The Gayatri Mantra, Meaning and Pronunciation
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
Tat savitur vareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi
Dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt
“We meditate upon the adorable radiance of the divine Sun, source of the earth, the mid-region and the heavens. May that light awaken and guide our understanding.”
Ṛgveda 3.62.10, attributed to the sage Viśvāmitra
Word by word
A shloka a child understands is a shloka they keep. Here is what each word is actually doing.
At dawn, midday and dusk, the three sandhya times. For children, once each morning is plenty.
- The most widely chanted verse in the Vedic tradition
- A request for clear thinking, not for things
- Steady, even metre that regulates the breath
- Deep training in precise Vedic pronunciation
What surprises children when you explain it is that the Gayatri asks for nothing material at all. It asks for the mind to be woken up and pointed in the right direction. Teach it in three parts, one per line, over three weeks. Pronunciation matters more here than in almost any other verse, so learning it from a teacher rather than a recording is worth doing.
Shloka Classes
Reading a shloka and chanting it correctly are different things. In our live online classes a mentor corrects your child’s pronunciation in the moment, teaches the meaning alongside the sound, and builds a repertoire verse by verse. Ages 4-14 · 45 min · Weekly.
Questions parents ask
It means: we meditate upon the adorable radiance of the divine Sun that pervades earth, sky and heaven, and asks that this light awaken and guide our thoughts. Notably, it asks for clarity of understanding rather than for any material thing.
Learn these next
All 28 shlokas
Teach your child Gayatri Mantra, properly
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