Question: Currently I am reading ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ and I want if you could elaborate on what actually Sri Ramakrishna meant by the saying: “The Sandhya merges in the Gayatri, and the Gayatri merges in Om.”
Answer: The performance of Sandhya Vandana (called, in short, also as Sandhya) is a daily ritual which a Brahmacharin (celibate) or a householder has to do. It takes too much time and it is laborious. It requires water, vessels, clean place and it is a time-consuming process. So, Sri Ramakrishna has suggested that one need not do Sandhya Vandana which becomes a mechanical process and if one chants Gayatri Mantra (a Vedic Mantra) which is a powerful Mantra that is more than enough. But the Gayatri Mantra should be chanted knowing its meaning fully well. Then the Sandhya need not be performed. Then the meaning of Sandhya merges in Gayatri.
Ramakrishna has further simplified this Sandhya and Gayatri by saying that the mantra “AUM” which indicates Supreme Brahman is much more powerful than Sandhya Vandana and Gayatri and both these merge in “AUM”. Therefore, if you chant the Mantra “AUM” with intense feeling and knowing fully its meaning then both Sandhya and Gayatri merge in “AUM”. Then chanting of “AUM” is more than enough. The main point is that any mantra that a person chants goes to purify his mind.