Gayatri Mantra

[ravi chandrasekhara]

Dear List members,

Per Sastras, only male Dvijas (Braahmanas, Kshatriyas,
and Vaishyas) are allowed to recite Gayatri and that
too after they have been initiated into the mantra
during upanayana when they are invested with the
yagnopaveeta or janoi.  In the site:
http://vidyavrikshah.org/gayatri.html, the following
translation proclaims the universality of Gayatri
mantra, which is contradictory to the Sastras and to
what the Hindu Dharma site at www.kamakoti.org
mentions.

This   prayer   can   thus   be   seen   to   have   a
  universality   in   content   and         appeal
to   anyone   of   any   religious   persuasion.
Indeed   the   Vedas  explicitly   state   that   the
 knowledge   they   contain   is   to   be   imparted
 to  everyone   without   distinction   of   sex,
caste,   creed   or   race. (Sukla   Yajur   Veda
XXVI   -   2)

So does this contradict other components of the
Sastras ?  It seems many reformist Hindus subscribe to
the translation mentioned above.  I hope some of you
all would please shed some light on the above
mentioned translation.

Dhanyavaad, Ravi Chandrasekhara MD



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