Ratha Saptami-AruNam: Part II

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Sri: Dear VedAbhimAnis :In the previous post , adiyEn mnetioned about the links of AruNa PraSnam ( SuryaUpanishad, AaruNam, Surya NamaskAraMantrams ) to Ratha Sapthami celebratingSurya NaarAyaNa Murthy sitting in

the middle of the orbit of Aditya

( Aditya Mandalam).Let us assemble some informationPoints about AruNa Prasnam before

delving deep into the AruNa PraSna

Veda Mantrams :1. AruNa PraSanam is housed in

Yajur Veda Taitareeya SaakhA

AraNyakam .It is recited for the

Phalans of disease free body

( arOga dhruDagAtram) , life

enhancement ( Aayush Abhivruddhi)

and banishment of premature death

( apamruthyu dhOsha nasanam ) . 2. It contains 32 anuvAkAs housing 130PanchAtees ( individual Veda Mantrams).

At the end of reciting each PanchAsat ,

the reciter facing the Sun prostrates before

the Sun . Those who are not able to

prostrate 130 times , simply offer their

worship with the prayer: " Sri ChAyaa

SuvarcchalAmBhA SamEta Sri

Soorya NaarAyaNa SwaminE Nama: "

followed by Ashtakahsara mantram .

3. The Mantrams of AaruNam ( AaruNaKethuka Saayanam) deal largely withSurya UpAsanA . That is why it is called

Surya Upanishad . This is different

from Akshi Upanishad also recited for

freedom from eye disoeders.4.As mentioned before ,The recitation of

these mantrams with the performance of

Surya Namaskarams at Sunrise yields

long life, perfect health and other desired

goals of Life.5. The famous Prasnam known as MantraPushpam is housed as the 22nd anuvAkam.The importance of Mantra Pushpam and the meanings of the mantrams of this anuvAkam have been included inthe 106th ebook in the Sundarasimham series :http://www.sundarasimham.org

 

AnuvAkam by AnuvAkam Content

******************************************A wide variety of subject matter iscovered in AaruNam .

 

AnuvAkam 1 to 6

 

Prayers to Suryan and His links

to Kaalam ( day/night/paksham/Maasam/Rutu/ayanam/Samvatsaram arecovered in the first 6 anuvAkams.

Suryan is meditated upon as Kaala

Svaroopi . In this visualization of

Kaalam as a fast flowing river ,

the beauty of Ruthus (seasons)

and their atidEvatais are praised .

 

Seventh AnuvAkamThe seventh anuvAkam provides a description of Soorya Mandalam and 8 AadityAs along with MahaaMeru mountain .The abode of the 8th

Aditya , Kasyapa , is identified as

Mahaa Meru Mountain ( Uttara dhruvam).

 

Eighth AnuvAkam

In the 8th anuvAkam , the threeMantra drushtA rishis talk about Kaala Mruthyu, akAla Mruthyu ,( Untimely death) and the reason

and cause of death .The prayer to

Agni to bless us to travel in

the righteous direction also finds

its home here .

 

Ninth AnuvAkamThe 9th anuvAkam prays to manydevatAs and ways to defeat apamruthyuare included . Jamadhagni Maharishi

is the mantra dhrushtaa for the Ninth

anuvAkam The focus of the 10th anuvAkam isAswini dEvAs .The 11th anuvAkam celebrates the Vaibhavam of Surya NaarAyaNanand the power of Surya UpAsanaa togain the PurushArthams . Gayatri Mantrameulogizing the antharyAmi Brahmanof the Sun God finds its place here .The 12th anuvAkam is a prayer to Indra.The 13th AnuvAkam deals with Kaala Mruthyu , a son of AdithiDevi and how He reduces the longevityof one with the rise and setting ofKaala Mruthyu ( MaarthANDan) .Ways to blunt the power of MaarthANDan thru sandhyaUpAsana is referred to here . The next three anuvAkAs (14,15 & 16)consist of many prayers to Suryan .The 17th and the 18th AnuvAkAs address prayers to Vaayu .The 19th anuvAkam is about the description of various narakams.The tattvam of AruNa Kethuka Saayanamis explained in the 20th and the 21stAnuvAkams .The 22nd AnuvAkam is a salutation tothe Jala Devataa . This is the Mantra Pushpa anuvAkam mentioned earlier .The 23rd anuvakam touches on the subjects of Jagath Srushti ,sankalpam to gain one's wishes .The 24th , 25th and the 26th AnuvAkamsdeal with many rituals like procurement ofwater from six different sources, Construction of Uttara vEdhi , spreading of lotus leaves ,

Agni Prathishtai et al.

 

The 27th anuvAkam is a compilation of

the seven daatus of the Body ( Skin , Blood,

Flesh, Medhas, bone , majjaa ,Suklam , Ojas).

Addiitonal information on the nava dhvArams of

the body , Jaraa ( old age), rOgha grahaNam

( acquiring diseases) , rebirth , release from

the cycles of birth and death ( Moksham) are

covered .

 

The 28 th anuvAkam instructs us on how to

pray to Lord Agni . The 29th offers instruction on

how to pray to the Rain God ( Parjanya ) . The 30th

anuvAkam is a prayer for long life ( Veda PrAyam).

The 31st anuvAkam deals with VaiswAnara Yaj~nam

thru prayer to KubhEra to fulfill desires for material

wealth to serve BhagavAn and His BhAgavathAs.

 

The 32nd AnuvAkam

 

In this final anuvAkam describes as how to

perform Samvatsara Vratam and points out

that anyone who completes that vratam

would accumulate many auspiciousness

( PuNyams) : " Tapasvee puNyO bhavati ,

Tapasvee PuNyO bhavathi ".

 

adiyEn will provide the meanings of

the mantrams of the individual

PanchAsathis of the 32 anuvAkams

in future postings .

 

Sriman NaarAyaNa Smruti ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan