Brahmam, the Ultimate

The Sun is considered supreme God in Hinduism, like Zeus in Greek mythology. He is worshiped in different names, chiefly as Surya Narayana, Bhaskara, Aditya, Ravi, Mitra, Bhanu etc. The sun has been recognized and understood as the prime source of all kinds of energy in the world by our forefathers much before any western scientist could discover that. That is why the day of the Hindu starts with sun worship.

The following are some of the ways by which the sun is worshiped by devout Hindus even today:

1. Make “Argyam” - water offering to sun during the daily ritual of “sandyavandanam”.
2. The supreme mantra, the Gayathri is chanted invoking the sun god.
3. “Surya Namaskar” - prostrating towards the direction of appearance of sun in the morning chanting hymns in praise of sun. This is done to request sun to bestow on us, inter alia, robust health. (Prostrating is done in different formats in almost all religions - Muslims do it; X-ians kneel down in half- prostrate form.)

The sun is considered in Hinduism as the giver of health, as it is said in Sanskrit, “Arogyam Bhaskarat ichchet!” The sun is the chief of all Navagrahas, the 9 planet-gods. It will be a misnomer to call them planets, but the term is used for want of a better translation of the word “graha”. you can call them celestial bodies, if you wish. Sun is an incarnation of lord Vishnu, and the gods are considered to be dwelling at the center of “surya - mandala”, the abode of the sun and his orbital area of influence. The sun is specially worshiped on “Makara Sankaranthi” day which falls in January each year, to signify sun’s celestial journey from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Tropic of Cancer ( the parallels of latitude 23° 27’ South towards the same distance in degrees latitude North of equator.). It is the start of “Utharayana” meaning sun’s journey to the north - after the greatest inclination. The corresponding Hindu names are Makara and Kataka in the Hindu Zodiac corresponding to the months Thai and Adi in Tamil.

The sun travels in a single - wheeled chariot pulled by horses, so goes the legend. Sun worship is extensively mentioned in the Puranas and epics. In Ramayana, Rama found that the heads of Ravana continued to resurrect every time he cut them, and Sage Agastya taught the hymn “Aditya Hridayam” to worship the sun and then Rama was able to defeat Ravana. There is a temple dedicated to the sun god at Puri in Orissa. People throng to this temple on the day of solar eclipse to worship the sun. The sun has Chaya & Swarchalamba as his consorts. The first day of the week is named after the sun god in the traditional Indian (read Hindu) calendar.

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