Kiratha Roopa Sastharam

This entire year seems to be a wave of Karunyam from Lord Sastha. Though our pradhana moorthi is Maha Sastha, Kiratha Sastha has an important place in our upasana. Many devotees have asked whats our relation with Kiratha Sastha.. I said, if  Maha Sastha is our Praanan - Kiratha Sastha is the Praana vaayu... Thinking back now, its more than my words and the connection is a lot deeper.

Our ancestors were deeply devoted to Lord Sastha and My great grand father Shri. CV Krishnan(brother of Shri.CV.Srinivasa Iyer – Chaami Anna) - worshipped Lord Kiratha Sastha as one of his chief upasana devatas. A certain incident in his life seems to have propelled him deeply into the upasana of Kiratha and he very fondly worshipped him. His love for the Lord was so intense, that as soon as the Lord came to our home last month (in the form of a Vigraham) his divine guidance manifested in the dream. This was followed by the grace of the ferocious Lord- both happened for three consecutive days.

Few years back when I started to Chant Kiratashtakam, to be frank, initially it seemed rather difficult to recite the Ashtakam – which was in Shardula Vikreedita Chandas and was lengthy compared to other mantras. On an enigmatic Saturday of Makara Maasam I was initated to the mantra of the Hunter Lord. That marked the beginning of a bond with the great Lord, that made many impossible things happen. And soon came the Mudravadi – to dispel all my hesitations… So whenever Mudravadi is in my hand, the fierce Kiratha assured that the rest will be taken care of.



The clouds of confusion were cleared by the mighty presence as gently as a mother clearing the curls off her child’s forehead. 

Kiratha is such a vigorous form that he can even do dwamsa to the prarabdha…

I recollect one incident - One of the close associates of my great grand father was suffering with Cancer. Based on divine guidance, he began to petition Lord Kiratha for help and was cured without any treatment. The cry – Yama Mardha beeti rahito divyam gateem shaashvateem - did the trick! The Lord literally brought him back from the city of Mrutyu.

One of the best part which I like most -during my lecture is about Kiratha Sastha... I loose myself even during my Pravachanam while narrating about Kiratha Moorthy.

Though projected as a ferocious deity, the Karunyam of Kiratha Sastha is uncomparable. It has been one of the turning principles of my spiritual life. It is something beyond description. It's a matter of joy and awe.

The same thing happenned last Saturday - Sunday. Iam attending many number of Sastha Preethis right from my childhood and soon after the above said events, the Lord gave an opportunity to conduct Sastha Preethis and also golden chances of doing puja to him. Apart from our regular Sastha Preethi at Coimbatore, we conduct few Sasthru pujas with very close circle. One such annual Sastha Preethi – is at Balu’s house.

Once the name  “Sastha” is uttered – we take up responsibility voluntarily on our shoulders. This time, without any travel plan or discussion, most of us assembled at Balu’s place.

This year right from the beginning, it was so special. First day... during the Sastha homam, the presence around us was unmistakable. Needless to say about the evening lecture which I gave on Kirathashtakam. Since Swami was there in the Vigraha roopam, this year we decided to have Lord Kiratha Moorthy as the pradhana devata. Next day as soon as the avahanam was done, I was completely lost with fervor and excitement. I could feel that everyone of us were simply present there – where everything was takenover by Him. Iam experiencing such contentment after 2-3 years. All that remained was unceasing serenity, luminosity and a presence like never before.

Sastha Preethi is a very rare occasion where the Lord is invited during the special ritual and His message is received and followed.

After the deeparadhana, to our surprise, the presence of Lord Bhutesha was felt. The presence was so forceful, majestic and blissful. Everybody was taken aback with the glory…

The message from the Lord was simple: “I am here for you”


What more do we need? 
Sharanam na anyam prapannosmyaham

Gayatri Mantram - an Unknown Fact

Many of our friends with upanayanam may give wonderful statements like - “ We are into meditation you see.... and when we get instant result in that, then what is the use of Sandhyavandanam and sprinkling some water?

"This is the Kali yuga" and thats my only answer for this statement.. Iam not ready to tell anything more...

For those who do Sandhyavandanam regularly - please read this... this may be useful....

Iam not detailing the sandhyavandhanam part here and coming directly to Gayatri.

The Gayatri chanting part is the central part of the Sandhyavandanam.

na gAyatryAH parO mantraH na mAtu daivatam param

There is no mantra superior to gAyatri, neither is there a form of God superior to one's mother

Gayatri is a most sacred japam that can activate twenty four spots of the human body in the subtle plane. Thats why it is said that a person need not do any sadhna if he does gayatri.

Gayatri Mantra is extolled by one and all . It is a simple and small mantra but with  huge  benefits

Gayatri is a Maha mantra. But please note....

'mananaat trAyatE iti mantraH' (it protects through meditation).

In other word Gayatri should be contemplated silently thinking inwards. It loses its potency if chanted loud or sung with any raga....  Only time Gayatri is chanted loud is during the Ahuti in the yagna

And it is a sin to 'sing' Gayatri using any ragas! (Singers like Anuradha Paudwal please excuse me... Its Shastra... so you MUST follow it....)

Now... coming to our subject..

Each mantra is has a Rishi (who gave us the mantra), a specific Chandas and the Devata(to whom the mantra is dedicated ). This is symbolically represented by touching the head while chanting the Rishi's Name (placing his feet on our head), touching the nose when we recite the chandas (no life without breath - similarly there is no life to the mantra without Chandas); then touching the heart for Devata's name(meditate the deity in our heart)

The most famous Gayatri mantram as "discovered" or meditated upon my Sage Vishvamitra. Gayathri refers also to a Chandas - meter

The word chandas also means the meter of vedic poetry . There are different typs of Chandas for each sloka or veda mantra

Depending on the number of syllables in each of the paadas, we have different meters :-

anushtup (8 syllables)

brihati (9),

pankti (10),

trishtup (11 )

ushnik (4 paadas of 7 syllable each = 28 syllables) -like that up to even 26 syllables to a paada. (Any meter beyond 26 syllables to a paada, is called dandakam.)

Now coming to our Gayatri... there is a Chandas itself by named Gayatri -  and Our Gayatri Mantra has three paadas of 8 syllables each; the meter itself is known as gayatri since it has 24 syllables;

The chandas is vital and should be respected while reciting vedic mantras. Chandas helps us to ensure the form of the Mantra (by meter count). No alteration to this can be attempted since it would disturb the spiritual significance of the mantra itself!

However, there is a slight change in the Gayatri mantram itself... thats what Iam trying to convey here...

I was really surprised that even eminent scholars were not aware of this change and when I discussed this subject with them only 1-2% of people were aware of this fact and only a handful of them were practicing it correctly...

The well known statement is "ChathurvimsathyaksharA GaayathrI " (There should be 24 aksharams in GaayathrI). The rules of Chandas permit one aksharam less for variations (so 24 minus 1 =23). When it is 23, it is called nicruth GaayathrI.

Remember - the chandas for regular gayatri japa is 'nichrut gayatri' which is one syllable short of 'gayatri' chandas. ie 23 aksharams and Not 24...

'Saavitria Rishi: Viswamitra:, 

nichruth Gayatri chanda: 

Savita Devata, Gayatri jape viniyogah :'

So the main focus is the pronounciation of 'varENyaM' in the part  ".tat savitur varenyam" (tat-sa-vi-tur = 4 plus 3 syllables va-re-nyam). So onthe whole the regular Gayatri Japam is nicruth GaayathrI.with 23 letters

But please note while doing Argya Pradhanam its regular Gayatri Chandas and Not nicruth GaayathrI. ie 24 lettered and and Not 23 lettered.
So.... for gayatri argyam - the mantra has to be pronounced as 'varENiyaM' (4 syllables va-re-ni-yam) and not as varENyaM.

So, Gayatri ought to be chanted as 'varENyaM' only during the japa since the chandas explicitly stated during the invocation is 'nic^Rit gAyatrI'.  During the 'arghyapradaanam' one should say varENiyaM.

Thus , the GaayathrI (GaaythrI manthram used for Argyam) has "varENiyam " with an extra aksharam and the total counts up to 24 aksharams .

The other one with " VarENyam " becomes 23 in count and is permitted as Gaayathri Japam


May Gayatri, the Mother of Vedas, bestow on us right understanding, pure intellect, right conduct and right thinking !