Gayatri Mantra

[Ashish Chandra]

On Wed, 15 May 2002 21:17:54 -0700, ravi chandrasekhara
<vadhula at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>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.
>

Dear Ravi,

I read the information you provided in the link but could not make out
whether this was the opinion of the writer of the introduction or an
actual quotation from the Veda. I am not certain why the verses from SYV
XXVI-2 are not mentioned. But I think this question is best answered by
someone who has a copy of SYV and can post the relevant mantra as well as
its meaning. Maybe Jaldhar?

thanks
ashish