Om Bhur Bhuvaḥ Swaḥ

Tat-savitur Vareñyaṃ

Bhargo Devasya Dhīmahi

Dhiyo Yonaḥ Prachodayāt

General meaning: We meditate on that most adored Supreme Lord, the creator, whose effulgence (divine light) illumines all realms (physical, mental and spiritual). May this divine light illumine our intellect.

Word meaning: Om: The primeval sound; Bhur: the physical body/physical realm; Bhuvah: the life force/the mental realm Suvah: the soul/spiritual realm; Tat: That (God); Savitur: the Sun, Creator (source of all life); Vareñyam: adore; Bhargo: effulgence (divine light); Devasya: supreme Lord; Dhīmahi: meditate; Dhiyo: the intellect; Yo: May this light; Nah: our; Prachodayāt: illumine/inspire.

One hundred years ago on October 15^th 1918, Swami’s previous Avatar, Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi, took Mahasamadhi. This year, 2018 marks the centenary anniversary of the Mahasamadhi of Shirdi Sai Avatar. To commemorate this event, we as the Sai Community have collectively undertaken the sadhana of Nationwide continuous Gayatri Mantra Chanting for 108 hours before the 7^th anniversary of the Mahasamadhi of our beloved Swami, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba on the 24^th of April 2018. We will be repeating this sadhana again in October, before the Centenary Anniversary of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Samadhi on 15^th October, 2018.

This endeavor has been successfully implemented across our nation from the east to the west coast of Canada from 12 AM on 20^th of April, 2018 until 12AM on the 25^th of April. This project was welcomed with enthusiasm by Sai devotees across our beloved country, with 306 devotees participating and completing 522 hours of chanting the Gayatri Mantra. This number surpassed our objective of 108 hours.

To put it in perspective, on average four Gayatri mantras are chanted per minute, which is equivalent to 240 per hour. Thus we had collectively chanted: 240 x 522 hours x 306 devotees = 38,335,680. Over 38 million Gayatri Mantras permeated the atmosphere surrounding our country and the world! May this chanting of the Gayatri Mantra bring peace to the individual, the family, the society, to our nation and ultimately the whole world and the universe! As Bhagawan has narrated that:

“Repeat the Gayatri – it is a universal prayer. It has three parts, meditation on the glory of God as the illumination immanent in the three worlds – upper, middle and lower (Om Bhur Bhuva Swah; Tat Savitur Vareñyam); it has smaraña or picturisation of the Grace (Bhargo Devasya Dhīmahi) and prārthanā, prayer for compassion for the sake of liberation, through awakening of intelligence that pervades entire universe, not to any particular name or form of that intelligence; and so, all can use it and be saved by it. There can be no fanaticism, no hatred, no rivalry, if the Gayatri is adhered to, its pious repetition will clarify the passions and promote love.”

-‘Sathya Sai Speaks’, vol 07.37: October, 13, 1967

We humbly offer our salutations at the divine lotus feet of our Beloved Lord to have blessed us with the strength and dedication to chant this mantra with love and faith and continue to benefit from chanting the Gayatri Mantra everyday of our lives!