THE FESTIVAL OF THE SUN GOD
Adusumilli Bharathi
THE FESTIVAL OF THE SUN GOD
Dr. I. Srinivas
"In His name we live, in His temple we live;
In Him verily we live until He opens His eye in us.
In His name He lives, in His temple He lives;
In Him verily He lives, as He opens His eye in us.
In the meanwhile, let us wait, let us look to Him and not to each other.
Let us call Him, in all to find all in Him,
When life is a car festival and not a war festival."
The seventh day in the bright half of the eleventh lunar month Magha is celebrated as the festival of the Sun god. In fact, the whole month of Magha is considered auspicious for the worship of the Sun god. As Sunday is the day of the Sun, Sundays in the month of Magha are specially earmarked for the worship of the solar logos. Devotees offer rice boiled in milk called Ksheeranna, Paayasa or Paramanna to the Sun. The offering is made in leaves of the bean-tree. A chariot is made with beans and placed before the idol of the sun or in the open space where the devotional offering is made to the 'Visible god' - Pratyaksha Paramaatma.
On Rathasaptami day devotees take the head bath with Badari fruit and the arka leaf placed on their heads. There is a spiritual as well as medical significance for this practice. Medically, the arka and badari help in washing out the bad effects of the cold temperature of the winter season. Spiritually the white Arka which is named after the sun god helps in receiving the beneficial rays of the solar light thereby preparing the spiritual practitioner for the opening up of the thousand petalled lotus that is situated in the head centre.
Ratha in Sanskrit means chariot. So literally Rathasaptami means the seventh day of the chariot. The journey of the sun towards the north marks the beginning of the Uttarayana which falls in the middle of January. Usually Rathasaptami occurs within ten to fifteen days from the day of Makara Sankranti (Nirayana ingress of the sun into the Capricorn). From this day only the Northern movements of the Sun will be visible. Hence this is called the day of the solar chariot.
The numerical value of the word Ratha is 72. This number indicates the one-fifth of a circle, five being the number of Makara. The reverse of the number of 27, stands for the number of Nakshatras that are traversed in a year by the Sun.
The 7 rays of the Sun god create 7 centres in human occult body as 6 Chakras and Saharsa, which in turn create the 7 lokas in human constitution as the 7 planes of consciousness Bhoo Bhuvah, Suvah, Maha, Janah Tapah, Satyam. These correspond to the 7 planets in the body Solar Logo. In fact the body of Solar Lord has 7 planets as 7 chakras. The Human being is in fact a reflection of the Solar Logos as a microcosm. This microcosm has all details of the macrocosm. The macrocosm which Man can attain is the Solar Logos. This is symbolised as the chariot with 7 horses. Radha Saptami is a day when this chariot drives the lower consciousness into the higher level as the Kundalini rises in its upward path.
"To whose temple the Arch is starlit,
In whose temple the Sun is the image of gold,
To whose temple the Moon goes every month
And brings the message every full moon,
And whose message the moon sings as a word of sixteen letters,
His religion I belong to;
His temple I visit; His name I utter; His glory I live in.
To Him I offer the lotus of my day,
To Him I offer the lotus of my night ."
COURTESY : MIHIRA
Regards
Bharathi