CHENNAI: The sun has been worshipped in many civilisations – as it is the directly perceivable source of energy that makes our day and indirectly the night too. The sun is called by many names as Dinakara, Diwakara – the one who makes our day, Ravi, Bhaskara, Surya, Aditya, Khaga, Pusha, Hiranya Garbha – the golden womb and many more words.
Agastya a Maharishi, taught Lord Rama to worship the sun and with his help to vanquish Ravana and thus was born the hymn to the sun called Aditya Hridayam.
There is an Upanishad called the Suryopanishad. Upanishads are fundamentally texts in Sanskrit that mean, taking one closer. The lines of the Upanishad carry a deep meaning and help to take the one who chants or listen closer to the truth of existence. The lines begin with the description of the sun God on horses and as the keeper of time for the universe.
The Upanishad calls the sun as the soul of the universe. It spells the worship of Aditya as the one who performs all deeds – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in form, an embodiment of the Vedas, all poetry, the origin of the five elements of space, air, fire, water and earth. The sun is also the four inner sense perceptions of the mind called Antahkarana or the mind, intellect, memory and the sense of ‘I’. It is the source of our energy, vision, hearing and other sense organs. The sun is the cause for this universe, it as originates, is protected and transformed by the sun. Suryaji, founder of Suryayog, a method of gazing at the early morning and setting sun says that the sun has been a source of inspiration for many a saint. Jesus Christ, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharishi have all gazed at the sun for long hours. “It is not actually sun-gazing, but sun-loving,” he says. He was recently in Chennai as part of a nation-wide tour taking this yoga of becoming one with the energy of the sun. This light not just transforms disease of any kind into good health, but it also clears the blocks in the energy centres of the human being and helps mankind to think with clarity and live in tune with nature.
There are just three things to be done for good health and oneness with the universe – drink lots of water, walk barefoot and gaze at the sun, he says quoting the father of Indian medicine – Charaka.
The sun for him is a living being says Suryaji who walks, talks and moves in the contemplation of sun at all times. Participants at the talk spoke on the many health benefits they got from gazing at the sun – cataract, asthma, rheumatic pains and other problems vanished with the practice of sun-gazing. The parting shot was given by Akash, a middle school student at the Maharishi Vidya Mandir who has been practising Surya Yog: “Suryayog has a great impact on my body and everything.” Though the actual practice of Suryayog on the Marina Beach the next day seemed all about good health, the core teaching was connectivity to the universe when the participants chant mentally – love in, negativity out. They finished with touching the earth with the forehead in expression of love for the blue planet.
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