The Sun is superior among all the planets, and he becomes pleased with whoever reveres him consistently. Among the planets, he is God incarnate in solar form. Those who regularly and devotedly remember the Sun lose all their worries, disease and poverty, for unwavering worship of the Sun destroys all obstructions and fulfils all cherished desires. The Sun is the embodiment of Divine Love.
Everything originates from the Sun for he is the Sol – soul of all. He is the king of the sky; the ruler of all that falls between the Earth and the celestial regions; the Sun is the lord of the East, the Sun rules both Sunday and the constellation Leo. The Sun delivers the Solar Rays, in which are embedded the energies of the Central Sun of all Universes. The non-luminous bodies receive, combine and recombine these solar rays and then reflect them to the human form in order that the four goals of life be achieved: Artha (wealth), Kama (needs and necessities), Dharma (eternal righteousness), and Moksha (absorption into the Divine; release from the cycle of birth and death).
The effulgence of the Sun god is present in our eyes in a subtle form. Chandrama Manaso Jataha Chaksho Suryo Ajayata (the moon was born out of the mind and the sun out of the eyes of the Supreme Being). It is said that the Sun god withdraws his effulgence from the eyes of the ungrateful. One without the sense of gratitude can be called a blind person. Whoever he may be, one should always remain grateful to one’s benefactor. One should show gratitude even without caring for one’s own life.
The Sun rules the Heart; as disposer of the soul (Atma) the Sun resides in the heart wherefrom comes the action motivated by feelings. The Sun is the embodiment of Love in the human heart. As the Bible tells,
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
It is important to understand the journey of a thought, a feeling, an action from within. Human integrity is unity of thoughts, words and actions: in Sanskrit, trikaranasuddhi – tri – the triple, karana – instrument of action; suddhi – purity. Human integrity is the triple purity of thoughts, words and actions.
A thought, a feeling, an action may arise from the mind (really, the mind is simply a bundle of thoughts and nothing more), and is presented to the intellect, the discriminating faculty within. The intellect is nearest the soul (Sol – the light within) and derives 90% of its illumination from the soul; the intellect is the voice of the Divine within. Where the thought is selfless and imbued with love, the heart releases positive energy, positive feelings within. The action is undertaken.
Where a thought, a feeling, an action do not together display unity between its components, then this thought or word or action does not arise from heart but from the ego, which fears its own annihilation. The ego sets its boundaries far out, always seeking to have command of inner territory, outer territory. Some may delude themselves that their thoughts are from love, but love is never a battle of possession and territory. As the quotation above tells, love is patient, kind, it has no envy, it does not boast and so forth.
This raises the question of the role of the Sun in astrology:
- The Sun is the disposer of the Soul, it is called Atmakaraka
- The Sun rules Health and Splendour
- The Sun rules Head and Heart
- The Sun as luminary disposes the seven rays to the planets; it is up to the planets to extract energy from the Sun in order to perform their tasks and direct the different light energy, magnetic energy to the human
- The Sun as luminary is never retrograde
- The Sun works from within, the core of the human being, and is the antithesis of materialism
- A powerful Sun is extremely self-centred. Humility is a state of mind within.
- The Sun reveals the truth (by removing the dross within) and destroys the veil of illusion, Maya.
- Vesi, Vasi (Vosi) and Ubbachari Yogas indicate that planets in houses adjacent the Sun extract energy from the Sun in order to bestow external material benefits – or in the case of malefics, to bestow that which a malefic gives. The Sun of itself gives nothing to the external environment of the human.
Therefore, it emerges the domain of the Sun resides exclusively within the person, not the personality. Personality is a function of culture, environment, ego and mind. The Sun is highly subjective and cannot be experienced by itself. It is the role of the non-luminaries (exclude Moon, Rahu and Ketu) to function and the light and the wick and bring the energy of the Sun forth.
Follow the Master
We follow the Master, the inner voice of conscience;
We face the devil – the mind-ego complex with is desires
We fight to the end, maintaining triple purity of thoughts, words, actions
We finish the game with Self-confidence, Self-satisfaction, Self-realisation
We began with the Biblical quotation, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” The Sun – Sol – as the soul within the human, the heart of the human, disposes positive emotion, feeling, detachment, and inner progress towards the goal of life – Liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Negative, egoic, possesive, conflict laden thoughts, words and actions do not proceed from the benefices of the Sun within the heart.