Gayatri and Sandhyavandana

Gayatri and Sandhyavandana

http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part17/chap12.htm

If
the Gayatri has not been chanted for three generations in the
family of a Brahmin, they cease to be
Brahmins. The quarter where such Brahmins live cannot be called
an "agrahara". It is perhaps not yet three generations
since Brahmins gave up the Gayatri. So they still may be called
Brahmins. 
In
the same way if the Brahmin family has not performed sacrifices
for three generations its members will be called
"Durbrahmanas", degenerate Brahmins. Even though
degenerate the label "Brahmin" sticks to them. There
are prayascittas (expiatory rites) by means of which the
corrupted Brahmins will be remade true Brahmins. But there is no
such hope for a Brahmin in whose family Gayatri has not been
chanted for three generations. A member of such a family ceases
altogether to be a Brahmin and cannot be made one again. He is
just a "Brahmana- bandhu", a kin or a friend of
Brahmins. The same rule applies to Ksatriyas and Vaisyas with
regard to the Gayatri mantra; they become
"ksatriya-bandhus" and "Vaisya-bandhus"
respectively. 
The
spark I mentioned earlier must be built into a fire. The spark by
itself does not serve any purpose. But it has in it the potential
to grow into a bright flame or a radiant fire. At least
on Sundays, all those who wear the sacred thread must do Gayatri
japa a thousand times. They must not eat unclean food, goto
unclean places and must atone for lapses in ritual observances
and in maintaining ritual purity. Henceforth they must take every
care to see that their body is kept chaste and fit for it to
absorb mantric power. 
Even
in times of misfortune the Gayatri must be muttered at least ten
times at dawn, midday and dusk. These are hours of tranquility.
At dawn all creatures including human beings rise and the mind is
serene now. At dusk all must be restful after a day's hard work:
that is also a time of calm. At noon the sun is at its height and
people are at home and relaxed and their mind is calm. During
these hours we must meditate on Gayatri, Savitri and Sarasvati. 

In the morning the dominant presence is that of Visnu, at noon
that of Brahma and at sundown of Siva. So we must meditate on
Gayatri in the morning as Visnu personified, at noon as Brahma
personified and at dusk as Siva personified. 
Gayatri
contains in itself the spirit and energy of all Vedic mantras.
Indeed it imparts power to other mantras. Without Gayatri-japa,
the chanting of all other mantras would be futile. 

We find
hypnotism useful in many ways and we talk of "hypnotic
power". Gayatri is the hypnotic means of liberating
ourselves from worldly existence as well as of controlling desire
and realising the goal of birth. We must keep blowing on the
spark that is the Gayatri and must take up the Gayatri-japa as
vrata. The spark will not be extinguished if we do not take to
unsastric ways of life and if we do not make our body unchaste. 
Gayatri-japa
and "arghya" (offering libation) are the most important rites of sandhyavandana. The
other parts of this rites are "angas" (limbs). The
least a sick or weak person must do us to offer arghya and mutter
the Gayatri ten times."Oh only these two are important
aren't they? So that's all we do, offer arghya and mutter the
Gayatri ten times a day. " If this be our attitude in due
course we are likely to give up even these that are vital to
sandhyavandyana. 

A learned man remarked in jest about the people
who perform arghya and mutter Gayatri only ten times thus applying
to themselves the rule meant for the weak and the unfortunate:
"They will always remain weak and be victims of some
calamity or other". Sandhyavandana must be performed
properly during right hours. During the Mahabharata war, when
water was not readily available, the warriors give arghya at the
right time with dust as substitute. 

Arghya
must be offered before sunrise at noon and at sunset. Once there
was a man called Idaikattu Siddhar who grazed cattle. 

He said: "Kanamal konamal kandu kodu aadukan pogudu par " 

"Kanamal/r" means before you see the sun rise and
"konamal/r" means when the sun is overhead and
"kandu" is when you see the sun before sunset. These
are the three times when you ought to offer arghya.
"adu" means "niradu", bathe in the Ganga.
"kan" here means "visit Setu" or have "
have darsana of Setu". "Pohutu par"- by bathing in
the Ganga and by visiting Setu your sins will be washed away.
Here is mentioned the custom of going to Kasi, collecting Ganga
water there and going to (Setu) Ramesvaram to perform the
abhiseka of Ramanathasvamin there. 
Only
by the intense repetition of Gayatri shall we be able to master
all the Vedic mantras. This japa of Gayatri and arghya must be
performed everyday without fail. At least once in our lifetime we
must bathe in Ganga and go on pilgrimage to Setu. 
If
a man has a high fever, people looking after him must pour into
his mouth the water with which sandhyavandana has been performed.
Today it seems all of us are suffering all the time from high
fever! When you run a high temperature you have to take medicine; similarly Gayatri is essential to the self and its japa must not
be given up at any time. It is more essential to your inner being
than medicine is to your body. Sandyavandana must be performed
without fail everyday. Gayatri-japa can be practised by all of us
without much effort and without spending any money. All that you
require is water. Sandyavandana is indeed an easy means to ensure
your well being. So long as there is life in you, you must perform
it. 
Gayatri
must be worshiped as a mother. The Lord appers in many forms to
bestow his grace and compassion on his devotees Mother loves us
more than anybody else. We know no fear before her and talk to
her freely. Of all the forms in which Bhagavan manifests himself
that form in which he is revealed as mother is most liked by us.
The Vedas proclaim Gayatri to be such a mother. 
When the three varnas practise
gayatri-japa all other jatis enjoy the benefit flowing from it.
We may cease to perform a rite if the fruits yielded by them are
enjoyed exclusively by us. 

But we cannot do so if others also
share in them. Those entitled to Gayatri mantra are to regard
themselves as trustees who have to mutter it on behalf of others
like women and the fourth varna who are not entitled to it. If
they fail in their duty of trustees, it means they are committing
an irremediable offence. 
The
mantras are numerous. Before we start chanting any of them, we
say why we are doing so, mention the "fruit" that will
yield.The benefit we derive from the Gayatri mantra is the
cleansing of the mind (cittasuddhi). Even other mantras have this
ultimate purpose, but cittasuuddhi is the direct result of
Gayatri-japa. 
Even
in these days it is not difficult to perform sandhyavandana both
at dawn and dusk. Office goers and other workers may not be at
home during midday. They may perform the madhyahnika (the midday
vandana) 2 hours 24 minutes after sunrise that is called "sangava kala". 
We
must never miss the daily sandhyavadana unless we find it
absolutely impossible to perform. When we fall ill, in our
helplessness we ask others for water or kanjiin the same way, we must ask our relative or friend
to perform sandhyavandana on our behalf. 
Let
us all pray to God that he will have mercy upon us so that the
fire of mantras is never extinguished in us and that it will keep
burning brighter and brighter. 

------------------------
Other Aspects of Sandhyavandana
http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part17/chap13.htm

"Astra"
and "Sastra" are terms used in Dhanurveda (military
science) to denote two types of weapons. Knife, arrow, spear,
club and so on-real weapons-come under the term
"sastra"."Astra" is what is energised by a
mantra into a weapon. If you discharge just a darbha or a blade
of grass chanting or muttering the appropriate mantra it will be
turned into a weapon. Sastras are also discharged similarly with
mantras. If you hurl something at a object or person muttering
the mantra proper to it, the object or person will be destroyed
when hit. 
The
twice-born (Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaisyas) have the duty of
discharging "Astras" every day to destroy asuras or the
evil forces besieging mankind. Does not "Astra" mean
that which is discharged, thrown or hurled? What is the
"Astra" which is to be thrown or discharged [by the
twice - born]? We throw water so as to drive away or destroy the
demons or evil forces that have taken hold of the minds of
people. This water, the astra, is the same as the libation
offered during sandhiyavandana. We must keep this purpose in mind
when we offer arghya : "May sinfulness and falsehood be
annihilated. May the sun of knowledge shine brightly. May those
obstacles that keep the sun of knowledge dim in us to be
demolished. "Whatever you do or do not do, you must perform
this arghya thrice a day. Do it somehow " holding your breath"
When
a person does a job earnestly and whole-heartedly, we say that he
does it "holding his breath". As a matter of fact
sandhyavandana is to be performed holding one's breath. If we do
this all the evil forces will be destroyed. Nowadays all we do is
to hold our nose with our fingers. The sastras do not say,
"Nasikam ayamya", but say, "Pranam ayamya. "
It means, instead of merely holding the nose, control the vital
breath, the prana itself or the life force. 

All
work must be done with one-pointedness. There must be such
one-pointedness of the mind to turn water into a weapon(astra).
The breath is controlled for this purpose. You will ask:
"How is it that if you control your breath the mind will be
still? " We see that when the mind is still the breath also
stops. When our wonder is aroused, when we are grief-stricken or
when we are overjoyed, the mind becomes one-pointed. We exclaim
"Ha" and the breath stops for a moment. But soon we
breathe fast. We do not stop breathing with any effort on our
part-the stopping is involuntary. The mind stops when it is
enwrapped or absorbed in something. Then we heave a sigh-take a
long breath-making up for the momentary stoppage of breathing. We
learn from this that, when breathing momentarily stops, the mind
becomes one-pointed. This is the reason why the breath is
controlled when arghya, libation, is offered. 
If
we practice pranayama we will train ourselves to have mental
concentration. This is important to yoga. Practicing pranayama
for long is difficult and it must be done under the guidance of a
guru. In sandhyavandana we do it only ten times. For some rites
it is performed three times as a preliminary step. If we had
practiced pranayama regularly from the time of our upanayana we
should have become yogisvaras by now. 

What we do we must do properly. When we
practice pranayama as a part of sandhyavandana we must stop our
breath for 30 seconds or so, not more. When the vital breath
stops, the mind will become still. If the arghya is offered in
this state the evil forces will be truly be driven away. The
water that we pour or throw when our mind is still will turn a
weapon to destroy all evil. 
After
employing the arghya weapon against the evil forces, we must
perform Gayathri-japa. Pranayama we must do according to our
ability, holding the breath for a while, then realising it: this
process may be repeated without controlling the breath for too
long a time. 

All the steps in sandhyavandana- samkalpa, marjana,
arghya-pradana, japa, stotra, abhivandana-have for their purpose
the blessings of Isvara: this is stated in the samkalpa that we
make at first. From beginning to end sandhyavandana is dedicated
to Paramesvara and pranayama is an important part of it. 
According
to the sastras even the sick must do pranayama three times a day. This means that breath-control is not such as to cause trouble or
discomfort. Indeed it could mean a cure for the illness and a
prescription for long life. 
Rsayo
dirgha-sandhyatvad dirghamayuravapnuyuh Prajnam
yasasca kirtim ca brahmavarcasameva ca - Manusmrti, 4. 94
In
abhivadana we mention the name of the sage from whom we are
descended. It is our duty to observe Vedic rituals at least for
the fact that we belong to the gotra of that sage. After him
there have been so many rsis in the line. We use the terms
"trayarseyam", "pancarseyam",
"ekarseyam", meaning that, in the gotras concerned,
there were three sages, fives sages, one sage. . . They must have
lived long and secured knowledge, fame, Brahmic lustre and
spiritual eminence by performing sandhyavandana. This is what the Manusmrti stanza means. 
By
our neglect we should not sever the thread, the tradition, handed
down to us uninterruptedly. We must perform sandhyavandana as an
offering to Paramesvara and must do so understanding its meaning
and with faith and devotion. There must be one-pointedness in it
and no mantra must be left out. 
We
sin with our mind, speech and body. I told you that these sins
must be washed away by performing rites with the same mind,
speech and body. 

In sandhyavandana we mutter the mantras with our
mouth and, even as we repeat the Gayatri, we meditate on it with
our mind and in such rites as marjana (sprinkling of water) we
acquire bodily purity.

Sandhyavandana is karmayoga, bhaktiyoga
and jnanayoga combined [it unites the three paths of karma,
devotion and knowledge]. 

For more - http://thapas.wordpress.com/category/sandhyavandanam/
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विद्या ददाति विनयम्, विनयम् ददाति पात्रताम्, पात्रत्वात् धनमाप्नोति, धनात् धर्मम् ततःसुखम्
Education yields humility; humility yields character; character yields wealth 
(courage, fortitude & wisdom); wealth supports righteous (dharmic) 
life; righteousness yields happiness. - Hitopadesha

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