Oṋḿ bhúrbhuvah svah oṋḿ tatsaviturvareńyam;
Bhargadevasya dhiimahi dhiyoh yo nah pracodayát oṋm.

[The Supreme Father who created the seven strata of manifestation – we meditate on His divine effulgence so that he may guide our intellect (unto the path of bliss, unto the path of supreme blessedness).]

This is the sixty-second rk of the tenth sukta of the third mańd́ala of the Rgveda, composed in homage to Savitádeva. Bhúrbhuvah svah – actually denotes the seven lokas [layers, or strata, of the Macrocosmic Mind.] So these three together used to be called Mahávyáhrti [the supreme utterance]. The original shloka begins in the following way – tat saviturvareńyaḿ bhargadevasya dhiimahi dhiyoh yo nah pracodayát.

Savituh means pituh [“father”]. It is the singular, sixth case ending of root verb su suffixed by trń. Savitá - savitárao - savitárah – in the sixth case ending, it becomes savituh. Savitá means pita [“father”]. The root verb su means “to create”. Savitá means “Creator”, “Father”.

You must be aware of the fact that the word savitr is masculine in gender. Many people mistakenly give the name savitá to their daughters, but it is better not to use the name savitá for girls. The feminine form of the word savitá is savitrii, if nic is used then it becomes sávitrii. Root verb su, with ńic and feminine uṋiip, sávitrii. The masculine form is savitr, in first person, singular, savitá. Savitr means “creative faculty”, in feminine form sávitrii, that is, the creative faculty in feminine gender. The faculty that creates with the help of others is sávitrii.

Bhúh, bhuvah, svah, mahah, janah, tapah and satya – the seven strata of the flow of creation in order from crudest to subtlest. Who is the creator of this universe? Parama Puruśa is Savitá; He is the Creator, the Supreme Father. He is the Father of these seven strata of the creation. Saviturvareńyaḿ bhargadevasya dhiimahi. Savitu means “Creator, Father”. Whose Creator? I have said – tat vareńyam bharga. Tat means “that”, vareńyaḿ means “object of reverence, adoration”. Bharga means Brahmajyoti or “divine light”. Whose divine effulgence? The divine effulgence of the Creator of the seven strata – bhúh, bhuvah, svah, mahah, janah, tapah, satyah. Asya saptalokasya savituh vareńyaḿ bharga; pújaniiyaḿ jyoti dhyánaḿ kurmmah⁽¹⁾. Kena kárańena dhyánaḿ kurmmah? Kathaḿ vayam dhyánaḿ kurmmah? Kena kárańena dhyánaḿ kurmmah vayam? Dhiyoh yoh nah pracodayát [we meditate on that adorable effulgence of the Supreme Father who is the creator of the seven strata. Why should we meditate? What are the reasons for which we should meditate? So that He may guide our intellect.] Yo nah dhiyo [our intellect]. Nah means asmákaḿ [“our”]. Nah dhiyo pracodayát. Yo asmákaḿ dhiyo. Dhiyo, that is, intellect, understanding. Pracodayát, that is, sat-pathi paricálanaḿ karotu. Sat bidhánaḿ karotu. Sat vyavasthaḿ karotu. Anena kárańena vayaḿ tat saptalokasya piturdevasya vareńyaḿ bharga dhyanaḿ kurmmah [So that He will guide our intellect on the path of Absolute Truth; in accordance with the precepts of Truth, in accordance with the order of Truth. For this reason, we meditate on the adorable effulgence of the One, who is Creator of the seven strata].

Tat, that is, bharga refers to brahmajyoti or divine effulgence. The word bharga is made up of three letters, bha, ra and ga. What does bha mean? Bha refers to a specific line or sentence. That sentence is: bhásayati imán lokán iti, that is, “that Entity which illumines all the strata, which makes everything shine, which makes all things radiant”. Ya bhásáti imán lokán iti, that is, “This created universe is illuminated by His light.” Bhásayati imán lokán: the first letter of this sentence is bha. He is not only the supreme illuminating Entity, He is raiṋjayati sarván lokán, that is, “He dyes the minds of every living being with the colours of bliss.” Here, the first letter of the word raiṋjayati is ra. What does raiṋjayati mean? He keeps every created being immersed in bliss, He gives pleasure to all expressed beings.

Human beings get pleasure from one object or another, however large or small those objects might be. Perhaps, on a certain day, you get pleasure from eating rasamálái [a delicious Indian milk-sweet]. You really like it. The next day, perhaps, you gave one to a friend and by doing so you felt a certain pleasure. May be the following day, during a meeting, you extolled the qualities of rasamálái and that also gave you a certain pleasure. In other words, in different ways, large or small, you are getting pleasure and only pleasure. Who is giving this pleasure? Parama Puruśa. It is not enough that He illumines all things, He also pleases everyone, through different ways and means, under different conditions. Parama Puruśa gives pleasure in accordance with one’s wishes.

Jenechi jenechi tárá tumi,
Je jan jebháve d́áke má,
Táte tumi hao anurágii.

[I have known, I have known, you are Goddess Tárá,
Whichever way one may call you mother,
You are always pleased.]

That is, “As one wishes [so one gets].” A certain pandit goes to Benares. He sits on the bank of the Ganges to do shava sádhaná [Tantric meditation with a dead body]. A certain businessman sees the place and thinks: “Ah, here would be a good place to start a flower business or a sweets business. People will buy them and offer them in worship.” Another person thinks, “Here I can pass my old age economically.” He stays there. Thieves think that a lot of people come here to take bath in the Ganges. There will be a lot of opportunity to pick their pockets. A thief goes there thinking that. People feel pleasure in different ways. And an old lady quarrels with her daughter-in-law and says, “I will go away to Kashi [Benares.]” Thus Parama Puruśa pleases human beings in different ways. Hence, ra is used in the sense of raiṋjayati imán lokán ityarthe [in the sense of “dyeing the mind of every living being of this world”].

What is the next letter? It is ga, for Gacchati yasmin ágacchati yasmádimá prajáh, that is, “Until the end all things are moving in that and all things come out of that.” Gacchati yasmin – “ensconced in that”, that is, “that movement” until the end (parágati). And ágacchati yasmát, that is, “that from out of which all things have come”. What is the first letter of the sentence Gacchati yasmin ágacchati yasmát? It is ga. So, bha-ra-ga, bharga uccate. Bharga stands for these three letters, bha, ra and ga.

Bheti bhásayati lokán, reti raiṋjayati prajáh;
Ga ityágachhatajasrah bharagát bharga uccate.

Bharga signifies the existential effulgence of the Supreme Being. Thus bharga – tat saviturvareńyaḿ bharga, “the bharga, the effulgence, worthy of adoration of the Supreme Father”. Dhyánaḿ kurmmah, vayam dhyanaḿ kurmmah, “we meditate.” Vayaḿ, that is, “we”. What do we have here? Collective spirit – not only I, but we. Vayaḿ dhyánaḿ kurmmah [“we meditate”]. For what purpose do we meditate on this universal effulgence? So that He will guide our intellect along the path of righteousness. Dhii means “intellect”. One who has intellect is dhiimán. One whose dhii is very good is sudhii. And dhii also means “unit mind”. This unit mind in a state without intellect is also called dhii. Dhiyo also means “intellect”, “understanding”. Since it is Vayam, that is, “we”, “our intellect”, then it becomes dhiya in plural. Dhii, dhiyam, dhiya. Dhiya yah. Ya means “he” or “respectable he”. Pracodayát sad vidhánam karotu – “so that He may guide our intellect unto the path of righteousness.” “We have to meditate so that He may guide our intellect, wisdom unto the path of righteousness.”

Dhiyo jo nah pracodayát. Nah is a Vedic word that means “our”. In Sanskrit it is asmákam and in Vedic Sanskrit nah. Since it is an old portion of the Rgveda, asmákam is not used here but rather nah. The full form of the word nah is nas. Na-s, this nas is pronounced as nah. You can pronounce na with this visarga [aspirated ending, transliterated by “h”]; you can also pronounce na by adding a hasanta [consonantal ending]; and you can also pronounce it nas. Since the Vedic language originally came from the Russian language, there is a close relationship between the two. The Russian nas and our nas or nah are somewhat the same.

What is the prayer in this? “I am meditating on that Savitá, or Father of the seven strata – bhú, bhuvah, svah, etc. – on effulgence worthy of adoration.” Why are we meditating? We are meditating so that He may guide our intellect and understanding along the path of righteousness. Let our intellect not be degraded, because if human beings’ intellect is all right then everything is all right. But if a person’s intellect becomes degraded, then no matter how many qualities one has, everything becomes spoiled. So, as long as a person does not get the path of sadhana, he or she should pray to god for one thing or the other. This prayer is called Vedic initiation. The younger ones learn this Vedic initiation from their elders; in other words, [they learn] “Tell me how should I pray to God.” Thereafter, when one gets the grace of God, one receives Tantric initiation. Mantras like iśt́a mantra constitute part of Tantric initiation. When God is satisfied as a result of Vedic initiation then the desire for salvation arises. It is said – Muktyákáuṋkśayá sadguru práptih [“When the desire for liberation arises, one gets the Sadguru”]. When the desire for liberation awakens, then by the grace of Parama Puruśa a person obtains Tantric initiation. Vedic initiation is only necessary as long as a person does not receive Tantric initiation. There is no need, nor will there be any need, for Vedic initiation, after a person gets Tantric initiation.

The name of this Savitr mantra is Savitr Rk. It is not the “Gáyattrii Mantra” because gáyattrii is the name of the metre. According to the rules of this metre, each line has eight metrical units. The convention of the Vedas is that each shloka is composed by a certain sage (rśi), and each shloka is written in a certain metre. What does each mantra contain? In each mantra Parama Puruśa is addressed by a certain name. The sage who composed this mantra, which is the sixty-second rk of the tenth sukta, third mańd́ala of the Rgveda, was not able to write it. I have already said that written script did not exist then. The name of the sage who composed this mantra was Vishvámitra.

We must keep in mind that Sanskrit grammar and Vedic grammar are not the same. Actually during the Vedic era, there was no grammar. By the time written script was used for the Vedic language, the Sanskrit era had arrived. It was then that Páńini wrote his grammar. During the Vedic era there was no grammar. It was only a spoken language, so when looked at from grammatical point of view, it has many errors. For example, the word Vishvámitra is grammatically incorrect. According to grammar, it should be Vishvamitra. However the sage’s name was Vishvámitra. So, the letter á had to be retained even though the meaning becomes reversed – he who is amitra of the universe, meaning “not friend”. Still his name was Vishvámitra. So, the name of the sage was Vishvámitra, and the name of the metre is gáyattrii.

I mentioned that the mantra has three lines and each line has eight metrical units. And what is the name of the deity? How is Parama Puruśa addressed in this mantra? He is addressed as Savitá. Tatsaviturvareńyaḿ – Savitá is the deity of this mantra. That is why the name of the Rk is Savitr Rk. No one should say gáyattrii mantra because that name is incorrect. Gáyattrii is the name of the metre.

Now, according to the old rule, girls did not have the right to hear this mantra. If they heard it they would have molten lead poured into their ears. It was even considered a sin to recite it where a girl could hear. What would happen if a girl heard it? It would be a sin. If it is a sin for a girl to hear the mantra then I am also committing a sin by reciting it. The point is that I am saying it then you [girls] are hearing it. I am taking on your sin.

There is another mistake that many people commit. While reciting the mantra, they do not repeat the oṋḿ in the middle. An oṋḿ is recited before the mantra [Oṋḿ bhúr bhubah svah] and another oṋḿ at the end [pracodayát oṋḿ]. And another oṋḿ is recited which comes from the original or actual mantra [oṋḿ tatsaviturvareńyam], that is, oṋm is repeated three times in this mantra. However, many people mistakenly do not repeat the second oṋm. It should be repeated. If not, the pronunciation is incorrect.

For those who have attained Tantric initiation, who have gotten iśt́a mantra, there is no longer any need for this mantra because, it has been said in this mantra – “Show me the way.” In Tantric initiation the path has been attained, so there is no more question of this. If you ask someone to show you Dharmatalla Street [in Kolkata] and he shows you, then now your task is to walk. Are you going to approach this person again and ask him to show you Dharmatalla Street? Of course, now the name Dharmatalla has been changed. Actually, it was Dharmat́hákur Talá, meaning that there was a temple there, thus Dharmatalá. There is also a Dharmatalá, Dharmat́hákur in Salkia.

During the Middle Ages, nearly everyone in Bengal was Buddhist. However the king at that time was Hindu. So he did not allow people to worship Buddha. Instead of taking the Buddha’s name, they used second refuge (sharańa) of the three refuges. The three refuges are – Buddhaḿ sharańaḿ gacchámi, Dhammaḿ sharańaḿ gacchámi, Saḿghaḿ sharańaḿ gacchámi [I take refuge in the Buddha, in the Dharma, and in the Saḿgha]. They were afraid of taking the name of Buddha, so they took the name of Dharma. Thus, they used to call the Buddha Dhamma. They called him Dhammat́hákur. They did not say Dharma because Dharma is Sanskrit. In the Prákrta language, it is Dhamma, Dhamma T́hákur. So, the Dharmatala in Salkia and the Dharmatalla in Kolkata came from the previous name Dhammat́hákur. That is what happened. Thus, there is no need of prayer for those who have already come to the path of sadhana because Prárthanárcaná mátraeva bhrama múlam⁽²⁾ [“Prayer and ritualistic worship are but a source of confusion”].

Footnotes

(1) Here the author proceeds to give a prose Sanskrit elaboration of the rk. –Trans.

(2) “It is useless to pray to God for something, for He is sure to give what is necessary. Solicitation or importunity in the name of worship is nothing but toadyism and flattery” – (Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, Ánanda Sútram., 1995) –Trans.