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'Gayatri' means the meter in which a poem is composed and is sung with the attractive tune or rhythm. It is said that Gayatri means the meter only, which is the mode of song (Gayatri chandah). Gayatri does not mean a deity. The deity is said to be God only (Savitaa devataa). 'Savitaa' means the creator. The three threads put on the boy in the thread marriage denote the three qualities, which constitute the creation. It conveys the concept that you should worship the unimaginable God through an imaginable item of the imaginable creation only. The three qualities (Satvam, Rajas and Tamas) exist in any human being. The living beings other than human beings consist Rajas and Tamas only because knowledge (Satvam) is absent in them. Therefore, the three qualities indicate that God should be worshipped through the human form only. When you express your love on the contemporary human form through songs, each song is 'Gayatri Mantra'. The language can be your mother tongue. The language should be the vehicle of communication of the meaning. Singing in languages like Sanskrit is of no use since the meaning is not realized by you. The climax of the tragedy of Hinduism is to chant some hymn in unknown language without any trace of singing and to call that as 'Gayatri Mantra'!
'Gayatri' means the song of God that protects all the human beings irrespective of caste and sex (Gayaan traayate iti). Thus, any song of God that attracts your mind provoking you to sing again and again so that the knowledge conveyed by it is constantly revised. Today, people chant some hymn of the Veda present in a meter called 'Gayatri' without any trace of singing and which does not attract your mind to repeat and revise the knowledge again and again, is considered as 'Gayatri Mantra'! In view of the actual concept, it cannot be treated as 'Gayatri Mantra'. The foolish priests stamp such hymn as 'Gayatri Mantra' and further say that the females and other castes are not eligible for it. First of all, what you say as 'Gayatri Mantra' is not 'Gayatri Mantra' at all in view of its actual concept. This is the first mistake.
The second mistake is to deny such false 'Gayatri Mantra' to ladies and other castes. 'Gayatri' means any song of God in any mother tongue that protects any soul (Gaya) irrespective of caste and sex.
The third mistake is to treat 'Gayatri Mantra' as a female deity, which actually means singing on God in any convenient language.
The fourth mistake is to deny 'Gayatri Mantra' to females for which a female deity is super-imposed and reject all the female souls as not eligible. Thus, the actual concept is totally buried and a chain of misinterpretations have buried the true concept resulting in blind tradition of ignorance.
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