॥ गायन्त मारक्ष दत्त ! ॥

गायन्तमारक्ष दत्त ! ।
गायत्रि ! तत् छन्द एव ॥ (पल्लवी)

O Datta, protect the singer of this hymn on You! O Gāyatrī! You are the name of the metre in which this hymn on Datta is composed.

[The Vedic hymn “Tat Savituḥ…” is commonly called the Gāyatrī mantra since this hymn is composed in a Vedic metre called Gāyatrī. Before reciting Vedic hymns, it is a common practice to announce the name of the sage associated with the hymn, the name of the metre in which the hymn is composed and the deity who is to be worshipped through the hymn. Accordingly, before reciting this hymn, the metre in which this hymn is composed is stated to be Gāyatrī. Gāyatrī is not stated to be the deity to be worshipped. The deity to be worshipped is stated to be Savitā, who is none other than Datta “Gāyatrī chandaḥ Savitā devatā…”.]

अनूह्यलीनः सोपाधिश्च ।
सविता ब्रह्मा दत्त एव ॥

When the unimaginable God merges with an energetic being He becomes the mediated God. God Brahmā, the Creator is the mediated God and He is called Savitā. Savitā means the God, who has given birth to or created all souls. The word Savitā is derived from the root word ṣūṅ (ṣūṇ prāṇi prasave). Thus, the deity worshipped through this hymn is God Brahmā, the Creator, who is Datta Himself. This hymn does not worship the feminine deity called Gāyatrī.

सर्वमतानां नोह्य साम्यम् ।
का वाऽपि भाषा किमपि मतम् ॥

The unimaginable non-mediated God is the basic original God, common to all religions. The same God gets mediated through different energetic forms to become the Gods of different religions and these Gods are known by different names. Hence, whatever may be the language and whichever may be the religion, the basic unimaginable God is common to all religions.

[This means that any sweet prayer sung in any language by a person belonging to any religion is Gāyatrī. Gāyatrī means the mode of worshipping God (Creator) through sweet songs. It does not mean any specific deity called Gāyatrī.]

अलिङ्गकुलमुनि विश्वामित्रम् ।
भगवद्गीतं मन्त्र तत्त्वम् ॥

Viśvāmitra is the sage of the Gāyatrī mantra. Viśvāmitra (viśva mitra) means the friend of all human beings in this world, irrespective of gender, caste, religion, region, culture etc. Any devotional song sung on God is Gāyatrī. This is the essence of the Gāyatrī mantra. Gāyatrī is thus universal and not specific to any religion.