The Gayatri Mantra

The Gayatri Mantra is a prayerful Sanskrit chanting of a verse from the Holy Vedas, one of the Sacred Texts revealed to the people of India in ancient times.

Here is the Prayer in Sanskrit

ॐ भूर्भुवः॒ स्वः ।

तत्स॑वितुर्वरे॑ण्यं ।

भ॒र्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि। ।

धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त्॥ ।

and now a transliteration:

Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tát savitúr váreṇ(i)yaṃ
bhárgo devásya dhīmahi
dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt




In the Gayatri Mantra, the seekers ask the Creator of the Universe to enlighten us, to guide our intellects toward wisdom and the ability to behold a deep understanding of Truth.

One of the more literal translations would be:

May we attain that excellent glory of Savitar the god:
So may he stimulate our prayers.
---The Hymns of the Rigveda


Among the many beautiful interpretations:

O Creator of the Universe! 
We meditate upon Thy Supreme Splendor. 
May Thy Radiant Power illuminate our intellects,
destroy our sins and guide us in the right direction! 

O Divine Mother,
Our hearts are filled with darkness.
Please make this darkness distant from us
and promote illumination within us.

May the Supreme Light
that illuminates the three worlds,
illumine our intellect also, fully,
and direct the rays of our intelligence
to the path of virtue 

We meditate on the Divine Light
of that adorable Sun of Spiritual Consciousness.
may it illumine our intellect just as the
splendorous sunlight dispells our darkness. 

Earth, sky, heaven.
Let us meditate on these
and on the most excellent
Light of that adorable Sun.
We pray that they may
guide our intellect.

Wikipedia includes some of the following interpretations:


Let us adore the supremacy of that divine sun, the god-head who illuminates all, who recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom we invoke to direct our understandings aright in our progress toward his holy seat.
(Sir William Jones)


Unveil, O Thou who givest sustenance to the Universe, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, that face of the True Sun now hidden by a vase of golden light, that we may see the truth and do our whole duty on our journey to thy sacred seat.
(William Quan Judge)


We meditate on the worshipable power and glory of Him who has created the earth, 
the nether world and the heavens (i.e. the universe), and who directs our understanding. (Sivanath Sastri)


We meditate on the glory of that Being 
who has produced this universe; 
may He enlighten our minds.
(Swami Vivekananda)

We meditate on the effulgent glory of the Divine Light; 
may he inspire our understanding.
(S. Radhakrishnan)








O Lord, you are the Almighty, the Omniscient, the Omnipresent one. You are imperceptible, exists beyond the peripheries of mind; but present in earth, in cosmos, in all the galaxies. You are all pervasive. Your luminosity sustains the life of all the living beings on this earth. You are the source of light. O my Lord, bless us, so that our intellect may get illuminated.


From Wahiduddin.net , several other translations are found:


We meditate on the glory of the Creator;
Who has created the Universe;
Who is worthy of Worship;
Who is the embodiment of Knowledge and Light;
Who is the remover of all Sin and Ignorance;
May He enlighten our Intellect.
(Swami Shivananda)

We meditate upon the radiant Divine Light
of that adorable Sun of Spiritual Consciousness;
May it awaken our intuitional consciousness.
(S. Krishnamurthy)