[Advaita-l] Sun Worship

[Ramakrishna Upadrasta]

namaste,

2011/3/9 Satish Arigela <satisharigela at yahoo.com>:
> intermediate between the northern and southern forms. Finally, the sauras also
> tried to provide a "vedic tinge" for the sect via the composition of the
> sUryopaniShat and the appropriation of the savitA gAyatrI.




> The visible imprints of the saura mata that persist today are: 1) The highly
> popular Aditya hR^idayaM, which is attributed to agastya and has been inserted
> into the yuddha kANDa of the rAmAyaNa. This hymn appears to be an early
> composition of the saura school. 2) The second well-known saura contribution is
> the sUrya namaskAra vidhi which is a yogic/tantric practice prescribe by saura
> tantras.


namaste,

One of the primary sources of saura-devata worship is the soura sUkta
(also called as mahaa-souraM), which is a collection of 64 mantras
taken from various places in rig-veda, and which rig-vedins chant
daily in their maadhyaahna sandhya, or parts of it in their morning
sandhya. It begins from RV.1.50 ('udutyaM jaatavedasaM') and ends with
the RV. 10.36.14 'savita pashtaataat savita purastaat ...'.

Needless to say, mantras in the sUkta are specifically used in
prayogas for removal of diseases, for long life, with various scholars
attesting it with experience as well.

Further, this collection of mantras is full of vedantic import, asking
for opening of the divine eye ala the conversation in 11th chapter of
Bhagavd Gita. Also, the last mantra, which equates the savitR to the
all pervading brahman has echoes in various other upanishhads -- not
just the saura-upanishhads. I request a scholar to provide the
corresponding mantra from munDaka-upanishad.

praNAms
Ramakrishna