Is the Gayatri Mantra Really Powerful?

It seems to me that it may not be the ultimate. Or is it?

I did not have my thread ceremony at a young age just most Brahmins of my time hadn't either. I can question my dad now (if he was alive)—if he really wanted me to be religious, he should have sown the seed then. Why question me now that I am not?

But then again, I did perform for my elder son when he was quite young. Yet he isn’t any more religious than I am. And my two brothers are lot more religious than i, even if they also had in their later ages. My younger one, bluntly refuses every time I ask to perform since he has been young.

I saw a remarkable change in my elder one after we did the upanayanam for him. Despite seeing that sea change, the younger one refused later.

In my own case, there was a period when I was going through a lot of work pressure. The stress that came with it—although one could argue it is the person’s ability to handle work pressure—felt very real. Stress is an individual failure.

This was also a period when I would have health issues time and again, especially from slip disc-related pain. At my wife’s suggestion, we sought advice from a purohit-cum-astrologer. He advised me to perform Gayatri mantra recitation every morning, starting with 8 times and progressing up to 108.

While I never progressed by number, I did progress in another way—I researched the meaning of the mantra and tried to recite it every time, feeling the meaning.

I do this while performing a small abhishekam to my linga idol.

Very soon after I started this practice, my health and work pressures had eased—or let’s say I became better at handling them.

Call it coincidence, as it did to my son. Or call it the power of the mantra. Call it the effect of repeated affirmations if you want. If you ever did an affirmation before you started a mediation session, you would know the impact of an affirmation. It is real. Not non-sense.

The effect of Gayatri mantra everyday was real. There is no second thought about it.

What does the Gayatri mantra say?

In summary, it is about seeking wisdom from the almighty.

Perhaps my repeated requests over a million times over several years did give me some wisdom.

But going back to the title of my journal today—what does it do eventually?

I may get some wisdom, but if I don’t put it into practice, what help is it to just know better?

I know that sweets are bad for health.

I know that cycling every day is good for me—both physically and psychologically.

I know that for a day to go well, it has to start with waking up at Brahma muhurta—around 3 a.m.

I may have actually gotten wiser thanks to the Gayatri mantra and the experience from 60+ years I’ve lived.