In honor of Surya - the personal deity , the metaphor in hindu philosophy!

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Ref 31675

 

Sr ramachandra writes :

 

( At the "adiBUta" level Sun is a heavenly body that gives light and

life. At the "adidaiva" level, the > sun god is personified so that

we may express our gratitude / prayers to > him (or rather we may

bond with him better). At the "AdhyAtma" level, (I only know the

words here -- don't have the real knowledge) one would realize that

the Sun is nothing but the light in oneself.)

 

wow! This sounds so wonderful. Yes! The Sun is the soaurce of all

*ENERGY* from which all plants , humans and animals derive their life

giving energies. - YES! we do worship the sun as 'surya' narayana or

Aditya - in fact, Hanuman's guru was none other than Surya bhagwan 3)

who taught Hanuman all that was to be known. There are many sun 2)

temples all over India honoring the sun God! SOME OF THESE SUN

TEMPLES ARE :

 

1)The Dakshinaarka temple at Gaya, Bihar

There are two other notable Sun temples at Gaya, namely the Uttaraka

temple near the Uttara Maanas tank and the Gayaditya temple on the

river Falgu.

 

2)The Bhramanya Dev Temple at Unao in Madhya Pradesh

 

3)Sun Temple at Surya Pahar in Assam

 

4)Suryanaar Temple near Kumbhakonam in Tamilnadu

..

5) Suryanarayanaswamy temple at Arasavilli in Andhra Pradesh

 

AND FINALLY THE MOST FAMOUS SUN TEMPLE at Konarak, Orissa

 

 

in RIG veda , a hymn to Surya goes like this

 

HIS bright rays bear him up aloft, the God who knoweth all that lives,

Surya, that all may look on him.

2 The constellations pass away, like thieves, together with their

beams,

Before the all-beholding Sun.

3 His herald rays are seen afar refulgent o'er the world of men,

Like flames of fire that burn and blaze.

4 Swift and all beautiful art thou, O Surya, maker of the light,

Illuming all the radiant realm.

5 Thou goest to the hosts of Gods, thou comest hither to mankind,

Hither all light to be beheld.

6 With that same eye of thine wherewith thou lookest brilliant Varuna,

Upon the busy race of men,

7 Traversing sky and wide mid-air, thou metest with thy beams our

days,

Sun, seeing all things that have birth.

8 Seven Bay Steeds harnessed to thy car bear thee, O thou farseeing

One,

God, Surya, with the radiant hair.

9 Surya hath yoked the pure bright Seven, the daughters of the car;

with these,

His own dear team, he goeth forth.

10 Looking upon the loftier light above the darkness we have come

To Surya, God among the Gods, the light that is most excellent.

11 Rising this day, O rich in friends, ascending to the loftier

heaven,

Surya remove my heart's disease, take from me this my yellow hue.

12 To parrots and to starlings let us give away my yellowness,

Or this my yellowness let us transfer to Haritala trees.

13 With all his conquering vigour this Aditya hath gone up on high,

Giving my foe into mine hand: let me not be my foeman's prey.

 

(translated by R.h GRIFFITH)

 

WE SARE ALL AWARE OF THE FAMOUS ADITYA HRIDAYAM composed by Sage

AGASTYA AND REVEALED TO SRI RAMA before his battle with Demon King

Ravana. Sri Rama himself hailed from the Surya vamsha. (dynasty)

 

Now, Ramachandra - this last one -the 'adyatma' level 'where you

describe 'the Sun is nothing but the light in oneself' is my all time

favorite!

 

here i recall this verse from Srimad Bhagvaqd Gita

 

raso 'ham apsu kaunteya

 

prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ

 

praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu

 

śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaḿ nṛṣu (CHAP7

VERSE 8)

 

 

O son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun

and the

moon, the syllable oḿ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in

ether

and ability in man.

 

LOrd Krishna is none other than the 'radiance' of the Sun - Kroishna

paramatma is the Ever shining light in the Jivatma! Paramjyotihi is

also atma jyotihi!

 

Verse 132 in Viveka chudamani reads

 

atr'aiva sattv'aatmani dhii-guhaayaaM

avyaakR^t'aakaasha ushat-prakaashaH

aakaasha uchchai ravi-vat prakaashate

svatejasaa vishvam idaM prakaashayan .. 132

 

In one of pure nature, the morning light of the Unmanifest shines

even here in the cave of the mind, illuminating all this with its

glory, like the sun up there in space. 132

 

vERSE 218 OF VIVEKA CHUDAMANI READS

ghaT'odake bimbita-marka-bimbam

aalokya muuDho ravim eva manyate

tathaa chid-aabhaasam upaadhi-saMsthaM

bhraanty'aaham ity eva jaDo'bhimanyate .. 218

 

The ignorant see the reflection of the sun in the water of a jar and

think it is the sun itself. In the same way the fool sees the

reflection of consciousness in its associated qualities and

mistakenly identifies himself with it.

 

 

Verse 219 of Viveka chudamani reads

 

ghaTaM jalaM tad-gata-marka-bimbaM

vihaaya sarvaM viniriikshhyate'rkaH

taTa-stha etat tritay'aavabhaasakaH

svayaM-prakaasho vidushhaa yathaa tathaa .. 219

 

The wise man ignores jar, water and the suns reflection in it, and

sees the selfilluminating sun itself which gives light to all three

but is independent of them.

 

 

And finally, may i thank each and every one who commented on this

thread ( Sadaji, Professorji, subbuji, sunderji Ramachandraji and all

others and even the silent ones ) and share this verse from Viveka

chudamani ?

 

ayaM svabhaavaH svata eva yatpara- shram-aapan'odapravaNaM

mahaatmanaam

sudhaaM shureshha svayam arkakarkasha- prabhaabhi-taptaam avati

kshhitiM kila .. 38

 

It is the nature of great souls to act spontaneously for the relief

of the distress of others, just as the moon here of itself protects

the earth parched by the heat of the fierce rays of the sun. 38

 

Yes - sudeshji said this group is ;like a'guru' to him - i will say

there are some gurus and some upagurus and we learn from them alljust

like sage Dattatreya learned from 24 upagurus from Nature!

 

Om Namo Surya Narayana!