Courtesy:Sri.K.Muralidharan Iyengar
Dear All,
Greetings and Namaste. At the outset, my greetings and best wishes for Onam festival, Rakhi Bandhan and Yajur Upakarma - all of which converge on this day (29-Aug-2015, Saturday). As tomorrow is the annual Gayatri Japa day (following Upakarma today), I am glad to attach a short and sweet prayer on Mata Savitri by Lord Vishnu taken from Skanda Puranam, Prabhasa Khandam, Chapter 165.
As we all know, Gayatri is the essence of Sanatana Dharma. The following verse from Chandogya ParishiShta elucidates this point:
sarveShAM eva vedAnAM guhyopaniShadAM tathA | sArabhUtA to gAyatrI nirgatA brahmaNo mukhAt ||
(Meaning : The essence of all Vedas and the inscrutable Upanishads is verily Gayatri, which emanated from the face of Lord Brahma")
yathA ca madhu puShpeShu ghRRitaM dugdhAd rasAt payaH | evaM hi sarva-devAnAM gAyatrI sAra ucyate || (Brihad Yogi YAjnavalkya Smriti)
(Meaning : Like honey is the essence of flowers and ghee is the essence of milk/curd, Gayatri is the essence of all Vedas)
Vedas and Shastras are unequivocal about the need for Gayatri Japa as the very basic qualification of one to do any other religious activities. There are lot of misconceptions about Varnas and Brahminhood and their duties in today's world - because we foolishly degenerated Varna concept into a caste system. But apart from the same name, there is nothing common in between Varna Caste. The following verses provide chapter and verse to what they stand for:
janmanA jAyate shUdraH saMskArAd dvija ucyata (Atri Smriti)
(Meaning : By birth everyone is a Shudra. One becomes a Brahmin by Samskaras only) Compare this with Lord Krishna's verse in Bhagavad Gita cAtur vaNyaM mayA shRRiShTham guNa karma vibhAgasaH - The four Varnas, based on Guna and Karma (and not birth), were created by me.
kiM vedaiH paThitaiH sarvaiH setihAsa-purANakaiH | sA~NgaiH sAvitrI-hIno yo na vipratvaM avApnuyAt || (Brihat Parashara Smriti)
(Meaning : What is the use of studying Vedas, Puranas, Itihasas and other Vedangas? One who is devoid of Savitri worship never attains Brahmin-hood.
gAyatrIM yaH parityajya cA.anya-mantraM-upAsate | na sAphalyaM avApnoti kalpa-koTi-shatair api || (Brihat Sandhya BhAshya)
(Meaning: One who leaves Gayatri Mantra Upasana and goes after Upasana of other mantrans will never get any fructification even after crores of Kalpas.)
May We Pray to Veda Mata Gayatri on this Gayatri Japa Day!
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