DITYA HRDAYAM - PART 6

vyomanthastamobhedi gyajussmapraga |
ghanavirap mitro vindhyavth plavagama || (13)

tap maal mtyu pigala sarvatpana |

kavirvivo mahtej rakta sarva bhavodbhava || (14)

nakatra graha tr madhipo vivabhvana |

tejasmapi tejasvi dvdaatman namostu te || (15)
Meaning:
(13) vyomantha chief of principle elements, such as air, water and ether; also called
chief of Cosmos; technically Prajpati, lord of beings, explained earlier); tamo (tamas)
darkness; bhedi removing (removing darkness refers to dawn); g yajus sma
praga - the one who has mastered Rig, Yajur and Sma (Vedas); ghanavi - heavy
rain; ap mitra - friend of water; vindhyavth vindya mountain range (a projection
that connects East and West; there are Puric references too); plavagama - one
who travels (plav means jumping and leaping);
14) tap radiating heat; maal (maala) circular or round, referring to the disc of
the sun; mtyu - death or referring to god of death Yama; pigala - gold-coloured;
sarvatpana - burning (or illuminating) everything; kavi - one who composes poems
(lyrist); subtly this can be explained as an enlightened personality; viva - universal;
mahteja - extremely brilliant; rakta - crimson coloured; sarva everything;
bhavodbhava - original creation or the Creator of all creations (bhava means coming
into existence);
15) nakatra constellations; graha - planets; tra stars (group of stars make a
constellation and there are many constellations); adhipa - ruler or king or chief;
vivabhvana - the mind to create (or will, generally known as Divine Will to create);

tejasmapi lord of luminaries (sun); tejasvi - brilliant, splendid, bright (referring to the
sun); dvdaatman twelve dityas (twelve forms or aspects of sun); namostute
salutation to you.
Summary of verses 13, 14 and 15:
Further discussion about Brahman in the form of sun is being continued. Verse 13
describes Him as Prajpati (vyomantha), the chief of all beings and often compared to
lord of creation, Brahm. The world Prajpati is carefully chosen here to mean the
Vimara aspect of Brahman or initiation of worldly process through the svabhva of
Brahman, which is known as inherent disposition to create. When Brahman decides to
create (this terminology is the combination of Trika and Advaita), He (Upaniad-s do not
attribute any gender to Him. Brahman is referred in Upaniad-s as IT or THAT)
manifests. What is the difference between Brahman and a manifested being? Brahman
is the Ultimate Reality, beyond which there is nothing. In other words, He is both
complete (pra) and nothingness (nya)*. How Brahman manifests Himself? He
manifests in the form of the Self. Brahman is often compared to a tiny seed of a huge
banyan tree. From a diminutive seed, a huge tree grows. Similar is the case with
Brahman. The only difference is that in the case of banyan tree we know the cause; but
in the case of worldly process, though we acknowledge (this acknowledgement comes
through reading Upaniad-s,Brahma Stra and Bhagavad Gt) that Brahman is the
cause, yet we are not aware of Him (due to lack of sdhana). In order to make us
understand that Grandeur of Brahman, sun is compared to the Self-effulgent Brahman.
In the initial stages of spiritual life, mind by default gets associated with a particular form
of god. Spiritual evolution happens over a period of time, which is presided over by
klapurua (different from Yama, god handling death). Darkness in the verse refers to
darkness of my, which is the crux of dualism. When Brahman is realized in His
Grandeur, which is the eternal Light, darkness of my is removed and leading to the
direct experience of That Light.
The same verse further says that He is the one who has mastered all the four Vedas.
Here, it is not just about Vedas, but complete mastery over all of them. Further, Vedas
here do not ascribe only to the four Vedas, but also the essence of Vedas viz.
Upaniad-s. Vedas originated from the breath of Brahman. Ancient sages established
their awareness in the higher cosmic realms and decoded subtle sound from the
cosmos. These sounds originate in the higher planes of cosmos due to the interaction of
five basic elements causing frictions, also known as cosmic vibrations or abda
tanmtra from which sound originates in the form of par (parvc in the form of

kualin in human body). Rig Veda (I.164.45) also discusses this modification and it
says,
catvri vk parimit padni tni vidurbrhma ye mania |
guh trii nihit negayanti turiya vco manuy vadanti | |

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Four are the definite grades of speech; those learned who wise know them; three
deposited in secret, indicate no meaning; men speak the fourth grade of speech. Four
grades of speech are , Bh Bhuva Suva and these are known as Par,
payant, madhyam and vaikhar. Par is the innermost at the origin; payant pertains
to heart, madhyam to intellect and vaikhar the phonetically expressed through organs
of speech.
The verse also refers to water in the form heavy rain and the sun as a good friend of
water. This also refers to the five basic elements of creation which causes the stage
of pacamahbhtamaya (consisting of five basic elements). All the five elements
contain substantial traces of other elements. For example, water contains traces of air,
fire, space and earth (the fifth one is water). While referring to friend of water, it not only
refers to the process of water vaporising due to the heat of the sun, forming clouds to
cause rain, but also refers to the process of creation itself by subtly conveying the
presence of pacamahbhta-s.
The verse also refers to the movement of the sun from the East to the West. This
reference subtly conveys the time factor, the duration of individual existence from birth
to death, the role of klapurua. East represents our birth and West represents our
death. The intervening period is full of Light, which removes the darkness of my
enabling us to realize the Self-effulgent Brahman. In other words, this verse
categorically says that we should attain liberation in this birth itself. My making
reference to leaping, it is conveyed that the time moves at a faster pace and klapurua
will never wait for us catch up with him. Time will continue to move and in our own
interest, we have to catch up with him to get liberated at the earliest, in this birth itself
(the state of jvanmukta). Sage Agastya beautifully reminds the Grandeur of Brahman to
Lord r Rma; technically it is not an explanation, but only a reminder to r Rma
about His stature as Brahman.

Verse 14 dwells on physical description of the sun, such as its heat, its shape, its colour
at the time of dawn, day and dusk, its attribute of showing up all the objects throughout
the universe and not just the planet earth (this is known as Vimara aspect of
Brahman). By making reference to poets, impartation of knowledge is conveyed.
Knowledge contextually refers to spiritual knowledge (different from material
knowledge), which is important to remove the veil of my. In other words, by its rays,
sun can cause ones kualin energy to ascend. Sun makes this possible by activating
pigala ni and balancing it with ia ni. When these two ni-s are perfectly
balanced and sealed, kualin enters through suumna to reach sahasrra, where iva
and akti unite and Self-realization takes place. The usage of the word bhavodbhava
clearly establishes that Agastya is talking about Brahman and not the planet sun.
Bhavodbhava means as a single word refers to iva and sarva bhavodbhava means
Brahman or Paramaiva, where both iva and akti coexist. Brahman and His power
are not separate in this stage and this is the stage of Paramaiva. Even if any doubt
exists in our mind that Agastya is talking about the planet sun, it is now proved beyond
doubt that he refers only Brahman.
Verse 15 talks about omnipresence of Brahman. As the Chief of creation (Praka), He
willed to create and as a result of this Divine Will, He manifests in the form of sun and
presides over constellations, planets, pacamahbhta-s, etc and thus entire creation
came into existence. Kasays in Bhagavad Gt (Ka speaks as Brahman and not
as a god head) that He is the mind among the organs of perception. Mind is considered
as supreme as the mind is nothing but the power of the Brahman. Knowing that mind is
His Power is realisation. Mind is the cause for both bondage and liberation and is the
seat of faculty reasoning. Hence Ka says that He is the mind among the organs of
perception. Both mind and consciousness are the two important factors in Selfrealisation. Consciousness alone has the capacity to manifest and His creation can be
known only through the presence of consciousness. According to Dr. David R. Hawkins
from the Un-manifest to the Manifest, the energy of consciousness itself interacted with
matter, and as an expression of Divinity, by that interaction life arose. For academic
interest the twelve ditya-s are Dht, Mitra, Aryam, Indra, Varua, Aa, Bhaga,
Vivasvn, P, Savit, Tva and Viu. They are also known as Dvdaditya-s and
they represent twelve solar months and klapurua acts through them from ones birth
to death.
At the end of 15th verse of ditya Hdayam, after having discussed about the various
attributes of Sagua Brahman, we begin to salute Him and this salutation continues in
the next few verses. Why this salutation? Salutations are needed to connect with
someone who is superior to us (in spiritual parlance) and who is closer to Brahman and

acts on behalf of Brahman (these are the stages of sthitapraja, yog and jvanmukta).
As discussed earlier, Brahman does not act on His own. He acts through His Kinetic
energy and different energies are presided over by different symbolic representations
giving rise various forms of gods and goddesses. When we inquire unto ourselves about
Brahman, shapes and forms (depicted as different gods and goddesses) and the
sounds (mantras) associated with them would get dissolved either into pra (full) or
nya (void)*. Typically both are same; Brahman is both fullness and nothingness.