“I would like the finest weapons, the kind of which that if I used them on anybody, they would stand no chance of survival.”
Shiva granted his request and gave him many weapons, astras – arms that he could dislodge like divine shafts, arrows, sonic missiles – and shastras – the ones he could carry with himself like an impenetrable shield, an unbreakable sword and many others.
Drunk on his revenge still as new as his newly-found powers, he headed straight to Vasishtha’s ashram and roared, “Where are you hiding?” The sun rays sparkling against the shiny, razor-sharp sword he held aloft made him look like an indomitable warrior.
Vasishtha came out of his hermitage, and said, “How can I serve you?”
“Drop all these false niceties, you old fool! Give me Nandini or get ready for a battle! Reject my instruction and I am going to utterly destroy you, this very moment.”
Vasishtha said calmly, his beard flowing in the gentle breeze, “Please, it’s not necessary. I cannot give you Nandini.”
“Then be prepared to die,” Kaushika said, “No one can stop me from taking Nandini today!”
“Try,” was the only word the sage uttered in reply.
One after the other Kaushika unleashed his weapons on Vasishtha. Vasishtha took out his staff – the rishi used to carry a Brahma danda – and held it in front of him. The energy of the weapons Kaushika launched at him was absorbed by the staff. Once Kaushika’s weapons were spent, Vasishtha simply tilted his staff a little, casting a massive orb of energy at him. Kaushika fell down, defeated. “You are my guest,” Vasishtha said. “I will not hurt you anymore. Please leave. Do something better with yourself, and don’t ask for Nandini again.”
Kaushika was foaming at his mouth, his face red like raging fire.
I’ve spent 1000 years on this, and I can’t even get a cow! Shiva’s weapons couldn’t help me at all , he thought. He decided he would pray to Shiva no more. With that, he began invoking Hiranyagarbha, the golden womb, the first cell in creation. I must go to the absolute source of this existence , he decided. One thousand years later, Brahma appeared and granted him his Brahmastra, his most potent weapon. “Take this,” he said. “If there is anything another weapon can do, this weapon can do it better.”
Once again, Kaushika confronted Vasishtha but unfortunately, he met with the same fate. Finally, the king accepted his defeat and the fact that he couldn’t win over Vasishtha. And then realization dawned on him when Vasishtha told him the secret.
“It’s not my power, O king,” the sage said, “it is but who I am. You are not defined by what you have or what you can do, but by who you are, deep inside you.”
“You have been doing all this penance to attain something, but you have forgotten your own attainment: you have not invoked the divinity in you,” he continued. “You are simply carrying some siddhis , supernatural powers, to further your cause. You are not tapping into your real source of power, so you can have all the weapons in the world, but still won’t match me, because for me, my strength is not in this staff,” he said, throwing it away. “It’s in but who I am.”
Hearing this, Kaushika thought: No more am I going to seek weapons or harbor animosity. Instead, I will aim to reach the same level of consciousness, rather superconsciousness, like Vasishtha to whom even Indra bows down and the powers of the universe look up to.
Quietly he took Vasishtha’s leave and sat in searing penance lasting several thousand years. Wishing welfare of all sentient beings, with awakened self and heightened consciousness, he saw the most mystical of all mantras, the one that dispels ignorance. It was clear to Kaushika that enlightenment alone was the answer to everything he sought. From a king eager to conquer territories, he became a sage who ruled hearts. So much so that he was given the title ‘Vishwamitra’ – a friend of the whole world.
But, detached from the world, Vishwamitra wasn’t interested in any titles. After all, he had been an emperor once. Instead, his heart was set on the most supreme knowledge, something that would not only make him another Vasishtha but even better. So what if I wasn’t born a Brahmin? he thought. He could, with his penance, not only purify himself so much that he would be a Brahmin but go even beyond. And beyond he went. With his unrelenting and intense tapas , one by one, siddhis and greater powers came to him. And he absorbed all of it like a giant tree absorbs nutrients from the earth and light from the sun. Vishwamitra acquired such a towering stature that he was regarded as ‘Brahmarishi’ – a Brahmin sage, the highest honor any sage could have.
With his inner eye, he had seen the one mantra, the essence of the Vedas, the cause of creation, the one mantra that had the power to pull anyone out of any adversity, that congregation of divine sounds which could help one realize one’s wildest dreams. The only mantra he ever invoked ever since he left Vasishtha’s ashram – the Gayatri mantra.
The door is wide open, your portal to another dimension of consciousness begins by understanding the power, invocation and realization of the metascience of the Gayatri mantra. As long as you are in this body made up of five elements, you can benefit from this mantra in much the same manner as Vishwamitra and numerous other sages did. In fact, the good news is that since the Gayatri mantra has already been invoked, you and I don’t have to put in the same effort. Someone has already dug the well, you just have to lower the bucket to fill it. At least, that’s been my personal experience in this lifetime.
Let me show how to go about invoking the Gayatri mantra in this day and age in simple and actionable steps. Even if you are not convinced, I only have one thing to say: what harm is there in trying? Besides, you won’t know what all awaits you until you make the first move.
The Power of Gayatri Mantra
There are many forms of Gayatri, but one particular form is called Savitur Gayatri , which is derived from the word Savitri , the name of Mother Divine, radiant and effulgent. Bear in mind that while Mother Divine, like our solar system, engenders light; until we invoke the light within, the world around us is dark. And there is little hope for the person who remains dark inside.
The Vedas talk about four states of mind: sushupta , when you are sleeping; jagrita , when you are awake; swapana, when you are dreaming, and turiya, when you are beyond. There are also seven planes of existence, of which three are key: bhu , this material plane; bhuvah , the plane of consciousness and svah , our true self, something that is even beyond consciousness. The experience you might go through when you are unconscious is an experience that is beyond consciousness.
Consciousness itself is vital for mantra sadhana. It is essential to remember while chanting any mantra, and certainly the Gayatri mantra, that it’s not about becoming a parrot and keep chanting without any feeling. Some people just want to get through the mantra as if it’s a task they have taken upon themselves: “Good lord, do I want to sit and chant this mantra again? As if I don’t have enough to do in my life, and I have taken upon myself one more thing?”
If you are going to chant the mantra with this sentiment, you will not get any results from it – you may understand, but not benefit from the mantra. This is the most important, qualitative aspect of mantra science, and it simply cannot be ignored. In that sense, it’s not a traditional science – it requires faith.