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The Gāyatrī

Verse

A verse from the Ṛg Veda, older than almost anything else people still say out loud every day. Four lines, sounded, then read.

Line one
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
The three worlds named in one breath — earth, air, the sky beyond — so that the whole of where-you-are is present before you ask for anything.
Line two
tat savitur vareṇyaṃ
That light — the sun's, and the one behind the sun's — the one worth choosing.
Line three
bhargo devasya dhīmahi
We hold in mind the radiance of the shining one. Not worship: attention. Dhīmahi is "we meditate on."
Line four
dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt
May it set our understanding in motion. The verse does not ask for things. It asks for the mind to be lit.
Whole
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥtat savitur vareṇyaṃbhargo devasya dhīmahidhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt

Said at dawn, at noon, and at dusk by those who keep it, facing the light that is being addressed. The tradition holds that it need not be understood to work — the sound does something — and also that understanding it does not hurt.

Not "give me." "Light the mind."
scroll to sound it
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