The recitation of the Vedas is considered highly auspicious and beneficial in Hindu tradition, and it is believed to confer various spiritual, mental, and physical benefits to both the reciter and the listener. Some of the perceived benefits include:

1. Spiritual Upliftment: Reciting the Vedas is believed to elevate the spiritual consciousness of both the reciter and the listener. It is considered a form of devotion (bhakti) and a means of connecting with the divine.
2. Purification of Mind: The sacred verses and hymns of the Vedas are believed to have purifying effects on the mind and soul. They are thought to cleanse negative energies and promote positive thoughts and emotions.
3. Blessings and Protection: The recitation of Vedic mantras is believed to invoke blessings from the deities and divine forces mentioned in the Vedas. It is also considered a form of protection against negative influences and obstacles.
4. Intellectual Stimulation: Studying and reciting the Vedas involve understanding complex philosophical concepts and linguistic intricacies. Engaging with these texts is believed to stimulate intellectual growth and expand one's understanding of life and existence.
5. Healing and Well-being: Certain hymns and mantras from the Vedas are believed to have therapeutic effects on the body and mind. They are sometimes recited as part of healing rituals for physical and mental well-being.
6. Cultural Preservation: The recitation of the Vedas plays a crucial role in preserving Hindu culture and tradition. By passing down these ancient texts through oral recitation and memorization, generations ensure the continuity of their cultural heritage.

Overall, the recitation of the Vedas is considered a sacred practice that contributes to personal growth, spiritual development, and the preservation of cultural and religious traditions in Hinduism.

Om Sri Hanumate Namah

Vanamali. Hanuman: The Devotion and Power of the Monkey God (p. 11).

ENG

Sri Hanuman is the greatest of all devotees of the Lord. He is a jñani (one in complete knowledge) in the fullest sense of the word. He has merged with his Lord, Sri Rama, in his own being, and he sees his Lord in everything and everyone. His realization of the truth does not end there.
This is the key to understanding Sri Hanuman. He serves Sri Rama in all beings by removing the obstacles to those beings realizing the truth in themselves. He sees that, in fact, there ARE no “other” beings, only Rama. Motivated by love born of Truth that manifests as compassion for beings who believe themselves to be separate, he works tirelessly to remove their suffering.

Hanuman is one of the most beloved figures in the Hindu pantheon of gods called Kimpurushas, mystic beings that are half-human and half-animal. He is the symbol of utter and selfless devotion to his supreme deity, Sri Rama, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, scion of the solar race, the pinnacle of human perfection. Hanuman’s entire strength came through the repetition of the name of Rama, the greatest mantra for this age of Kali, which if chanted with devotion, is said to give liberation from the coils of mortal life. Every temple of Rama has a figure of Hanuman seated at his feet and bowing to him. Wherever the Ramayana is read or recited, a seat is left vacant for Hanuman, since it is believed that he is always present at the reading of the story of his beloved master.
But Rama, as an incarnation of the god Vishnu, is on a divine quest. He subdues the demon king Ravana and restores the balance of good and evil on Earth. Ravana represents the monster we can become when we give our baser instincts full reign. By contrast, Rama is seen as the supreme glory of mankind and teaches us how to behave with valor, dignity, compassion, and chilvalry. He is the epitome of a great ruler and husband. His wife Sita is the embodiment of earthly grace, beauty, and virtue. Rama has been described as the sun, or divine consciousness, and Sita as the light of its warming rays on Earth. As Sita says in Valmiki’s Ramayana, 5.21.15, “I am as inseparable from Rama as radiance is from the sun.” Together, they make up the ideal couple and the verses describing their love are some of the most beautiful ever written. Hanuman, son of the wind god, is the breath that unites them. As a lowly simian, he would not be expected to embody total self-control and discipline, and yet by concentration of mind, he accomplishes just that, ever steadfast in helping his lord Rama to defeat the demon king and rescue Sita. He shows the reader that if he too concentrates his mind on the divine and never wavers, he can control his baser instincts and merge with supreme consciousness.

Hanuman is sometimes described as the world’s first Superman and, as such, his stories can be appreciated even by young children. He accomplishes feats of amazing strength, but it is his personal commitment to principles of valor and justice, along with his humble demeanor, that help make him such an admired figure. In India today, there exist popular cartoons depicting the many breathtaking feats of Hanuman. However, as stated, the figures of Rama, his wife Sita, the monkey god Hanuman, the demon god Ravana, and others who figure prominently in the Ramayana are all part of a most profound philosophical and religious allegory that can be appreciated on a variety of levels, and this is why these exciting stories have endured through many millennia.
The Sanskrit word sadhana refers to any method by which the aspirant, or sadhaka, can establish contact with the inner realms of being. One of the easiest methods of sadhana is known as japa, or the repetition of the name of God in whatever form we picture him. Hanuman gives us the image of an animal that attained perfection solely by chanting the name of Rama, his personal deity, and of the utter and complete self-abnegation of his interests to that of his Lord and god Rama. Humility and selflessness are measures of our knowledge. The more we know, the more we realize how little we know and how little we can do by ourselves.
As stated, according to legend, Hanuman is the son of the wind god. Air sustains all living beings. One can exist without food, spend days without water, but it is impossible to exist even for a short time without air. Air is life. Therefore, Hanuman is also called Pranadeva, or the God of Breath or Life.

Vaishnavites, or followers of Vishnu, believe that the wind god Vayu underwent three incarnations to help Lord Vishnu. As Hanuman, he helped Rama, as Bhima, he assisted Krishna, and as Madhvacharya (1238–1317), he founded the Vaishnava sect known as Dvaita.
In Hindu symbolism, a monkey signifies the human mind, which is ever restless and never still. This monkey mind happens to be the only thing over which man can have absolute control. We cannot control the world around us, but we can control and tame our mind by ardent discipline. We cannot choose our life, but we can choose the way we respond to it. Truly, Hanuman is symbolic of the perfect mind and embodies the highest potential it can achieve. He is the true picture of the sthitha prajna (man of steady intellect) of the Bhagavad Gita (literally, Song of God) and had perfect control over his mind. The name Hanuman gives a clue to his character. It is a combination of two Sanskrit words, hanan (annihilation) and man (mind), thus indicating one who has conquered his ego. According to yoga, the body is only an extension of the mind. Hence Hanuman, with perfect mastery over his mind, had the most developed body. He is sometimes called Bajarangabali (one whose body is like a thunderbolt and whose movements are like lightning). He is so strong that he can lift mountains, so agile that he can leap across the sea.
His strength is proverbial, and thus he is the patron of physical culture. His image is enshrined in gymnasiums all over India and wrestlers worship him before commencing their practice. The yogasana (yogic position) known as surya namaskara, or salutation to the sun god, is a mixture of all the main yogic postures combined with devotion, and it was composed by Hanuman in honor of his celestial guru, Surya. Vayu, his celestial father, taught him pranayama, or the science of breath control, which he in turn taught to human beings.
The scriptures refer to several events where Hanuman exhibited his power over the celestial bodies, including the sun and Saturn. Hence he gained power over the navagrahas, or nine planets of Hindu cosmology. These planets are Ravi, the sun; Soma, the moon; Mangal, Mars; Buddha, Mercury; Brihaspati, Jupiter; Shukra, Venus; Shani, Saturn; the bodiless, Rahu (the north node of the moon) and the headless, Ketu (the south node of the moon). Their alignment in the astrological chart is supposed to decide a person’s destiny. In many of his images, Hanuman is shown trampling a woman and holding her by her braid. This woman embodies Panavati, or baneful astrological influences.

Sorcerers manipulate cosmic powers to invoke malevolent spirits. People normally call upon Hanuman to protect them from such people. When Ravana invoked two such sorcerers, Ahiravana and Mahiravana, Hanuman invoked the power of Kaali to subdue them. Many practitioners of Tantra worship him because he has many siddhis, or supernatural powers, such as the ability to change his size and the ability to fly, which he gained through his strict brahmacharya (celibacy) and tapasya (austerity). Thus he displays the dual characteristics of bhakti (devotion) and shakti (divine energy).

He is also the patron of Ayurvedic healers, since he played a vital role in saving Lakshmana’s life by bringing him the magic herb from the Himalayas. He later saved Shatrughna’s life with the same herb. Lakshmana and Shatrughna were twins who were also Rama’s younger brothers.
As a warrior, Hanuman has no parallel. He uses both strength and guile to overpower the enemy. This was exhibited many times during the war with the king of the demons, Ravana.

Hanuman was also a master diplomat. He knew how to speak sweetly and make others see his side of the matter without the use of force. Hence, he was the spokesman for Sugriva, the monkey king, when he approached Rama to find out his intentions. Again Sugriva sent him to try and subdue Lakshmana’s anger at his own lapse. Rama sent him as his envoy to Sita twice—once to the island fortress of Lanka carrying his signet ring, and again to fetch her after the war. He also sent him to his brother Bharata to find out his intentions before setting foot in Ayodhya. All those who came into contact with him were most impressed by his diplomatic method of talking and by his beguiling ways.

Strangely enough, he was also a great musician. He had been blessed by the goddess Saraswati and was thus able to play on the lute and sing lyrics in praise of Rama. He was the first to sing bhajans (songs of adoration) and kirtans (songs of praise). His music was an outpouring of his great love for his beloved master and hence even had the power to melt rocks.

Hanuman is the perfect example of a student. He was totally focused, hardworking, humble, determined, and brilliant. He flew to the solar orb in his determination to obtain the sun god, Surya, as his guru. However, he never flaunted his brilliance and scholarship but always sat at the feet of Rama—ever the humble servant.

Hanuman had no desire for name or fame. He preferred to live in mountains and caves. As mentioned, he practiced total celibacy, which was very strange in a simian. Even when he lived in the palace, he behaved like a hermit, never indulging his senses. This was what gave him so much spiritual power.

He was also a hatha yogi since he practiced yogasanas (yogic postures) and pranayama (control of the breath). He was a laya yogi (one who practices the yoga of immolation, dissolving into the Supreme), since he knew how to control his mind with mantras (sacred sounds) and yantras (sacred symbols). Thus, as mentioned, he acquired many siddhis, or supernatural powers.

If yoga is the ability to control one’s mind, then Hanuman was the perfect yogi, having perfect mastery over his senses, achieved through a disciplined lifestyle and as discussed, by a strict adherence to celibacy and selfless devotion. He controlled his mind through absolute faith in the divine. Every event in his life was a gift from his master to be accepted without question. His life is a classic example to be followed by all devotees of God in any form. He shows us how a devotee should spend his or her life so as to reach the Supreme. He symbolizes the pinnacle of bhakti, and Hindus consider him to be the eleventh avatara, or incarnation, of Rudra or Lord Shiva. Once it is said that Narada asked Brahma whom he considered to be the greatest devotee of Vishnu. No doubt the sage was hoping that his name would be suggested. However, Brahma directed him to Prahlada, the king of asuras (demons) for whose sake Vishnu had taken a special avatara as Narasimha (the man-lion). Prahlada, who was himself a great devotee of Vishnu, with characteristic humility told him to go to Hanuman, whom he thought to be the greatest devotee of Vishnu since he chanted the name of Rama constantly.

Hanuman was a perfect karma yogi (one who practices the yoga of action), since he performed his actions with detachment, dedicating everything to Rama, his God. He was totally free from any desire for personal aggrandizement. In the whole of the Ramayana, there is no incident in which he did anything for himself. All his feats were for the sake of others.

Hanuman spent his entire life in the service of others. First he served Sugriva, then Rama. He personifies bhakti through dasa bhava, or the attitude of the servant. This type of devotion is the perfect instrument to destroy the ego. He performed his duties humbly, modestly, and with great devotion. He chose not to marry and have a family of his own so that he could devote himself entirely to the service of others. He never exceeded his orders even when he was capable of doing so. For instance, he could easily have killed the demon Ravana and conquered the island of Lanka on his own, as his mother said, but he refrained from doing so since he wanted to be a true servant and obey his master’s orders.

He is one of the seven chiranjeevis (those who live until the end of this cycle of creation). He is noted for his mighty intellect and is thought to be the only scholar who knows all the nine vyakaranas (explanations of the Vedas). He is thought to have learned the Vedas from the sun god himself. He is the wisest of the wise, strongest of the strong, and bravest of the brave. He had the power to assume any form he liked, to swell his body to the size of a mountain or reduce it to a thumbnail. One who meditates on him will attain power, strength, glory, prosperity, and success in life.

Hanuman is the epitome of wisdom, self-control, devotion, valor, righteousness, and strength. His indispensable role in reuniting Rama with Sita is likened by some to that of a teacher helping an individual soul realize the divine. Rama himself describes Hanuman thus: “Heroism, cleverness, strength, firmness, sagacity, prudence, prowess, and power have taken up their abode in Hanuman.”

Sage Agastya endorses this view and said to Rama, “What you say regarding Hanuman is true, O Raghava! None else is equal to him in might, speed, or intelligence.” He is easily reachable just by chanting the mantra “Rama.”
Hanuman is worshipped on Saturdays and Tuesdays, which are associated with Shani and Mangal, or Saturn and Mars. Both these planets are associated with death and war and known to disrupt human life by their malefic influence. His offerings are simple—sindoor, til oil (sesame), husked black gram and garlands of a certain tree (Calotropis gigantica) in the north, and garlands of betel leaves in the south. Also in the south, his idols are often pasted with butter that, strangely enough, never melts, even during the hottest summer. He is also adorned with garlands of rice and savory lentil doughnuts (vadas).

The reason for the vermillion paste will be given in the chapters below. But esoterically speaking, red is the color of strength and virility. Til oil is used by wrestlers and gymnasts to massage their body. Butter and dal are sources of protein and generate energy, stamina, and muscle. The two scriptures that are read by all Hanuman devotees are the Sundara Kanda of the Ramayana, where he discovered Sita in Lanka, and the forty verses of the Hanuman Chalisa by Tulsidas, the great sixteenth-century poet. And as mentioned earlier, wherever the Ramayana is read, a special seat is always reserved for Hanuman since the belief is that he will always be present at such a reading.

What are his physical characteristics? Is he the black-faced langur or the red-faced bandar? Sometimes he is described as a golden monkey with a red face. His face is supposed to have turned black when he wiped his face with his tail after destroying Lanka.
His tail is arched upward and is the symbol of strength, agility, and virility. He wears earrings made of five metals: gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin. He came to the world already adorned with these. Normally, he wears only a loincloth in the manner of wrestlers and bodybuilders. His images usually show him saluting Rama or standing guard and displaying his strength as he holds the mountain in one hand and his mace in the other.

The Hanuman Chalisa declares categorically that there is no blessing that he cannot bestow. Sita granted him the power to bestow the eight siddhis and nine types of wealth on others. However, the greatest boon one can ask of Hanuman is the uplifting of the spiritual qualities that he himself is known for.

Having polished with the dust of my master’s feet the mirror of my heart,
I narrate the pure fame of Raghupati (Rama), who bestows life’s four desires.
Considering myself to be devoid of intellectual merits, I invoke Sri Hanuman, the son of the wind god. Bestow on me strength, intelligence, and knowledge. Remove my bodily ailments and vicious qualities.

HANUMAN CHALISA BY TULSIDAS

Om Sri Hanumate Namah

Vanamali. Hanuman: The Devotion and Power of the Monkey God (p. 11).

 

oṃ ā̱ñja̱ne̱yāya̍ vi̱dmahe̍

vāyupu̱trāya̍ dhīmahi

tanno̍ hanumān praco̱dayā̎t

 

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः oṃ bhūrbhuvaḥ svaḥ

When we go to find the original Gayatri Mantra by Rishi Vishvamitra in the Rigveda (3.62.10) we do not find there the expression ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः oṃ bhūrbhuvaḥ svaḥ.

The original Mantra is:

तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि | धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ||
tat saviturvareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi | dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt ||

This Mantra of Rishi Vishvamitra is popularly known as Gayatri Mantra as it is in the Gayatri Meter (a 24 syllable meter with 8 syllables in each of the three lines).
The deity invoked here is सविता savitā who is the Creative Sun.
सूते च सवति च सुवति च इति सविता; यः सर्वोत्पादकः (सू प्राणिगर्भविमोचने), यः सर्वैश्वर्यमयः (सु प्रसवैश्वर्ययोः), यः सर्वप्रेरकः (सू प्रेरणे)
sūte ca savati ca suvati ca iti savitā; yaḥ sarvotpādakaḥ (sū prāṇigarbhavimocane), yaḥ sarvaiśvaryamayaḥ (su prasavaiśvaryayoḥ), yaḥ sarvaprerakaḥ (sū preraṇe).

He who is the creator of all, possessor of all riches, and he who impels all is Savitri. It is he from whom all creative energy comes. It is not just the sun that we see (or the many suns in the universe) but it is the creative energy or the force behind the sun or all suns.

The meaning of this Mantra is: The supreme light of god Savitri we hold in contemplation; May that illumine and impel our dhii (that faculty of our consciousness which has the power to receive, discern, hold and execute what is right). Dhii also has the meaning karma. In this sense it can also mean May the supreme light of Savitri illumine our buddhi and karma together.

Now the question is what is ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः oṃ bhūrbhuvaḥ svaḥ? Why this has become a part of this Mantra.

This is called vyāhṛti (व्याहृति) or a mystic utterance [added during the Brahmana (or the Interpretative texts of the Vedas) period], and to be repeated along with OM before the daily prayers.

भूर्भुवः स्वः bhūrbhuvaḥ svaḥ in a deeper sense stands for all the seven worlds — भूः bhūḥ, भुवः bhuvaḥ, स्वः svaḥ, महः mahaḥ, जनः janaḥ, तपः tapaḥ, सत्यम् satyam of the Veda. Chanted along with OM this expression glorifies the OM Pranava (ॐ इति भूः oṃ iti bhūḥ ॐ इति भुवः oṃ iti bhuvaḥ ॐ इति स्वः oṃ iti svaḥ). So it means OM has its presence in all the three worlds — bhūḥ, the earth, bhuvaḥ, the mid region and svaḥ, the heaven (पृथिवी-अन्तरिक्ष-द्युलोकनामक-लोकत्रयात्मकः pṛthivī-antarikṣa-dyulokanāmaka-lokatrayātmakaḥ).

OM is also the prāṇa, apāna and vyāna (प्राणापानव्यानशक्तिस्वरूपः prāṇāpānavyānaśaktisvarūpaḥ).

तैत्तिरीयारण्यकम् taittirīyāraṇyakam (7.5) says:

भूरिति वै प्राणः, यः प्राणयति जीवयति चराचरं जगत् स स्वयम्भूरीश्वरः bhūriti vai prāṇaḥ, yaḥ prāṇayati jīvayati carācaraṃ jagat sa svayambhūrīśvaraḥ ||

The earth or the bhūḥ is prāṇa as it nurtures and infuses all that is animate and inanimate with prāṇa. It is the Ruler Self-born.

भुवरित्यपानः, यः सर्वं दुःखं मलं च अपानयति सोsपानः
bhuvarityapānaḥ, yaḥ sarvaṃ duḥkhaṃ malaṃ ca apānayati sospānaḥ ||

The mid region bhuvaḥ is apāna as it takes away all dirt and all afflictions.

स्वरिति व्यानः यः विविधं जगद् व्यानयति व्याप्नोति च सः व्यानः
svariti vyānaḥ yaḥ vividhaṃ jagad vyānayati vyāpnoti ca saḥ vyānaḥ ||

The upper world svaḥ is vyāna as it is spread over or extended to various worlds.
OM is also of the nature of Sacchidananda (सच्चिदानन्दस्वरूपः saccidānandasvarūpaḥ)

The vyāhṛti here is to invoke the presence of OM before reciting the actual prayer. The OM in its triple form ( bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ and svaḥ) is the Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient:

प्रणवो हीश्वरं विद्यात् सर्वस्य हृदि संस्थितम् |
सर्वव्यापिनमोङ्कारं मत्वा धीरो न शोचति ||

praṇavo hīśvaraṃ vidyāt sarvasya hṛdi saṃsthitam |
sarvavyāpinamoṅkāraṃ matvā dhīro na śocati ||

(gauḍapādakārikā, āgamaprakaraṇam, 28)

Know the PRANAVA OM as the Omnipotent Ishvara who rules over all, as the Omnipresent seated in the heart of all, the Omniscient All-knowing that has the knowledge of all. Thus knowing the wise one becomes free from all griefs.

All the above has to be kept in mind while reciting oṃ bhūrbhuvaḥ svaḥ before the Gayatri Mantra.

This helps invoking the presence of OM that transcends all worlds.

Here is the word by word explanation of the Mantra:

अन्वयः — ओम् भूः भुवः स्वः। सवितुः देवस्य तत् वरेण्यं भर्गः धीमहि। यः नः धियः प्रचोदयात्।
anvayaḥ — om bhūḥ bhuvaḥ svaḥ. savituḥ devasya tat vareṇyaṃ bhargaḥ dhīmahi. yaḥ naḥ dhiyaḥ pracodayāt.

ओम् om — The Supreme sound, the signature of the Lord.
भूः bhūḥ— The earth (in the lower hemisphere representing the physical consciousness and in the higher hemisphere representing the SAT).
भुवः bhuvaḥ— The mid region (in the lower hemisphere representing the vital consciousness and in the higher hemisphere representing the CHIT).
स्वः svaḥ— The heaven (in the lower hemisphere representing representing the mental consciousness and in the higher hemisphere representing the ANANDA).
सवितुः देवस्य savituḥ devasya — Of god Savitri, the creative Sun
तत् tat— That
वरेण्यं vareṇyaṃ— Supreme
भर्गः bhargaḥ— Light
धीमहि dhīmahi — We contemplate upon
यः yaḥ— He who
नः naḥ— Our
धियः dhiyaḥ— Intelligence
प्रचोदयात् pracodayāt— May impel/illumine

We contemplate on the supreme Light of the creative Sun. May he impel/illumine our intelligence.

-Sampadananda Mishra

We will first consider Since their names appear together in many hymns, we consider them together with the name Sūrya Sāvitrī, translated as the Divine Sun; later we will point out the distinction between Sūrya and Sāvitrī in the Veda.

Sūrya Sāvitrī is the Godhead of the Supreme Truth and knowledge hymned as ekam sat, One Truth. He represents the truth of being, truth of knowledge, truth of process and act and movement and functioning. He is therefore the creator or rather the manifester of all things for creation is releasing srj or expressing what is present in the Truth-will; He is the father, fosterer and enlightener of our souls. Thus the luminous vision and luminous creation are the two functions of Sūrya Sāvitrī.

He is present both in the microcosm and the macrocosm. He is the light of the Truth rising in the human consciousness. We may recall that the devī uşha, Dawn, represents the onset of the first rays of Light in our night-ridden consciousness, the consciousness covered by the forces of darkness, ignorance and inconscience. So the Sūrya Sāvitrī comes after the Dawn, and follows and expands the path traced for him by her. Hence it is said that Sūrya pursues the Dawn as a lover follows after his beloved (1.115.2).

All the Gods follow in the march of Sūrya, i.e., all other Divine faculties or potentialities in man expand with the expansion of Truth and Light. This is the reason for the wide spread use of the mantra for Sūrya-Sāvitrī known as Gāyatri of Vishvāmitra (3.62.10).

The name Sūrya is rarely used when there is a question of creation. Sūrya is reserved for his passive aspects as the body of infinite Light and the revelation. In his active power he is addressed by various names like Sāvitrī, Tvaşhţŗ etc. Sāvitrī is used whenever the rişhi is concerned with the idea of creation i.e., the manifestation of the powers both in humans and cosmos; Savitŗ and Sūrya come from the same root. Sāvitrī again manifests himself especially in the formation of the Truth in man through the four great and active deities, Mitra, Varuņa, Bhaga and Aryamān, representing the Lords of pure wideness, luminous Harmony, divine enjoyment and exalted power respectively.

Sūrya and Savitŗ appellations are used sometimes as if identical and as if distinct at others. In the Veda, there is only one deity, ekam sat, one existence of which all other powers are aspects connected to one another by an intricate web. We cannot partition this web into several separate rigid parts so that each part is a separate deity.

Sūrya Sāvitri, Creator and Increaser (RV 5.81)

Men illumined yoke their mind and they yoke their thoughts to him who is illumination and largeness and clear perceiving. Knowing all phenomena he orders, sole the Energies of the sacrifice. Vast is the affirmation in all things of Sāvitri, the divine Creator.
All forms he takes unto himself, the Seer, and he creates from them good for the twofold existence and the fourfold. The Creator, the supreme Good, manifests Heaven wholly and his light pervades all as he follows the march of the Dawn.
In the wake of his march the other gods also reach by his force to the greatness of the Divinity. He has mapped out the realms of earthly light by his mightiness,-the brilliant one, the divine Creator.
And thou reachest, O Sāvitri, to the three luminous heavens; and thou art utterly expressed by the rays of the Sun; and thou encompassest the Night upon either side; and thou becomest by the law of thy law of thy actions the lord of Love, O God.
And thou art powerful for every creation; and thou becomest the Increase, O God, by thy movings; and thou illuminest utterly all this world of becomings. Shyavashwa has attained to the affirmation of thee, O Sāvitri.

COMMENTARY

Indra with his shining hosts, the Maruts, Agni, the divine force, fulfiller of the Aryan sacrifice, are the most important deities of the Vedic system. Agni is the beginning and the end. This Will that is knowledge is the initiator of the upward effort of the mortal towards Immortality; to this divine consciousness that is one with divine power we arrive as the foundation of immortal existence. Indra, lord of Swar, the luminous intelligence into which we have to convert our obscure material mentality in order to become capable of the divine consciousness, is our chief helper. It is by the aid of Indra and the Maruts that the conversion is effected. The Maruts take our animal consciousness made up of the impulses of the nervous mentality, possess these impulses with their illuminations and drive them up the hill of being towards the world of Swar and the truths of Indra. Our mental evolution begins with these animal troops, these pasus; they become, as we progress in the ascension, the brilliant herds of the Sun, gavah, rays, the divine cows of the Veda. Such is the psychological sense of the Vedic symbol.

But who, then, is Sūrya, the Sun, from whom these rays proceed? He is the Master of Truth, Sūrya the Illuminator, Sāvitri the Creator, Pūṣan the Increaser. His rays in their own nature are supramental activities of revelation, inspiration, intuition, luminous discernment, and they constitute the action of that transcendent principle which the Vedanta calls Vijnana, the perfect knowledge, the Veda Ritam, the Truth. But these rays descend also into the human mentality and form at its summit the world of luminous intelligence, Swar, of which Indra is the lord.

For this Vijnana is a divine and not a human faculty. Man’s mind is not constituted of the self-luminous truth, like the divine mind; it is a sense-mentality, Manas, which can receive and understand Truth, but is not one with it. The light of knowledge has to present itself in this human understanding tempered so as to suit its forms to the capacities and limitations of the physical consciousness. And it has to lead up progressively to its own true nature, to manifest successive evolutionary stages for our mental development. Therefore the rays of Sūrya, as they labour to form our mental existence, create three successive worlds of mentality one superimposed on the other, – the sensational, aesthetic and emotional mind, the pure intellect and the divine intelligence. The fullness and perfection of these triple worlds of mind exists only in the pure mental plane of being, where they shine above the three heavens, tisro divah, as their three luminosities, trini rocanani. But their light descends upon the physical consciousness and effects the corresponding formations in its realms, the Vedic parthivani rajamsi, earthly realms of light. They also are triple, tisrah prthivih, the three earths. And of all these worlds Sūrya Sāvitri is the creator.

We have in this figure of various psychological levels, each considered as a world in itself, a key to the conceptions of the Vedic rişhis. The human individual is an organised unit of existence which reflects the constitution of the universe. It repeats in itself the same arrangement of states and play of forces. Man, subjectively, contains in himself all the worlds in which, objectively, he is contained. Preferring ordinarily a concrete to an abstract language, the rişhis speak of the physical consciousness as the physical world, earth, Bhu, Prithivi. They describe the pure mental consciousness as heaven, Dyau, of which Swar, the luminous mind, is the summit. To the intermediate dynamic, vital or nervous consciousness they give the name either of Antariksha, the intermediate vision, or of Bhuvar, – multiple dynamic worlds formative of the Earth.

For in the idea of the rişhis a world is primarily a formation of consciousness and only secondarily a physical formation of things. A world is a loka, a way in which conscious being images itself. And it is the causal Truth, represented in the person of Sūrya Sāvitri, that is the creator of all its forms. For it is the causal Idea in the infinite being, – the idea, not abstract, but real and dynamic, – that originates the law, the energies, the formations of things and the working out of their potentialities in determined forms by determined processes. Because the causal Idea is a real force of existence, it is called satyam, the True in being; because it is the determining truth of all activity and formation, it is called rtam, the True in movement; because it is broad and infinite in its self-view, in its scope and in its operation, it is called brhat, the Large or Vast.

Sāvitri by the Truth is the Creator, but not in the sense of a fabrication or mechanical forming of things. The root of the word means an impulsion, a loosing forth or sending out, – the sense also of the ordinary word for creation, srsti, – and so a production. The action of the causal Idea does not fabricate, but brings out by Tapas, by the pressure of consciousness on its own being, that which is concealed in it, latent in potentiality and in truth already existent in the Beyond.

Now the forces and processes of the physical world repeat, as in a symbol, the truths of the supraphysical action which produced it. And since it is by the same forces and the same processes, one in the physical worlds and the supraphysical, that our inner life and its development are governed, the rişhis adopted the phenomena of physical Nature as just symbols for those functionings of the inner life which it was their difficult task to indicate in the concrete language of a sacred poetry that must at the same time serve for the external worship of the Gods as powers of the visible universe. The solar energy is the physical form of Sūrya, Lord of Light and Truth; it is through the Truth that we arrive at Immortality, final aim of the Vedic discipline. It is therefore under the images of the Sun and its rays, of Dawn and day and night and the life of man between the two poles of light and darkness that the ancient seers describe the progressive illumination of the human soul. It is so that Shyavashwa of the house of Atri hymns Sāvitri, Creator, Increaser, Revealer.

Sūrya enlightens the mind and the thoughts with the illuminations of the Truth. He is vipra, the illumined. It is he who delivers the individual human mind from the circumscribed consciousness of self and environment and enlarges the limited movement which is imposed on it by its preoccupation with its own individuality. Therefore he is brhat, the Large. But his illumination is not a vague light, nor does his largeness come by a confused and dissolved view of self and object; it holds in itself a clear discernment of things in their totality, their parts and their relations.

Therefore he is vipascit, the clear in perception. Men, as soon as they begin to receive something of this solar illumination, strive to yoke their whole mentality and its thought-contents to the conscious existence of the divine Sūrya within them. That is to say, they apply, as it were, all their obscure mental state and all their erring thoughts to this Light manifested in them so that it may turn the obscurity of the mind into clearness and convert the errors of thought into those truths which they distortedly represent. This yoking (yunjate) becomes their Yoga. “They yoke the mind, and they yoke their thoughts, the enlightened, of (i.e. to, or so that they may be part of or belong to) the Enlightened, the Large, the Clear-perceptioned.”

Then the Lord of Truth orders all the human energies offered up to him in the terms of the Truth; for he becomes in man a sole and sovereign Power governing all knowledge and action. Not interfered with by conflicting agencies, he governs perfectly; for he knows all manifestations, comprehends their Causes, contains their law and process, compels their right result. There are seven of these sacrificial energies (Hotras) in the human being, one corresponding to each of the seven constituents of his psychological existence, – body, life, mind, supermind, bliss, will and essential being. Their irregular action or wrong relation, caused and maintained by the obscuration of knowledge in Mind, is the source of all stumbling and unhappiness, of all evil act and evil state. Sūrya, Lord of Knowledge, puts each of them to its right place in the Sacrifice. “Knower of phenomena sole he arranges the sacrificial energies.”

Man thus arrives at a vast and all-embracing affirmation in himself of this divine Creator. It is implied in this passage and indicated more clearly in the next. verse that the result is a right and happy creation – for all our existence is a constant creation .-of the universe of man’s whole being. “Vast is the comprehensive affirmation of the god Sāvitri.”

Sūrya is the seer, the revealer. Ms Truth takes into its illumination all forms of things, all the phenomenal objects and experiences which constitute our world, all the figures of the universal Consciousness within and without us. It reveals the truth in them, their sense, their purpose, their justification and right use. Ordering rightly the energies of the sacrifice it creates or produces good as the law of our whole existence. For all things have their justifiable cause of being, their good use and their right enjoyment. When this truth in them is found and utilized, all things produce good for the soul, increase its welfare, enlarge its felicity. And this divine revolution is effected both in the lower physical existence and in the more complete inner life which uses the physical for its manifestation. “The Seer takes to himself all forms, he brings out (creates or manifests) good for the twofold (two-footed), for the fourfold (four-footed).”

The process of this new creation is described in the rest of the hymn. Sūrya, as the creator, as the supreme good, manifests in our human consciousness its concealed heavenly summit on the levels of the pure mind, and we are able to look up above from the earth of our physical existence and are delivered from the obscurities of the night of Ignorance. He follows, sunlike, the march of the Dawn, illuminating all the regions of our being on which falls its light; for there is always needed the precursory mental illumination before the Truth itself, the supramental principle, can take possession of this lower existence. “The creator, the supremely desirable, manifests all heaven and shines pervadingly following (after or according to) the movement forward of the Dawn.”

All the other gods follow in this march of Sūrya and they attain to his vastness by the force of his illumination. That is to say, all the other divine faculties or potentialities in man expand with the expansion of the Truth and Light in him; in the strength of the ideal supermind they attain to the same infinite amplitude of right becoming, right action and right knowledge. The Truth in its largeness moulds all into the terms of the infinite and universal Life, replaces with it the limited individual existence, maps out in the terms of their real being the realms of the physical consciousness which, as Sāvitri, it has created. This also is in us a creation, although in reality it only manifests what already exists but was concealed by the darkness of our ignorance, – just as the realms of the physical earth are concealed from our eyes by the darkness, but reveal themselves as the sun in his march follows the Dawn and measures them out one by one to the vision. “Following whose march the other gods too reach the vastness of the divinity by his strength, he who maps out entirely – that brilliant one – the earthly realms of light, the god Sāvitri, by his greatness.”

But it is not only the full capacity of our physical or earthly consciousness that this divine Truth illuminates and forms for a perfect action. It pervades the three luminous realms of the pure mind (trini rocana); it puts us in contact with all the divine possibilities of the sensations and emotions, of the intellect, of the intuitive reason and liberating the superior faculties from their limitation and constant reference to the material world fulfils our entire mental being. Its activities receive their completest manifestation; they are gathered up into the life of the complete Truth by the rays of the sun, that is to say, by the full splendour of the divine Super mind manifested in us. “And thou goest, O Sāvitri, to the three luminousnesses, and thou art perfectly expressed by the rays of the Sun (or, art gathered together by means of the rays).”

Then it is that the higher kingdom of the Immortality, Sachchidananda revealed, shines out perfectly in this world. The higher and lower are reconciled in the light of the supramental revelation. The Ignorance, the Night, is illumined upon both sides of our complete being, not only as in our present state upon one. This higher kingdom stands confessed in the principle of Beatitude which is for us the principle of Love and Light, represented by the god Mitra. The Lord of Truth, when he reveals himself in the full godhead, becomes the Lord of Bliss. The law of his being, the principle regulating his activities is seen to be Love; for in the right arrangement of knowledge and action everything here comes to be translated into terms of good, felicity, bliss. “And thou encompassest Night upon both sides, and thou becomest, O God, Mitra by the laws of thy action.”

The Truth of the divine existence becomes eventually the sole Lord of all creation in ourselves; and by his constant visitations or by his continual progressions the Creator becomes the Increaser, Sāvitri becomes Pūṣan. He aggrandizes us by a constantly progressive creation until he has illumined the whole world of our becoming. We grow into the complete, the universal, the infinite. So has Shyavashwa, of the sons of Atri, succeeded in affirming Sāvitri in his own being as the illuminative Truth, the creative, the progressive, the increaser of man – he who brings him out of egoistic limitation into universality, out of the finite into the infinite. “And thou hast power alone for creation; and thou becomest the Increaser, O God, by the goings; and thou illuminest entirely all this world (literally, becoming). Shyavashwa has attained to the affirmation of thee, O Sāvitri.”

Source

 

ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

oṃ asato mā sadgamaya |
tamaso mā jyotirgamaya |
mṛtyormā amṛtaṃ gamaya |
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.3.28

 

Rishi-Devata-Chandas:

This Shanti Mantra from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is a set of three profound Mantras. The Rishi and Chandas of the Mantra is not known. But the divinity addressed by this Mantra is the Paramatman – the supreme consciousness.

असतः asataḥ – from unreality;

मा mā – me;

सद् sad – (to) reality;

गमय gamaya – lead;

तमसः tamasaḥ – from darkness;

मा mā – me;

ज्योतिः jyotiḥ – (to) light;

गमय gamaya – lead;

मृत्योः mṛtyoḥ – from death;

मा mā – me;

अमृतं amṛtaṃ– (to) immortality;

गमय gamaya – lead.

 

Translation:

Lead me from unreality to reality. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality.

Asato ma Sat gamaya - Asat points to superficial (Vyavaharika) level of understanding things and performance of action (svabhavika-karma- vijñāna). Sat refers to well-refined knowledge and action known from the scriptures (Śastriya-karma- vijñāna). The prayer to the supreme Brahman is to lead us from unrefined state of knowledge and action to refined knowledge and refined way of performing actions.

Tamaso ma Jyotir gamaya - Tamas points to ignorance and wrong knowledge, ajnana. Jyoti refers to correct/authenticknowledge, jñāna. The prayer here is to lead us from ignorance to knowledge.

Mrityor ma Amritam gamaya - From death lead me to immortality. In this context, Acharya Shankara states that as the previous two are (relatively) obscure concepts (Asat and Sat, Tamas and jyoti) they needed explanation. The desire/prayer for journey from death to immortality is very well known, and hence special explanation is not given. Meaning, at the core, every human being has this yearning and urge to reach immortality and hence it is not obscure but very evident. This clarifies the natural, ultimate destination of human journey.

Further, a gradual progression could be observed here - only when our understanding of the world and performance of actions are guided by our Śāstras [means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense] (Mantra 1) - we can shake off the veil of ignorance in the form of distractions, afflictions and agitations, and move towards knowledge about the reality in focused and peaceful manner (Mantra 2). After that, when we are able to assimilate the knowledge and convert it into realisation by our Tapas (single pointed focus) - that is when we transcend death and attain immortality (get established in Sat-Cit-Ānanda).

An important observation is made regarding the Viniyoga (application) of the Mantra by Acharya Shankara. He states that, in the context of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the above three Mantras are for japa for the one who has the clear understanding of the functioning of the prāṇa (prāṇa - vijñāna).

Two points can be noted from the comment –

1. a) The knowledge of functioning prāṇa is a prerequisite for the utilisation of mantra - this is meant for the practitioner of prāṇayāma/yoga. From this it can be inferred that, this mantra and mantras in general, makes more sense and impact on a person who practices prāṇayāma/yoga (working towards reducing agitations and afflictions in the mind).
2. b) This mantra is for japa - This indicates that a single study of this mantra will not suffice - repeated recitation (japa/abhyāsa) of this mantra and manana of the meaning herein only, will deepen the imbibing of its import.

 

Jayaraman Mahadevan

Source: https://www.academia.edu/95958110/Vedic_Mantra_artha_Asato_Ma_Sad_gamaya