Rudra gayatri

Gayatris associated with individual Deities..

After the last few essays away from the spiritual to a more secular and entertaining interlude, I feel I should get back to the “roots”, lest I lose my way altogether in my quest for that elusive peace. The subject/opportunity presented itself quite providentially a couple of days back.    

My friend Krish in the course of our regular gup-shup,-- where anything from sublime to the most ridiculous is discussed with abandon-- suddenly expressed a desire to know the more-than-transliterated meaning of some of the gayatri mantrams  associated with deities….. Like for instance one on “rudra” which goes like this; “thath purushaya vidmahe mahadevaya dheemahi tanno rudra prachodayaath” ……

I remembered that in one of my very early pieces in the blog under the label “traditions and samskarams” titled, “upanayanam”, I had written about the original Gayathri mahamantaram. All I had to do, I thought, was to look for the meaning of the word “deemahi” and I should be able to get close to at least a pass-able translation, which could be expanded later. I promised Krish that I would be able to do some justice within the next few days!!! Was it confidence or arrogance? Anyways let this pass to dwell further on the piece in hand.

The word “prachodayaath” in Sanskrit means “to inspire”.  I should perhaps thank my friend, as the moment I looked up, on my earlier piece, I was inspired enough to re-visit all the books I could lay hands on to get to a much more satisfying meaning of these gayatris. The result was and continues to be fascinating enough for me to feel the need to share. Is this then “grace”? As I said earlier let this also pass.

The word “dheemahi” means “I meditate”. This would, in the ordinary meaning of the word, imply a dual relationship; namely the meditator and one that is meditated upon.  In our context however, the meaning goes a bit deeper; here the meditation is in the nature of transcending this dual relationship with the deity; namely to rid the mind of this differentiation and merge in a non-dual one-ness with Him. The mantra would therefore translate to  

.“Let Rudra inspire me to meditate on Mahadeva, as to rid me of the ignorance of dual relationship and to realize in pure consciousness the non-dual one-ness with “thath” whom we all know as the Purusha”.       

The texts reveal that He is beyond comprehension and the reach, of words and thought. The “He” is that paroksha word “thath” who is known as Purusha. He is “nirguna” and so, very difficult to meditate upon or to worship and therefore we need more saguna forms like Rudra, Mahadeva, to inspire us to experience that ultimate union.

The doubt that arises then is this; why should one try and reduce this effulgence of Purusha, by giving him attributes, and then worship those saguna images, when all one needs is to meditate constantly till truth dawns. Or more seriously is this not perhaps a tortuously circuitous way to “realize” if not perhaps wrong altogether? 

While my mind was mulling over these I chanced upon a book named “panchadasi” authored by Vidyaranya swamiji with translations in Tamil written by a saint Gyanananda Bharati. It seemed to me as Godsend as I discerned a probable answer to these doubts which taken to its logical conclusions would make all prescribed “karmas” as quite unnecessary and nay even wrong.

There is this verse in the book which to my limited understanding roughly translates to  “if one can believe in the postulation that He is beyond comprehension where is the harm if one were to meditate  on that “belief”, giving it a form he likes, and worshiping this form with that absolute faith, that one day deliverance will come?

Imagine a person in a dark room who mistaking a distant light source to be from an ordinary bulb,  starts moving towards that and when he finally reaches it, surprisingly discovers that the light source is a sparkling “gem”. The original thought that the light was from an ordinary bulb has in no way affected the discovery that it is a gem. Giving  Him, therefore a form one likes, and then start meditating/worshipping on that form sincerely, will also one day lead to absolution with Him, and the devotee’s attributing an image to Him in no way affects that “beyond comprehension and effulgent” Purusha.

I have no hesitation to admit that I am like that person in the dark room looking for light. The imagined forms of the Lord are easy for me to follow and I see hope that this path will ultimately lead me to the source of that “light”. Sitting in the dark room and try contemplating on that “beyond words and thought effulgent Brahmn” seems beyond me.   

I derive a great comfort when I find such texts which to me appear immensely profound. And I also find our traditions beautiful when mechanical repetition of such truism-loaded mantras by a huge mass of people becomes a part of almost daily routine. Only the one who deserves, or one who has a passion to know, gets to enjoy the sheer beauty of the texts. And this mechanical chant does indeed aid the process of self-realisation.

It’s similar to one who is abjectly poor but is living on a piece of land underneath which is a horde of gold/jewels lying buried. He is tempted to go in search of lucre leaving this place. But being there and in absolute faith that He will deliver him is however the key.     

So to get back just for a moment to those queries on Confidence / arrogance / Grace etc. In one’s journey if one is sincere in the belief that He is the one who is guiding you, the going into the detailed analysis of whys/ hows of all that is/are happening, appear to my mind as more of an interesting time-pass, it can very well be a hurdle in one’s path to realization. Have faith and Grace will come period.

            

My jignyaasaa to dwell on the texts being inspired by Krish’s query brought me to another glimpse of excellence, namely our daily Sandhya Vandanam. I will however reserve this for the next piece in the blog….

Love to all, and hope you will like this when you give reading this, a try, and may be enjoy it as well…….

Vichu