Story of Gāyatrī

General information.

A glorious Vedic mantra. This mantra has twentyfour letters. There are nineteen categories of movable and immovable things in this world and to this if the five elements are added the number twentyfour is obtained. That is why the Gāyatrī has got twentyfour letters. (Chapter 4, Bhīṣma Parva). At the time of Tripura dahana Śiva hung this Gāyatrī mantra as a string on the top of his chariot (Chapter 34, Karṇa Parva).

The glory of Gāyatrī.

If one recites Gāyatrī once one will be freed from all sins done at that time; if one recites it ten times all the sins done on one day will be washed away. Thus, if one recites it a hundred times the sins of one month; thousand times, the sins of a year; one lakh times, the sins of his life time; ten lakh times, the sins of his previous birth; hundred lakh times, the sins of all his births, will be washed away, If a man recites it ten crore times he becomes a realised soul and attains mokṣa. (Navama Skandha, Devī Bhāgavata).

How to recite Gāyatrī.

It should be recited sitting still with your head slightly drawn downwards with your right palm open upwards, with the fingers raised and bent to give the shape of the hood of a snake. Starting from the centre of the ring-finger and counting down and going up through the centre of the small finger and touching the top lines on the ring, middle and forefingers, count down to the base of the forefinger, you get number ten. This is how the number of recitations is counted. This method is called the Karamālā (hand rosary) method. This is not the only method that could be used. You can use a rosary made of lotus seeds or glass beads. If you are using lotus seeds you should select white seeds for the rosary. (Navama Skandha, Devī Bhāgavata).