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Nature
of Sāvitri
Sāvitri is the Sun. Not the physical
sun in our skies, but the Sun of Truth on the spiritual firmament.
Sāvitri is the Creator of All (the root su meaning: to give
birth, loose forth, impel etc.). He is the Supreme Divine in His
poise for manifestation and He releases and impels all forms into
existence (The pronoun he is used for Sāvitri for simplicity). He
is the Spiritual Sun on the highest summit of Creation, extended
like an Eye RV (1.22.20) in the Heaven and it is He who is imaged
by the solar orb on the physical plane of our universe. He is the
Truth-Sun, the sole source of all Light and Life who is the Goal
of the life-long Sacrifice and the object of the perpetual vision
RV (1.22.20) of the Seers of the Veda. He is the supreme Purusha,
the Brahman self-formulated as the Creative Person at the head of
the Manifestation of which we are a part.
He creates. But in creating, He
Himself enters and assumes the innumerable forms that people the
vast system of universes. His forms are thus multitudinous. But
there is a Form which is the highest Form of all forms, and that
is the most natural and the best Form of Sāvitri: Light. Light is
the vesture of Truth. The first and the characteristic form of
Spiritual Truth is always Light and even our physical light which
is a symbol of the spiritual Light, holds something of that Truth
at its core. And being the natural form it is also the most
enhappying-holding in itself the full content of the felicities of
Truth, prajāvat saubhagam, fruitful felicity RV (5.82.4).
But this Lustre is not sizable by
our gross sight. It is only the inner Eye opened by Yoga, after an
adequate purification and enlightenment of the being, that can
perceive it. Perceive where? Within the heart. The Supreme Light
which shines in the Heaven is the same Light within man (Chhāndogya
Upanishad. 3.26)
In course of time, Savitr or Sāvitri
the Divine Sun was closely associated with the Goddess Gāyatri,
the mother of all meters and the primeval sound and the Goddess
Saraswati, the Goddess of Divine Inspiration and knowledge. Hence
we invoke Sāvitri, Gāyatri and Saraswati together.
There are three verses. The first
two invoke the three goddesses. The last one identifies the rishi
and deity of the famous Gāyatri mantra to be recited.
Mantrās for invoking Sāvitri
verse1
āyātu varadā devī akşharam
brahmasammitam.
gāyatrī chhandasām mātedam brahma
juşhasva naĥ.
To (instruct) the imperishable
Brahman revealed by Veda (to us)
May the boon-conferring Divine
Gāyatrī come to us.
May Gāyatrī, the mother of metres,
favour us with the Supreme (mentioned before).
[TA (10.26.1); Mah. U. (15.1)]
verse 2 
ojo asi saho asi balamasi bhrājo
asi
devānām dhāmanāmāsi vishvamasi
vishvāyuĥ sarvamasi sarvāyurabhibhuur,
om gāyatrīm āvāhayāmi sāvitrīm
āvāhayāmi sarasvatīm āvāhayāmi
Thou art the essence of strength,
Thou art patience, Thou art physical capacity,
Thou art splendour,
Thou art the abode of Gods and their
names. Thou art the universe, Thou art the full span of life or
Lord of all;
Thou art every being, Thou art the
life span of all and vanquisher of all hostiles. Thou art the
Praņava om.
I invoke Gāyatrī (in my heart), I
invoke Sāvitrī; I invoke Sarasvatī.
[KYV (2.4.3.1); TA (10.26.1), Mah. U.
(15.1)]
verse 3: 
sāvitryā ŗşhiĥ vishvāmitraĥ,
nichŗd gāyatrī chhandaĥ savitā devatā.
Identifying rişhi and chhandas of
gāyatrī mantra
For the gāyatrī mantra, the
rişhi is Vishvāmitra chhandas nichŗdgāyatrī and the deity Savitā. |
