

So all those Vaedik rśis were illiterate. They composed those psalms, those Vaedik hymns, and those disciples learned them by hearing through the shruti⁽⁸⁾ – the ear – and that’s why the Vedas are also known as shruti. So the rśi of a mantra is called in the Vaedik language a draśt́a rśi: drsh dhátu + trc⁽⁹⁾ (prathamá, ek vacana [first case-ending, singular number]). Draśt́a means “seer” – He who saw the truth⁽¹⁰⁾ is the seer of a mantra. So each and every Vaedik mantra will have a seer. Rśi means “cultured people”.

So here in this actual mantra, the seer is Rśi Vishvamitra. In this particular mantra, the⁽¹¹⁾ chanda is gáyattrii. It has been taken from the third mańd́ala, tenth adhyaya [súkta, composition] of the Rgveda.⁽¹²⁾ The chanda is gáyattrii, the devatá is Savitá, the name is “Savitr Rk”, and the rśi is Vishvamitra.

And I have already told you that the speciality of gáyattrii chanda is that there should be three lines, and there should be eight syllables in each and every line. Here the original mantra is Tat Savitur vareńyam; / Bhargo devasya dhiimahi dhiyo yo nah pracodayát. Oṋḿ bhúr bhuvah svah oṋḿ is a later addition.⁽¹³⁾ It is not part of the original⁽¹⁴⁾ mantra. Now here in this mantra the first line is Tat Savitur vareńyam.

Now, mantra – what is the meaning of mantra? Mananát tárayet yastu [“That collection of sounds which, when meditated upon, leads to liberation”]. Manana means “chanting internally”; “speaking internally”, “speaking mentally”, is manana. Mananát tárayet yastu. By chanting internally a mantra, one can get oneself liberated. And that is why it is called mantra. Mananát – “by chanting internally” – tárayet yastu – “that which liberates” – is man-tra. Man + trae + d́a – d́a is the suffix, the Sanskrit suffix.

So the first line is Tat Savitur vareńyam; the second line is bhargo devasya dhiimahi, and the third line is dhiyo yo nah pracodayát. The first line is Tat Savitur vareńyam. The second line is bhargo devasya dhiimahi (go on counting): bhar – go – de – vas – ya – dhii – ma – hi – eight syllables. And the third line is dhi – yo – yo – nah – pra – co – da – yát – eight syllables. But in the first line (go on counting): Tat – Sa – vi – tur – va – re – ńyam – seven syllables. And the rśis say whenever there is any clash between grammar and rhythm, grammar and chanda, chanda should win, and not the grammar.⁽¹⁵⁾ So it will be pronounced like this: Tat – Sa – vi – tur – va – re – ńi – am. Eight syllables. So the correct pronunciation of the mantra is

Oṋḿ bhúr bhuvah svah oṋḿ
Tat – Sa – vi – tur – va – re – ńi – am –

not vareńyam, va – re – ńi – am –

Bhargo devasya dhiimahi
Dhiyo yo nah pracodayát oṋm.

Do you follow?

Now oṋm. What do we mean by oṋm?

Wherever there is an action, certain vibrations are created.⁽¹⁶⁾ For each and every action, there is a corresponding vibration, a corresponding sound. You are walking – a khat́-khat́-khat́-khat́, t́ap-t́ap-t́ap-t́ap sound is created. That sound is the vibrational sound of that action of walking. You are laughing – the sound há-há-há-há will be created, so the sound há-há-há-há is the vibrational representation of the action of laughing. So the vibrational sound of an action is called the acoustic root. So há-há-há-há is the acoustic root of the action of laughing, and khat́-khat́-khat́-khat́ is the acoustic root of the action of walking. This acoustic root is called a biija mantra in Sanskrit. Now, when this universe was created by the Macrocosmic Self,⁽¹⁷⁾ a particular wave came in the Macropsychic body – “I’ll create something” – this desire was created – and this psychic action certainly came from a psychic sound within the mind of the Supreme Self. So the acoustic root of the desire of creation within the mind of the Macrocosm created the sound aaaa-a-a-a-a-a. A is the acoustic root of creation. A is the acoustic root of the action of creation – do you follow? Wherever there is an action, there is some vibration, and wherever there is vibration there is sound. When that Macrocosmic Self created this universe, during the phase of creation a certain vibration was created in His mind, and that vibration created a certain sound. That sound of creation is a. A is the acoustic root of creation, a is the biija mantra of creation.

And the first sound of creation, a, is the first letter of the Tántrika varńamálá. A. What is the first letter? A. A is the first letter of Indo-Aryan script.⁽¹⁸⁾ In Hebrew and Greek alpha is the first letter; and in⁽¹⁹⁾ Arabic, aliph is the first letter.⁽²⁰⁾

Then after creation, you are to preserve that creation,⁽²¹⁾ you are to keep up the creation. After the birth of a child, you have to preserve it; so this preservation is the second phase, and the vibrational sound of this action of preservation is u. Uuuu. So u is the acoustic root of preservation.⁽²²⁾

And after creation, in the last phase of this psychic order, comes the phase of destruction. After creation and preservation there will be destruction. And the acoustic root of destruction is ma. Ma is the biija mantra of destruction, ma is the biija mantra of sarvalaya, ma is the biija mantra of prańásha.⁽²³⁾ So ma is the biija mantra of destruction.

So the entire functional business of the Supreme Self is represented by three sounds, a, u and ma – a-u-mmm. Hence the activated Consciousness is represented by the sound oooṋm.⁽²⁴⁾ And this oṋm now is called prańava.

This mantra starts with the sound oṋm. Oṋḿ bhúr bhuvah svah. A represents generation, creation; u represents preservation, operation; and ma represents destruction. Generation, operation and destruction. The first letter of “generation” is “g”, the first letter of “operation” is “o”, and the first letter of “destruction” is “d”. G-O-D, God.

Footnotes

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(4) A few words here were not clearly audible on the tape. They may have expressed that the first case, singular form of Savitr is “Savitá” –Eds.

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(6) A sentence here, not clearly audible on the tape, mentioned the script used in the Punjab. –Eds.

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(13) The next sentence begins “This portion was taken from…”, but the rest of the sentence is inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

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(15) The next sentence here on the tape was “So here, for the sake of chanda, the mantra is to be…” The final verb was inaudible. –Eds.

(16) The next sentence here on the tape was “And wherever there is vibration, there is… how it is created, where it is created.” A word or two were inaudible. –Eds.

(17) A few words here were inaudible on the tape. –Eds.

(18) The next sentence here is not clearly audible on the tape, but apparently says that in other scripts also “ ‘a’ is the first letter.” –Eds.

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(22) A sentence here was not clearly audible on the tape, but apparently recapitulated the meaning of a, u and ma. –Eds.

(23) The next few sentences are not clearly audible on the tape. Audible phrases are: “… and hence ma is the last letter of the vargiiya varńamálá [portion of alphabet composed of phonetic groups]. The last varga [phonetic group]… and the last letter of… is ma – pa pha ba bha ma.” –Eds.

(24) A sentence here was not clearly audible on the tape. –Eds.