As I mentioned in my previous blog, the Sun plays a very important role in Advitha philosophy. In fact it is not only a primary deity in Sanathana Dharma (a.k.a Hinduism), it is worshiped in some form or other in almost all religious belief. The Egyptians worshiped the sun as Ra, the Greeks as Helios, the Hindus as Adithya or Surya, the Incans a Inti and Sol by ancient Germanic believers, to name a few. Divine light plays an important role in other religion. The Christians call it as the Lux (Latin) and the Muslims as the Al-Noor (Arabic) (both meaning the divine light) which is associated with the positive energy, the guidance from god or enlightenment. Enlightenment, the word itself, etymologically, roughly means to attain The Light i.e. the divine knowledge. In Buddhism, enlightenment has great significance. Also Amitabha Bodhisattva, a celestial Buddha, is associated with light. The Sanskrit word Amitabha translates to infinite light.
The wide acceptance of the Sun as a source of life, as a god, is obvious. The Sun is undoubtedly the most powerful form of energy which we see daily. Also, undoubtedly, it is the sustainer of life on earth and destroyer of darkness. Without the sun, the earth would not have been inhabitable. But it is also true, that it is the energy from sun that is sustaining us and not the sun itself. And strangely the rate of the thermonuclear reaction at the core of the sun is maintained in a self correcting equilibrium. Although I am not an expert in this area of extraterrestrial nuclear fusion, it is logically astonishing that the fusion reaction happens at a controlled rate. The core temperature is so high and conducive for Hydrogen atoms to fuse. Still with such extreme condition (very high temperature and pressure) and abundance of Hydrogen, strangely the fusion reaction happens only in certain rate (governed by first step of the fusion reaction i.e. Deuterium formation step). That is why it makes me believe that there must be something more powerful governing this, an underlying energy which I call Brahman.
The Upanishads says " Nathatra suryo bathi, na chandra thrankam
nema vidyuto bhanti kutoyam agnihi,
tameva bhantam anubhati sarvam
tasya bhasa sarvam idam vibhati "
Meaning:
There the sun does not shine, nor do the moon and the stars. These streaks of lightning do not shine there either, (so) what to speak of this fire? That (Brahman is) shining, makes all others shine. By virtue of its luminosity, all these (manifestations) are illuminated
A similar text I (coincidentally?) found from Bible (Revelation 21:23) :
"And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb (living being) is the light thereof."
The concept of sun worship is some what interchangeably used. In primitive form, the sun as we see is worshiped as god. However the core Vedanta philosophy looks at the sun as manifestation or a medium through which the energy of Brahman flows. Both are pretty much the same, the later is with more understanding of the Truth. I, as part of my daily duty or nithya karmanustana recite or meditate upon the all powerful Surya Gayatri Mantra the core of Sandyavandanam. This, of course is the second type of Sun worship (otherwise I may not have called the first type as primitive ;)
