"...reason cannot arrive at any
final truth because it can neither get to the
root of things nor embrace their totality. It
deals with the finite, the separate and has no
measure for the all and the infinite...."
Sri Aurobindo in the Evolution of
Man
"...The general notions
about human understanding ... which are
illustrated by discoveries in atomic
physics...have a history, and in Buddhist and
Hindu thought a more considerable and central
place."... Julius Robert
Oppenheimer
"Why is that the Vedas have said that the holiest of
holy passage, the Gayatri Mantra �
addressed to the old solar god Savitr- can only be
spoken by the three higher classes of the
Aryans?..."
It is correct that there are those who have
interpreted the Vedas in this way. However, the words of
Swami Vivekananda and Baghawan
Sri Sathya Sai Baba in this regard, may be of
interest:
"Can you show any authority from this Veda of ours
that everyone has not the right to it? This Veda is our
only authority, and everyone
has the right to it." (Swami Vivekananda, quoting
the Shukla Yajur Veda, XXXVI -2 in the collected Works
Volume III, p457)
"There are many who argue that the
Pranava can be repeated only by a few, and that others
are not entitled to it. This is wrong. This false
conclusion has been arrived at since they do not know
the Truth. It springs from a mistaken belief. The Gita
does not mention this group or that group. Krishna
declares 'whoever' (Gita VIII - 12, 13) without any
qualifying words limiting it to one class or sex..."
(Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Geetha Vahni,
143)
"The Gayatri Mantra is the elaboration of the
Pranava Sabda. It is now held so venerable and valuable
that initiation into the Adhymatic life is achieved by
its contemplation..." (Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai
Baba, Sathya Sai Speaks - III, 242)
"The Gayatri Mantra is the Universal Prayer
enshrined in the Vedas, the most ancient Scriptures of
Man." (Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Sathya Sai
Speaks - X, 109)
"The Gayatri Mantra is a Prayer that can well be
spoken with yearning by men and women of all creeds and
climes in all centuries." (Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai
Baba, Sathya Sai Speaks - V, 58) [
Sai Baba chanting Gayatri Mantra]
The Gayatri Mantra may be rendered in Tamil script as
follows:
In English script, it has been rendered as
follows:
OM
BHUR BHUVA SVAHA
TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM
BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI
DHIYO YONAH PRACHODAYAT
The words may be translated loosely as follows:
OM - para brahman
BHUR - bho loka (physical plane) - it also refers to
the body made up of the five pancha bhutas (5
elements). These five elements constitute prakriti
(nature)
BHUVA - bhuva loka - the middle world. Bhuva is also
prana sakthi. However it is the presence of Prajnana
that enables the prana sakthi to animate the body. It
is on this account that the vedas have declared
'prajnanam brahma' (constant integrated awareness is
Brahman).
SVAHA - swarga loka (heaven - the land of the
gods)
TAT - paramatma, god or brahman
SAVITUR - that from which all is born
VARENYAM - fit to be worshipped
BHARGO - the radiance, the spiritual efflugence, the
light that bestows wisdom
DEVASAYA - divine reality
DHEEMAHI - we meditate
DHI - buddhi, intellect
YO - which
NAH - our
PRACHODAYAT - enlighten
"...the reductionist fallacy lies
not in comparing man to a 'mechanism powered by a
combustion system' but in declaring that he is 'nothing
but' such a mechanism and that his activities consist
of 'nothing but' a chain of conditioned responses which
are also found in rats. For it is of course perfectly
legitimate, and in fact indispensable, for the
scientist to try to analyse complex phenomena into
their constituent elements - provided he remains
conscious of the fact that in the course of the
analyses something essential is always lost, because
the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and its
attributes as a whole are more complex than the
attributes of its parts..."
Again, all this, is not to say that service to mankind is not
service to God. It is. 'Makkal
Thondu is Mahesan Thondu' However,
it is not God or humankind but
both. They are not
two.
