The Academy of Yoga and Oriental Studies (AYOS) organised a lecture on “Glory of Sun in Indian Culture” here last week. The speech was delivered by Dr Indulata Das. The meeting was presided over by renowned scholar and former IAS officer S Sundar Rajan. Mihir Kumar Mishra welcomed the guests.
In her speech, Dr Indulata Das said, “Sun is highly glorified in the Indian culture and tradition. Sun in our tradition is not an insentient mass of fire but is a conscious merciful god.
The Vedas, Upanisads, Purana and other literature are full of praise of this powerful and benevolent god. Sun is the creator and sustainer of the world and is the source of all energies. He is the maker of day, night and the seasons. He is the giver of knowledge and cures diseases. Sun is the deity of the famous Gayatri Mantra. He is closely associated with yoga. lord Krisna in Bhagavad Gita says he had imparted the yogic knowledge to sun in the remote past. lord Rama was advised to chant the Aditya Hridaya Mantra by sage Agastya to get victory over Ravana which he did. Samba, the son of Sri Krisna, was cured of leprosy by sun worship.
There are innumerable examples of the generosity of the god. Places of worship of sun at various places of India mark the reverence and gratitude of the Indian mass to the god.”
There was a question-answer session after the lecture, and many scholars enriched the discussion by participating in it. AYOS member Mihir Kumar Mishra shared his own experience with the audience. He said he was suffering from a skin disease which could not be cured by any doctor he consulted. He then remembered the case of Samba and surrendered to lord Surya for cure of the disease.
Every day, he exposed the affected part of the body to the sun and chanted his mantra with profound devotion. It was a matter of only fifteen days that he was completely cured. The miraculous experience of Mishra left the audience spellbound. In his presidential address, Sundar Rajan threw light on some more aspects of the sun.