Sun’s Chariot

The glory of God is seen in various forms. One magnificent form is the Sun. He is the energy giver for all living beings. Sun is the person, if we see him as a divine form, who determines the biological clock in all beings, forces them to work and forces them to take rest. He is the one who manifests as heat in the bodies of all beings and as the food in the plant kingdom. This food in the plant kingdom is consumed by the animal kingdom, including man. Food is digested by Vaisvanara, the fire in all beings, starting from a mosquito to an elephant. Thus, the eater and eaten are two different forms of the Sun.

This great manifestation was worshipped as God in all ancient traditions. The Pharaoh called himself the descendent of Sun god, just as Rama who is from the solar race. Ancient Rome had Mithraism as a religion before the advent of Christianity. Mithra is the same in Sanskrit, referring to Sun.

The vision of the ancient seers about the Highest Reality is not that it is a human form sitting somewhere in a place called heaven. It is an impersonal entity, of the nature of infinite consciousness, manifesting as matter. All beings are a mix of such matter and consciousness. It pervades the whole universe.

Though all beings are manifestations of one Reality, we see some exquisite manifestations. The Gita (chap. 10) calls such manifestations Vibhuti-s, powerful forms, which humans can use as a symbol of the divine and to associate themselves with that form and thus realize the essential oneness with it. In the next level, the seeker realizes oneness with the all-pervading Reality. Our sages gave a spiritual drill for that in the form of Gayatri mantra and Sun worship. In the first step it is a contemplation to realize oneness with the Highest Reality manifesting in the Sun, and then realize that the same Reality is in us and in all other beings, plants and in the blade of grass. It is a reminder of the oneness of creation. such recollection is prescribed as a drill to be performed three times a day by all persons.

Rama, in his human role, performs the above contemplation and gets reassured about his dharma. This is the famous episode in the Ramayana. There are similar stories in several of our texts.

Another name for Sun is Aditya, which etymologically means, one who takes and gives. It means that he takes the waters of the ocean and gives it to other places. He is the sustainer of the universe, and he is the source of health and well-being, as seen in our literature. Aditya is also in several forms, and one form is Vishnu, as the Gita says. Worshippers of Rudra see Rudra in Aditya, as we see in Sri Rudram. This is to show that the ancient sages did not make a distinction between Vishnu or Rudra or Skanda or any other form.

Our astronomers observed the annual motion of the Sun and gave a calendar. We know that the Sun does not move, but from our viewpoint, he seems to move. There are certain changes in his movement, and such occasions are marked as times for worship of the Sun. one such occasion is the seventh day of Magha, called Ratha Saptami. Mythologies visualise Sun god as moving in a chariot. The word ratha has two meanings, chariot, and the human body. The chariot is drawn by seven asvas, horses. These represent the seven colours of the spectrum and the seven basic constituents (sapta-dhatus) of the human body. Traditionally, we are asked to adjust our lifestyle, our bathing and food habits, to adjust to the change in seasons. From a purely physical view, this marks the time when the Sun starts brightening the northern hemi-sphere of earth.

(The writer is a former

DGP, Andhra Pradesh)