309Garuda : The great eagle who is the vehicle of Lord
Vishn.u. The story of his birth is as
follows:
Kas’yapa the Praja-pati had two wives,
Vinata and Kadru. Vinata gave birth to
two sons, Arun.a and Garuda. Arun.a had
no posterior body. He became the
chariot driver of the Sun God. Garuda
came out of a great egg, brought down
the Elixir of Life from Indra to the level
of serpents and liberated his mother
from the bondage of slavery.
Gava-mayana : A grand Ve-dic ritual of sufficient
astronomical significance. The ritual is
consecrated to the solar God who
presides over the year. The term means
the path of light rays.
Ga-yatri : One of the main metres of the Ve-dic
hymns. It contains three lines of eight
syllables each. It is a symbol of the
lunar year with twenty four lunations.
The term also signifies a great Mantra
composed in the above metre. The
Mantra is an invocation of the Lord of
Omnipresence. A brahmin is expected
to meditate upon this Mantra thrice in
the day.
HHat.hayoga : A system of Yogic practice which deals
mainly with the training of the physical
body and its functions. However, this
method of Yogic practice does not form
a main feature of the Yogic path of the
Rishi
- s and the Masters.
Heart-Centre : See Chakra-s.