Today is the first day of the Navaratri celebrations which are held for nine days (Nava Rathrulu). All festivals are meant to remind mankind that they should cultivate noble qualities by engaging themselves in activities beneficial to one’s own self and society. Sai Baba made reference to Navaratri and the Nine Planets:
As part of Navaratri celebrations, people worship different forms of divinity. You should develop sacred feelings and experience divinity. What is the inner meaning of Navaratri celebrations? These nine nights represent nine planets. Each planet has its own significance. However, these planets are not outside, they are within. If your feelings are impure and unsacred, the result also will be the same. You are responsible for the good and bad you think and experience.
As the nine nights represent the nine planets, we will be having a planetary celebration of Navaratri with an account of one of the planets for each of the nine nights. The first planet is The Sun. The colour for the first day of Navaratri is ORANGE, so we will write in Orange for this first day’s observance of Navaratri.
The Sun is called ‘Sol’ in many languages; its rays and energy are of a solar nature. It is not without coincidence the Sun, Sol, has the same name for Soul; the name is the same, the spelling is slightly different. The Sun in Vedic Astrology signifies the incarnating soul. It is said to represent the personality, the ego, the Self.
Vedic deities are powers of light. The Sun, a deity called Surya, indicates the supreme principle of Light, whether it is the Sun in the sky, the light in the eye or the light of the intellect – the perceptive power of the higher self, buddhi. Brahman is said to be like the Sun, the supreme source of light, life and consciousness. The Upanishads say, “Worship the Sun as Brahman.” It is the light that illuminates all from within, the self-effulgent Atma or Soul within the human person. The inner Sol, the Soul, neither rises nor sets, but presides in an eternal day of spiritual light.
The Sun gives the light; the Sun generates the life force so that all life may exist. The Sun generates Bha, it is the seed – that light that enabled the single celled amoeba to leave the seas and climb onto the rocks, the shores. The Sun, self-effulgent, is the source of light and transmits the light of the Central Sun of all the Universes. This light is the source of life itself. The Sun is the visible manifestation of Divinity; it is the source and measure of time, the solstices, the seasons. It limits and regulates the number of years in one’s life and daily diminishes the allotted lifespan. Every action is performed under the auspice of the Sun, even those in the night, for the Moon reflects the light of the Sun in the hours of darkness, and the Sun, through the agency of Shakti, provides the energy for action.
The Sun, Surya in Vedic Astrology, indicates more than a simple assignation of the Sun to characteristics such as Self, Personality, Soul, Ego. It is said that the Sun represents the Atma, karaka of true self-esteem, confidence and humility. The Sun is said to provide the confidence required for making and executing of decisions in a congruent and steadfast manner. Steadiness is the keystone of spirituality. The Sun is said to be sattvic in nature, kshatriaya in caste, male, of red complexion, of pitta dosha and to have characteristics such as pure, intelligent and courageous. The feminine dimension of the Sun is ParaShakti, the Supreme Mother, whose energy give the field for Brahman to arise and cause separation, light and life.
The Goddess, ParaShakti, contains all the forces of both nature (prakriti) and of the spirit (Brahman), of both the world of creation in time and space and the Absolute beyond all manifestation. All powers are rooted in ParaShakti, the Supreme Shakti, the blissful energy of consciousness, Chidananda. It is through bliss that consciousness expresses itself and gives rise to all creation. It is taught that humanity is sat-chit-ananda, Being, Awareness, Bliss.
The supreme shakti is Chit-Shakti or the power of consciousness which transcends and underlies both Prakriti – nature as manifest with all its systems, and Maya, the all-enveloping power of illusion. Chit Shakti, the power of consciousness, works through Maya as the power to envision, imagine and measure the world in the cosmos. It is Maya which unfolds itself into form in nature and its inherent laws and rhythms through the gunas, elements and pranas.
An important characteristic of the old astrology was the presence of the feminine, the Goddess Sri. Lord Suryanarayana is presumed to be the masculine principle; whither the feminine principle? An important aspect of the old astrology was “There is no astrology without the Goddess Sri.” Prayers were always done to Goddess Sri at the end of the reading and during the propitiations and homams. Astrology began and ended with the balance of masculine and feminine, with worship of Sri. Sri, the Shakti Goddess, is the consort of Lord Suryanarayana.
The Goddess Sri is but another form of this ParaShakti, the supreme energy force driving forward evolution towards involution, prakriti to pralaya, when all returns to ParaShakti in a state of rest, a state of silence, a state of pure being: sat-chit-ananda. The Sun is but the sevak with his consort who acts to deliver this shakti to the planets, the earth and the sarira, the human form itself and manifests as energy within, the cause of the doshas, gunas and the combining and re-combining of light within the human form which causes the life and its chosen soul-blueprint to go forward. Thus, the Sun represents the divine, the indweller, Suryanarayana, in every being that has life.
The Sun is Lord Suryanarayana. Narayana is the indweller of all in the heart. The Sun is Lord Vishnu Narayana; constant worship of The Sun — constant dutiful worship — of Lord Suryanarayana provides a clarified intellect. A clarified intellect will always make correct decisions; worship of Lord Suryanarayana brings brilliance of the ATMA, and brilliance to the intellect. The intellect is nearest the ATMA and derives over 90% of its illumination from the ATMA. Hence, Lord Suryanarayana provides a clarified intellect.
What is the role of the Sun in the Fourth Dimension? It is to transmit energy: to continue transmitting photons which will give new colours, new sounds, new feelings, new tactile sensations. It will give robusity to etheric bodies as well. It will give form, shape and colour to these etheric bodies; what are called light bodies.
The Solar Rays reflect the rays from the Central Sun of all Universes
