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Re: Vedic deities

From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian (ramakris_at_erols.com)
Date: Mon May 31 1999 - 19:34:40 PDT 

Anand Karalapakkam <anand@engr.uconn.edu> wrote:

>> You are making the assumption here that "gAyatrI" actually
>> refers to a concrete deity (i.e., something with a jIva).
>> My feeling is that it does not.  "gAyatrI" refers specifically
>
>
> Our AchAryAs have declared that there does exist a dEvata
> named "gAyatri" ie. a jIvAtma given the post of "gAyatri".

[ ... ]

I'd like to know what dhyAna shloka tradition Srivaishnavas recite
after the kara and a.nga nyAsas before gAyatrI japam. For smArtas, it
goes muktAvidru ... and describes the form of gAyatrI. If it is the
same for Sri Vaishnavas, then Anands explanation would be the most
natural.

Rama