Lord Surya is the ruler of navgraha (nine
planets) that rotate around him in Hindu astrology. It is also known as
Bhanu, Grahapati, Bhaskar, Arka, Savita, Mitra, Pusha, Divakar, Vivasvat,
Ravi and Aitya. Lord Surya is the son of Sage Kashyap and Aditi and is
described as 'Aharpati' means Lord of the day and 'Jagat Chakshu' means
Eye of the world. The surya rays living beings and nurture life and
nourish. Thus, Lord Surya is described as 'time-giver' and 'life-giver'
or 'Pranadata'.
He is the protector of the east and sanctifies
his devotees with prosperity, fame and good health. Sunday is the ruling
day of Lord Surya. He leads red ruby, gold and metal. Lord Surya is the
leader of solar god and is one of the Adityas. He has arms and hair of
gold. The celestial body is the sun and is visible in the sky. He is
described as a red man with 3 eyes and 4 arms, riding into a one wheeled
chariot pulled by 7 horses similar to the rainbow colors.
Lord Sun is the most powerful and majestic
visible God. The Sun God has also played important role of Master Guru
for many Gods, number of Devotees and Seers. In Hindu religion, symbol
of Surya is considered as one of the positive signs.
In Hindu religion, the Gayatri hymn is also
associated by the Lord Surya. Aditya Hridayam is another mantra
associated with the son God, Surya. Shri Surya Ashtottar Shatnamavali
has 108 names of Surya. Shri Surya Sahasranam is one thousand names and
are describing one thousand qualities of Bhaskara. All names of Lord
Surya refer to a quality of awareness.
Lord Surya is the exact source of life. According
to Vedic books said that Lord Surya is the light god. Lord Surya
symbolizes the Sun God. Lord Surya is regarded as the visible type of
dev. It could be seen every day. The Sun god is considered as an aspect
of Vishnu and Shiva by Vaishnavas and Shaivites. Lord Surya is also
known as Surya Narayana. Surya is also recognized as one of the 8 types
of Lord Mahadeva, named the Astamurti. He is the wisdom and excellence
devata.
Surya makes day and night, offer energy to all
living beings and rids them for ailments and lethargy. He symbolizes
during the day of Lord Brahma, noon at Lord Shiva and in the evening of
Lord Vishnu. The Sun god is also symbolized by a golden wheel or still
the open flower of a lotus. The most common symbolization is in the type
of Swastika.
Lord Surya helps one gain his eyesight and second
gain his surya namaskar will strengthen one's bones, wealth, long life,
progeny, cure illness and good-health. Lord Surya is the reason for
rain-fall advantaging the world and is the lord of Leo in the Zodiac. In
zodiac, Sun occupies the most famous place in the middle. Lord Surya
stays in each Rasi one month and takes twelve months to complete a
circular of twelve Rasis.
Lord Surya Temple
Temple of Lord Surya are all the across the
country. Suryanarayana temple is located at Tamil Nadu and is popularly
known as Suryanar-Koli. It is about 3 km from the Aduturai railway
station on the Southern Railway major line from Madras - Thanjavur.
Konark is also another temple of Lord Surya at Orissa in Buguda of the
Ganjam District. Konark is called as Biranchi Narayan temple in Gujarat,
the sun temple was created by Bhimdev of Solanki dynasty and Arasavalli
located at Andhra Pradesh.
