బ్లాగులు — Gayatri Japam

There is one sound Hindus believe has traveled unchanged since the dawn of human memory — twenty-four syllables, seen by a sage in deep meditation thousands of years before anyone wrote a word down. Once a year, especially in South Indian Brahmin households, voices rise before sunrise to repeat that same sound until it stops feeling like chanting and starts feeling like breathing. That morning is Gayatri Japam. What Is Gayatri Japam? Gayatri Japam — also called Gayatri Japa — is the ritual of repeatedly chanting the Gayatri Mantra, traditionally 108 times, sometimes 1,008. It holds particular importance for Sama...