Sunday, January 15, 2017

Sandhyavandana - Part 4 - arghya pradhAnam


अर्घ्य प्रदान (respectful offering to something valuable; water offered at the respectful reception of a guest)

[Sun is an important part of human existence. The Sun that lightens the world outside, enlightens the world within. This is the process of inviting and invoking the Sun within. The water that is being offered is sanctified with the energy of the same Lord who energizes the sun. In the previous section we saw how the fire is visualized in the water, and here we offer water to the supreme fire; the source of both is the same pundarikAksha anyway]

<keshavAya swaha .....>

मम उपात्त समस्त दुरितक्षय द्वार श्रीपरमेश्वर प्रीत्यर्थे अर्घ्य प्रदानं करिष्ये ।

I engage in the arghya process (respectable welcome to Sun in the horizon and into our hearts) for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord so as to remove all my accumulated impediments (sins, evil, discomfort).

ॐ भूर्भुवस्सुवः । ॐ तत्सवितुर्वरॆण्यं भर्गो दॆवस्य धीमहि । धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् । भास्कराय नमः । इदमर्घ्यम् ॥ (3 times)

[taitariya upanishad provides an interesting perspective of Om Bhurbhuvahsuvah! 

१) ऒमिति ब्रह्म । ओमितीदं सर्वम्  | 

Om is Brahma, Om is everything that is there.

२)  भूरिति अयम् लोकः । भुवः इति अन्तरिक्षं । सुवः इति असौ लोकः । भूरिति अग्निः । भुवः इति वायौ । सुवः इत्यादित्ये । भूरिति वै प्राणः । भुवः इति अपानः । सुवः इति व्यानः: 

There are many ways to look at these ideas, the most popular are "Bhu is this world. Bhuvah is the interspace. Suvah is the heavenly (far off, spirit world). Or, they could be seen as "agni" (deity of fire), vAyu (deity of air), and aaditya (the all absorbing deity of Sun) 

There are many ways to translate the Gayatri but the easiest one according to me would be].

[meditating upon] "Om" (shabdha brahma; the all pervading cosmic sound), the gross physical universe (earthly planetary system), atmosphere, and the heavenly planets. I meditate upon that Lord, who is the source of the most excellent effulgence of that Sun, [may He] inspire our intellect. 

[Please note that "ॐ तत्सवितुर्वरॆण्यं भर्गो दॆवस्य धीमहि । धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात्" is the actual Gayatri Mantra]

ॐ इत्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म | अग्निर्देवता ब्रह्म इत्यार्षम् । गायत्रम् छन्दम् । परमात्मं स्वरूपं सायुज्यं विनियॊगः ॥

Om, thus is the sacred monosyllable supreme spirit [in Gita, Krishna says it is Him alone that one needs to remember when chanting Om] | "Fire [vaishvAnara, who presides over the digestive faculty; the all purifying prakriti of the Lord] is the deity", thus is the declaration of the Rishi's (sages) | "gAyatri", the meter [the deity that is to be invited / that is worthy of praise]. The mandate is the oneness in the form (one should meditate upon) of the Supreme Lord Himself.


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