A poem from the Rg Veda (3.62.10), the earliest Hindu sacred
literature; the verse is composed in the gayatri poetic meter, thus its name.
The line is an invocation to the sun, which might be
translated as "let us reflect on the sun, most wonderful of all the gods,
may he stimulate our brains." Every "twice-born" man who has
acquired the teenage religious initiation known as the "second birth"
is required to recite the Gayatri mantra in the morning and evening (sandhya).
The transfer of this phrase to the young person is a vital
aspect of this ritual.
The Gayatri must be chanted every day, but not across water; this was one of the reasons why many orthodox Hindus were hesitant to go overseas in the past.
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