Jan 20, 2004, 12.00am IST
SUDHANSHU RANJAN.
King Hieron asked Archi-medes to invent new weapons when the Romans were threatening to invade his native city Syracuse. On discovering that a Roman fleet had set sail under Marcellus, the feared Roman Commander, Archimedes turned to the king and said, “I believe I can destroy the fleet.” “By what means?” asked the king. “By means of a burning mirror,” replied Archimedes.
Archimedes trained a battery of specially cons-tructed concave mirrors that reflected the blazing rays of the Sun directly onto the ships. And lo and behold, the fleet was destroyed!
The legendary Marcellus, on seeing the devastation wrought upon his fleet, is said to have exclaimed: “Let us stop fighting this geo- metrical monster, who uses our ships like cups to ladle water from the sea, and has whipped our most efficient engines and driven them off in disgrace, and with un- canny jugglery of his mind, has outrivalled the exploits of the hundred-handed giants of mythology.”
Its devastating power is only one manifestation of the Sun’s awesome energy. Its true manifestation is in the form of life force. The Sun is inextricably linked with life on earth. Without it, life is impossible. Sunshine is most cherished where it is cold most of the time. In fact, people start talking of annihilation if the Sun is not visible for a few days at a stretch.
The Hindu scriptures present the Sun as the most potent god. There are only five Puranic gods and the Sun is one of them but the images of the remaining four gods — Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesh and Durga — are also found in Him. In Surya Sahastranam several syno-nyms of the Sun are actually Vishnu’s names and at one place He is also called Jyotirlinga, representing Shiva. Mahakal is both the name of Shiva and the Sun. Ganesha, the son of Shiva, is also represented in the Sun. Image of the rising Sun in a water reservoir or pond appears like an elephant’s trunk due to the ripples, resembling Ganesha. Gayatri and Savitri are forms of the Sun. Aditya is derived from Aditi, which is the name of Durga. The worship of the Sun God means the worship of all the five Puranic gods and goddess.
Hymns of the Rig Veda confirm that the Sun is the manifestation of the whole universe. Prayers to the Sun God are found in all the four Vedas unlike the names of Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha and Durga. Vishnu does not figure anywhere in the Rig Veda. Puranic gods are evolved forms of Vedic gods. The Sun is the most visible god who can be worshipped directly without a priest or intermediary. In the Chhandogya Upanishad the Sun has been called Omkar and Udgeet. The Rig Veda says the Sun is the soul of the universe and it controls the animate as well as the inanimate.
The Sun’s rays have the amazing power to heal. Sun worship helped Sambha, Krishna’s grandson, get cured of leprosy. Solar treatment was a well-developed science in ancient times. Its exponents could revive dead persons by concentrating the Sun’s rays on the dead body. Till recently, Swami Viryananda, Swami Dayananda’s preceptor, and Swami Vishuddhananda were experts of this science and reportedly, could perform such mira-cles. Gopinath Kaviraj has recorded that he himself saw Vishuddhananda reviving a dead bird thus. When Alan Leo, the renowned astrologer, visited India, he was astounded to see the longevity of rural women who ate very little nutritious food. Then he noticed that they wore heavy silver ornaments and concluded that they got solar energy through the silver which probably prolonged their lives.
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