Agni Purana
by N. Gangadharan | 1954 | 360,691 words | ISBN-10: 8120803590 | ISBN-13: 9788120803596
This page describes Complete instruction relating to Gayatri which is chapter 216 of the English translation of the Agni Purana, one of the eighteen major puranas dealing with all topics concerning ancient Indian culture, tradition and sciences. Containing roughly 15,000 Sanskrit metrical verses, subjects contained in the Agni-Purana include cosmology, philosophy, architecture, iconography, economics, diplomacy, pilgrimage guides, ancient geography, gemology, ayurveda, etc.
Chapter 216 - Complete instruction relating to Gāyatrī
[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]
Fire-god said:
1-4. After having performed the twilight worship thus, one should recite Gāyatrī. It is known to be Gāyatrī because it saves disciples, wives and lives. It is known as the Sāvitrī because it illumines the Sun. It is (known as) Sarasvatī because it is the form of speech. It is known to be the bharga, the lustre, because it is the effulgence of supreme brahman. (The root) bhā denotes shining. It is also known that bhrasj denotes cooking. It ripens the herbs etc. (The root) bhrājṛ would denote shining. (The word) Bharga would be (denoting) shining. (In this sense) it has been used in the scriptures many times.
5-6. (It is said to be) most excellent because it has an exalted position than all the splendours. It is the one always desired by those who wish to attain heaven. As (the word) vṛṇoti means covering, (it signifies) an eternal, absolutely pure conscious, absolutely real and great god that is beyond (the states of) waking, dreaming and deep sleep.
7-10. I am that brahman, the supreme effulgence. I contemplate on that for the emancipation. That effulgence is lord Viṣṇu that is the cause of origin of the universe. Some read Śiva, some read a form of goddess, some Sun and some such as those learned in the scriptures and those propitiating fire, the fire (god). Lord Viṣṇu of the form of fire etc. is praised in the scriptures as the brahman. That most exalted place of lord Viṣṇu is known to be that of lord Savitā (Sun). That lord Hari, the self effulgent produces the (libations of) clarified butter. (The same god) as the god of rain, the god of wind and the Sun would nourish (everything) by means of cold, heat etc.
11. Libations cast into the fire reach the Sun. Rains are produced from the Sun. Food grains (grow) from rain and then the people.
12-13. (The word) dhīmahi (may be) from the root dhā (to hold). (It means) “May we retain in our minds”. The word naḥ (means) ‘our’ May that Bharga who is in the intellects of all beings prompt the intellects of those who enjoy in all their acts and results seen and unseen. He is of the form ofViṣṇu, Sun and Fire.
14. Being prompted by the lord one may reach heaven or the pit (of mundane existence). Everything is an abode of the lord. Lord Hari is verily (the worlds) such as the mahat.
15-16. “I am that lord who sports with the paradise and the like. That lord the universal being known as Bharga inside the Sun should be contemplated by those desiring for emancipation for the destruction of birth and death and the three kinds of griefs. This universal being should be beheld in the orb of the Sun.
I 7. You are that Supreme Being, the conscious brahman which is the exalted position of lord Viṣṇu. I am Bharga, the most exalted fourth place of lord Sun. I am the body and the like, the state of waking and that upto that brahman. I deem myself as the brahman. I am that absolute spirit in the Sun. I am the infinite. Oṃ. I that one who always directs the knowledge in auspicious acts and the like.