Chandogya Upanishad 3.12 Summary Lecture 156 on 16 November 2025

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

Opening Invocation

ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगदगुरुम पादपद्मे तयो: श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहु :

Om Jananim Saradam devim Ramakrishnam jagadgurum Padapadme tayoh shritva pranamami muhurmuhuh.

ॐ आप्यायन्तु ममाङ्गानि वाक्प्राणश्चक्षुः

श्रोत्रमथो बलमिन्द्रियाणि च सर्वाणि।

सर्वम् ब्रह्मोपनिषदम् माऽहं ब्रह्म

निराकुर्यां मा मा ब्रह्म

निराकरोद निराकरणमस्त्व निराकरणम् मेऽस्तु।

तदात्मनि निरते य उपनिषत्सु धर्मास्ते

मयि सन्तु ते मयि सन्तु।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥

oṃ āpyāyantu mamāṅgāni vākprāṇaścakṣuḥ

śrotramatho balamindriyāṇi ca sarvāṇi.

sarvam brahmopaniṣadam mā’haṃ brahma

nirākuryāṃ mā mā brahma

nirākaroda nirākaraṇamastva nirākaraṇam me’stu.

tadātmani nirate ya upaniṣatsu dharmāste

mayi santu te mayi santu.

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

Translation

May my limbs, speech, vital force, eyes, ears, as also strength and all the organs become well developed. Everything is the Brahman revealed in the Upanishads. May I not deny Brahman. May not Brahman deny me. Let there be no spurning of me by Brahman. Let there be no rejection of Brahman by me. May all the virtues that are spoken of in the Upanishads repose in me who am engaged in the pursuit of the Self. May they repose in me. Om. Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all.

Introduction to the Gāyatrī Mantra

We are studying this marvellous symbolism of the Gāyatrī Mantra:

Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ

Tat savitur vareṇyaṃ

Bhargo devasya dhīmahi

Dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt

Translation: We meditate on the glory of that Being who has produced this universe. May He enlighten our minds.

The Gāyatrī Mantra, as we discussed earlier, is also known as the Sāvitrī Mantra and Sarasvatī Mantra. It occurs in the Ṛg Veda, Third Maṇḍala, 62nd section, 10th mantra.

Structure of the Gāyatrī

We are discussing that there are five sentences:

Oṃ – This is the first sentence.

All the Vedas merge in the three lines of the Gāyatrī. The three lines of the Gāyatrī merge in the three Vyāhṛtis called Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, and Svaḥ. Slowly, these three Vyāhṛtis merge in Oṃkāra, and Oṃkāra merges in Brahman. That is how, step by step, we enter into Brahman, which is our own true nature which we have forgotten.

The Five Sentences of the Gāyatrī Mantra

So very briefly, again we will recollect: dhīmahi means "we meditate." So where do we meditate? On the Bhargo—on the most marvellous effulgence. Effulgence means knowledge. Knowledge, light, and effulgence are synonymous words. What we have in normal day-to-day life is objective knowledge, so we have to meditate.

The Core Verses

As mentioned earlier, the first two sentences are not part of the Gāyatrī Mantra proper. Only the last three lines—each consisting of eight syllables (three times eight equals twenty-four)—constitute the real Gāyatrī. These three lines represent the very essence of the three Vedas.

All Vedic knowledge can be summarized in one statement: Each soul is potentially divine. The goal of life is to manifest this divinity and know who I am, who you are, who we are. This can be achieved through Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Rāja Yoga, or Jñāna Yoga, but the ultimate result will be: Aham brahmāsmi – "I am Brahman." There is nothing else excepting God. Everything is God. That is the realization.

The Vyāhṛtis: Three States of Existence

Oṃkāra: The Final Stage

Oṃkāra is the final stage. Then come the three Vyāhṛtis called Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, and Svaḥ. What does this mean?

1. Bhūḥ represents our Sthūla Śarīra (gross body). In this context, the Sthūla Śarīra is a manifestation of Brahman.

2. Bhuvaḥ represents the subtle body (Sūkṣma Śarīra), through which we experience the dream world (Svapna Jagat). The Sūkṣma Śarīra—popularly called in English the "mind"—is also nothing but Brahman.

3. Svaḥ is the causal body, which is also nothing but Brahman, through which we experience a state called Suṣupti (deep sleep).

The Three States of Experience

Every living creature goes through these three states, but the knowledge that these three bodies—corresponding to three states of experience (waking, dream, and deep sleep)—are nothing but a play of the Divine Mother can come only if we practice this Upāsanā, this Gāyatrī Upāsanā. We must realize:

Our body is a temple
Our mind is a temple
Our causal body is also a temple

These are temples through which we can know who we are. But that knowledge will come only by the grace of God, and the grace of God will come only when we transform our three states of experience into a conscious state of spiritual activity.

Nityā and Līlā

Every activity—whether actions, thoughts, or emotions—must be recognized as the play of Brahman. This is called Brahman's state of Līlā. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa very often used to say there are only two states:

Nityā – Not to be active at all
Līlā – To be appearing to be active

These are the only two states, and what we call the world is nothing but Līlā. When we are ignorant, we call every happening, every event, as real. But when we get enlightened, when God bestows His grace, when the Divine Mother Sarasvatī Śāradā bestows Her grace upon us, we realize what we are thinking as real is not really real—it is a make-believe, a play like a drama or cinema.

The Waking State and Turīya

We have this knowledge when we wake up from the dream state—we realize it was nothing but imagination (kalpanā), drama. But we are not waking up from this waking state. The state into which we wake up from the waking state (Jāgrat) is called Turīya. This is the burden of Gauḍapāda's commentary on the entire twelve mantras of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad.

The Nature of Existence

Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, Svaḥ—these are the three states of experience, and every state of experience is called a world: dream world, waking world, deep sleep world. But they are all made up of our personality changing from one to the other, changing from gross to subtle to causal, and again coming back. This wheel is continuously going round and round.

Birth is Līlā, growth (sthiti) is also Līlā, and death is also Līlā. Even according to scientists, matter cannot be created, cannot be destroyed, but it can be changed a little bit. How much matter do we really change? Scientists, though they do not fully understand, give us a tremendous amount of inspiration, confirming what Vedānta tells us.

The Puruṣa Sūkta Teaching

Of the matter that exists in this world according to scientists, only a tiny portion of it is transformed; most of it is not transformed. This is what the Puruṣa Sūkta and Nārāyaṇa Sūkta teach: Atyatiṣṭhat daśāṅgulam – the entire universe is only an infinitesimal part of the Divine. And even that—there is no part; it is only an appearance.

This understanding can come only when divine grace falls upon us. Divine grace is not waiting to fall upon us—it is blowing all the time. As Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says, a southern breeze is blowing all the time, but we have to unfurl ourselves. We have to make a conscious, continuous, unbroken effort to catch the breeze of divine grace, and for that, this Gāyatrī Mantra is wonderful.

The Universal Nature of Mantra

Every mantra—mantra means "that which saves us through right understanding"—is a Gāyatrī Mantra because every mantra saves us. This is the inner meaning of Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, and Svaḥ.

Detailed Analysis of the Gāyatrī Mantra

First Line: Tat Savitur Vareṇyam

So we meditate on these three lines now. What is the first one? Tat savitur vareṇyam.

Tat means "that."

Savitṛ means "the creator"—sṛjati, He who creates is called Savitṛ, Sṛṣṭi Kartā (the creator of creation).

This is popularly experienced as the sun, our sun. He gives us heat, He gives us light. Through light we can experience and enjoy; through heat we produce food to sustain our bodies. As we have seen in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad:

The gross part of food goes to make the physical body
The subtle part makes the subtle body
The subtlest part makes the causal body

The purpose of food is to invigorate and enliven our "I"—the I consisting of gross, subtle, and causal bodies. This is what even the most ignorant person says: "I, I am so-and-so," and continuously we go through this cycle.

The Symbolism of Tat

We have to say Tat. Tat means "that," and we can also interpret Tat as the spiritual symbolism of Gāyatrī, which we will discuss very soon. Tat—that—I am seeing as though the sun is that, meaning the object, an object which is very far away, which is separate from me, which is not me.

A great scientist had said that every piece of bread is a piece of the sun. Every part of our body is a piece of the sun; every part of our mind is a piece of the moon and the sun. There is no difference: sun, moon, fire, and digestive fire. The sun god is manifesting in these four forms—producing food, nourishing us by digesting, and making us active.

The Three Aspects of Activity

All activities have three parts:

Creation
Sustenance/maintenance
Dissolution

We have three states of experience through the gross body, through the subtle body, and through the causal body.

Vareṇyam: Most Adorable

Vareṇyam means "most adorable, most praiseworthy." What is the most adorable part of the sun? Remember, this Sandhyāvandana is done—Gāyatrī is contemplated upon—looking at the sun at dawn, at midday, at dusk, and for some people with closed eyes at midnight.

The sun and the entire universe—our entire known universe—is nothing but an infinitesimal part of our sun. That is why we call it the "solar system." Solar means a system that is created, maintained, and absorbed back by the sun.

When that understanding slowly dawns upon us, if we devotionally practice this Sandhyāvandana—the first step is recognizing: I cannot exist, will not exist, unless I have my cause, which is called the sun god, Āditya Devatā. Therefore I am awake to that fact. Now I know to whom I belong. That is called Tat savitur vareṇyam.

Second Line: Bhargo Devasya Dhīmahi

Then the second part: Bhargo devasya dhīmahi.

Bhargo means spiritual effulgence. External, physical effulgence is there—the sunlight is there—and even when the sun goes out of our sight (because the earth is moving, the sun is moving), it doesn't mean the sun is not sustaining us, maintaining us, and influencing us. As I said, through the moon, through fire (through heat, through the digestive fire), the sun is creating new cells. Every millisecond, new cells are created in every living creature. They are maintained by the energy, by the prāṇa, and they are again absorbed back, which is called death—symbolically only, not really.

Bhargo devasya—Who is He? Deva. Deva means "He who shines." He is called Deva, He who is of the nature of Sat-Cit-Ānanda. That is why in some parts of the world where sunlight is very scarce, especially during the winter months, people suffer from a disease called SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)—the absence of sun, prolonged absence of sunlight. The only remedy for that is sunlight. Scientists have produced artificial sunlight, and that is what we need to recognize. But the artificial sunlight is also a product of the real sunlight only.

The Meaning of Dhīmahi

Dhīmahi means "we meditate." We meditate means we contemplate. That means I understand: I am the effect, You are the cause. Just like a baby cannot be separated from the mother, I cannot be separated from You. Cause and effect are eternally related, so I will have to go back to You finally.

This is a plural form: "we meditate." What is the meditation? It means I surrender myself to You.

Two Types of Meditation

There are two types of meditation:

1. The Devotee's Approach (Kitten Attitude)

The devotee says: "I am a helpless creature. I am an ignorant person. I am of little knowledge, of little power, little energy. Therefore, You will have to take me up." This is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa used to call the attitude of a kitten.

2. The Jñānī's Approach (Monkey Attitude)

The Jñānī follows the Jñāna Mārga to the exclusion of devotion. The Jñānī says: "I am Brahman" straightaway. Instead of saying "Please bestow Your grace," the Jñānī says: "I know, I am convinced of the scriptural teaching. Intellectually I know. Now, by Guru's grace—even a Jñānī has to surrender to the Guru—may I be enlightened." This is an earnest, sincere prayer.

Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's methodology is that even a Jñānī is in the realm of the Divine Mother.

The Story of Totāpurī Mahārāja

The Perfect Disciple

To understand the necessity of divine grace, let us contemplate on the life of Totāpurī Mahārāja, the Advaitic teacher of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. He became an aspirant and got a marvelous Guru. We presume, because he was a realized soul, he also must have had a realized Guru. He was made to undergo vigorous training like any one of us—he had to conquer and overcome kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, and mātsarya.

But the strangest part is: he never felt any of these things. He never encountered any obstruction. He was running, as it were, and there was no competition. He reached the goal, which is called Nirvikalpa Samādhi. Even then, he said, "I have taken forty years."

Two Types of Struggles

What was he doing during forty years? He must have been struggling. But there are two types of struggles:

1. Overcoming Obstacles

One type of struggle is to get rid of obstacles—like when you have missed your way. In places like the USA or UK, you have to travel quite some distance, go round and exit and come back from where you missed your right way, and then proceed.

2. Developing Concentration

The second part is: how to concentrate this mind, how to focus this mind, how to make it steadfast. That is a second struggle. Not that both struggles follow one after the other—simultaneously they go on.

The Meeting with Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa

Totāpurī Mahārāja was more focused on making his mind more concentrated. Then he attained Nirvikalpa Samādhi. By Mother's will, he felt like going on a pilgrimage. He came to Dakśineśvar. He glanced at Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa could have been anywhere—why was he sitting at that time in that Chāndnī hall, where, after getting out of the boat, people have to pass through a small hall? It is all Mother's will.

Totāpurī recognized: "This is a fit candidate for monastic life."

The Incomplete Sādhana

The point is, Totāpurī had to realize that everything is the Divine Mother's grace. That part he did not do. He thought, "I alone have achieved everything." So he had to sit. The first part of his mission in life was that he was destined to be the teacher of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa in the path of Vedānta. The second part: he himself had to complete his sādhana.

What is that sādhana? Is there any sādhana after realization of Nirvikalpa Samādhi? The sādhana is: Totāpurī did not understand that unless the Divine Mother or God bestowed His/Her grace upon him, he would never have progressed.

The Test and Realization

He had to struggle. Even a small stomach ache upset him. A man who could at will enter into Nirvikalpa Samādhi could not focus his mind even for a millisecond. He decided—he wrongly understood, misunderstood—that the root cause of his problem was his body. He didn't understand that the root cause of the problem was the ignorance that everything he got was by the will of the Divine Mother.

We know he attempted suicide. He could not—there was no water! Such a great miracle: in the whole of the Gaṅgā, especially in Calcutta, there was not enough water even to drown. I wonder—even if you find a pool of water, if you have decided to commit suicide, you just put your nose inside that pool; that would have been sufficient. In a bucket of water one can commit suicide. Anyway...

Then the Divine Mother revealed Her grace: "All the progress you made was because of My grace. All the obstacles were removed because of My will." Then he understood his sādhana was complete. He became free from this stomach problem because it was purely a psychosomatic disease.

The Final Surrender

Actually, he confessed everything to Rāmakṛṣṇa. He was planning to return for almost one year but could not. "Let us go to the temple of the Divine Mother"—this is the first time he understood. He went, he bowed down, and he said, "You have taught me a good lesson. I am very grateful because You are my Mother, I am Your child. I realized it."

Rāmakṛṣṇa was very happy. (This is an imaginary conversation I created for the sake of this talk:) "This is what I have been trying to teach you ever since we met. My Mother knows everything; I don't know anything. And it took you eleven months!"

The Lesson

Divine Mother's grace—whether one is a jñānī or an ignorant person—cannot bring knowledge unless one is free from ahaṅkāra. What is that removal of egotism? It is: "You are my only savior. I surrender myself to You." That is the essence of the Gāyatrī Mantra.

The Three Lines Explained

Second Line: The Prayer for Grace

The second line indicates: "I am trying, praying wholeheartedly, O Mother Sarasvatī, Gāyatrī, please remove my ignorance." My prayer—what is the meditation? Not that I am imagining You with four hands, sitting on a lotus flower with the Vedas in Your hand, with a conch, well-garlanded. No, no, no. It is continuous longing, intense vyākulatā (yearning): "Mother, please bestow Your grace. I cannot survive without Your grace."

How do we know this is the right interpretation?

Third Line: Complete Surrender

The third line indicates: "I surrender myself," like Arjuna says, "I have surrendered myself to You—command me what to do, what not to do." Because I know without Your grace, it is not possible for me to get out of this delusion. This is not a normal delusion; it is the divine delusion. Only the Divine can—as Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says, "It is only My divine illusion, delusion"—only the Divine can remove it. Unless I remove it, you cannot remove it, because your very creation is by Me only.

The Descent of Grace

This is the second prayer. When the person has totally surrendered, the divine grace descends: "I bestow My grace upon them."

In what form? Right understanding.

What is the right understanding? "You do not exist; only I exist. Brahman alone exists. God alone exists." That is the meaning of "God pervades everything." God is called Puruṣa. Puruṣa means what? "He who pervades everything"—He is called Puruṣa. This is the wonderful meaning we get.

The Path of Self-Surrender

Naturally, the way of the devotee is best. Everybody has to follow self-surrender. Therefore it means understanding—buddhi, intellect. Like Kṛṣṇa was driving the chariot—that is a very beautiful imagery, actually.

The moment Arjuna surrendered, then Kṛṣṇa was protecting him, guiding him—where to go, with whom to fight, when to fight, when not to fight. All this we have to understand because Arjuna had given up all the army. Śrī Kṛṣṇa possessed a divine army, and He said, "I will not fight. What will you do? I will only drive your chariot. I will give you advice."

What is advice? Enlightening our mind with the right understanding is called advice, and that is what happened.

Pracodayāt: Divine Guidance

Pracodayāt—"May You drive my chariot, may You drive my body, my mind, all the three states, and You manifest Yourself in the form of my intellect."

What can God give? Only God. God cannot give ajñāna (ignorance), God cannot give non-existence, God cannot give ignorance, God cannot give misery or unhappiness, because whatever a person has, only that he can give. What has God got? Existence, knowledge, bliss—Sat, Cit, Ānanda.

When God manifests as eternal existence, infinite knowledge, and unbroken bliss for eternity—that is what we have to understand. This is the meaning, the external meaning, of this Gāyatrī Mantra.

Right Understanding for All Aspects of Life

Worldly and Spiritual Success

In this context, I have to add: right understanding—dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt—is necessary not only for spiritual progress and spiritual happiness but even for worldly happiness.

In this world, we praise some persons as great musicians, and we become their fans. Some people are great players—cricket, baseball, football—and they become our heroes, so we become their fans. Some people are wonderful scientists who inspire us, so we become their fans.

How did they become great? They did not stumble upon truth accidentally. They prayed for it, they worked for it, and they obtained the right knowledge. Nobody stumbles accidentally—that is not possible.

The Grace in All Success

A devotional repetition of this Gāyatrī Mantra brings not only spiritual happiness but worldly happiness. That is why, I think, there was one highly regarded financial guru—Warren Buffett or somebody like that, I do not remember exactly—everybody follows him because he has better understanding in the financial world than many other people.

That is what is most wonderful: a right teacher, knowing where to surrender, following his footsteps—that means following his directions sincerely. Then, as he obtained God's grace, we also obtain in the same way God's grace.

Expiation of Sins

Moreover, it is said when anybody devotionally repeats this Gāyatrī Mantra, all sins are expiated. How is it possible? Because the cause for acting sinfully is wrong understanding, wrong knowledge.

Knowingly, having right knowledge, it is impossible to do any sinful activity. When I know that drinking this is poison and if I drink it I am going to die, I am going to be destroyed, nobody will do it. Even people who commit suicide do that for a greater purpose—maybe intolerable pain, physical or mental. They want to be free from that, and that seems to be the last resort because they tried everything and didn't succeed.

Why People Sin

Why does a person commit a sin? Because his understanding—he thinks it is right understanding: "By hook or by crook I can get it." But then, in the course of time, he understands that one has to pay through the nose.

When a person has that right understanding, then he follows: "This is going to make me very happy." Everybody wants to be happy. This is a sure way, the only way. There is no other way, no alternative. "I am going to be happy." Then a person will do it.

That is what happens when a person repeats the Gāyatrī Mantra: right understanding comes, right understanding makes the right way of desiring, and the right way of desiring translates into right action or dharmic action. That is how every sin is also removed.

The Twice-Born: Spiritual Rebirth

Many Hindus believe in this. Initiation to the Gāyatrī Mantra is a spiritual rebirth. If one is an upper-class boy, he is called a dvija—"twice-born"—like Christians do baptism. After baptism, the child is supposed to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ. But unfortunately, the boy, even as a baby, is immersed, and that fellow will be hollering—he doesn't understand why these people are immersing him in cold water!

Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa on Spiritual Practice

This is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: "How long should a man practice devotions as the sandhyā," meaning ritual? "As long as he doesn't feel a thrill in his body"—beautiful word, that means joy—"shed tears of joy while repeating the name of Rāma or Hari." The same thing applies to Gāyatrī.

That person no longer performs a religious duty such as sandhyā. In his case, the sandhyā merges in Gāyatrī, which means he remembers God all the time and he wants to travel only toward God.

Progression of Spiritual Practice

In the course of time, this continuous meditation on Gāyatrī—and it applies to anybody's Iṣṭa Mantra: Christ, Buddha, Buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi—then the Gāyatrī merges in Oṃ. After that, one no longer chants even Gāyatrī. It is just enough simply to say Oṃ, which Rāmakṛṣṇa himself used to do. Then he can go into samādhi uttering Oṃ only once.

A Beautiful Example

There is a beautiful example. One day, a skeptical Brāhmaṇa came to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa at Dakśineśvar. He was arguing, but he must have been a very good person. After some time, he went to the bank of the Gaṅgā—which is only a few steps away—to perform his evening Sandhyāvandana. He had some mystical experience. Then he came and fell at the feet of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. He thought it was all the grace of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa—which is true.

There is a wonderful thing we have to understand.

The Vedāntic Interpretation

Two Meanings of the Gāyatrī

Earlier I mentioned the Gāyatrī Mantra can have two meanings:

An external, literal meaning
A spiritual, implied meaning

We have discussed the external meaning, which is: make efforts to surrender yourself. As Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says, if a gentleman takes care of a baby, then he will act like a trustee. He will only see the good of the baby, and when the baby grows up, he will hand over all the properties that belong to the baby—which means, in this case, God-realization.

Pracodayāt: Divine Will

The word pracodayāt means: "I do not exist; only You exist. May You guide my understanding, because I don't know what is the real meaning." This is the literal meaning we have to understand.

The Three Vyāhṛtis as Brahman

Now, what is this Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, Svaḥ? Brahman in the form of Oṃ manifesting itself as the three worlds—the gross, the subtle, and the causal—which are termed as Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, and Svaḥ. That is the external, gross meaning.

Now we will enter into the Vedāntic meaning—not too much different, but slightly different.

Tat Tvam Asi

What is the meaning of this Gāyatrī Mantra? The essence, the implied meaning: Tat tvam asi – "That thou art."

The Oṃ represents Brahman. That is the goal where we have to realize: "I am Brahman." That is called "merging in Brahman."

There are three Vyāhṛtis—the three states of experience. What does that mean? It means Brahman in the form of Oṃkāra is manifesting as the three worlds: the gross body, the subtle body, and the causal body.

Oṃ and the Vyāhṛtis

Therefore, by uttering these words:

Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, and Svaḥ
Oṃ is Brahman
Bhūḥ is Brahman
Oṃ is Brahman
Bhuvaḥ is Brahman
Oṃ is Brahman
Svaḥ is Brahman

How do we come to this understanding?

A (the sound) means Bhūḥ
U (the sound) means Bhuvaḥ
M (Makāra—when the lips meet) means Svaḥ

The Three Worlds and Ānanda

Now, in this context also, I mentioned that when a person understands that these three worlds are there—the waking world, the dream world, and the causal world:

The gross world gives a certain amount of pleasure and pain.

The subtle world gives greater joy and greater duḥkha also, because most of the problems of modern human beings are mostly mental, less physical than mental.

The deep sleep state: When a person enters into the deep sleep state, he gets rid of duality. The experience of subject-object is called duality, and he experiences unbroken bliss for such a long time. (Of course, this "time" means what? Upon waking up only we count: "I went to bed at this time, I woke up at this time." In deep sleep we are not aware of the passing of time.)

Every being desires only ānanda—bliss, joy.

Meditation on Sat-Cit-Ānanda

Gāyatrī Mantra is a meditation on Sat, Cit, and Ānanda.

The first line of the Gāyatrī Mantra represents Sat. But our understanding of Sat is that it is somewhere there: "God is there. God doesn't die. God is not born. But I am born, I am growing up, I am changing, I am going to die." The cause of this entire world—the creator (creator means what? the cause)—and what is created is called the world. Its real nature is what? Ānanda—Sat, Cit, and Ānanda.

Thus, from the Vedāntic point of view, the Gāyatrī Mantra is the highest type of meditation.

From Tat to Tvam to Asi

The first line of the Gāyatrī Mantra: Tat savitur vareṇyam

Tat—then, as we meditate, that Tat which is an objective way of pointing to something becomes Tvam (You). The third person becomes the second person, as if He is in front of me.

When I say "that," it can be billions of miles away. When I say "you," you can't be billions of miles away—you have to be within my range of experience.

The second line indicates: as we progress, we realize God is very near. That is called Cit—that knowledge comes, and that knowledge brings joy.

The third line: "I merge in You." Surrender means what? "I do not exist; only You exist. You do whatever You want, because I am not, I do not exist."

The Magnetic Hill Analogy

Asi—Tat which appears to be far away, Tvam comes very near to me, and I surrender myself. Or rather, God pulls me inevitably, inexorably, helplessly. I have to become one—like a magnetic hill. The iron filing doesn't say, "I want to become one with you." As soon as the dirt is removed, the impurity is removed, instantaneously it is attracted and it becomes one with the magnetic hill.

It doesn't say, "I am an iron fiber; I am a magnetic hill." Aham brahmāsmi—Tat, Tvam, and through this surrender, you become one.

The Final Realization

Then what would be this person's experience? There is only one reality—that is called Brahman. For our sake, it is expressed in language: Aham brahmāsmi – "I am Brahman."

This is the spiritual meaning. Whatever be the meaning, the essence is: Each soul is potentially divine, and the goal inevitably is to manifest that divinity—sooner or later, slowly or faster. That can be done through any activity, through any state.

Integration of the Three States

The Gross Body and Spiritual Progress

Even the gross body, of course, can help us to move toward spiritual progress. Depending upon what we do in the waking state—our dreams totally depend upon what we do in the waking state.

You do pūjā, you repeat God's name, you read good books, you listen to talks, and you will see: dreams will be in accordance. Read nightmarish books, and you will have nightmares.

The Interconnection of States

That is how the dream makes the mind even more joyful. Then, when a joyful mind experiences the third state called Suṣupti, it will have wonderful rest, and that wonderful rest influences what we do the next day.

Every state influences the other state. Deep sleep also influences how our spiritual life—or our life—will be the next day.

If we have restless sleep, then that restlessness will affect us in various ways, making us restless, sleepful, and disturbing. Whereas if we have a very good, restful day, you must have noticed: on some days you feel like jumping for joy, with a completely rested body and mind, and you can do whatever you want to do.

The Gāyatrī's Comprehensive Grace

This Gāyatrī Mantra helps us:

Do the right things in the waking state
Dream right dreams in the dream state
Have a wonderful, restful state in the deep sleep state

And ultimately, it carries us like a loving mother carrying a babe, whatever it is doing. Ultimately, the babe wakes up so happy to be united with the mother.

This is the essence, the spiritual essence, of this Gāyatrī Mantra.

Conclusion

With this, our understanding of the Gāyatrī Mantra comes to a close.

Closing Prayer