Om Anantaya Namaha, Salutations to the One who is immortal and has no end. The outer Sun is the significator of the inner sun within the human. The inner sun also shares this quality of anantha, for man is not new; man is one who has been born in order that he or she not be born again! True humanness seeks sat, chit, ananda: being, awareness and eternal bliss.
ananta (an+anta) San. adj. endless, infinite, limitless, free and unbounded M. ‘the infinite one’ – the cosmic serpent (representing eternity or suspended time) who supports Vishnu on his endless coils on the ocean of milk between successive world-periods. ‘Among the serpents, I am Ananta.’ (Bhg. X:29) Also epithet of Vishnu and Krishna as the infinite immortal Absolute. (VSN. 659, 886)
The Sun god, Surya, is immortal and is but an amsa (fragment, part of) the Lord of Time and Space, the kalapurusha. As significator of the Central Sun of all Universes, the Sun cannot illuminate God. God is the source of illumination. The Sun is not the basis, the cause nor the support of Creation, our Universe, our galaxy, our solar system. The basis, adhara, is changeless. The Sun will grow old, in perhaps 4½ billion years, turn to a red dwarf and expand in size, so much so that Earth will no longer support life.
Nonetheless, one of the attributes of the Sun is anantha – without end; it is perpetual, enduring, lasting, without end. The Sun follows its path through the skies shedding light and heat equally upon all, the good, the bad, the new-born, the ageing, the wayward. The Sun gives during days and nights (through the light of the moon), the seasons, rain and shine. It is a witness to life everywhere.
In order to grasp the Sun as karaka (disposer, giver) in our lives, we have to ask ‘What is endless in our lives?‘ Is it our breath? Is it our vision? Is it our heart? Is it our friends? Nay, friends only walk with you up to the grave; there is only ONE who walks with you up to the grave and beyond the grave. That ONE is our loyal companion, guru, guardian and guide, our ishtadevata, the ONE whom we experience within, without. The Sun – endless giver of light and life – points to this ONE who is endless with and without us.
The due diligence of the Sun in dispersing light and life upon all reveals that which is within all, the eternal, endless witness, the Soul within, the Atma, which has the quality of anantha. Consciousness continues beyond this body, which is but a small part of a larger existence of the Soul.
The Vedas declare: Sathyam Jnanam Anantham Brahma (Divinity is Truth, Wisdom and Eternal). This infinite wisdom is latent in man, but he fails to understand this truth. He has become weak-minded due to defects in his food and habits. He is totally entangled in body attachment. All his thoughts, words and deeds are engulfed in body attachment. He should get rid of body attachment and develop attachment towards the Self to realise his innate divinity. Your body is not permanent. It is bound to perish one day or the other. No one can predict with any degree of certainty when one would leave one’s mortal coil. This physical life is but a dream. So, do not develop undue attachment to the body. So long as you are alive, discharge your duties sincerely. Suffuse your thoughts, words and deeds with divine feelings. Then you will verily become Divine.
Download 108 Names of Surya, the Sun
