Category Archives: Indian Culture-Bharat Darshan

The Spiritual Connection between Man, Earth and Sun

Excerpt: The Spiritual Connection between Man, Earth and Sun: Sun, Photosynthesis, and Respiration demonstrate the nature of spiritual interactions between Earthly domain and the extraterrestrial or Supernatural domain. I will describe as to how Sanskrit word “PRANA” describes the mechanism for transmission of Knowledge from Supernatural or Heavenly Realm to Natural or Earthly Realm transcending barrier between the two realms.

Ratha Saptami or Magha Saptami, is a Hindu festival dedicated to Lord Surya, the Sun God. It is celebrated on the seventh day of the Shukla Paksha in the Magha month, which usually falls in January or February. It is known as the day of Surya Jayanti. The word ‘Ratha’ is used to refer to a chariot that is drawn by seven horses. ‘Saptami’ is used to refer to the seventh day. According to tradition, Sun God Surya start his journey towards the northern hemisphere on a ratha or chariot. This festival is also a time to celebrate the life of Lord Surya.

Ratha Saptami 2026 will be celebrated on Sunday, January 25.

Earthly Existence and the Cosmic Connection

Water for Life

Water is vital to life, participating in virtually every process that occurs in all living creatures. All living things consist mostly of water, for example, the human body is about two-thirds water. The contents of a living cell known as cytoplasm by its composition is about 70 to 90 percent water. The versatility of water as a universal solvent is essential to living organisms. Earthly life depends upon aqueous solutions that are used for carrying out biological processes such as circulation, and digestion. 

Water is the most common substance on Earth covering more than 70 percent of the planet’s surface. About 97 percent of the Earth’s water is in the oceans, 2 percent is permanently frozen as polar ice caps, and glaciers, and most of the reminder about 1 percent consists of groundwater or surface streams, rivers, and lakes. The abundant sea water being too salty is of no direct use to the terrestrial forms of life. For earthly existence, the vast majority of plants, animals, and human beings depend upon water that reaches the ground as precipitation from the sky. 

The Water Cycle or Hydrologic Cycle

The Greek philosopher of nature, Anaxagoras (500 – 428 BC) who lived in Athens, provided the earliest description of the hydrologic cycle, stating that the Sun lifts water from the sea into the atmosphere, from which it falls as rain. The Roman architect and engineer Marcus Vitruvius (1 st century BC) described that the groundwater is derived from rain and snow by infiltration of the soil. 

The hydrologic cycle is the process by which water circulates continuously between the atmosphere and the surface of the Earth, falling as precipitation, evaporating or transpiring from vegetation back into the atmosphere, or collecting as surface runoff via streams and rivers and flowing to the sea, there to evaporate again into the atmospheric portion of the cycle. It involves the continuous circulation of water in the Earth-Atmosphere system. The most important processes involved in the water cycle are evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff as streams and rivers. Evaporation involves the transfer of water in the liquid state from the surface of the Earth to the gaseous or vapor state in the atmosphere. The main factors affecting evaporation are solar radiation (the source of heat/temperature), humidity, and wind speed. The radiant energy from the Sun also melts the snow and ice to perpetuate the surface runoff that we recognize as streams and rivers. 

The Sun God, Lord Suryanarayana, Vyomanatha (Lord of Sky and Water), Savita – The Cosmic Father 

All living entities upon Earth are energy dependent and they thrive by drawing the material energy from nature. Sun is the cosmic source of energy for earthly life. Apart from energy, the Sun is the source of freshwater for all terrestrial life. Sun’s role in the hydrologic cycle could be compared to the role heart plays in the human circulatory system. Human heart is considered to be a vital organ as it works like a mechanical pump to circulate purified blood which sustains all the essential functions of the entire body. Just like the human heart, the Sun provides the energy, which very much like a mechanical pump, lifts water from the oceans into the atmosphere and during this process of evaporation the salt water is transformed into purified fresh water. This water vapor is the most important component of Earth’s atmosphere and it provides the opportunity for our earthly existence. Being the source of energy, and of fresh water, it is appropriate to describe the Sun as the Cosmic Father. His heat may put us to trouble, arouse our sense of thirst, but His rains quench our thirst. Indian Cultural traditions recognize Sun as Savita which means Cosmic Father and He is often described as the provider of great rains, and as a friend of waters that flow across the land surface. Earthly existence is simply impossible without this harmonious relationship between the Cosmic Sun and earthly living creatures. 

A Hymn to The Sun God 

In the epic poem of Ramayana, sage Agastya taught Lord Rama the hymns to worship the Sun God who is also known as Aditya, Ravi, Divakar, Prabhakar, Mitra, Bhaskara and other names. The hymns are known as ‘Aditya Hrudayam’. The Sun illuminates the external world, and the same illumination could also dispel the darkness, the ignorance from our hearts, the inner world. 

He is the Lord of the sky and water. He dispels darkness and ignorance. He had obtained the essence of Vedic Scriptures (Rig, Yajur, and Saama) and hence is the Master of Knowledge. He is the provider of great rains, and He is the friend of waters that flow across the land. He quickly traverses the celestial plane and we see Him moving over the Vindhya mountains. 

व्योमनाथस्तमोभेदी ऋग्यजुः सामपारगः।
घनवृष्टिरपां मित्रो विन्ध्यवीथीप्लवङ्गमः॥ १३
Transliteration:
vyomanāthastamobhedī ṛgyajuḥ sāmapāragaḥ।
ghanavṛṣṭirapāṃ mitro vindhyavīthīplavaṅgamaḥ॥ 13
English translation:
He is the Lord of the firmament and ruler of the sky, remover of darkness. the master of the three Vedas Rig, Yaju, Sama, he is a friend of the waters (Varuna) and causes abundant rain. He swiftly courses in the direction South of Vindhya-mountains and sports in the Brahma Nadi. 
Hindi translation:
सूर्य अंतरिक्ष के स्वामी, आकाश के शासक, अंधेरे के विद्वान, तीन वेदों रिग, यजुर एवं साम वेद के स्वामी है । भारी वर्षा के कारण भी यही है, या भगवान वरुना के दोस्त हैं । ये विंध्या रेंज को पार कर ब्रह्मा नदी को भी पार कर लिया है ।

The Science of Spiritual Optics

The Science of Optics-Spiritual Light-Spiritual Optics-God is Light:

Optics is the scientific study of Light and the study of Light should be concerned with the genesis, nature, properties of Light and its purpose and role in the establishment of life and interactions among living things. Light is the sign of divine operation in the world of chaos and darkness. Light brings order to the world. Without a source of light, a primary source of external energy, life would be impossible on planet Earth. Further, it can be stated that light is essential for life for the synchronization of life’s living functions, and to generate the experience of peace, harmony, and tranquility in the living condition, or state. Thus light is associated with the experience called happiness.

Spiritual Light – Spiritual Optics:

Light is the source of Life. The establishment of light on planet Earth is a creative process that uses light energy to recreate the spectral colors in the lives of individual organisms. The Biological Coloration is the most compelling evidence of the fact of creation. Animals, and plants do not have the ability to generate colors by simply depending upon spontaneous, random, and unguided mutations. Biological Coloration requires complex synchronization of morphological appearance, biotic interactions and behavior of living organisms that share a given environment. Light is the primary source of external energy to support the existence of all living things. The principles of Physical Optics, Geometrical Optics, Physiological Optics have to operate in conjunction with Spiritual Optics to generate the experience of peace, harmony, and tranquility that is fundamental to existence. Life is a manifestation of order to replace disorder, or confusion that could be caused if light does not provide the stimulus called illumination that drives away darkness. It is no surprise to note that the major Biological Rhythm is called the Diurnal, or Day, or Solar Rhythm.

Earthly Existence is synchronized by the creation of Day and Night

The Biological Clock – Every living system studied behaves as if it contains a highly dependable clock. The specialized properties of this clock suggest that it involves some unique biological mechanism indissociable from life itself.  

The Biological Clock is a self-sustained internal timing mechanism that controls cyclic patterns, or rhythms, of a living organism. All organisms have this ability to synchronize their existence to events in both their internal or external environment. Because of this internal timing, certain physiological and behavioural events vary in intensity. Such time-dependent variability is expressed as a rhythm, or oscillation, with a frequency equal to that of the underlying biological clock. Biological clocks time the Solar day, the period of the Earth’s rotation relative to the Sun.    

The Biological Rhythm – Biological Rhythms represent the periodic biological fluctuation in an organism that corresponds to and is in response to periodic environmental change. The most important example of such environmental change is that of the cyclical variations in the relative position of the Earth to the Sun and the immediate effect of this variation is that of night alternating with day or the change from darkness to light. Biological Rhythms that occur once a day are called Circadian (Latin circa:”about,” di: “day,”), Solar day, diel, daily, diurnal (day-active), or nycthemeral rhythm. Circadian rhythms are the most pervasive rhythms regulating many events for every day in the lives of most living organisms. Circadian rhythms are synchronized to an external time-giving stimulus. The external stimulus that is important for most living organisms is that of Sun rise and Sun set, the daily light-dark cycle determined by Earth’s rotation.   

The Spiritual Connection of Man, Earth and Sun

The “Magic” or “Maya” in the Indian Sanskrit language accounts for the nature of all existence. In English language there is no equivalent word for the term “Maya.” I use the term “Love” as the equivalent of “Maya” for both the terms can be interpreted as Fundamental Force described in Physics.

Love or Maya when interpreted as Fundamental Force can account for the nature of connection between Man, Earth, and Sun. I use the term Spiritual to describe the nature of connection, relationship, partnership, association, the coming together, the joining, or the yoking of two or more distinct entities to perform guided, goal-oriented, sequential, purposeful actions to support the existence of life on planet Earth.

The fundamental living function performed by all the trillions of independent, individual cells of the human body is described as Cellular Respiration. This function involves the use of Oxygen molecules to create new molecules of energy using the Carbon molecules synthesized by plants performing the Photochemical Reaction called Photosynthesis.

Sun, Photosynthesis, and Respiration demonstrate the nature of spiritual interactions between Earthly domain and the extraterrestrial or Supernatural domain.

The Man has the cognitive ability called ‘Vision’ which is the second most important Photochemical Reaction performed by living entities. The Man living on the surface of Earth, the natural world has the cognitive ability to directly visualize the Sun moving across the Sky. However, the Man cannot transcend the barrier between the Natural Domain of Earth and the Supernatural Domain of Sun. Man dwells in ‘Natural’ or Terrestrial Realm recognizing Sun’s apparent journey across Sky which belongs to ‘Supernatural’ Realm. The separation and distinction between Natural and Supernatural Realm is important to understand the nature of man’s conditioned existence as a terrestrial organism.

Man, the Physical, Mortal Being has Subjective, and Objective experience of his ephemeral existence in real world for that existence is made possible by a Principle that is ‘always present’, and ‘ever-existing’. Sanskrit language coined the term ‘Asmi’ to describe this Principle of Unity or “Eikyata.” Further, Sanskrit language coined the term “Prana” to describe ‘Vital Force’ that operates man’s physical existence in real world. ‘Prana’ describes the underlying mechanism that establishes origin of ‘Vital Force’, the basis of man-God Connection. For all living functions involve knowing a range of information, processing information, interpreting information, and using information in a selective manner, ‘Vital Force’, the animating or vital Principle found in all living things involves mechanisms to acquire Knowledge and transmit Knowledge, or supporting Cognitive abilities which perform functions of knowing often called intelligence used in performing intelligent actions as opposed to transitive actions, or mechanical functions performed by inanimate matter as per Laws of Physics and Chemistry.

Veda = Knowledge – “Prana” – Mechanism for transmission of Knowledge:

The word ‘Veda’ refers to Knowledge which means the fact, the state, or condition of knowing a range of information. As mentioned before, human body performs thousands of functions which involve use of knowledge or processing information. However, human body makes no use of any known human language. In Science, they use the term ‘communication’ to describe the act of transmitting, giving or exchanging of information. Science of transmitting information between living cells and within cells (between intracellular organelle, subunits like nucleus and ribosomes) involves study of chemical molecules which function as signals or chemical messengers. Most modern cancer research involves investigating signalling pathways used by cells to communicate information for purposes such as to begin cell division or to stop cell division.

Sanskrit words very often describe an underlying mechanism while the word stands for an action performed in external world. In this context, I will describe as to how Sanskrit word “Prana” describes mechanism for transmission of Knowledge from Supernatural or Heavenly Realm to Natural or Earthly Realm transcending barrier between the two realms.

To make it brief, I ask you to read about Photochemistry which is the study of chemical processes that are exclusively brought about by interaction of light with matter. Photoreception is any of the biological responses of organisms to stimulation by light. Photochemical reactions play a vital role in biological systems. Two important photobiological processes are 1. Vision, and 2. Photosynthesis. In plants the primary photoreceptive response is photosynthesis which involves using energy of the Sun to convert Carbon dioxide and Water to essential nutritive elements of all life. One important outcome of the photosynthetic chemical reactions is, light energy splits the Water molecule so that one of its component atoms, Oxygen is released as molecular Oxygen which serves to replenish the atmospheric Oxygen supply which would be depleted by respiration processes of most other living organisms. Life on planet Earth is made possible by Sun’s energy that splits water molecules to provide Oxygen, component of air that acts as vital force to sustain Life.

Sanskrit created the term ‘Prana’ to describe this Vital Force that operates most living functions called Oxidation-Reduction Chemical Reactions. Prana describes the physical act of breathing or respiration. Prana specifically refers to air in human heart. Indian tradition describes ‘Pancha Prana’ as 1. Vyaana (air spread in the entire extent of human body), 2. Samaana (air swallowed during eating and drinking), 3. Apaana (air expelled from body), 4. Udaana (air in neck or throat), and 5. Prana (air that is in the heart).

‘Prana’ as a sign of life refers to air in the heart. The right chambers of heart deal with deoxygenated air, and left chambers with oxygenated air. Heart works as a mechanical pump circulating flow of air in the entire human body. If this activity of heart that involves air is improper or missing, life becomes difficult, and its most important consequence is that of immediate brain injury, brain damage, and brain death. Brain’s ability to process information or to provide Knowledge is dependent upon ‘Prana’, the air in human heart. The origin, or the source of this ‘Prana’ is Sun’s light energy. Sun rays are source of intellect for Sun is the Original Cause of ‘Prana’.