[Advaita-l] sandhya vandanam

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Tue, 13 Apr 2010, narayan iyer wrote:

> Why do we give argya-pradhaanam to the planets (angaaraka, budha, 
> bruhuspathy, sukra and sani)?
>

Together with ravi and soma, they are also the presiding deities of the 
days of the week.  So together they represent time and space.  During the 
nitya tarpana (not sandhyavandana unless you are following a different 
procedure than I am) we give arghya to the divinities representing all the 
parts of the universe, living and non-living, moving and still.

> Are these planets mentioned anywhere in the vedas?
>

Well for instance ChhandogyopaniShad 8.13.1 says

...chandra iva rAhormukhAtpramuchya dhUtvA sharIramakR^itam...

"...as the moon frees itself from the mouth of rAhu I cast off the 
body..."

which illustrates the basic model of the universe according to classical 
jyotISha goes back to the vedas.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>