ताम् ह एताम् एके सावित्रीम् अनुष्टुभम् अन्वाहुः वाक् अनुष्टुप् एतद् वाचम् अनुब्रूमः इति न तथा कुर्यात् गायत्रीम् एव सावित्रीम् आनुब्रूयात् यदि ह वा अपि एवम्विद् बहु इव प्रतिगृह्णाति न ह एव तद् गायत्र्या एकम् चन पदम् प्रति
tām ha etām eke sāvitrīm anuṣṭubham anvāhuḥ vāk anuṣṭup etad vācam anubrūmaḥ iti na tathā kuryāt gāyatrīm eva sāvitrīm ānubrūyāt yadi ha vā api evamvid bahu iva pratigṛhṇāti na ha eva tad gāyatryā ekam cana padam prati
Some recite this sāvitrī as an anuṣṭubh, saying: "speech is anuṣṭubh, and we shall recite by it." One should not do so: the sāvitrī should be recited precisely as a gāyatrī. Even if one who knows this receives what seems like much, it is not worth one single foot of the gāyatrī.
95d2a051ae82 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:22:50 AM UTC
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A rubrical note: some recite the sāvitrī (the prayer to Savitṛ) in the anuṣṭubh metre — the Upaniṣad objects: only in gāyatrī. Behind the quarrel about metres is a theology of metre: the gāyatrī, as we have heard, has a fourth foot above the dust; a prayer in this metre carries the sun with it and the protection of the breaths — no other metre conveys that secret.
And a measure of values at the end: any offerings to the knower "are not worth one foot of the gāyatrī" — the three worlds, the threefold Veda, all that breathes (its three feet!) outweigh any fee. There is no gift dearer than a prayer that contains the universe.