Significance of The Gayatri Mantra

Gurudev – Gayatri mantra is a collective mantra:

धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् (Dhi Yo Yo Nah Prachodayaat)

May the divinity purify me and inspire my intellect, because my life is run by my thoughts. My thoughts come in my intellect and let the divinity inspire my intellect. Let my intellect be soaked in the purity and divinity, and be able to perceive the divine will. This is the whole essence of the Gayatri mantra, it’s one of the best prayers. Instead of asking God, “God give me bread, butter” or “do this and that,” and then repenting on doing all that, this is simply saying may my mind be soaked into the light, into the divinity and all my thoughts, all our thoughts, be inspired. Isn’t that? Isn’t that beautiful? Huh? If all our thoughts are inspired to do good in society, what more do you want?

See today what’s happening in the world now, what’s especially happening in Australia is really condemnable. In the name of God, these people go into restaurants and take hostage of 50 people in that restaurant in Australia, all in the name of God. There’s something basically wrong in their head. You know, in Iraq, when I was in Iraq, stories and stories of abuse, how many women have been abused there, violence has been perpetrated on them. It’s very heartening, it’s unbearable actually. Art of Living could rescue a few of the ladies, thousands of women were captivated and they are sold and I really appreciate our volunteers who dared these devil forces, evil forces, and could save some of these Yezidis, Christians, and Shias ladies, girls. And each of those stories are very, very, very heart-wrenching stories.

And today we need to insulate our planet, our world, from this type of extremism, don’t you think so? Huh? We need to insulate young people who are getting influenced, youth in Bangalore was recruiting people for ISIS. This is not humanity, this is something wrong. There’s something wrong in the head, and India has faced this many a times from centuries. It has been at the receiving end, and we thought it’s all history and we just forgot about it, and now it is repeating in what’s happening in Iraq and Syria, it’s exactly what was happening in Delhi, in India, several 200 years ago, isn’t it? 300 years ago. And that’s when the Sikh Gurus came and they saved this country, but for Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh ji, all of them, they sacrificed their lives and saved the country from this extremism and again they are raising their head. And the only way, they cannot be controlled by guns, this is making the spiritual knowledge compulsory from the very beginning in the schools and colleges, so that no one person, human being, who knows how to read and write, turns into an extremist. Because they think only they, this is the only word of God, this is the only scripture of God, and this is the only last prophet. Why God has dearth of prophets? This type of extremism, extreme thinking, fanaticism is spreading around the world and that is what is dangerous. And they are so convincing in their ill logic or wrong logic that many young people get allured to join because they have not been exposed to Upanishads, they have never been exposed to Gita, they have never been exposed to other wisdom that’s available in the planet. They don’t know what the God is, what? Sitting somewhere up in the heaven? Nonsense. God is the summum bonum of creation. There is a beautiful story in Upanishad, a child asked father, dad how is God? What is God like? So the father takes the son out of the home and tells him, what was here before the building was built? He said space. Where the building is standing now? He said in the space. When the building is erased what will remain? He said space, he said that is what is God. God is like the space in which everything is there, you can never go out of God even if you want. Can anything go out of space? Impossible. So that’s why its said, “जन्माद्यस्य यतोऽन्वयादितरतश्चार्थेष्वभिज्ञ: स्वराट्” (janmādy asya yato ’nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ). Shrimad Bhagvatam starts like that, from which the birth, sustenance and dissolution happens, in which awareness dawns. From which, from the ancient times, great men found the music, the song, the feeling of love, the sun of love shined in the heart of many poets from the ancient times. “तेने ब्रह्म हृदा य आदिकवये मुह्यन्ति यत्सूरय: (tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ), तेने ब्रह्म हृदा य आदिकवये मुह्यन्ति यत्सूरय: (tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ), तेजोवारिमृदां यथा विनिमयो यत्र त्रिसर्गोऽमृषा (tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo ’mṛṣā), धाम्ना स्वेन सदा निरस्तकुहकं सत्यं परं धीमहि (dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi)”. Into that ocean of wisdom, into that ocean of love, into that ocean of abundance and brilliance, may my mind blossom, may my intellect blossom. Usually people say faith means keep aside your intellect, don’t ask questions, no, that is not the ancient way, that is not the Vedic way, it says ask questions, keep your rationale alive, you must ask as many questions as you want, doubt as much as you can, but the truth is that which stands, withstands all your doubt, all your questions, that which moves beyond, takes you beyond the limited horizon of thinking. सत्यं परं धीमहि (satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi), let my intellect be soaked in the transcendental truth. This is how the Shrimad Bhagvatam begins, Swamiji is an expert in Bhagvatam, I don’t know, I have just read a little bit only, I know only one shlok of the whole Bhagvatam, nothing else. So Bhagvatam begins with सत्यं परं धीमहि (satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi), I was told it ends also with सत्यं परं धीमहि (satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi), may truth, the transcendental truth, dawn in my intellect. So, glorifying intellect at the same time, glorifying emotions, enriching emotions, this is what is needed today  and if children are exposed to such vast reservoir of knowledge, there is very little chance that they become fanatics and take guns and start shooting people and think if they shoot and rape people, they will go to heaven.