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Sun God
God Surya (सूर्य) can be called the only god in Hindu
religion who can be seen and prayed to in daily life. The Surya is depicted as having a body as shiny and radiant as pure gold. He is believed to be a golden red man with three eyes and four arms, riding a chariot driven by seven white horses.
The Chariot harnessed by seven horses represent the seven colours of the rainbow or the seven chakras.
Surya is the life giver, sustaining all life on earth by providing all radiance and energy. He by mounting the wheel of time is also the one who is responsible for the beautiful seasons and causing the cycle of day
and night.
The Surya is referred to in Sanskrit as "Mitra" or "Friend" down to the invariable
warmth. Surya is depicted with two hands holding a lotus in both; sometimes he
has four hands holding a lotus, chakra, a conch and a mace. |
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Surya in ancient literature
In Vedas, numerous hymns are dedicated to Surya, the Sun personified, and Savitr, "the impeller", a solar deity
either identified with or associated with Surya. Even the Gayatri mantra, which is regarded as one of the most sacred of the
Hindu hymns is dedicated to the Sun. The Adityas are a group of solar deities, from the Brahmana period numbering twelve. The ritual of
sandhyavandanam, performed by some Hindus, is an elaborate set of hand gestures and body movements, designed to greet and revere the Sun.
The mantra in Rig Veda praise to the Surya as :
आ कृष्णेन् रजसा वर्तमानो निवेशयन्न अमृतं मर्त्यं च ।
हिरण्ययेन सविता रथेना देवो याति भुवनानि पश्यन ॥
(1/35)
(Throughout the dusky firmament advancing, laying to rest the immortal and the mortal,
Borne in his golden chariot he cometh, Savitar, God who looks on every creature]
Gaytri Mantra in Vedas for Lord Surya
ॐ भूर्भुवः॒ स्वः॒
तत्स॑वितुर्वरे॑ण्यम्
भ॒र्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि।
धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त्॥
(Om bhoor-bhuvaH svaH, tat-savitur-vareNNyam, bhargo devasya dheemahi,
dhiyo yo naH prachodayaat.)
In the Vedas Surya Dev is referred to as the god of light who is responsible for all life on earth.
The Children of lord Surya are : Shani
Deva (शनि), Yama, Yamuna, Tapti |
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Names of Surya
Ravi,
Suraj, Aditya, Adit, Bhaskar, Pusha, Divakar, Bhanu
Vedic Mythology with stories
The Mahabharata describes one of its warrior heroes Karna as being the son of the righteous queen Kunti and the Sun. The Ramayana
describes Lord Ram (श्री राम) as being descended from the Surya
Vansh or the clan of kings as bright as the Sun.
The Sun God is said to married to the beautiful goddess Ranaadeh, also known as Sanjnya. She is depicted in dual form, being both sunlight and shadow,
personified. The charioteer of Surya is Arun, who is also personified as the redness that accompanies the sunlight in dawn and dusk.
Sun God in different cultures
The Solar deities
associated with different aspects of the cultural universe of the society, but for the most part its raw image remains
identical. In the 3rd millennium BC, the winged sun was an ancient symbol of Horus.
The Neolithic concept of a solar barge, the sun as traversing the sky in a boat,
is found in the later myths of ancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Earlier Egyptian myths imply that the sun is within the lioness,
Proto-Indo-European religion has a solar chariot, the sun as traversing the sky in a chariot.
During the Roman Empire, a festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun was celebrated when the duration of daylight first begins
to increase after the winter solstice, — the "rebirth" of the sun.
In Germanic mythology this is Sol, in Vedic Surya, and in Greek Helios (occasionally
referred to as Titan) or Apollo. Mesopotamian Shamash plays an important role during the Bronze Age, and "my Sun" is eventually used as an
address to royalty. South American cultures have emphatic Sun worship. Svarog is the Slavic god sun and spirit of fire. .
In Aztec mythology, Tonatiuh was the sun god. The Aztec people considered him the leader of Tollan, heaven. |
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Surya in vedic Astrology
God
Surya is the King of all the planets and is responsible for controlling all their movements.
The Sun in Vedic astrology is called RAVI, or SURYA. In western tropical astrology, the Sun rules the
Sign of Leo. He is exalted in the sign of Aries, and he is in his fall in the sign of Libra. In
vedic astrology the Sun is known as the ATMAKARAKA, means .an "indicator of the
soul." The Sun is the indicator of the father, our ego, honors, status, fame, the heart, the eyes, general
vitality, respect and power.
He is particularly beneficial for the fire sign Ascendants of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. His nature, or temperament is PITTA, or fiery, and the gemstone associated with the Sun is the red
ruby. The Sun's metal is Gold and his direction is east. His day is Sunday, and he comes into full maturity and brilliance at age 22.
The Vedas adore him as a witness (Sakshi) of all actions.
He is the lord of Leo in the Zodiac. He stays one month in each Rasi and takes 365 days or 12 months to complete a round of 12 Rasis. Worship of
Surya on Sunday is supposed to bring in manifold benefits to the worshippers. .
Lord Surya helps one gain his eyesight and SURYANAMASKAR
will strengthen one's bones, cure illness, however severe it may be, cleanses the devotee from his sins and bestows on him progeny, wealth,
good-health and long life. He is the cause for rainfall benefiting the world. |
Shani
Deva (शनि) is the son of Lord Surya
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Surya and modern Astronomy
Our solar system consists of an average star we call the Sun, the planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. It includes: the satellites of the planets; numerous comets, asteroids, and
meteoroids; and the interplanetary medium. The planets, most of the satellites of the planets and the asteroids revolve
around the Sun in the same direction, in nearly circular orbits.
Our solar system the part of whole solar system,
together with the local stars visible on a clear night, orbits the center of our
home galaxy, a spiral disk of 200 billion stars we call the Milky Way.
Again Our galaxy, one of billions of galaxies known, is traveling through intergalactic space.
The order of planets revolving around the Sun are:
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
On February 14, 1990, the cameras of Voyager 1 pointed back
toward the Sun and took a series of pictures of the Sun and the planets, making the first ever
"portrait" of our solar system as seen from the outside. |
This picture shows the Sun and all nine planets of the solar system as seen by
the space explorers. Starting at the top-left corner is the Sun followed by the
planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. |
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Prayers to please Lord Surya
The lord
Surya is prayed in the simplest way by folding one's hands in a namaskar at the time of sunrise. A simple chant of Om Suryaye Namah
pleases the lord Surya. A Hindu worship Lord Surya
at the rising of the Sun, known as Surya namaskāra The 12 mantras for surya namaskara:
ॐ मित्राय नमः (aum mitrāya namah)
ॐ रवये नमः (aum ravayé namah )
ॐ सूर्याय नमः (aum sūryāya namah )
ॐ भानवे नमः (aum bhānavé namah )
ॐ खगय नमः (aum khagāya namah )
ॐ पुष्णे नमः (aum pushné namah)
ॐ हिरण्यगर्भाय नमः (aum hiranyagarbhāya namah)
ॐ मारिचाये नमः (aum mārichāyé namah)
ॐ आदित्याय नमः (aum ādityāya namah)
ॐ सावित्रे नमः (aum sāvitré namah)
ॐ आर्काय नमः (aum ārkāya namah)
ॐ भास्कराय नमः (aum bhāskarāya namah)
The Gayatri Mantra is also associated with Surya.
Another hymn associated with Surya is the Aditya Hridayam, recited by the great sage Agastya to
Lord Ram (श्री राम) on the
warfield before the fight with Ravana in Lanka. .
Surya Temples
Surya temples solely dedicated to lord Surya
are found in India. Surya temple at Ranakpur is an ancient temple dating back to the fifteenth century. Another famous temple dedicated to Surya dev is found in
Konark, Orissa. The Sun temple at Konark near Bhubaneshwar in Orissa
was constructed by King Narasimhadeva in the 13 th Century A.D.The Konark temple has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site.
Other temples dedicated to Surya are in Arasavilli, Srikakulam District in
Andhra Pradesh, one in Gujarat and another in Rajasthan.
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Surya namaskāra
Surya temple at Konark
Surya temple at Ranakpur |
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Surya Shasthi Puja
Surya Shasthi Puja (also known as
Chhath) or Chhath Festivalcelebrated on “Kartik Shukla Paksha Shasthi”
to offer respect to the “Surya Dev” (Sun God). Chhath” is celebrated twice in a year. First on
“Kartik Chhath” , this year on on 24 th October 2009 and the second occasion comes in the summer
season in March- April which is called “Chaiti Chhath”. Chhath is the leading puja of Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar .
It has also spread to Jharkhand and adjoining Chattishgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
A sea of humanity offered “arghya” to the Sun God at sunrise on various ghats of
River Ganga (गगां) on October 26, 2009 at Patna, bringing an end to the four-day Chhath festival. In
Delhi and other places large number of devotees also offered “arghya” to the Sun God at sunrise on various ghats of
River Yamuna (यमुना)
The devotees greeted the rising Sun with full devotion and exchanged greetings with each others, offering prasad, fruits and sweets.
Surya is the ultimate source of energy
The Sun is the richest source of electromagnetic energy (mostly in the form of heat and light) in the solar
system. All life in the biosphere and all the activities in the ecosystem of the earth are driven by solar energy.
Reference and outer links
1 Sun God- Wapedia : Surya God
2 Sun God on twitter twitter
3. Video on Sun God - You Tube : The son of the Sun God
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