In the Vedic pantheon, Savitṛ is one of the names of the Sun — but not just any aspect of the Sun. Not Sūrya, the solar disc in its cosmic majesty. Not Āditya, the Sun as son of infinity. Savitṛ is the Sun in his precise function of impulse — the one who stimulates, who incites, who sets in motion.
His name says the essential: it comes from the Sanskrit root sū — to engender, stimulate, set in motion. Savitṛ is the force that pushes beings to act, that awakens intelligence, that orients consciousness toward its destination.
In the glossary of The Civilization of the 7 Rivers: « Savitri: the incitator. The Sun in his role as instigator, awakener. »
And it is to Savitṛ that the most recited verse in all of human history is addressed.
The Gāyatrī mantra: one verse, four thousand years
Verse 3.62.10 of the Rig Veda is known as the Gāyatrī mantra — named after the metre in which it is composed, three times eight feet. In my translation:
3.62.10 — May we obtain this luminous splendour, so desired, from the god Savitri who stimulates our thought.
A single verse. Recited three times daily — at sunrise, at noon, at sunset — for at least four thousand years by millions of practitioners. It is still today the most widespread mantra in the Hindu world.
Its request is of a simplicity that conceals an abyssal depth: may the light of Savitṛ stimulate our thought. Not our body, not our material prosperity, not our health, not our longevity. Our thought. The capacity to think clearly, to see rightly, to be oriented by something luminous rather than by the darkness of the Ego.
The Gāyatrī is not a prayer in the sense of a request addressed to an external power. It is an alignment — a way of positioning oneself, at the dawn of each day, in the flow of solar light and asking that this light traverse consciousness and stimulate it.
Savitṛ in the hymns
The hymns entirely devoted to Savitṛ in the Rig Veda are numerous — 1.35, 4.53, 4.54, 5.81, 5.82, among others. Each illuminates a different aspect of this force of impulse.
Hymn 1.35, composed by the rishi Hiraṇyastūpa Āṅgirasa, is one of the most complete:
1.35.2 — Traversing the dark Sky, bringing rest to the mortal and the immortal, Savitri in his golden chariot travels, admiring the worlds.
1.35.3 — This god goes on a path going downward, going upward, with his two sublime bay Horses. The god Savitri coming from afar destroys all difficulties.
1.35.7 — The Eagle, master of the vital breath, in a deep trembling, illuminates the Intermediate World. Where is Sūrya now, who knows in which Sky his ray has spread?
1.35.8 — He illuminates the eight summits of the Earth, the path of the three Rainbows, the seven rivers. Savitri, the golden-eyed god, comes bringing the Jewel of Riches to pious men.
1.35.9 — Savitri of the golden hand, very active, has gone to the limit of the Sky and the Earth, he expels sorrow, he approaches the Sun, he crosses the dark Sky and reaches the Light.
« He illuminates the eight summits of the Earth, the seven rivers » — Savitṛ does not shine only on the Indus region. He embraces the totality of the known geography. His impulse is universal.
The impulse that precedes action
Hymn 4.53, composed by the rishi Vāmadeva Gautama, develops the dimension of impulse with particular richness:
4.53.1 — We choose this great force, to be chosen, of the god Savitri, the wise Asura. With which he combats the affliction of the pious with his rays that raise us toward the great god.
4.53.4 — Not deceiving, illuminating the acts of living beings, the god Savitri protects us. He has stretched his arms for the living beings of humanity. He manages the great functioning of the eternal law.
4.53.6 — Having vast benevolence, the incitator, the master of those who move and those who stay at home, may the god Savitri give us his triple protection against anguish.
« The master of those who move and those who stay at home » — Savitṛ is not only the god of action. He is also the god of rest — the one who indicates the moment when action must give way to contemplation, and when contemplation must convert into act.
Hymn 4.54 specifies this triple temporality:
4.54.6 — O Savitri, three times a day, your pressings bring Happiness each day.
Three times a day — morning, noon, evening. This is the rhythm of the recitation of the Gāyatrī. Three moments of daily alignment with the light of Savitṛ.
The stimulation of thought
It is in hymns 5.81 and 5.82 that the intellectual and spiritual dimension of Savitṛ is developed with the greatest precision.
5.81.1 — They unite their minds and unite their thoughts, the sages of wise spirit with the great sage. He distributes the offerings, whose rules he alone knows. Great is the celebration of the god Savitri.
5.81.4 — And you go, Savitri, through the three luminous worlds, and you take pleasure with the rays of the Sun. And you surround the night on both sides, and you become the friend. O God, by your rules.
5.81.5 — And you are master of stimulation, O You the One, and you become Pūṣan through your journeys.
« Master of stimulation » — this is perhaps the most precise definition of Savitṛ. Stimulation is not action itself. It is the impulse that precedes action, the force that sets intelligence in motion, that orients thought toward what is worth thinking.
And hymn 5.82, in Gāyatrī metre itself, concludes with sober beauty:
5.82.1 — We choose the essence of the god Savitri the dispenser, the best, the one who gives the most of all, whom we invoke quickly.
5.82.7 — With our songs, we choose the powerful champion who knows all the gods. Savitri who possesses the energy of truth.
The Gāyatrī metre: form as message
The Gāyatrī is not only the name of the most celebrated mantra in the Rig Veda. It is also the name of the metre in which it is composed — and the name of the goddess of that metre.
The Gāyatrī metre — three verses of eight syllables each, twenty-four syllables in total — is the most sacred metre of the Vedic tradition. In the introduction to my translation, I note it: the mantra, well pronounced, focusing attention on the meaning and on the corresponding chakra, combined with controlled breathing, allows the functioning of the pineal gland, connected to the sixth and seventh chakras.
The Gāyatrī mantra is not merely a text to be understood intellectually. It is a technique — whose sonic form, rhythm, and context of recitation (at sunrise, facing East) are integral parts.
3.62.10 — May we obtain this luminous splendour, so desired, from the god Savitri who stimulates our thought.
Four thousand years of daily recitation. The same verse, the same twenty-four syllables, the same three lines. The same request: may the light stimulate thought.
This is not tradition. It is technique.
Le Rig Veda 
Laisser un commentaire