तत्सवितुर्वरं रूपं ज्योतिः परस्य धीमहि । यन्नः सत्येन दीपयेत् ।।
ॐ आनन्दमयि चैतन्यमयि सत्यमयि परमे ।।
Sri Aurobindo went beyond the realizations of the Rishis of the Vedas and the Upanishads. In the Vedic Age there was nothing like tradition. Each Rishi explored and scaled new heights of consciousness, new possibilities of knowledge and power. It is somewhat like each scientist making his own new discovery and sharing with the world. We see this later on also when Ramanujacharya, Kabir Das, Guru Nanak Dev used the tradition as a spring board to discover something new.
Here, by releasing a new Gayatri Mantra, he reactivated as well as upgraded the old Gayatri. As to the Mantra of the Divine Mother, he completed what was missing. All the devi mantras see different aspects of the Divine Mother and join them only in the Shakti. Thus the Shakti and the Ishwara are two different aspects, one superior and the other inferior. Sri Aurobindo’s Mantra of the Divine Mother sets the balance correct. It indicates that there is no fundamental difference between Sacchidananda Ishwara and the Shakti who is full of the Ishwara, Anandmayee Chaitanyamayee Satyamayee Parame. She is the creative Ananda inherent in pure Existence, Sat Purusha and He is the stable support of the dance of delight released into creation. I might say that there is not a single Devi mantra as powerful in its completeness and totality as this one. The Mother, on her side, gave an entirely new lease of creative Power and meaning to the Mantra for the Ishwara. Her main mantra was Om Namo Bhagwate. But She invoked by the word Bhagawate, not just the Divine inherent in creation but the Divine in the New Manifestation, the Divine of tomorrow (as far as the manifestation goes).
Yes both had gone beyond the past seers but that is a different subject and will need a detailed discussion which is there in Their works as well as the talks.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
[Below sharing a question and answer on Gayitir Mantra answered earlier- this question is in que and yet not published on the website ]
What is the difference between Sri Aurobindo’s Gayatri Mantra and previous Gayatri Mantra?
Both mantras have the Gayatri as their metre but, without going into technical details, Sri Aurobindo’s Gayatri is more complete in terms of its metrical quality.
There are three things to be considered in a mantra, the Chhanda or metre, the Rishi or the Mantradrsta, the Deity to whom it is addressed.
The Deity of both the mantras is Surya. But Surya itself has several aspects. The traditional Gayatri invokes the Light of Surya whereas Sri Aurobindo’s Gayatri invokes ‘the most auspicious’ aspect, that is to say, the highest aspect of the Sun, the material symbol of the Supramental Truth.
The action also is different. Traditional Gayatri is to illumine the mind whereas Sri Aurobindo’s Gayatri is to change our entire consciousness into the mould of the higher consciousness.
Most important is that the mantradrsta of the New Gayatri is the trikaldarshi Yogi and the Avatar of the future, Sri Aurobindo. Therefore the mantra automatically carries something of the power of Sri Aurobindo’s consciousness and brings us in contact with him through the mantra.
