PRESCRIPT

FOR

OFFERING SUPREME WORSHIP

BY MEANS OF

THE GAYUTREE,

THE MOST SACRED TEXT OF THE VEDS.

THUS says the illustrious Munoo: "The three great "immutable words (Bhooh, Bhoovuh, Swuh, or earth, space, heaven), preceded by the letter Om;* and

66

Om, when considered as one letter uttered by the help of one articulation, is the symbol of the Supreme Spirit. It is derived from the radical अव to preserve, with the affix मन्. "One "letter (Om) is the emblem of the Most High.”—Munoo, II. 83. “This one letter, Om, is the emblem of the Supreme Being."Bhuguvudgeeta. It is true that this emblem conveys two sounds, that of o and of m, nevertheless it is held to be one letter in the above sense; and we meet with instances even in the ancient and modern languages of Europe that can justify such privileges; such as and ¥, reckoned single letters in Greek, and Q, W, X, in English and others. But when considered as a triliteral word consisting of अ, उ, मू, Om implies the three Veds, the three states of human nature, the three divisions of the universe, and the three deities, Bruhma, Vishnu and Shivu, agents in the creation, preservation, and destruction of this world; or, properly speaking, the three principal attributes of the Supreme Being personified as Bruhma, Vishnu, and Shivu. In this sense it implies, in fact, the universe controlled by the Supreme Spirit.

In

"also the Gayutree, consisting of three measured "lines, must be considered as the entrance to divine "bliss."*

"Whoever shall repeat them day by day, for three years, without negligence, shall approach the most High God, become free as air, and acquire after death an ethereal essence.'

"From the three Veds the most exalted Bruhma "successively milked out the three lines of this sacred "text, beginning with the word Tut and entitled Savi"tree or Gayutree.”

Yogee Yajnuvulkyu also declares, "By means of "Om; Bhooh, Bhoovuh, and Swuh; and the Gayu66 tree, collectively or each of the three singly, the most High God, the source of intellect, should be wor shipped."

66

66

"So Bruhma himself formerly defined Bhooh,

In all the Hindoo treatises of philosophy (the Poorans or didactic parables excepted), the methodical collection or expansion of matter is understood by the term creation, the gradual or sudden perversion of order is intended by destruction, and the power which wards off the latter from the former is meant by preservation.

The reason the authors offer for this interpretation is, that they, in common with others, are able to acquire a notion of a Superintending Power, though unfelt and invisible, solely through their observation of material phenomena; aud that should they reject this medium of conviction, and force upon themselves a belief of the production of matter from nothing, and of its liability to entire annihilation, then nothing would remain in the ordinary course of reasoning to justify their maintaining any longer a notion of that unknown Supreme Superintending Power.

The last clause admits of another interpretation, viz. "must "be considered as the mouth, or principal part of the Veds."

"Bhoovuh, Swuh, (Earth, Space, Heaven) as the

66

body of the Supreme Intelligence; hence these three "words are called the Defined."

[Those that maintain the doctrine of the universe being the body of the Supreme Spirit, found their opinion upon the following considerations:

1st. That there are innumerable millions of bodies, properly speaking worlds, in the infinity of space.

2dly. That they move, mutually preserving their regular intervals between each other, and that they maintain each other by producing effects primary or secondary, as the members of the body support each other.

3dly. That those bodies, when viewed collectively, are considered one; in the same way as the members of an animal body or of a machine, taken together, constitute one whole.

4thly. Any material body whose members move methodically, and afford support to each other in a manner sufficient for their preservation, must be actuated either by an internal guiding power named the soul, or by an external one as impulse.

5thly. It is maintained that body is as infinite as space, because body is found to exist in space as far as our perceptions, with the naked eye or by the aid of instruments, enable us to penetrate.

6thly. If body be infinite as space, the power that guides its members must be internal, and therefore styled the SOUL, and not external, since there can be no existence, even in thought, without the idea of location.

Hence this sect suppose that the Supreme all-pervading power is the soul of the universe, both existing

from eternity to eternity; and that the former has somewhat the same influence over the universe as the individual soul has over the individual body.

They argue further, that in proportion as the internally impelled body is excellent in its construction, the directing soul must be considered excellent. Therefore, inasmuch as the universe is infinite in extent, and is arranged with infinite skill, the soul by which it is animated must be infinite in every perfection.]

He (Yajnuvulkyu) again expounds the meaning of the Gayutree in three passages:

"We, say the adorers of the Most High, meditate "on the Supreme and omnipresent internal spirit of "this splendid Sun. We meditate on the same

66

Supreme spirit, earnestly sought for by such as dread "further mortal birth; who, residing in every body as "the all-pervading soul and controller of the mind,

66

constantly directs our intellect and intellectual ope"rations towards the acquisition of virtue, wealth, phy"sical enjoyment, and final beatitude."

So, at the end of the Gayutree, the utterance of the letter Om is commanded by the sacred passage cited by Goonu-Vishnoo: "A Brahmun shall in

66

every instance pronounce Om, at the beginning and "at the end; for unless the letter Om precede, the "desirable consequence will fail; and unless it follow, it "will not be long retained."

That the letter Om, which is pronounced at the beginning and at the end of the Gayutree, expressly signifies the Most High, is testified by the Ved: viz. "Thus through the help of Om, you contemplate the "Supreme Spirit." (Moonduk Oopunishud.)