Chapter 4 - On Gāyatrī Hridaya

1-2. Nārada said :-- O Bhagavān! I have heard from you all about the Kavaca and the Mantra of Śrī Gāyatrī. O Deva Deva! O Thou, the Knower of the present, the past, and the future! Now tell about the Hridaya, the highest, the interior or esoteric Essence of the Gāyatrī, holding which, if one repeats the Gāyatrī, he acquires all the puṇyam (merits), I am desirous to hear this.

3-8. Nārāyaṇa said :-- O Nārada! This subject on the Hridaya of Gāyatrī is explicitly written in the Atharva Veda. Now I will speak on that, the great secret, in detail. Listen. First, consider the Gāyatrī, the Devī, the Mother of the Vedas as of a Cosmic Form (Virā ṭrupā) and meditate all the Devas as residing on Her Body.

Now in as much as the Piṇḍa and Brahmāṇḍa are similar, consider yourself as of the form of the Devī and meditate within yourself on the Devatās, thus :-- The Pundits, the Knowers of the Vedas, say this :-- He is not yet fit to worship the Deva and he is not an Adhikārī as yet who has not been able to make himself a Deva; therefore to establish the knowledge of the oneness of the Deva and himself, he is to meditate the Devas within his body, thus :--

O Nārada! Now I will speak on the Hridaya of Gāyatrī, knowing which every man becomes able to become all the Devas. Listen. The Ṛṣi of this Gāyatrī Hridaya is Nārāyaṇa; the Chandas is Gāyatrī; and Śrī Parameśvarī Gāyatrī is the Devatā. Perform the Nyāsa of this as mentioned before and taking your seat in a lonely place, meditate intently on the Devī with your heart and head well collected. Now I am speaking of the Arthanyāsa. Hear. Meditate on the Devatā Dyau on your head; the twin Aśvins on the rows of the teeth; the two Sandhyās on your upper and lower lips; the Agni, Fire, within your mouth; Sarasvatī, on the tongue; Brihaspati on the neck; the eight Vasus on the two breasts; the Vāyus, on the two arms; the Paryanya Deva on the heart; Ākāśa, on the belly; Antarīkṣam (the middle space) on the navel; Indra and Agni, on the loins; Prajāpati, the condensed form, as it were, of Vijñāna, on the hip joints; the Kailāśa and the Malaya mountains on the two thighs; the Visvedevās on the two knees; Viśvāmitra on the shanks; the Sun’s northern and southern paths, the Uttarāyana and Dakṣiṇāyana on the anus; the Pitris on the thighs; the Earth on the legs; the Vanaspati on the fingers and toes; the Ṛṣis on the hairs of the body; the Muhūrtas on the nails; the planets on the bones; the Ritus (seasons) on the blood and flesh; the Samvatsaras on the Nimiṣa (twinkling of eye) the Sun and the Moon on the day and night respectively. Thinking thus, repeat “I take refuge of the Divine Holy Gāyatrī, the Chief and most Excellent One, the Thousand eyed and I take refuge wholly unto Her.”

Then repeat “I bow down to Tat savitur vareṇyam,” “I bow down to the Rising Sun on the East,” “I bow down to the Morning Aditya,” “I bow down to the Gāyatrī, residing in the Morning Sun” and “I bow down to all.” O Nārada! Whoever recites this Gāyatrī Hridaya in the morning finds all the sins committed in the night all destroyed! Whoever recites this in the evening gets his sins of the day all destroyed! Whoever recites this in the evening and in the morning can rest assured to have become free of sins; he gets the fruits of all the Tīrthas; he is acquainted with all the Devas; he is saved if he has spoken anything that ought not to have been spoken; if he has eaten anything that is not fit to be eaten; if he has chewn and sucked anything that ought not to have been chewn and sucked; if he has done anything that ought not to have been done and if he has accepted hundreds and thousands of gifts that ought never to have been accepted.

The sins iñcurred by eating with the others in a line cannot touch him. If he speaks lies, he will not be touched by the sins thereof; even if a non-Brahmacāri recites this, he will become a Brahmacārī.

O Nārada! What more shall I say to you of the results of Gāyatrī Hridaya than this :-- that whoever will study this will acquire the fruits of performing thousand sacrifices and repeating the Gāyatrī sixty thousand times. In fact, he will get Siddhi by this. The Brāhmāṇa, who daily reads this in the morning will be freed of all the sins and go upwards to the Brahmā (Loka) and is glorified there. This has been uttered by Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa Himself.

Here ends the Fourth Chapter of the Twelfth Book on Gāyatrī Hridaya in the Mahāpurāṇam Śrī Mad Devī Bhāgavatam of 18,000 verses by Maharṣi Veda Vyāsa.