Sun Salutation...

The sun is a universal leitmotif linking ancient wisdom traditions of the world, and yet, its deeper meaning continues to elude humanity, writes PRAMOD U V Today is Makar Sankranti, the day when the glorious Surya, the Sun God of Hindus, begins his ascendancy and entry into the northern hemisphere by crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. It is the perfect time to align your life with the celestial cycles of the sun, so that your spirit gets a divine dose of rousing verve and an infusion of light to help you progress along your spiritual path. Since the beginning of human existence, civilisations have held sacred beliefs that revolve around the sun’s significance. A strong conviction in the divinity of the sun has been an indispensable feature of the religious consciousness of our ancestors. The adoration of the sun has formed the heart of many of the world’s religions — unknown even to many of their present-day adherents — and are just as pertinent to people having a longing for spirituality today. Spiritually visualised and esoterically perceived, the sun is not merely an enormous orb of nuclear energy as scientists would tell us, but a beaming corpus of life-giving vitality to everyone. The sun is not just a source of heat, like an electric heater or a colossal conflagration. The sun is one of the hoariest and most universal leitmotifs linking ancient wisdom traditions of the world — and yet its deeper meaning has continued to elude modern humanity. It may be easy to write off ancient spiritual people as simple-minded nature worshippers, but there is a reason why natural principles such as those enshrined in the sun are found throughout sacred texts and ancient sites. This is because these are universal principles that administer all of creation, including all life from the largest to the minutest of scales. The Sun is extolled as being Pratyaksha Brahmn — the manifest aspect of God, who symbolises the one, nondual, self-effulgent, splendid divinity blessing one and all assiduously. As he comes up in the horizon in the morning, the darkness of the night takes to its heels, and the whole world is stimulated to act. In the Purusha Sukta, the sun is likened to the all-seeing eye of the Virat Purusha, the Cosmic Person. In esoteric parlance, the sun is regarded as the presiding deity over the self of man. Hence, the sun is designated as atmakaraka. The Rig Veda proclaims that sun is the soul of the universe, it is sustenance and solace, Surya atma jagatastussca. The spiritual presiding principle in the sun is the invigorator, energiser of the self and of all creatures. The solar principle is the Self, as it were, the pivot around which all individual souls revolve. One of the hymns of Suparna Sukta appearing in the Rig Veda depicts the centrality of sun to all existence by employing a beautiful allegory: “Seven spirited steeds are arranged to a resplendent chariot which has but one wheel, and which is drawn by a single horse that shines with seven rays, meaning one light detailing into seven rays and colours. The wheel has three axles and is eternal, whence hang all the worlds. ” The Gayatri Mantra is a prayer appealing to Savitr, the highest wisdom vested in the sun to illumine an understanding of our true nature by rendering our intellects subtle and receptive to the divinity that pervades the experience of life and is the essence of our very Self. The multi-faceted beneficence of the sun is personified as the 12 Adityas. As Dhata, he creates living beings; as Aryama, he instigates the wind; as Mitra, he governs the moon and the oceans; as Varuna, he oversees the waters; as Indra, he vanquishes the foes of the gods; as Vivasvaan, he enables the ignition of fire; as Tvashta, he nourishes the trees and herbs; as Vishnu, he restores balance between divine and the diabolic; as Amshuman, he is again in the wind; as Bhaga, he sustains the body of all living beings; as Pusha, he makes foodgrains grow, and as Parjanya, he showers down rain. The Ramayana speaks of Sage Agastya initiating Rama into sun worship through the Aditya Hridaya Mantra, as Rama himself is believed to be a Suryavanshi, a descendent of Surya. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, every earnest Hindu bows in obeisance to the rising sun and thanks him by offering heartfelt prayers for the bountiful blessings bestowed on humanity. However, it is not the literal object — the naked shining sun — that is worshipped, but certain forces or powers, of which the sun is an exemplification. The religions of antiquity agree that the material visible sun is a reflector rather than a source of power. This sun reflects the light of the imperceptible and transcendental sun, which is the real source of life, light, and truth. The sun is but a sunflower receiving succour from a higher light. Ancient seers always revered the visible sun as the outward manifestation of the spiritual sun — an embodiment of the heavenly fount of creation and a symbol of higher consciousness. ■ Post your comments at speakingtree.in