GAYATRI MANTRA (LONG TEXT)

GAYATRI MANTRA*

”Om Bhur Bhuva Swaha,
Tat Savitur Varenyam,
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi,
Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat.”

Mantra Translation

”O Lord, Thou are the protector of life and of breath,
Dispeller of miseries and bestower of happiness.
Thou are the creator and the most acceptable intelligence,
Possessing eternal qualities. May Thine qualities and Thy inspiration pass to us.”

ALSO READ: Kamdev Mantra – Om Kamadevaya Vidmahe

Savitri Mantra Meaning On Syllables:

The syllables of this Sanskrit mantra are said to positively affect all the energy centers (chakras) in the human body – thus, proper enunciation and pronunciation are very important.* 

• Om – it is considered the primeval sacred sound from which all sounds emerge. Also, Aum is Brahma and a metaphor for Source Energy or the Supreme Being. It is usually said that Om is the greatest of all mantras.
• Bhur – it is the embodiment of vital spiritual energy (prana).
• Bhuva – it represents the astral plane of existence (which is of the nature of subtle elements).
• Swaha – it represents the embodiment of happiness.
• Tat – it represents Brahman – The Ultimate Reality, which is simply referred to as “That” because it defies description through language or speech.
• Savitur – it represents the source of all creation, supreme reality, divine illumination (of Goddess Shakti or Savitri).
• Varenyam – it represents the Supreme Consciousness that inspires adoration.
• Bhargo – it represents the destroyer of sins, radiant one, one who illumines all.
• Devasya – it represents the divine, of the deity.
• Dhimahi – it represents the meditation or knowledge of the Absolute.
• Dhiyo – it is the intellect, awareness, intelligence, reasoning, and discriminating faculty which is an instrument for attaining higher wisdom.
• Yonah – it represents our energy, our actions.
• Prachodayat – it translates as may inspire, stimulate, propel towards the higher reality.

*More from text at: 

https://www.awakeningstate.com/spiritual-awakening/om-bhur-bhuva-swaha-gayatri-mantra/#:~:text=Om%20Bhur%20Bhuva%20Swaha%20–%20Gayatri%20mantra%20occupies,in%20Hinduism%2C%202nd%20only%20to%20the%20mantra%20Om.

Om Bhur Bhuva Swaha – Gayatri Mantra: Lyrics, Meaning, Benefits

November 27, 2021 by Awakening State

Om Bhur Bhuva Swaha – Gayatri mantra occupies a unique place in Hindu tradition, due to the fact that it has both the power of Prarthana (prayer) and of a mantra.

This Sanskrit mantra is a highly revered mantra in Hinduism, 2nd only to the mantra Om.

It consists of the prefix ”om bhur bhuva swaha,” an ancient formula commonly appearing in the Yajurveda, and verse 3.62.10 of the Rig Veda.

Gayatri mantra was written in Sanskrit about 2,500 to 3,500 years ago, and this powerful mantra may have been recited by sages for many centuries before that.

Gayatri is the name of the 24-syllable meter (excluding the prefix) of this verse, and also the name of the Hindu Goddess is considered the personification of the mantra. The word itself explains the principal reason for the existence of this Sanskrit mantra.

Therefore, this mantra has its origin in the Sanskrit phrase ”Gayantam Triyate iti,” and actually refers to that mantra that rescues the practitioner from all adverse situations that may lead to mortality and other types of sufferings.

More importantly, this mantra is chanted by a spiritual devotee to remember the higher purpose of life, and it can also be a prayer to the Supreme God to lift our consciousness upwards.

The mantra is also unique in that it embodies the three concepts:

• dhyaana (meditation);
• stotra (singing the praise and glory of God);
• prarthana (prayer).

Furthermore, for many Hindu followers, Gayatri is seen as a Divine awakening of the individual soul and the individual mind, Atman, and within it, a simple method to Union with the collective consciousness – Brahman.

Understanding (not only as a concept but in practice) and simply loving the essence of this mantra is believed by many to be one of the fastest ways to touch and experience God.

Swami Sivananda said about the Gayatri mantra:

“Of all the Sanskrit mantras, the supreme and the most potent power of powers is the great, glorious Gayatri Mantra. The mantra is the support of every seeker after Truth who believes in its efficacy, glory, and power, be he of any caste, clime, creed, or sect. It is only one’s faith and purity of heart that really count.”

Swami Shivananda also said about this mantra:

”Indeed, this mantra is a veritable fortress that guards, defends and protects its votary, an impregnable spiritual armor, which transforms him into the divine, and blesses him with the brilliant light of the highest spiritual illumination … This single Hindu mantra chanted sincerely and with a clear conscience and pure intentions, brings the supreme good.”

• *In case link above does not work!
• Gaytri Mantra

More Links

https://www.awakeningstate.com/spiritual-awakening/om-bhur-bhuva-swaha-gayatri-mantra/#:~:text=Om%20Bhur%20Bhuva%20Swaha%20–%20Gayatri%20mantra%20occupies,in%20Hinduism%2C%202nd%20only%20to%20the%20mantra%20Om.

Reference to Kamdev Mantra at: 

https://www.awakeningstate.com/spiritual-awakening/kamdev-vashikaran-mantra/

JEWS IN AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC

A great video! Learn how Jewish composers, lyricists and musicians brought us the songs the whole world sings today and enjoy some great sound clips! 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Guxqt8hLY0vlms0z2VkdXF3pEF7GdU9X/view 

Todah Rabah, and a shenynem dank to a lovely friend for sending this wonderful link!

JOAN'S BASIC VERSES -- LINK

This is a link to verses I wrote during the University of Chicago Basic Program in the 1990's. 

https://joansbasicverses.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-incompleat-gargoyle-this-is-where.html

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN - THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. 

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

—Abraham Lincoln  November 19, 1863

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address

Abraham Lincoln -- The Gettysburg Address; Bliss Version

 

ULYSSES THROUGH ANOTHER LENS

For a wonderful analysis of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Ulysses, and how it was mis-applied by a former Illinois governor, see this article in the website of the Poetry Foundation.  

 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69193/to-strive-to-seek-to-find-and-not-to-yield

(When you are done, you may be able to use the back arrow to return, or you may need to enter this URL.   http://joansgoodstuff.blogspot.com)

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945

Today, April 12, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 debacle so exacerbated by the bungling of our national leadership,  I would like to observe the 75th Anniversary of the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States.  

I cannot help but wonder how President Roosevelt would have handled this situation.  

During the years when polio was killing and crippling so many, President Roosevelt mobilized the entire country -- the entire world, in fact -- to fight this scourge (then popularly known as "infantile paralysis" because it seemed to target the young).  

He did this much as he lifted the country from the Great Depression of a previous administration. 

-- He recognized the problem immediately (perhaps because polio affected him personally).  

-- He responded in a way that involved every segment of the economy.  And this was during the time of WWII!  

-- He heard and heeded the scientists and the others whose expertise he recognized and valued.

-- He mobilized everyone - men, women, boys and girls.

To do this, among other things, he started the March of Dimes to get EVERYONE involved in this effort.  

The March of Dimes funded the first successful vaccine against Polio, the Salk Vaccine.  (The live Sabin vaccine used today came later). 

And most remarkably, he managed all of this from a wheelchair!

All of this while fighting WWII, developing the atomic weaponry which ended that war, and putting safeguards into our economy for which we can be thankful today. 

True, he was elected to four terms to do all of this.  He served from 1933 to 1945 (before the 1951 limitation on presidential terms under the 22nd Amendment to the U. S. Constitution).

Certainly people may agree or disagree with some of President Roosevelt's methods.

That said, I sure wish he was with us today!

March of Dimes continues today in the fight against COVID-19
https://www.marchofdimes.org

And here's a bit more history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_of_Dimes

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/franklin-roosevelt-founds-march-of-dimes

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BALLAD FOR AMERICANS

I have loved this work every time I've performed it in the chorus - -at least three times in grammar school, high school and religious school!

Amazon Music presents this performance with the inimitable Paul Robeson as soloist!  

https://www.amazon.com/music/unlimited?tag=39384264us-20

(This may require a subscription to Amazon Music) 

Here is the Text

In seventy-six the sky was red
thunder rumbling overhead
Bad King George couldn't sleep in his bed
And on that stormy morn, Ol' Uncle Sam was born.
Some birthday! 

Ol' Sam put on a three cornered hat
And in a Richmond church he sat
And Patrick Henry told him that while America drew breath
It was "Liberty or death." 

What kind of hat is a three-cornered hat?
Did they all believe in liberty in those days? 

Nobody who was anybody believed it.
Ev'rybody who was anybody they doubted it.
Nobody had faith.
Nobody but Washington, Tom Paine, Benjamin Franklin,
Chaim Solomon, Crispus Attucks, Lafayette. Nobodies.
The nobodies ran a trea party at Boston. Betsy Ross
organized a sewing circle. Paul Revere had a horse race. 

And a little ragged group believed it.
And some gentlemen and ladies believed it.
And some wise men and some fools, and I believed it too.
And you know who I am.
No. Who are you mister? Yeah, how come all this?
Well, I'll tell you. It's like this... No let us tell you.
Mister Tom Jefferson, a mighty fine man. 
He wrote it down in a mighty fine plan.
And the rest all signed it with a mighty fine hand
As they crossed their T's and dotted their I's
A bran' new country did arise. 

And a mighty fine idea. "Adopted unanimously in Congress July 4, 1776,
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created 
equal.
That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable 
rights.
That among these rights are Life, Yes sir!, Liberty, That's right!
And the pursuit of happiness." 
Is that what they said? The very words.
That does sound mighty fine. 

Buildiing a nation is awful tough.
The people found the going rough.
Still nobody who was anybody believed it.
Everybody who anybody they stayed at home.
But Lewis and Clarke and the pioneers,
Driven by hunger, haunted by fears,
The Klondike miners and the forty niners,
Some wanted freedom and some wanted riches,
Some liked to loaf while others dug ditches.
But they believed it. And I believed it too,
And you know who I am.
No, who are you anyway, Mister? 

Well, you see it's like this. I started to tell you.
I represent the whole... Why that's it!
Let my people go. That's the idea!
Old Abe Lincoln was thin and long,
His heart was high and his faith was strong.
But he hated oppression, he hated wrong,
And he went down to his grave to free the slave. 

A man in white skin can never be free while his black brother is in 
slavery,
"And we here highly resolve that these dead shall not haave died in 
vain.
And this government of the people, by the people and for the people
Shall not perish from the Earth."
Abraham Lincoln said that on November 19, 1863 at Gettysburg, 
Pennsylvania.
And he was right. I believe that too. 

Say, we still don't know who you are, mister.
Well, I started to tell you...
The machine age came with a great big roar,
As America grew in peace and war.
And a million wheels went around and 'round.
The cities reached into the sky,
And dug down deep into the ground.
And some got rich and some got poor.
But the people carried through,
So our country grew.

Still nobody who was anybody believed it.
Everybody who was anybody they doubted it.
And they are doubting still,
And I guess they always will,
But who cares what they say whem I am on my way 

Say, will you please tell us who you are?
What's your name, Buddy? Where you goin'? Who are you?
Well, I'm the everybody who's nobody, 
I'm the nobody who's everybody.
What's your racket? What do you do for a living? 

Well, I'm an
Engineer, musician, street cleaner, carpenter, teacher,
How about a farmer? Also. Office clerk? Yes sir!
That's right. Certainly!
Factory worker? You said it. Yes ma'am.
Absotively! Posolutely!
Truck driver? Definitely!
Miner, seamstress, ditchdigger, all of them.
I am the "etceteras" and the "and so forths" that do the work.
Now hold on here, what are you trying to give us?
Are you an American? 
Am I an American?
I'm just an Irish, Jewish, Italian, 
French and English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish, 
Scotch, Hungarian, Swedish, Finnish, Greek and Turk and Czech 

And that ain't all.
I was baptized Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist, Luthern, 
Atheist, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist,
Mormon, Quaker, Christian Scientist and lots more.
You sure are something. 

Our country's strong, our country's young, 
And her greatest songs are still unsung.
From her plains and mountains we have sprung,
To keep the faith with those who went before. 

We nobodies who are anybody believe it.
We anybodies who are everybody have no doubts.
Out of the cheating, out of the shouting.

Deep as our valleys,
High as our mountains,
Strong as the people who made it.
For I have always believed it, and I believe it now,
And now you know who I am.
Who are you?
America! America!

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