Gayathri Mantra-Vedic Prayer and Meaning

'Gayathri Mantra', is the ultimate Vedic prayer to awaken the intellectual powers of a person, first found its reference in the 'Vedas', believed to be the storehouse of all Divine Knowledge and the most ancient scriptures known to mankind...

"ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं ।
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् "

"Om bhur, bhuvah, swaha
that savithur varenyam
bhargo devasya dhi mahi
dhiyo yo nah prachodayath"

''O God, Thou art the giver of life,

the remover of pain and sorrow,

the bestower of happiness;

O Creator of the Universe;

thou are most luminous, pure and adorable (or Supreme Divine Being, embodiment of Knowledge and Light);

We meditate on Thee;

May thou inspire and guide (enlighten) our intellect (so that we may realise supreme truth) in the right direction''

It has three parts. Praise, meditation and prayer. The individual words of the manthra has a meaning of there own that can fill pages and pages if we write...

In simple terms..

Om: The primeval sound that represents Brahma.He pervades in all the worlds viz.Bhulo-lok, bhuvah-lok and swah-lok.He is omnipresent

Bhur:The physical world that embodies the vital or spiritual energy

Bhuvah:The mental world and destroyer of all sufferings,

Swaha:The celestial and spiritual world that embodies happiness,Tath: That or God, referring to transcendental Paramathma (Ultimate Spirit),

Savithur:The Bright Sun or the Creator and Preserver of World,

Varenyam:Best or most adorable (Supreme God propiated by the highest Gods),

Bhargo:Destroyer of all sins (That light that bestows wisdom, bliss and everlasting life),

Devasya:Divine Deity or Supreme Lord(light of that effulgent God),

Dheemahi:We meditate upon and take in,

Dhiyo:The Intellect,

Yo:The Light,

Nah:Our,(Yo Naha :- Be directed by that lord)

Prachodayath: Inspire or Enlighten or towards illumination

Listen to the chanting of Gayathri Manthra in the following youtube video .Rishis selected the words of the Gayathri Mantra and arranged them so that they not only convey meaning but also create specific power of righteous wisdom through their utterance. The maximum benefit of chanting the mantra is said to be obtained by chanting it 108 times. One may chant it for 3, 9, or 18 times when pressed for time. The syllables of the mantra are said to positively affect all the chakras or energy centres in the human body - hence, proper pronunciation and enunciation are very important
(ref:wikipedia).