The Vedic meaning of Mahamritunjaya Mantra and the Gayatri Mantra

Any activity should always engage the 3 H model of Heart, the Head, and the Hand. The same has been advocated by the western scholars of today. The concept involves that while doing any work one should ask the head for choices and then refer these choices to the heart to chose one and finally to order the hands to do the action.

Deepak Chopra in his blood seven spiritual laws of success also talks about them in great details. He writes that conscious based decisions are the best decisions. Before taking any decision he recommends asking the body for the signals of comfort or discomfort and if the signals of discomforts comes one should not indulge into that action.

All the above concepts come from our ancient Vedic knowledge. The two main mantras of our times are the Mahamritunjaya mantra and the Gayatri Mantra.

The Mahamritunjaya mantra from the Rig-Veda and needs initiation for attaining any Siddhi. This is the greatest reliever from all evils and reads as under: Aum Trayambakam Yajamahe, Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam; Urva Rukamiva Bandhanan, Mrityor Mokshiye Mamritat. It means we worship Shiva - The Three-Eyed Lord; who is fragrant and nourishes all beings; May he protect us (bandhanana) from all big (urva) diseases (aarookam). May he liberate us (mokshiye) from death (mrityor), For the sake of immortality (mamritat, amrit); as the cucumber is automatically liberated, from its bondage from the creeper when it fully ripens.

The meaning of the manta is the importance of the third eye and the benefits of its opening. The two eyes are at the level of the physical body. The third eye means the eyes of the mind and the eyes of the soul. It also indicates that in difficulty one should look inward from the eyes of the mind and ask for the choices. Like the cucumber, one should chose the good ones and drop the bad choices. (ji acha lage use upna lo jo bura lage use jane do).

The manta for the conscious based decision comes from Gyatri mantra. The same reads as Om Bhur Buvaha Suvaha  Thath Savithur Varenyam Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dhiyo Yonaha Prachodayath. It means 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.

It talks about the importance of conscious based decisions and its directions to the intellect to choose the right and not the convenient actions.

The Gayatri is the Vedic prayer to illuminate the intellect. Gayatri is considered as Vedasara --"the essence of the Vedas." Veda means knowledge, and this prayer fosters and sharpens the knowledge-yielding faculty. As a matter of fact, the four mahavakyas or 'core-declarations' enshrined in the four Vedas are implied in this Gayatri mantra.

Choosing the right decision from the consciousness was later defined by Buddha. He taught that before any action ask yourself the following four questions and if the answer to any of the question is no, not to indulge in that actions. These four questions are: is it the truth, is it necessary, will the actions bring happiness to you and to the others.

Even the dead body needs respect

New Delhi, 4^th July, 2013: Moderating a session organized by All India Radio in association with Heart Care Foundation of India, Padma Shri and Dr. B C Roy National Awardee Dr. K K Aggarwal, President, Heart Care Foundation of India said that death is inevitable but is the most traumatic experience a family can undergo.  Practicing compassion-based medicine as well as etiquette-based medicine by medical professionals can make all the difference. At the time of death, the family should be communicated properly:

·  If the chances of survival are practically nil, the family should be offered options for a second opinion, shifting the patient to his/her home or shifting the patient to a room with spiritual atmosphere.

·  Doctor should never say that there is no cure for this illness.  They can only say I have no cure for this illness or my pathy does not  have a cure for this illness.

·  Artificial prolongation of death is not a part of any Sanskara or  Vedic Philosophy.

The seminar was organized at All India Radio Studio and the panelists included Dr. V.K. Chauhan from Homoeopathy and Dr. Preeti Chabbra, Ayurveda Physician at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. The seminar was inaugurated by Dr Laxmi Bajpai Station Director AIR Delhi Kendra.

Highlights

·        Death is not an instant process but takes time.

·        Stoppage of heart does not mean that person is dead.

·        After the heart and respiration have stopped, it may take 10 to 48 minutes for the whole process of death to complete.  During this period, therefore, death can be made reversible by using proper revival diagnostic.

As per Vedic text, the first to go in the process of death is speech, second to go is listening, third to go is memory, fourth to go is brain and the last to go is Tejas

In a short survey done by the Heart Care Foundation of India, the following were observed:-

a)   Public wants a prayer/mourning room in the hospital where the death of the patient should be declared to the relations.

(b)    After the death of their family member, people expect a meeting between the treating doctors and the administrators to know all about the cause of death and precautions to be taken to prevent similar catastrophe for other family members. They also like to know if any special precautions need to be taken for cremation purpose to prevent spread of any communicable disease from the dead body to the human being.

(c)   As per Bhagavad Gita, whatever your thoughts are at the time of death will decide your future birth.  The following have been suggested to make your flow of thoughts positive at the time of death: Day time or create day-like light in the night; chanting of OM or Gayatri Mantra or any other religious prayer at the time of death especially if the death is occurring after full moon. If the death is taking place at home, then a yagna can be performed.

(d)    Always allow relations to be near the patient during the last time and they would like to know the last wishes of the dying person.

(e)   A dead body is never a source of infection to others unless it is infected with a communicable disease.  Never force people to cremate the body without performing proper rituals unless you are really serious that the dead body can be a source of infection to others.