05-02-2007, 05:54 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In the late 1930's Pandit Sharma lived as a hermit in the Himalayas, reciting the Gayatri mantra 7,000 times a day, 365 days a year, for 24 years. He meditated on the dawning sun and ate only buttermilk and a handful of grains. Out of this continuum of Gayatri sound meditation he penetrated into the potency of the Gayatri's 24 syllables and its special amplifying relationship to the yagna ritual. He extensively studied the Vedas, and later translated the entire collection.
His catholic outlook for the Gayatri use by women was criticized, but he answered in his book, Gayatri, The Omnipotent Primordial Power: "The code of conduct in Hindu religion has equality of humans in all respects with unity and compassion as basic tenets. Hindu culture regards the female of human species as superior to its male counterpart. How could then the wise sages of India deprive women of super wisdom of practice of Gayatri? In ancient days, the rishikas (nuns) participated together with men in all religious and metaphysical rituals. Gayatri is symbolized by a female deity. Gayatri is accessible to each and every individual of the human species."
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His catholic outlook for the Gayatri use by women was criticized, but he answered in his book, Gayatri, The Omnipotent Primordial Power: "The code of conduct in Hindu religion has equality of humans in all respects with unity and compassion as basic tenets. Hindu culture regards the female of human species as superior to its male counterpart. How could then the wise sages of India deprive women of super wisdom of practice of Gayatri? In ancient days, the rishikas (nuns) participated together with men in all religious and metaphysical rituals. Gayatri is symbolized by a female deity. Gayatri is accessible to each and every individual of the human species."
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