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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00042 Jan 2006

 
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Dear devotees,

While I certainly appreciate the efforts on the parts of the individuals 
involved to try and understand the role of Gayatri mantra in Vaishnava 
culture, there seem to be a lot of misconceptions here that I personally 
feel need to be clarified.

The foremost is that the Gayatri mantra has some Vaishnava significance 
to it.  While some authors, such as Sri Satyamurthy Ayyangar and others, 
have made a concerted effort to try and establish some Vaishnava 
understanding to the performance of Gayatri, it required some "poetic 
license" to put it in light of the Azhwars' teachings.  In actuality, 
the performance of Sandhya Vandanam and the subsequent recitation of 
Gayatri mantra is - according to the Vedas - a birth-based obligation 
afforded to only male members of  the upper three castes as a 
requirement for learning the Vedas.  Since the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas 
have, for the most part, forsaken Vedic responsibilities,  the only 
people who have continued the practice are the handful of Brahmin males 
who continue to recognize the importance of living a Vedic life. 

The mantra has a two-fold purpose: 1) in serving as a way to bring power 
to the Sun in its sojourn across the sky and 2) providing this same 
spiritual strength as a side benefit to the devotee who performs the 
Sandhya Vandanam and recites the Gayatri mantra in a proper way.  
Additional slokas and mantras have been recited by the respective 
followers of Vaishnavam, Saivam and Smartha Brahminism to pay homage to 
their respective concept of the Supreme Spirit as residing in the orb of 
the sun and in all living beings.

As far as Samasrayanam goes, this sacrament has nothing at all to do 
with caste, gender, or any other qualification.  It serves as a 
metaphor, a symbolic gesture, of a devotees's recognition that he/she in 
body, mind, and spirit belongs wholeheartedly for the purpose serving as 
an instrument to God.  Since such knowledge really only comes through 
learning under an Acharya, it is the Acharya who is called upon to 
perform this sacrament to the aspirant such that he/she will awaken to 
this truth.

I am not sure how or why the Gayatri mantra found its way into ISKCON, 
since most of its members are not Brahmin by birth, and therefore have 
no burden of responsibility to uphold in reciting it.  I personally feel 
that the very recitation of the Holy Name is far more efficacious and 
important to a Vaishnava than the caste-based ritualism that Brahminism 
- and its associated egotism - continue to hold over our society, and 
have always appreciated the followers of ISKCON for serving as models of 
this for the other Vaishnava schools of thought.

adiyen
Mohan






Azhvar EmberumAnAr JeeyAr ThiruvadigalE Saranam 
http://www.vedics.net

 
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