MEANING WITH EXPLANATION OF ‘SANDHYA MANTRAS’
Purpose of doing sandhya is not to please God. He is complete in all respects. Neither His happiness gets increased, if we do sandhya nor it gets diminished, if we do not do it. Purpose of doing sandhya is to purify the soul by destroying the evils present in it.
Though, every second of our lives should be filled with the thought of God, but this rite of sandhya should be done twice a day only, that is, when the Sun rises and when the Sun sets. Other times of the day, we should be busy in performing our duties.
God meets only those souls, who are pure. How can God meet a person, who is engrossed in malpractices, In the world also, a person does not like to speak to a thief of his article until and unless the thief agrees not to repeat the act of theft. Two things, having different natures do not meet. We do sandhya so that our natures meet with that of God.
If a person gives us sweets only once, we feel indebted or obliged to him. Likewise, by doing sandhya, we express thankfulness to God, who has provide us with these bodies and other articles for its satisfaction. There is no sin greater than ungratefulness.
Sandhya mantras have been compiled by maharishi Swami Dayanand out of vedic literature. Almost in the end of this holy rite, he has added a prayer from his own side. Beginning of this rite has been made with the gayatri mantra, wherein best of intellect is prayed for. For the purpose of analysis and better understanding the concept of Sandhya, whole of Sandhya Mantras have been divided into four segments. ‘Shanno Devi-’ Mantra (Yajurved 36//12) is repeated in the beginning of third segment and gayatri mantra is repeated almost in the end of the fourth segment before making final prayer and before recitation of salutation mantra.
MEANING OF SANDHYA MANTRAS
First Segment
GAYATRI MANTRA
ओम् भूर्भुवः स्वः to नः प्रचोदयात्॥
-Yajurved 36//3
Meaning-O savior God! You create the bodies of all beings, relieve the pains of your worshipers, bring happiness and pleasure to your worshipers. You, being master of all living and non-living things existing in this universe, are worth acceptance. You are destroyer of all reasons of pains. You are light-house for all souls. We meditate over all these attributes of yours. Please inspire our intellects towards good qualities, actions and nature, that is, bestow goodness in our intellects.
Explanation-Since, gayatri mantra is very sacred, sandhya is started and ended with the thoughts enshrined in this mantra. The purpose of citing this mantra is not to pronounce it like a parrot but to help the worshipers to lift the level of their intellects and to help them to channelize their intellectual power in the right direction. A worship should possess three things. Firstly, it should clearly explain the attributes of God. Secondly, during worship the worshiper should feel the continuous increase in his love for God. Thirdly, it should help the worshiper in his spiritual advancement. Gayatri mantra possesses all these three things. Here, we mention three thoughts of this mantra. Firstly, God has been called as ‘inspirer’. God does not infuse any particular thought in a soul. Once, soul has brought certain thought in his mind, God classifies that thought to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Generation of feelings of enthusiasm , boldness and happiness show that the ‘thought’ is good and worth following and generation of feelings of fear, doubt and unpleasantness show that the ‘thought’ is bad and should not be acted upon. This is how God inspires souls. Secondly, God has been said to be worth acceptance. An illumined thing not only enlightens itself but also removes darkness because of its brightness. God’s luminance is not any passive attribute rather it has the potential to burn off all the evils and make His worshipers pure. Thirdly, in this mantra, God is prayed for inspiring our intellect towards our well-being. Between race of ‘man’ and races ‘lower than man’, the only difference is that of intellect. Races lower than man have to lead their lives with the given intellect. They do not possess the option of increasing that. This option is available to man only. The notion that intellect is a great hurdle in realisation of God is very wrong and very unfortunate. In the company of God, capability of our intellects should increase otherwise, such a company can be said to be meaningless.
ओम् शन्नो देवीरभिष्टय to स्रवन्तु नः॥
-Yajurved 36//12
Meaning-O possessor of all divine qualities and savior God! You may be helpful in attaining our wanted pleasures and bliss. You may bestow happiness from all sides on us.
Explanation-Key-word of this mantra is ‘contentment’. God has created the Sun for giving light for the benefit of souls but the sun-light will be of no use for the souls, who close their eyes. As such, total benefit of all the things created by God can be had by us only if we add our contribution too, in this benevolent act in the form of ‘contentment’. All the benevolence of God cannot yield happiness or pleasure to us if we fail to accept that benevolence with a feeling of gratefulness. A few more examples are cited to make this concept clear. Mother feeds her child tasty food only. Now, for realizing or feeling the taste of the food, a lot depends upon the mental aptitude of the child. Similarly, when one has fever, sweets taste bad not because of their bad preparation but because fever had affected the taste buds adversely. So, this mantra prepares our minds to feel the benevolence of God, showered on us and be grateful to God for His such acts.
ओम् वाक् वाक् to करतलकरपृष्ठे॥
Meaning- O savior God! By your grace, I may have healthy and strong speaking ability, tastefulness, internal (praan) power, smelling ability, seeing ability and hearing ability. By your grace, I may have healthy and strong navel (centre of the body), heart, throat, head, both of my arms and hands. Also, all these organs of my body may become reason of my pride.
Explanation-It is very difficult to understand that God is near as well as far. Through this mantra, we can easily realise that for seeing God, we need not go to a far off place. We see the existence of God in the various organs of our body, which are nearest to our souls. Though, our ‘मन’ goes outward but there are no more lovable things than the various organs of our bodies. For that reason, it becomes very easy to concentrate our ‘मन’ on various organs of the body. All these organs speak of kindness of God. God is creator of our bodies. We have not made even a single hair. It is similar to the fact that the light given by an electric bulb is that of the electricity and not of bulb. Likewise, all the organs of our bodies illumine because of power of God otherwise, these are nothing more than bundles of flesh.
Meditating over greatness of God in various organs of our bodies is the first step of the journey to God. It is like reaching the far off place by starting from the nearest place.
If you happen to ask a child as to the abode of God, he will simply point towards upward direction as if God resides there. Sandhya resolves this issue.
ओम् भूः पुनातु to पुनातु सर्वत्र॥
Meaning-O base of all beings! Purify my head. O reliever of the pains of your worshipers! Purify my eyes. O bearer of happiness and pleasure to your worshipers! Purify my throat. O great and adorable by all! Purify my heart. O creator of universe! Purify my navel. O knowledgeable and yielder of pains to wrong-doers! Purify my feet. O ultimate truth and changeless God! I request you to purify my head again. O all-present God! Purify all organs of my body.
Explanation-This mantra aims at purification or cleansing of different organs of the body. Health of our body is our prime mean for attaining the purpose of life. Flaws of a thing can be divided into two parts-physical and non-physical. Physical flaws can be removed through external cleansing or external medication but non-physical flaws cannot be removed without understanding the purpose of creation of that thing. For example, flaws of a watch can be divided into two parts, namely, physical and non-physical. Removal of its physical flaws refer to proper maintenance of its different parts whereas removal of its non-physical flaws refer to curbing the misuse of time.
For appropriate and optimum use of a thing, it is necessary that we look towards the maker of that thing. God is the creator of our bodies. We can remove the impurities of our various organs only by meditating on God.
In this mantra, various prayers are made to God. In each prayer, while citing a specific attributes of God, He has been requested to cleanse a specific organ of our body. For better understanding this mantra, we need to comprehend the link between the specific attributes of God and the respective organ of the body, cleansing of which has been prayed for.
In the first part of this mantra, God’s attribute of base-of-all beings has been cited along with requesting Him to purify the head. God’s this attribute can be known only through head, that is, instrument of thinking. Head, which lacks power to think or in other words, head, which cannot understand the base or spirit of a thing is faulty. Only that head is meaningful, which can understand the entity of God. As such, God is prayed for removing the impurities, obstructing the head to comprehend God.
In the second part of this mantra, God’s attribute of reliever of the pains of worshipers has been cited along with requesting Him to purify the eyes. Here, eyes are meant to represent all our senses. If our senses are capable of reaching the ultimate truth behind whatever they perceive, it can very much obviate pains coming to the soul. It is also said that eyes, which are not able to see greatness of God in a flower are ill. In this direction, God has been requested to purify all our sense-organs.
In the third part of this mantra, God’s attribute of bearer of happiness and pleasure to worshipers has been cited along with requesting Him to purify the throat. Throat is an instrument of the body to decide about its tastes. A thing to be good or bad depends upon purity of the throat. Different people have different tastes. Throat, to which taste of God’s bliss is not enjoyable or does not bring happiness and pleasure is ill. Worshiper intends to develop taste for Godly thinking and as such, the request for purification of throat.
In the fourth part of this mantra, God’s attribute of greatness and adorability has been cited along with requesting Him to purify the heart. If God is generous and open-hearted, then how can His worshiper be narrow-hearted? Heart, which is narrow in its approach is ill. Man, to be a theist is required to be generous and think of the welfare of others. As such, generous God is requested to remove selfishness from the heart.
In the fifth part of this mantra, God’s attribute of creation of universe has been cited along with requesting Him to purify the navel. Babies are attached with the navel of their parents in the beginning of their lives. God does not create any impure thing. Accordingly, worshipers of God cannot make any impure thing, which is harmful for others’ physical and mental health. As such, God is requested to purify the navel, that is, to be able to create only those things, which are for the ultimate welfare of others.
In the sixth part of this mantra, God’s attribute of yielding of pains to wrong-doers, that is, generation of movements has been cited along with requesting Him to purify the feet. We move with the help of our feet. Idleness is a big ill. We pray to God for purification of our feet so that their movement aims at welfare of others only. This objective can be achieved only if feet move for bringing pain to the wrong-doers.
In the seventh part of this mantra, God’s attribute of being ultimate truth and changeless-ness have been cited along with requesting Him to purify the head again. If the head is ill, then all the other organs of the body become meaningless. A blind man of high thinking is better than an insane with eyes. A beautiful, powerful and strong mad man is a problem for himself and others. Mentioning of the ‘head’ twice in this mantra is indicative of importance of this organ.
In the eighth part of this mantra, God’s attributes of omnipresence has been cited along with requesting Him to purify all organs of the body. A body is not just a combination of different organs. God is present everywhere. He is present in whole of our bodies too. As such, He has been requested to remove all the flaws of the body.
ओम् भूः to ओं सत्यम्॥
Meaning- O God! You are base of all beings. You are reliever of the pains of your worshipers. You are bearer of happiness and pleasure to your worshipers. You are great and adorable by all. You are creator of all living and non-living things of this universe. You are knowledgeable and yielder of pains to wrong-doers. You are ultimate truth and changeless.
In this segment, since, after God, our bodies are nearest to our soul, we try to realise God in our bodies. As, if a person continuously gives us gifts, then after a time period, we get attracted towards that fellow. On seeing that fellow, we immediately are attracted towards the attribute for which that fellow is giving gifts. In the similar way, when we look at bestowing kindness by God in various organs of our bodies, we straightforwardly get attracted towards God and His attributes. Many scholars agree that bad and good behaviour affect our bodily health. And sandhya directly inculcates good behaviour in us. So, we can say that sandhya is good for our physical health, too.
First segment of sandhya ends here. Unfortunately, spirit of these mantras has been ignored by most of the doers of this rite, instead, they have concentrated on certain physical movements only.
Feeling the existence of God in our bodies generates devotion to God and resolves various wrong notions about hell and heaven. Persons, who feel existence of God in their bodies get freed from the unnecessary faiths in sanctity of particular places. They do not feel the need of idols for thinking of God. It is true that big temples take you to their engineers. But, is your nostril, which helps you breath, not more educational?
It is true that ‘मन’ (heart including intellect) is very fast and it moves from one thing to another very quickly. Our body offers a good place to ‘मन’ for switching over from one organ to another including their intricacies. For thinking, the area, offered by our body is so vast that ‘मन’ soon gets tired from moving from one place to another. Then, this tired ‘मन’ gets no place to rest but in God. The only thing is, we should develop a habit of making our ‘मन’ think over different organs of our body. The best mean of concentrating our ‘मन’ is ‘thought’.
Generally, it is said that ‘मन’ should be made to think internally, leaving the external objects. It is the nature of ‘मन’ to think of forbidden things. As such, ‘मन’ should be persuaded to think of a particular thing, instead of forbidding it to think of a particular thing. It is like a naughty horse, who allows to be controlled by that person only, who rides him and who does not keep him idle. ‘मन’ should be habituated to think of creator of bodies, that is, God.
Second Segment
After body, we try to realise greatness of God in the universe. Our bodies are related with our souls only, but this universe is common for many souls. This segment consists of three mantras, which talk of creation of this huge universe. The spirit of these mantras is
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Extend the horizon of your thinking by realizing that the light of God, which you see in your body is present also in other objects of the universe.
What is the need of shifting our thinking from our body to the universe? Our bodies are only a segment of this huge universe. Like a segment is always dependent on the whole, in the same way, our bodies are dependent on this universe. Our eyes expect the Sun, our breathing is dependent on air and likewise. By thinking of universe, we get connected with big things of it.
Thinking of universe is necessary also, for establishing a relation with other beings of the universe. Your eyes are means of your seeing only, dog’s eyes are mean for him only but the Sun is yours as well as that of dog. It is common for all the beings of the universe As such, in this segment of sandhya, we get enlarged by breaking the limitations of our bodies. Since, it is only after feeling the body that we can feel the universe, we start sandhya by feeling the body. As we cannot understand the universe without understanding the body, in the same way, without knowledge of the universe, our knowledge of the body cannot be complete.
Everything of the universe is also present in the body. As there are rivers in the universe, similarly, there are blood vessels in the body.
We get a different sort of joy on feeling the hugeness of this universe. Suppose, you are imprisoned in a small house, where every sort of necessity for maintenance of life is made available. But, after a few days, you will be tired of the house and provisions. If you are freed from that prison, you get joy not because of the increase in the provisions but because of immense-ness of the space. Likewise, birds get a different sort of joy in flying in an immense or large sky. As such, in order to enlarge our mind, we need to think of this universe.
These mantras, in no way, pardon the sins committed by a person. In no circumstance, actions of a person can go without giving any fruit. Our thought patterns do not prevent fire from burning, poison to act accordingly et cetra. As a diseased person takes medicines to cure his existing ailment or to avoid the ailments in future and not for any of his past disease, in the same way these mantras are cited not for avoiding fruits of past actions but for betterment of our present actions or for avoidance of the mistakes, in future.
As water is not just a five letter word but the thing, which is meant by this word, in the same way, different things of the world are meanings of the words used for them in the Vedaas. Relation between a word and its meaning is eternal and it, too, gets manifested with the manifestation of prakriti. Manifestation of prakriti is creation and non-manifestation of prakriti is dissolution. Without Godly knowledge, it was impossible for man to know any language, literature et cetra. It is very wrong to presume that man has developed to its present state without knowledge given by God.
Reason of citing these mantras of this segment, as given by Swami Rameshawaranand is, “Souls need to realise that master or owner of this universe is God. He has created this universe for the use of souls. As in the world, we do not possess the right to harm the property of another, in the same way, souls, too, should understand their rights towards usage of the things of the universe. Through these mantras, a feeling gets developed in the upaasak (traveller on the path of God realisation) that his body is not his own and this feeling prevents him from doing any injustice to his body and bodies of other beings.”
ओम् ऋतं च to समुद्रो अर्णवः॥
-Rigved 10//190//1
Meaning-O God! Because of your endless knowledge and capability, this universe and ultimate knowledge in the form of vedaas were got produced. Out of that capability of yours, the night, when whole of the nature goes into its original state was got produced. Thereafter, because of same capability of yours, all celestial bodies were created.
Explanation-A creator must possess two things-knowledge and capability to act. What will a clock-maker make if, he does not know how to make a clock? Also, one, who knows, though, how to make a clock cannot make a clock if he is incapable of making. God has both of these attributes, necessary for creation.
Before creation of universe, the state was not similar to nothing. Prakriti existed at that time too, but in an un-manifested state. God is said to be the cause of creating movement in original state of prakriti and as an effect of this movement, prakriti got manifested and this universe came into existence.
It is a foolish idea that this universe was got created automatically or accidentally. If it could be true, then there would not have been any need of a carpenter for making a chair, a mason for building a house, a tailor for stitching a shirt et cetra.
Now, we dwell upon the two words namely, ‘Rit’ and ‘satya’ used in this mantra. Generally, both of these words are used to mean one and the same thing, that is, truth. But, these terms are not interchangeable. Here, in this mantra the term ‘satya’ is used to mean various things of the universe., ‘Rit’ can be said to be the base of ‘satya’. There cannot be any ‘satya’ without existence of ‘Rit’. Below, we cite certain examples of ‘Rit’ and that of ‘satya’.
Examples of ‘Rit’
- Two and three make five.
- Every man, who takes birth dies.
- Water flows downwards.
Examples of ‘Satya’
- Two dogs and three dogs make five dogs.
- Krishna took birth and died.
- I threw water from the glass and it started moving in the downward direction.
On studying the above mentioned examples of ‘Rit’ and that of ‘Satya’ carefully, it will be clear that ‘Rit’ refers to the basic rules, which can be applied on more than one thing or individual. Whereas ‘Satya’ is applied on a specific thing or individual . So, ‘Rit’ is very vast and subtler than ‘Satya’.
‘Rit’ exists in the mind of the creator whereas ‘Satya’s existence is different from that of the creator. Suppose, a potter says that he has two pots and the total number of pots with him will be five after he makes three more pots. In this statement of the potter, the knowledge of the rule that when three similar things are added to two things, the total comes to five, already existed in the mind of the potter, even before his making three more pots. As such, ‘Rit’ refers to the rules and ‘Satya’ refers to the specific object or specific event. Rules termed as ‘Rit’ are eternal. Their existence is not dependent on the existence of the things. ‘Satya’ are the things, which get manifested and destroyed or un-manifested. But, the things get manifested and destroyed (un-manifested) in a flow. Accordingly, it can be said that flow of things, too, is eternal.
Before creation of the universe, ‘Rit’ existed in the mind of the creator. Knowledge of ‘Rit’ is inherent in the nature of God. The things or the events of the universe are manifestation of ‘Rit’. Various things of the universe are created because of God’s capability of bringing change in the original state of prakriti or nature but change is brought in accordance with certain rules or principles. There is nothing in this world, which is not bound by certain principles. This fact can be helpful in understanding that God cannot do whatever He likes, that is, He cannot be unjust et cetra.
Knowledge is eternal whereas the things of the universe meet their ends. Only through mortal things, we can know about eternity of knowledge. Creation of the world is manifestation of the eternal knowledge of the creator. The things do not exist before their creation and they do not remain existent after their destruction. But the principles on the basis of which the things are created remain forever. The purpose of science is to find out the principles behind existence of a thing so that with the help of those principles, other things can be created by man for his help in a specific field.
God, after generation of movements in the original state of prakriti does not pass on the work of creation to some other entity. He remains present both in the cause as well as in the effect.
In this mantra, the original state of nature has been referred to as ‘night’ and creation of various celestial bodies (including all the things of the world) have been talked of. Every particle moves from the position of rest. Day comes after night. There are specific principles of ‘rest’ as well as that of ‘movement’ which are dealt with in the sciences of ‘statics’ and ‘dynamics’. Here, too, the fact that for movement, rest is necessary, has been emphasized.
समुद्रादर्णवादधि संवत्सरो to मिषतो वशी॥
-Rigved 10//190//2
Meaning-After creation of all celestial bodies, God created time, that is year, month, hour et cetra. O God! You created day and night and their parts, out of your natural characteristics.
Explanation-God has not just created the celestial bodies but has incited certain movements, too, in them, in accordance with certain rules or principles. It is because of movement of earth around its axis that day, night, hour, minutes et cetra are felt.
Creation is the very nature of God. For creation, He does not need any organ like hands et cetra. As soul of a person is able to control his hands, feet et cetra without any mean, in the same way, God is able to control different things of the universe (manifested or un-manifested) without any mean.
When it is said that God has done all these out of His naturalness, then it is meant that He is controller of not only the non-living objects but also that of the living objects. Since, the non-living objects do not have any type of feeling, it is very easy to control them. Inert objects do not make any sort of interference in the system. But, living objects behave in a very opposite way. For example, it is easier to weigh the stones than frogs. God has controlled living objects by development of feeling of time in them.
सूर्याचनद्रमसौ धाता to चान्तरिक्षमथो स्वः॥
-Rigved 10//190//3
Meaning-God! You are creator, maintainer and destroyer of this universe. You have created all the celestial bodies of the universe and different things in the celestial bodies, out of your endless capability in accordance with or similar to earlier creations.
Explanation-Theists, who do not know ‘vedic dharam’ fail to answer the questions like-is this creation of universe the first attempt of God? , when did God create earlier universe? , is there any relation between earlier universes and this universe and what is that relation? There is always a relation among a person’s past, present and future karmas or actions. On seeing a person reading in Hindi, we can easily conclude that in the past that person must had learned Hindi. Similarly, on seeing this universe, we can know the attributes of God.
Creation of universe is not like a magic, which is not bound by the relation of cause and effect. For making ornaments of gold, a jeweller needs gold, the knowledge of making the ornament and the time period necessary for making the ornament. But a magician does not require gold et cetra for making the ornament. A magician shows in his tricks that he can produced a thing without any material cause. But, God is not a magician. He cannot create anything without a material cause. God makes rain. For that, He needs clouds, water-vapours, water and heat. He needs a time period also, for conversion of water into water-vapours. The people of other religions believe that God is capable of creating anything out of nothing like a magician. If He wills, he can create a child without father, can bring a child in this world through nose of a person and the like. But ‘vedic dharam’ does not accept such notions. Ved says that it is the nature of God to create. He always goes on creating and destroying. Is there any difference among various universes of different times? As every day is new but, it is same with respect to the Sun, the Earth et ceta, in the same way every universe is new but it is basically same with respect to different things of the universe.
Like the creator, His creation too, is endless. Universe exists beyond our imagination.
ओम् शन्नो देवीरभिष्टय to स्रवन्तु नः॥
-Yajurved 36//12, This mantra is repeated here
Meaning-O possessor of all divine qualities and savior God! You may be helpful in attaining our wanted pleasures and bliss. You may bestow happiness from all sides on us.
Explanation to this mantra is given in the beginning of sandhya.
Third Segment
After feeling God in our body and then in the universe, in this segment of sandhya, we feel Him in our society. If members of a society do not have faith in God, then it, that is, society soon gets destroyed by losing its base. A person, who does not have faith in God, is more prone to evils.
With the body, a person has his individual relation. His relatives or other persons cannot claim his body to be theirs. But, the things of the universe like the sun, the earth et cetra are common to various beings. A king as well as a dog living in the palace of that king may say that the sun is theirs. This commonality is the base of civic and social life.
In this segment, emphasis has been laid on the fact that as existence of God is evident in the body and in the universe, in the same way, the effect of existence of God is seen in the human society. As for seeing, merely the presence of the Sun does not suffice, the person must have healthy eyes, too. In the same way, if soul of a person is not healthy, then he cannot be benefited by benevolence of God in the form of worldly objects. For this reason, in these mantras, we think of the master of the world and the worldly powers.
Existence of living beings is more crucial than the existence of non-living beings for the reason of presence of ‘will’ in the living beings. The difference in ‘willingness’ of the people has created a number of problems in the human society. The basic reason of these problems is man’s continuous attempt to control the things of the universe. Like one’s own heart, the preachers of different religions, too, advise man to live brotherly with the fellow beings but man does not give regard to the advice of his heart or that of the different teachers.
Now, the questions arise- can upaasana, that is, worship of God diminish the problems of human society?, can devotion to God bring favourable changes in the behaviour of man towards his fellow beings? and if yes, then how?
Out of their experience, many people believe that if this world could be freed from the so called devotees of God, then more than half of the problems of human society will be resolved. Most of the hatred found in the human society is generated by preachers of different religions. Then, can this ill-will get diminished? Yes! Of course. It is possible, if we realise that there is an entity, which restricts the human independence to act, out of man’s ill-will and does not let it go beyond a certain limit.
In this segment of sandhya, there are six mantras consisting of three parts. Second and third part of these six mantras are same. In the first part, each mantra refers to a specific direction-front, back, right, left, below and above. Upaasak or meditator thinks of all these six directions, surrounding him, in his mind and tries to see the powers of God, which are there to help him and thereafter realises that he is not alone to move in the world but there is a companion in all these directions. In the first part of all these mantras, name of the specific direction, specific attribute of God as master of that direction and specific means of helping us have been talked of. In the second part, upaasak salutes all these. In the third part, he places the hatred of his enemies and that of his own in the justice of God without, directly, doing anything towards his enemies’ destructive actions. This does not mean forbidance of exertion on the part of the individual. For understanding this concept, let’s take the help of an example. In the regime of a good king, ruled have full faith in the king and if someone happens to put hurdles in their work, their problems are solved merely by bringing the matter in the knowledge of the king without attempting to take law of the land in their hands. They have full faith in the justice and power of their king. Actually, every good regime is an imitation of God’s rule. God has created certain rules for the smooth functioning of human-societies, living in His regime. God and His rules are supportive of good people only. Bad people may in the beginning, seem to be grabbing success but actually, rules of God are such that the badness of theirs destroys the very roots of their happiness and pleasure.
In these mantras, a great lesson has been taught. As God does our welfare through the inert things of the universe, in the same way, God’s principles rule the minds of members of human society also. A feeling about the relation among human-beings, the human-society and God has been developed in all these six mantras. All the members of the human society are bound by their duties with respect to their position et cetra in the society and the society tries to force its members to accept such dependence by execution of penalties.
God is everywhere but this fact has been explained by naming six directions namely, front, back, right, left, up, and down and associating each of these directions with a particular attribute of God. We must understand the mystery behind association of a particular direction with a particular attribute of God.
For progress of a society, there are three reasons. One is faith in God, second is bevaviour devoid of hatred of the members of the society towards other beings and the third reason is appropriate use of the natural things of the universe by the members towards fulfillment of their own purposes. In a good society, there is no conflict between purpose of the society and that of its members. In these mantras, we pray to God that harmful elements existing in all the directions may become beneficial to our society. Even, the existence of bad elements have a definite role to play in the holistic purpose of existence of universe. The difference in a good society and bad society is that a good society appropriately places its different elements with due regard to their capabilities so that they happen to be beneficial to the society whereas a bad society fails to place its different elements appropriately. Instead of hating the bad elements, we pray to God that they improve their future by lessening their badness and in the process prove beneficial to the society.
A true devotion to God makes the upaasak great and generates a capability in him to make others better. An upasak must feel God around him and should love the beings, who may not love him.
ओम् प्राची दिगग्निरधिपतिरसितो to जम्भे दध्मः॥
-Atharv Ved 3//27//1
Meaning-O all-knowing God! You are master of our frontal direction. You are free from all sorts of bondage and you are our savior in all respects. Sun-rays, praan energy, knowledge and your rules are means of ending darkness of nescience, that is, absence of knowledge and saving our lives.
O God! We salute you for all these attributes. O master of this universe! We salute you. O savior God! We salute you. O God! We salute you for being bearer of pains to the wrong-doers.
Others may hate us because of their un-knowledge and we may hate others because of our un-knowledge. We place this hatred in your just laws for the purpose of destruction of this hatred.
Explanation-Our frontal direction has been associated with God’s attribute of omniscience. This means that we should always place knowledge in front of us so that we are not indulged in a bad act. Here, in this mantra, God has been named as ‘Agni’. In the physical world, ‘Agni’ means ‘fire’. The purpose, which is served by fire in darkness, is served by ‘faith on God’ in difficult times. In the light of the Sun, we are able to know a thing perfectly as it is. Sun-rays are nothing but representative of God in the human-society and rescues us from harms.
दक्षिणा दिगिन्द्रो to जम्भे दध्मः॥
-Atharv Ved 3//27//2
Meaning-O God! You are omnipotent and owner of all pleasure-giving means. You are master of the direction falling on our right. You save us from the beings, having ill-mentality. Our parents and learned fellows save us all our lives from falling in the pits.
O God! We salute you for all these attributes. O master of this universe! We salute you. O savior God! We salute you. O God! We salute you for being bearer of pains to the wrong-doers.
Others may hate us because of their un-knowledge and we may hate others because of our un-knowledge. We place this hatred in your just laws for the purpose of its destruction.
Explanation-Direction to our right has been associated with God’s attribute of omnipotence. Here, God has been called ‘Indra’ which means power. When in worldly parlance, we say that a particular person is our right hand, then we refer to power and capability of that person. Who, other than God, can be our right hand? Here, in this direction, our parents and learned fellows are our saviours. Power of ‘Indra’ can be rightfully used by learned fellows only. At spiritual level, God is said to be our father and at the social level, the persons, who become reasons of existence of our bodies are called fathers. Capability comes with experience. As blind men are very unfortunate for not being able to take the help of sun-light, in the same way, that society is very unfortunate, which does not take the assistance of experience of learned fellows.
प्रतीची दिग्वरुणोअधिपति to जम्भे दध्मः॥
-Atharv Ved 3//27//3
Meaning-O God! You are ruler of this universe. You are master of the direction falling on our backs. You save us from all sorts of evils. O God! You are beginning-less and our all-time savior. Divine powers like electricity et cetra save us all our lives.
O God! We salute you for all these attributes. O master of this universe! We salute you. O savior God! We salute you. O God! We salute you for being bearer of pains to the wrong-doers.
Others may hate us because of their un-knowledge and we may hate others because of our un-knowledge. We place this hatred in your just laws for the purpose of its destruction.
Explanation- Direction on our back has been associated with God’s attribute of being ruler of this universe. Here, God has been called ‘Varun’ which means ruler. God rules this universe through His various unseen laws. In the world, we see that police or other machinery take note of all the activities of bad men without the knowledge of these people. As soon as, a person breaks a law, he is caught by the law of land. Similarly, it should never be understood that we can escape the laws of God. Good people, too, are helped by these laws. In the world, we see that a sense of security gets generated in the people merely by knowing about efficiency of police. The purpose of all these laws is welfare of beings and provision of food. Food includes intake of all the things necessary for our sustenance, for example, wheat, rice water, air et cetra. That society is very fortunate, where there is no shortage of food items. A good and intelligent administrator is duty-bound to obviate any shortage of food items. God, being master of this universe has provided plenty of food items for sustenance of various beings.
We should always remember that in the frontal direction, our savior is light of knowledge and in the backward direction, our savior is food or money and as such, we must concentrate on earning money but not with disregard to knowledge. Money earned without knowledge destroys a society.
उदीची दिक् सोमोअधिपतिः to जम्भे दध्मः॥
-Atharv Ved 3//27//4
Meaning- O God! You are blissful and creator of this universe. You are master of the direction falling on our left side. O God! You are beginning-less and our all-time savior. Idle persons may leave their bad habit of depending on others and may act as savior of the human-society. Divine powers like electricity et cetra save us all throughout our lives.
O God! We salute you for all these attributes. O master of this universe! We salute you. O savior God! We salute you. O God! We salute you for being bearer of pains to the wrong-doers.
Others may hate us because of their un-knowledge and we may hate others because of our un-knowledge. We place this hatred in your just laws for the purpose of its destruction.
Explanation- Direction on our left has been associated with God’s attribute of blissfulness. Here, God has been called ‘Som’ which means kind, blissful, peaceful and cool. Moon is also called ‘som’ because of the coolness, it generates. ‘Heart’, centre of love, is also on the left side of our body. On the right side, God is called ‘Indra’ or power and on the left side, He has been called as peaceful. Giver of both power and peace is God. Happiness can only be there where there is balance between power and peace. Peace does not mean absence of power. When our body is weak, then flies, mosquitoes, bacteria et cetra become more dangerous than animals like lion. Enemies on attacking a powerful body die, in the same way, as a burning wood gets extinguished on falling on a rock.
Powers of a society which destroys its enemies like electricity are real saviours.
ध्रुवा दिग् to जम्भे दध्मः॥
-Atharv Ved 3//27//5
Meaning- O omnipresent God! You are master of the underneath direction. You save us from all evils, sins and pains through various vegetation. Poisonous animals may prove to be beneficial to the society.
O God! We salute you for all these attributes. O master of this universe! We salute you. O savior God! We salute you. O God! We salute you for being bearer of pains to the wrong-doers.
Others may hate us because of their un-knowledge and we may hate others because of our un-knowledge. We place this hatred in your just laws for the purpose of its destruction.
Explanation- Underneath direction has been associated with God’s attribute of omnipresence. Our ground on which we stand should be strong and should not unsteady to be able to support us. Here, God has been called ‘Vishnu’ which means omnipresent and saviour. He is the base of this universe. God by His omnipresence controls this universe.
All the produce of the earth whether that be vegetation or underground minerals help us. Mineral resources are helpful only if vegetation is there. Vegetation and Mineral resources are supplementary to each other. Since, it is difficult to take the minerals, necessary for our health, orally God has put them in different vegetation, for example, iron, which is very much necessary for our health has been included in certain vegetation in appropriate quantity.
ऊर्ध्वा दिग् to जम्भे दध्मः॥
-Atharv Ved 3//27//6
Meaning- O God! You are creator of all living and non-living beings of this universe and illuminator of knowledge through vedaas. You are master of the direction falling above our heads. You save us all our lives through showering rain, knowledge et cetra, which destroy our un-knowledge and help us in our worldly affairs. The people, who are internally bad and harm the society in different ways may become beneficial to the society.
O God! We salute you for all these attributes. O master of this universe! We salute you. O savior God! We salute you. O God! We salute you for being bearer of pains to the wrong-doers.
Others may hate us because of their un-knowledge and we may hate others because of our un-knowledge. We place this hatred in your just laws for the purpose of its destruction.
Explanation- Upward direction has been associated with God’s attribute of being creator and illuminator. Here, God has been called ‘Brihaspati’ which means the greatest. He is master of all.
Our helper in this direction is rainfall. Without proper rainfall, we cannot expect produce of different vegetation to help us.
Fourth Segment
We fail to love anybody until and unless we come to know of his complete relation with ourselves. When we feel that other person is showering kindness on us, we start loving him. In the first three segments of sandhya, we feel kindness of God in our bodies, in the world and in the society. We start loving God because of His kindness on us. All this bring us to a state where we become capable of loving Him without the necessity of thinking of His kindness. Let’s explain it through a worldly example. Suppose, you daily purchase some sweets from a particular sweet shop. In the beginning, you are concerned with the sweets and the shopkeeper is concerned with the money, you pay for the sweets. After a few days, you as well as the shopkeeper start recognizing each other. If after a month, you fail to visit that shop for certain reason, the shopkeeper starts thinking, if you were all right. Such a thinking of the shopkeeper is not for the reason of not earning money from you but it is because of development of personal relations with you beyond any sort of selfishness. We behave in our daily life in accordance with this universal truth. In the mantras of this segment, upaasak, that is, mover on the path of God realization, directly relates with God.
ओम् उद्वयं तमसस्परि to सूर्यमगन्म ज्योतिरुत्तमम्॥
-Yajurved 35//14
Meaning-O God! You are away from darkness of un-knowledge. You are full of light and bliss. You remain existent during dissolution of this universe, too. We adore you with great respect.
O God! You are giver of light and happiness to the souls, who give light and happiness to the other souls. You are creator, illuminator and maintainer of this whole universe. You are supreme and illumined by your own light. We bow before you. You are our savior.
Explanation-The most important message of this mantra is gradualness. As sun-light grows gradually, in the same way, faith in God also grows gradually. For example, in the beginning, we see only a glimpse of a thing. Gradually, shape of that thing becomes clearer and on more concentration, we are able to see the real form of the thing. This example fully applies on realisation of God. For attaining every knowledge, for example, for learning to walk, speak et cetra, for learning every act, every art, every capability, different languages, we require a long practice. As such, it is not possible that love for God develops in a man in an instant. We cannot know Him without long practice. Accordingly, an upaasak of God can test that after practice, whether his faith over God has increased or not, whether during difficult times, his ardency to remember God has increased or not, whether during good times, his thankfulness to God has increased or not?
As to an eye, sun-light is both a mean to see and a mean for its health, in the same way, faith in God is food as well as a medicine for soul. Without faith in God, a soul is meaningless.
In the absence of realisation of God, this world is full of darkness. Everywhere in the world, we see grief, pain, hatred, opposition and hopelessness. As soon as, one realises God, all darkness of the world vanishes.
उदु त्यं to विश्वाय सूर्यम्॥
-Yajurved 33//31
Meaning-O God! You are creator of this world and knowledge enshrined in vedaas. You are master of great souls. You are creator, illuminator and maintainer of this whole universe. Various mantras of vedaas and laws of this world throw light on your nature or swaroop. In order to know or realize you in totality, we take resort to communion.
Explanation-In this mantra, three things have been explained:
1 To understand a distant thing, pointers are necessary in the sense that they infuse a spirit of enthusiasm in the traveller owing to which the destination looks nearer.
Everything of this world is actually a ‘pointer’ for knowing Him. Let’s take our finger. How does it point towards God? The first thing, which becomes evident on seeing a finger is-it has been created by someone. Not you, who is possessor of the finger, not your mother, in whose womb it developed, not any doctor, who studies its anatomy, its functions, its relations with other organs of the body et cetra for a number of years is a complete knower of it. Its complete knowledge is possessed by its creator only. But this creator cannot be seen. Eye can see only that thing, which is grosser than it. He has created tiny insects as well as animals as big as elephants. Since such a creator cannot be seen with eyes of flesh, we feel the need of ‘pointers’. Like a finger, other things of the world like the Sun, the Earth, other celestial bodies, vegetation et cetra, too, point towards God. For this reason only, it is said that for knowing God, this world should be known first.
2 Who is that being and where does He, who is required to be known reside?
Actually, a person, who is called learned because of knowing some of the rules of the universe is only partly-learned. Only God knows all His rules. He is creator as well as master of these rules. He is complete or perfect. He is the one, whom we are required to know. The distance between us and God is of knowledge. He is the nearest to us but because of un-knowledge, we fail to recognize Him. There is nothing in the world, which can be contemplated without bringing the qualities of God in our mind.
3 Knowledge of God is necessary for knowing this world. Above, it has been said that for knowing God, this world should be known in totality. Apparently, both these statements seem to be interdependent. But, this is not so. Let’s understand it through an example. Suppose, on seeing a big building, you get a feeling that owner of that building is a rich man. But for understanding the different corners of that building, its architecture and purpose of making that building, you must know the nature of the owner of the building. If you do not know the nature of the owner, then, many things of the building cannot be understood by you. When we go to a foreign land and because of being unfamiliar with the nature and necessities of its inhabitants, we are bound to consider many of the things, made by the inhabitants of that land to be unnecessary and meaningless but when we are told about utility of making of those things, we understand the meaningfulness of different things. Likewise, on seeing different things of the world, we understand that their creator, too, exists. When we understand the real nature of that creator with the help of various things of the world, then, we understand the purpose of creation.
चित्रं देवानामुदगादनीकं to जगतस्तस्थुषश्च स्वः॥
-Yajurved 7//42
Meaning- O God! You are adorable, desirable, having enormous power, full of light and motivator of great souls. You are wholly unattached and inspirer of your worshipers, who are well-wishers of mankind, have very high level of knowledge and meet your selection criteria.
You create all celestial bodies and control them by being present therein. You are originating force of this universe. You are controller of all living and non-living things of this universe. I accept this truth.
Explanation-God is the chief of all gods, that is, He is the most illumined thing. The Sun is said to be the most illumined of the all non-living objects of the world. To understand its wonderfulness, we must know certain facts about it. In the sun-light, we are able to know real swaroop or nature of a thing. This Sun is crores of miles away from this Earth and from such a distant, its light comes for our aid. This Sun is thirteen lakh times bigger than the Earth, whose millionth part would be bigger than our houses. This is a little about kindness of the Sun, an inert object. There is an entity more wondrous than this physical sun. God is that entity and is said to be a spiritual sun. Before brightness of God, brightness of physical sun is nothing. It is said that all the brightness of all the illuminating objects is actually the brightness of God. Heart of the upaasak, that is, worshiper is illumined by the brightness of God. This physical sun is crores of miles away from us but God is present in our souls. Physical sun gives its brightness during day time only but God illumines our hearts all the time.
Generally, people say that God and His attributes are imaginary. But God’s attribute of ‘wonderfulness’ can never be imagined. A thing, which has been imagined loses its wonderfulness by coming within the boundary of ‘power of imagination’. Imagination and wonderfulness do not exist at the same time. A wonderful thing is one, whose existence is within your knowledge but actual swaroop of that thing is beyond your knowledge. There is no one, who is not astonished by the immense-ness of this universe. When we can get astonished by the creations of man like ‘Taj Mahal’, then why can we not get astonished by the creator of millions of Suns? The first thing, which this mantra tells us- is man bows before the brightness of God, which is much more than the illumination of the objects of the universe, taken together.
The second message of this mantra is-God is inspirational force of all the good men, involved in welfare of beings. The third message is-like with the rise of the sun, whole physical universe fills with its brightness, in the same way, on realisation of God, all doubts get dissolved and one is filled with the thoughts of welfare of others. He is the base of all living and non-living things. As all movements of our bodies are caused by our souls, similarly, all movements of the universe are caused by God. The last word of the mantra connotes acceptance of the beauties of the thoughts, mentioned in this mantra.
तच्चक्षुर्देवहितं पुरस्ताच्छुक्रमुच्चरत् to शरदः शतात्॥
-Yajurved 36//24
Meaning- O God! You are seer as well as giver of eyes, that is, seeing capability. You are well-wisher of great souls. You are existent before manifestation of this world, during presence of this world and after dissolution of this world. You are pure by nature, omniscient and omnipresent. With your grace, we may see you and this world for hundred years, we may live for hundred years, we may hear good literature and nice words for hundred years, we may give sermons regarding your attributes for hundred years, we may be rich, healthy and independent for hundred years and with your grace, we may see, live, hear, teach and be independent even after hundred years.
Explanation-In this mantra, the relation between man’s physical and spiritual world has been explained. Different men have explained life as if, it is a jail, home of grieves, purposeless, dream et cetra, in accordance with their personal thoughts. If our intellect realises that whatever is seen or heard is nothing but a misconception, then every action of ours will become meaningless. If, one feels that the patient, whose service is his duty or the enemy, from whom he intends to free his nation is unreal or non-existent, then one will not carry out his duty with sincerity. In this mantra, this misconception has been resolved.
This mantra has two parts. First part explains as to what has been given by God to man and the second part explains as to what should be done by man. Understanding these two things can make our lives meaningful.
In the first part, God has been called as ‘eyes’ for the reason that He can visualize problems coming before His universe after lakhs of years, unlike man, who can see with his eye, only, a few meters ahead of him. It has been explained that as potential power to become a tree is present in a seed, in the same way, God places potential powers in each man. Minimum age of man has been supposed to be hundred years. As such, in the beginning of the second part of the mantra, it has been said that man should endeavor to see, that is, to know for hundred years. It is true that whosoever takes birth has to die but dying cannot be said to be the purpose of life. The purpose of taking birth in this universe is ‘life’ and not ‘death’. You always have a purpose of going to the market. But, ‘returning’ cannot be said to be the purpose of ‘going’. God has sown the seed of ‘love for life’ in each being. Nobody wants to die. To develop this love for life, we must understand its importance, for which knowledge is required. As such, it has been prayed that with eyes of ‘मन’, that is, by controlling all our senses, we should concentrate on obtaining knowledge of different subjects. Secondly, it has been prayed to be able to live for hundred years. Now, a doubt arises as to why ‘life’ has been prayed for at number two after making a prayer for ‘knowledge’ at number one. Simply breathing cannot be said to be leading life. Life without knowledge is meaningless. Eating and sleeping is done by an ass, also. Man’s life cannot be just eating and sleeping. In other words, life is nothing but ‘dutifulness’. Thirdly, it has been prayed to be able to hear for hundred years. In the first prayer, all the senses have been talked of. Here, by ‘hearing’, studying and understanding vedaas are meant. Fourthly, it has been prayed to be able to teach others for hundred years. Whatever has been known and understood through the study of vedaas in this life should be spread among others. Sin of a money-miser is much less than the sin committed by a person, who does not spread his knowledge. What to talk of foolishness of a person, who hides his lamp simply for the reason that others may not get the benefit of its light. Development of different sects in the world is the result of forgetting the spirit of this prayer. After the Sun sets, darkness rules and light-insects act as the Sun.
Some may say that they do not possess the capability to study and understand vedaas. Man can develop his potential powers in this direction. Fifthly, it has been prayed that we may not be controlled by others during the life-time. Everyone in this world is dependent on others in one way or the other. As such, in this mantra, it has not been prayed that we may not be dependent on others. Actually, interdependence lie at the root of universal brother-hood. Lastly, it has been prayed that we may live for more than hundred years. Above, we have said that hundred years is the average life of man. But, it is quite possible to lead a longer life by following the guidelines of vedaas. Here, life does not connote number of breaths but instead, it is measured by the significance of the actions done during this time period. In other words, life is what we have done for ourselves and for the world during this span of time called ‘life’. Value of a coin does not depend on the value of the elements, of which it is made. Instead, it depends upon the quantity of articles, which can be bought against that coin.
GAYATRI MANTRA
-Yajurved 36-3 Here, it is repeated
Meaning-O savior God! You create the bodies of all beings, relieve the pains of your worshipers, bring happiness and pleasure to your worshipers. You, being master of all living and non-living things existing in this universe, are worth acceptance. You are destroyer of all reasons of pains. You are light-house for all souls. We meditate over all these attributes of yours. Please inspire our intellects towards good qualities, actions and nature, that is, bestow goodness in our intellects.
Explanation-This mantra is repeated, here, at the end of sandhya for reason of greatness of its thoughts. Its meaning has been explained at earlier instance or occasion.
PRAYER
हे ईश्वर दयानिधे to सद्य सिद्धिर्भवेन्नः॥
Meaning-O kind God! With your grace, we are able to worship you. The purpose of doing this act is to be able to behave truthfully and with justice for the welfare of others, to possess various things of this world by rightful means, to enjoy various things of this world and to enjoy bliss by being free from all sorts of pains, bad habits, bad karmas and bad men. Please fulfill our purpose of doing this rite at the earliest.
SALUTATION MANTRA
ओम् नमः शम्भवाय to शिवतराय च॥
-Yajurved 16//41
Meaning-O God! We salute you for being blissful, giver of all worldly pleasures and freeing us from the bondage of births and deaths. We salute you for always acting for welfare of others. We salute you for being giver of happiness and pleasure to your devotees, relieving pains of your worshipers and doing all your acts towards welfare of other beings.
Explanation-In the end of this rite, upaasak’s heart gets filled with the greatness and kindness of God and he bows down before Him in love and salutes Him. Here, in this mantra, two things have been talked of. One is peace and the second is bliss. Without peace, there cannot be bliss and where there is peace, bliss is bound to be there. Peace is nothing but harmonious existence of different things. Imbalance of mental tendencies is termed as turmoil, which is opposite of peace. Health, for instance, is nothing but harmony among functioning of different organs of the body. God is not only peaceful and blissful but instills these attributes in His upaasaks also.
-Most of the thoughts are of Pandit Gangaprasad
Upadhayay and Swami Rameshwaranand
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