Sandhyavandanam -8

In the last class we had seen Gayatri Japa which is the most important part of Uttarangam. You can chant Gayatri as many times as possible before it is concluded with “Gayatri Upasthanam”. After worship the gayatri devi is sent back to her place. Now we go the seventh stage, “Aditya Upasthanam” which means aditya vandanam.

            The word aditya literally means sun-god but in this context “Ishwara”. We are not worshipping a devata but Ishwara or Sandhya Devi. Remember throughout Sandhyavandanam God is referred as Sandhya Devi. God defined as maya sahitam Brahman, jagat karanam brahma, jagat sthiti-shruti-laya karanam brahma, parameshwarah. So aditya vandanam means Sandhya vandanam or worship of Sandhya devi. Here the Sandhya devi is invoked in aditya mandalam (solar disc).  For this vandanam we take important Vedic mantras. Three different mantras are taken from three different Sandhyavandanams in the day – prathas sandhya one mantra, mandhyanam one mantra and sayam sandhya another. These also vary from veda to veda; rig will be different from yajur and yajur different from sama veda. As I had earlier said I am taking only yajur veda mantras in these talks.

            Let me take the prathas sandhya mantra:

Om mitrasya charshaneedhritaha shrava devasya-sannasim, satyam chitrashravastamam. Mirto janaan yaatayati prajaanan, mitro daadhaara pruthiveem-uta dyaam, mitrah krushteer-animishaa-abhichashte satyaaya havyam dhritava-dvidhema. Pra sa mitra marto astu prayasvaan, yasta aditya shikshati vratena, na hanyate na jeeyate tvoto nainam-gm ho ashnoti-anti-to na dooraat.

Generally in tradition all these mantras are learnt during upanayanam itself. The young boys cannot pronounce these words at that age. He is not capable to learn in swaras also. Later when veda adhyanam is done the first thing they learn to chant is Sandhyavandanam mantras so that he chant without mistakes and in swaras also.

               Now we will go to the meaning of this mantra. Devasya mitrasya shrava smaramah. We meditate on the glory of Ishwara. In short it is the vibhuti yoga of Gita tenth chapter. How the sun is the glory of the lord, the moon, the waters, the trees…. In fact the whole creation is Ishwara’s mahima and glory including our own body and mind, our intellects etc. Our capacity to glorify the Lord itself is the glory of the Lord. Mitrasya means sun god but in this context it refers to Ishwarah, the Sandhya Devi. The word shravah means kritihi, glory, mahima. And we have to supply the verb “smaramah”. What kind of God is HE? Charshaneedhritaha. The sustainer of all beings (charshanee literally means manusha, human beings but it includes all living beings). Therefore I meditate on that Parameshwara who is the sustainer of all beings. What kind of glory does HE enjoy? Sannasim means adorable. The other people have got small little glories, they are not worth thinking about at all. Their glories are small and that small glory also belongs to Parameshwara only. The other glories are not worth singing about! But Satyam shravaha sannasim, the glory of the Lord is Satyam. It is a real glory, original glory, natural glory, un-borrowed glory. While manushya shravaha is mitya glory, it is mitya abhimanam alone. Here one should remember the Keno Upanishad tales. Agni thought that burning glory belongs to him, later he discovered it was mitya abhimanam. Vayu thought that lifting glory belongs to him, later he discovered it was mitya. Therefore our glories are mitya glories whereas Ishwara shravaha is satyam. There is another angle we can look at “Satyam” as “abadyam” (the glory that does not go away). All our glories are transient; whether it is walking glory or singing glory. Hearing glory goes away with age, if you are a singer who should stop after 60 or 70 otherwise you will lose all your former glories. Because once upon a time wonderful throat and after that we should only sing in whispers for the Lord alone is patient and tolerant! What I am saying is Ishwara’s glories are permanent while any other jiva’s glory in creation is only temporary. HIS glory is greatest and manifold. And chitram, meaning varieties. Any Science you study they are only talking about the glories of the Lord only. That is why I say, read National Geographic Book and you find God’s glory everywhere; under the ocean, in the forest, into the brain. Therefore varieties and greatest glories belong to the Lord only. So that Lord with all these glories I meditate. Prajaanan janaan mitro yaatayati, as a witness the Lord activates all beings. This can be seen in the light of Vedanta where witness means “without involvement”. Without raga, dvesha. It is applicable to the sun also, applicable to the Lord also. Sun supports both the good and bad actions in a day just being a witness, it does not get involved in the transactions of the day. Supports means it illuminates the good actions and also the bad actions. Once the sun subsides our activities come to a halt and we go to sleep. So here prajaanan means sakshi rupena. Yaatayati means activate, enlivens. Janaan represents all beings not only manushya including pashu, pakshi etc. mitra daadhaara pruthiveem-uta dyaam. From here one must remember that the word mitra here means sun-god but in the context Ishwara. The Lord sustains the earth and the heaven. Because HE is upadana karanam, HE is the nimitha karanam, HE is the karma Adyakshah, HE is the karmaphalla datta. HE is the darma rakshakah, …in this way Bhagawan sustains the whole world. Here Prithivi means bhu loka, dhyam means swarga loka. And Daadharaa means sustains. Here the words earth and heaven indicate all the lokas. Bhagawan sustains the world and Bhagawan sustains the people of the world (janaan). Then mitrah krushteer-animishaa-abhichashte, the Lord witnesses all the beings without a break. Means the Lord is watching our good and bad actions all the time. We can cover up our actions from people. You can deceive your parents, office people, police or even Guru but you cannot deceive God. The Lord witnesses all our actions and accordingly gives us phallams. Here Krushteer means praja, active people. And animishaa means without winking, watching without a break. So when a traffic policeman takes a tea-break people use even that occasion to break all the rules. But the God watches us all the time without taking tea-breaks! And Abhichaste, as sakshi. The significance is HE observes everyone without reaction (without raga-dvesha, impartially). Then satyaaya havyam dhritava-dvidhema, let us offer oblations to that Lord with ghee. Which means after Sandhyavandana karma he wants to do nitya-nimitta karma like owpasanam, agnihotram, etc.  Let us do those rituals and offer worship to the Lord. Here the word satyaya refers to Ishwarayah. Gritavat havyam means oblations using ghee. Then yasta aditya vratena shikshati, O lord Sun or O lord Parameshwara! The devotees offer oblations from their nitya-nimitta karmas, through their daily duties. Here vrattam means those nitya-nimitta karmas. Any vrattam is called vrattam for it should not be broken. Shikshati means fire ritual as it was common in those days. In our times the only fire ritual is cooking, some others have some other fire ritual I don’t want to talk about. So we must interpret to mean by doing puja or our regular duties. And what will happen to those devotees? mitra marto astu prayasvaan, these are all vedic words and we cannot go by dictionary meanings. We have to go only by commentaries. O lord sun, that devotee attains all prosperities. That devotee who offers oblations to all nitya-nimitta karmas, he attains all prosperities. Prayasvaan means annadi samppati means plenty of food, plenty of clothing, plenty of houses like summer-houses, winter houses etc. Then tvoto na hanyate na jeeyate, Protect by YOU the devotee is never harmed, he is never defeated in life. So these mantras serve like kavachams. Tvoto is protected by you, na hanyate, protections from even killing (it includes harassment from people, harassment from government, harassment by diseases; all these protections this devotee will enjoy). Na jeeyata, he is not won over by any other person. He is never defeated in life.   enam-gm ho ashnoti-anti-to na dooraat. Paapam does not affect him from near-by or far-away. Enam means devotee, gam aho means paapamm, anti-to means near-by, dooraat means faraway. Na Ashnoti, does not affect him. Because of his Ishwara arpanam which we saw in Karma Yoga. If any activity is done with Ishwara-smarana then even if you commit a mistake, you will be saved by surrendering to the Lord; by surrendering your ahankara is less. Then those paapams will not affect us. All these are indicated in these mantras. Here the Lord is praised and protection is sought. So this is the pratha upasthana mantra.

            Now we will see madhyanmika upasthana mantra. Aa satyena rajas vartamaano niveshayann-amrutham martyan-cha, hiranyayena savitaa rathenaa devo yaati bhuvanaa vipashyan. Udvayam tamasaspari pashyanto jyotir-uttaram, devam devatraa sooryam-aganma jyotir-uttamam. Udutyam jaatavedasam devam vahanti ketavaha, drushe vishvaaya sooryam. Chitram devaanam-udagaadaneekamchakshur-mitrasya varunasya-agnehe, aa-apraa dyaavaa-pruthivee antarikshagm soorya aatma jagatas-tasthushashcha, tat-chakshur-devahitam purastaat-shukram-uchcharat pashyema sharadash-shatam jeevema sharadash-shatam nandaama sharadash-shatam modaama sharadash-shatam bhavaama sharadash-shatam shrunavaama sharadash-shatam prabravaama sharadash-shatam ajeetaassyaama sharadash-shatam jyok cha sooryam drushe ya udagaan-mahatornavaad-vibhraajamaanas-sarirasya madhyaat, sa maa vrushabhaha lohitaakshaha sooryo vipashchin-manasaa punaatu.

I chanted the whole thing so at least we will hear it. Now let us see the meaning. Devata Savita ayaati, the devotee is declaring to the world “Lord Sun is coming up above”. O people, don’t take the sun-god for granted. Appreciate and adore HIM. How does HE come? Satyena rajasa, with everlasting effulgence. Satyena means nityam, eternal. The other lamps are fluctuating, they also get extinguished. But the sun-God never gets extinguished. For millions of years the sun has been there; even if it goes dim for a day there will no life on earth. Of course astronomers that one day even the sun will go, that is why sun is upalakshanam. From Vedantic angle, nitya chaitanyanah. Not like vruttik jnanam that comes and goes but it is swarupa jnanam, that chaitanyam. All these mantras can be seen in two lights: one as surya bhagawan and another as parameshwara. And avartamaanah, the sun going round the earth or going round the meru parvatam according to purana. Daily HE comes and goes, so vartamaanah. Then what does HE do? Amrutam-martyan-niveshayann. HE activates all he devas and manushyas. When HE is there we get up and do all our work, when HE goes down we retire to bed. Similarly Parameshwara too activates all beings. Here amrutam means devas and martyan means manushya and niveshayan means activating. But here we must be careful in understanding the word “activating”. Then you will say that good actions are activated by the Lord and so also bad actions of the people. So the Lord is responsible for the actions of good or bad people. Then punyam and paapam will go the Lord therefore we have to add a clause “karma anusarane”. The Lord activates them according to their karma and not as per HIS whim and fancy. And how does HE come? Hiranyayena rathena, HE travels in a golden chariot. When he is travelling what does he do? Bhuvanaa vipashyan. Witnessing all the worlds, witnessing all the people. Look, everywhere there is this emphasis: THAT BHAGAWAN IS WATCHING YOU. Only when someone watches we do the right things. We warn small children saying that if you behave in a certain way the Lord will break your nose and make pickles! This is not a healthy way to teach children for fear can stunt a young mind. You use fear initially but later when the boy or girl grows up you say that the Lord will not cut your nose. You should follow the right path not because the Lord will punish but that is the righteous path and right thing to do. First give fear and later give understanding. Then udvayam pashyanto sooryam-aganma, Looking at the sun-god let us go to the sun-god. Our purpose is constantly remembering and seeing the Lord and our aim is finally merging into the Lord. Vedantic significance is “let us learn about Brahman and then become one with Brahman.” What kind of sun-go is HE? Tamasaspari. That lord who is beyond Tamas. There are many meanings to this word, here we will it to mean ajnanam or maya. The Lord who is beyond maya. Then uttaram-jyotih. And who is the form of noblest consciousness. And what is the greatness of jyoti? It is shudam, nityam, nirgumam, akrutham, abhogtvam etc. This is only a comparative degree so the next time the devotee says: uttamam jyotih. The greatest and best. It is greater than all, uttaram. It is the greatest, uttamam. And devatraa, one who protects all the gods. The lord alone helps the devatas to defeat the asuras; the Lord alone protects. And ketavaha tyam devam sooryam udvahanti, the rays of the sun lifts the sun-god. This is an imaginative thought of early morning rising sun. Here the devotee is imagining each sunray as a rope pulling the sun from the waters. What kind of sun-god is HE? Jaatavedasam. The sun god who is omniscient. Why should the sun be pulled by its rays? Vishvayaa drushe; for the observation by all people. Then chitram devaanam-udagaa etc which we shall see in the next class. Hari Om.