Questions and Answers about the Sun and Moon

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Question One: What is the position of the Sun god, who is often addressed as

Surya Narayana?

 

There is a particular category of deva known as the 'adityas', of which

there are twelve. One of these adityas becomes the sun god for a particular

period of time, and then another one will take the post after him. It is

just like the position of Yama. At a particular time one person will be

acting as Yamaraja, and then another person will take over that function.

They are all jivas; they are not vishnu-tattva; they are not Lord Narayana,

but when an aditya becomes the sun god he is empowered by Lord Narayana.

This is why he is known as Surya Narayana. It is similar to the case of

Vyasa Muni, who is an empowered jiva. The difference between the Vyasa

category of empowerment and the Surya category of empowerment is that Vyasa

does not perform administration, whereas the sun god is the administrator of

the universe. By the diffusion of Surya's energies of heat and light he

manages the entire universe. Everything that functions and moves within the

universe is empowered by his heat and light.

 

Surya is a very unique living entity in that the paramatma (Supersoul)

present in his heart is a different form of the Lord than the general

paramatma present in the hearts of all living entities. His paramatma is

described as possessing a golden mustache, with two-hands and effulgent.

 

Surya is also the original teacher of the Vedas. Thus he has two functions,

one in administration and one in education. He is already situated beyond

liberation, and that's why he does not have a four-handed paramatma within

his heart. The four-handed paramatma leaves the living entity when the jiva

is situated constitutionally. That is the point of liberation: muktir

hitvanyatha rupam sva-rupena vyavasthitih.

 

Question Two: How can there only be one sun in the universe?

 

Every object in creation has light in it due to the presence of the fire

element of the pancha-bhutas. If there is fire there is also light. Thus

every object emits light to some degree. An object that does not emit light

cannot be seen. The moon and other heavenly bodies also emit light by

borrowing from the sun. All the planets and stars are effulgent, but they

aren't as effulgent as the sun, and their rays of light are not

administrative rays, they are only influencing rays. The vedic conception

does not accept many suns within one universe. There are innumerable

universes, each universe possessing fourteen planetary systems which are

illuminated by one sun.

 

There are other fiery heavenly bodies, just as the sun is primarily a firey

planet. Some move in circular orbits and others that move back and forth

like the Dhumaketu. Though there are many fiery planets, their fire does not

function as the stimulator of every other object within the universe. It is

something like the traffic department's police vehicle and the vehicles of

others driving in the street. The police drive on the roads to make sure

that the traffic is alright, the roads are safe, etc. The other cars are

only traveling for their own function; they are not doing anything for the

road. Like this, the sun's functioning is administrating the universe. The

sun's fire provides the energy for every object to move and expand. In

addition to this the sun's control goes all the way down to the working of

the elements, their movements and interaction. This is why there is a

conception of the sun being the controller of everything, God. Other firey

planets have fire and are hot, but they are not controlling the elements nor

administrating the universal diffusion of energy for action. Thus they are

not considered as 'suns'.

 

The Bhagavatam states:

 

yan-madhya-gato bhagavams tapatam patis tapana atapena tri-lokim pratapaty

avabhashayaty atma-bhasha

 

"In the midst of that region of outer space is the most opulent sun, the

king of all the heavenly bodies that emanate heat. By the influence of its

radiation, the sun heats the universe, maintains its proper order and gives

light to help all living entities see."

 

The words tapatam patih indicate that the sun is the supreme among those

heavenly bodies that produce heat. Thus it is accepted in the Vedic texts

that there are other firey planets, but they cannot compare to the Sun for

the above mentioned reasons.

 

Question Three: What is the Aditya Hridayam?

 

The Aditya Hridayam is a prayer to the sun god for getting victory in the

war. It is usually also chanted for getting rid of sickness and becoming

free from loans.

 

Question Four: What is the Surya Purana?

 

The Surya Purana is a late compilation taking verses from other more ancient

puranas. Any text that speaks about the sun in the Puranas has been taken

and joined to make this Surya Purana. In India this text is usually

prominent where ever there is a sun temple. For example there is a Suryanar

Koil in Tamil Nadu, and in Orissa there is the Konarak temple. In such

places the Surya Purana is prominent. The most authorized texts concerning

the sun are the Tejo-bindu Upanishad and the Surya Upanishad.

 

Why does Krishna say, "Among stars I am the moon." The moon is certainly not

a star.

 

Krishna states, "nakshatranam aham sashi". A common translation for

nakshatra is "star", which is fine in a general sense. But we should not

take the technical scientific definition of "star" and think that nakshatra

refers to it. In the Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary, "star" is

defined as:

 

"Any of the small points of light, including planets and meteors, that are

seen in the sky at night."

 

This is the meaning that we should keep in mind when Lord Krishna says,

"Among stars I am the moon." In the night sky, nothing is brighter and more

effulgent than the moon. Thus that aspect of supremacy represents Lord

Krishna.

 

Question Five: In chapter fifteen of the Gita Sri Krishna says "I am the

moon which nourishes all the vegetables". This seems to be opposite to

scientific evidence.

 

The light of the moon does have impact on vegetation, but this is not a

science that has been researched sufficiently by western scientists. In

Ayurveda certain plants must be grown and picked by moon light for them to

be effective in curing disease. This can be tested scientifically. The

modern Ayurvedic producers do not follow this method, and as a result their

medicines are hardly 100th as effective as the medicines produced by the

traditional method. The tradditional method also requires certain

bija-mantras to be chanted into the medicine for several lakhs of counts,

and finally there must be worship of Dhanvantari (the incarnation of Vishnu

who established Ayurveda). All of these procedures create a subtle effect on

the medicine which can be visibly see by the effect and even by taste. It is

unfortunate that hardly any Ayurvedic doctors follow these scriptural rules

when producing medicine, and as a result the Ayurvedic science is almost

lost.

 

Your servant,

 

Jahnava Nitai Das,

Bhaktivedanta Ashram

http://www.indiadivine.com

 

 

 

 

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