Sun – The Eye of the World
Divine Life
Society Publication: Spiritual Import of
Religious Festivals by Swami Krishnananda
(This Makara Sankranti message was given on the
14th of January, 1972)
In Sanskrit, Makara
Sankranti means the time when the sun crosses the tropic of Capricorn. The
day is of special significance to all those leading the spiritual life. The sun
comes to the North, energizing and invigorating all life wherever it is, and on
whatever he sheds his light.
The self of man is presided
over by the Sun or Surya. The Sun is designated as Atma-Karaka. The
self or the soul is different from the mind; the Atman and the Manas are
differentiated by their metaphysical and psychological characteristics,
respectively.
"Surya Atma Jagatas
Tasthushascha", proclaims The Rig-Veda. The spiritual presiding
principle in the Sun is the invigorator, energizer of the selves of all created
beings. We live by the Sun and die if the Sun is not to be. The Sun is not
merely a huge orb of atomic energy as the physicists would tell us, but a
radiant mass of life-giving vitality to everyone. The earth contains unimaginable
amount of energy, vitality, abundance and resources! All this wonderful earth is nothing but a
part of the Sun and our greatness can be traced back to the greatness of the
Sun.
There is some great
significance in connecting the principle of the Sun with the self of man, as
there is also equal significance in the connection of the moon with the mind of
man. The moon, the stars, the sun and all the stellar system exert a mutual
influence amongst themselves. You know during the full-moon the ocean rises up,
wells up as if to greet the rising moon and, naturally, the pull must be felt
everywhere on earth, but you cannot see it. Such is the invisible impact of the
higher forces of nature, whose father is the Sun, and when its influence is
felt more and more, the self is supposed to also exert influence in its
activity, operation. So, this particular day, we call Makara Sankranti, is
holy.
"Suryah pratyaksha
devata" (The Sun is the visible God). You cannot see God in His
pristine excellence, but you can see God through the operation of his powers in
nature. In the Purusha Sukta, the Sun is again compared to the eyes of the
Virat Purusha, the cosmic person. The Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita tell us
that those who die during these six months of the northern course of the Sun,
rise from the earthly entanglements to the higher regions through the orb of
the Sun and attain Salvation. In the Mahabharata we are told that Bhishma
waited for his departure until the Sun moved to the north. So there is much
behind these great observances such as the Makara Sankranti and many
others of a similar nature, in the spiritual destiny of man.
We live a material life, not
knowing what we really are, what the world is. The more you move inward into
yourself, the more also you will see the inner mystery of the world. When you
go to the vital body within you, you can see the vital body of other people
seated here. Because you are now in the physical body, you see the physical
body of others. When you enter your mental body, you can see the minds of other
people, and when you enter your intellectual body you can see the intellects of
other people seated here. And when you enter your spiritual principle within,
you can see the spirituality in the world and the spiritual principle in the
whole cosmos, culminating in the spiritual Reality as the Sun, wherein the
individual, the world and God become one.
But when you go inwardly by a
power of concentration and meditation, you also simultaneously, as a parallel
movement, enter into the subtler realms of the world outside, so much so the
outsideness of the world becomes less in proportion to the internal experience
that you have in your own self. The more you are physically conscious, the more
also is the world external to you. The more you are inwardly conscious, the
nearer is the world to you.
The inimical world, the
so-called unfriendly world, becomes a friendly one when you enter into the
subtler and subtler realms of your own being. And when you reach the divine
principle within you, the world does not merely remain as a friend but becomes
an inseparable experience of your own. The world ceases to be an outer
phenomenon. There will be no world as such. The thing called the world ceases
to be the moment you enter into the spiritual principle within you which is the
same as the spiritual principle within the world, which is also the same as the
spiritual principle of the universe. It is only here that God, world and the
soul become united. This is the liberation that we are ultimately seeking. So
by this religious observance of Makara Sankranti, we shall all, as
humble seekers of Truth, do well to contemplate this inner divinity presiding
over the solar symbol in our creation and endeavor to be more and more spiritual
in our life.
To be spiritual, to enter the
realm spiritual, is not to enter into an order of life as people mistakenly
imagine, but to enter into a new meaning of life in this very life. What is
really meant is to enter one step inward into your life rather than move
outwardly, diametrically. It is not a horizontal movement but an inward gesture
of the soul towards its own center.
Spirituality is not one kind
of life that you lead. It is the inner meaning of all kinds of life in the
world. There are people who imagine that spirituality is for the later period
of one's life. It has nothing to do with doing. The meaning behind existence
and activity is what you mean by the spiritual. If there is any worth in what
you are and what you do, that is spirituality.
On this auspicious Makara
Sankranti day contemplate for a moment the deeper truths of our own
personal lives, the deeper truths of nature outside and the deeper truths
implied in the relationship between ourselves and also the nature outside.
There are three implications, three meanings, three significances or three
hidden realities—the one, within ourselves; another, in nature outside; the
third, that which is implied in the relation between ourselves and the nature
outside, which is called God, invisible to our physical perception.
Do more of Gayatri Mantra Japa,
presided over by the Sun, or Ishta-Mantra Japa from today onwards. Those who are
advanced enough to take to pure contemplation and meditation will do well to
bring the true God into their lives, not the visible God or the imagined God.
The spiritual reality, finally, is the significance behind what anything is and
anything does, whatever we are and whatever we do, which means to say there is
no life without spirituality. This is the kind of life that every individual
being has to endeavor to live and one should utilize this opportunity as
another happy occasion to contemplate God in His real nature, thus accelerating
the speed of our movement towards that Supreme Absolute. May, by this influence
we exert in the world, loving solidarity and peace prevail everywhere, be our
prayer.
Excerpts from:
Sun – The Eye of The
World by Swami
Krishnananda
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