We Can Be Rudras — Gayatri Mantra Chanting Circle, April 18

by Jessica Girija Jewell

The Gayatri Mantra comes to us from the Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas and among the most ancient texts known to humanity. The Rig Veda is a collection of mantras and rituals that have the potential to connect us with the upper luminous realms and the beings who inhabit them. These beings are always providing help but to receive their blessings, we need to ask.

How do we ask for blessings? One way is through prayer. Mantra is a kind of prayer that harmonizes the mind to specific vibrations, aligning us with the realms and beings from which blessings flow. By chanting the Gayatri mantra, we establish a connection with the upper luminous realms, where saints and sages, prophets and rishis, angels and archangels reside. As Thomas Ashley Farrand writes, the Sanskrit words of the Gayatri contain the essential vibration of these realms, and all spiritual powers and potencies within them.

On April 20, Mars, Saturn, and Mercury form an exact triple conjunction in sidereal Pisces. We will be feeling this energy in the days leading up to it and beyond. Mars brings drive and force. Saturn brings weight and consequence. Mercury, debilitated in Pisces, asks us to set aside certainty and meet this moment with humility.

This conjunction falls in Uttara Bhadra nakshatra, whose shakti is to bring the rain — grace descending from above. The ruling deity is Ahir Budhnya, one of the Rudras, the fierce protectors of mankind. Komilla Sutton writes that Ahir Budhnya produced millions of invincible trident-holding Rudras, spread in all directions to protect the world. This is that time. We can be a handful of those Rudras — gathering in devotion, channeling this potent energy as protection and grace for our world.

Pisces is deeply devotional, the sign of spiritual sacrifice and surrender. What might we sacrifice?

• Our limited understanding

• Our attachments and aversions

• Our certainty that our small efforts don't matter

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We offer what we can release and we chant for ourselves, our families, our communities, and those we consider our enemies.

Join me Saturday, April 18, from 7:00–8:30 p.m. at Yoga Together Lincoln. $25. No prior experience with mantra is needed — only a willingness to show up and ask.

Register here.