Why is Gayatri mantra so powerful?

by Fred Busch

Yoga Teachers and Yoga Teacher Training Students should appreciate the power of Mantra and how important it can be as a component to your Sadhana (daily practice) and to your Yoga classes.

Mantras are ways of using sound vibrations to affect consciousness and receive the benefits of peace of mind.  All Mantras are powerful in their own right.  Specifically the Gayatri Mantra is viewed as one of the most important of all Vedic Mantras.  But why is Gayatri  so special and so powerful?

The most fundamental answer has to do with light itself, which the Gayatri mantra is invoking. Light is an important element because of the power it was over darkness.  Darkness does not exist in the presence of direct light…this is a basic fact.

Gayatri Mantra is about bringing light into the mind to dispel darkness, which is to say negative energy fields and unconscious patterns.  Light is a metaphor for awareness and shining light (awareness) on the darkness (unconscious patterns and things that hold us back in life) is the intention of Meditation and the key technique to self-realization.

Once we recognize that darkness and unconsciousness are the same thing..and all that is considered bad or evil in this world is just unconsciousness… we can begin to see the value of bringing light into the mind.

Gayatri is also especially valuable for Yoga in the Western countries where chanting mantras to Shiva or Krishna may not be easy for everyone.  Gayatri does not invoke any deity…only the Primordial and sacred Light of the Divine itself.

Gayatri Mantra is often chanted before class at Fred Busch’s classes with the teacher instructing the students to join in ‘if you wish’.  Chanting mantras or Om is never required and only offered as an opportunity to experience vibration and it’s effect on the mind.