Awareness of Light is the Light of Awareness

Photo by Katsiaryna Endruszkiewicz on Unsplash

Spring is a beautiful time of renewal when we get a sense of the freshness of deep down things. As the sun climbs higher in the sky, light spills from the heavens above, and we see everything more clearly. It is as if the external sun generates inner illumination also.

Yoga teaches that the external sun receives its light from a Divine Light: “this by shining everything shines” (Mundaka Upanishad).

In India, the source of the Divine Light is known as Savitri. Another name for Savitri in Hindu tradition is Shiva, who is both above and within all creation, and who shines in the sun and in our heart centre. but you could also identify Savitri as Buddha, Christ, or the Consciousness Principle. Savitri is the deity manifesting through the sun. The sun is of course an important spiritual symbol, especially in India, the home of Yoga; and all the great religions have their origin in the East, the birthplace of the sun - “lux ex oriente” (light from the east).   

Surya Namaskara 

The veneration given to the sun is evident in a number of yogic practices. Surya Namaskara (salutation to the sun) is perhaps the most widely known, being a cornerstone of yoga sadhana (practice) and taught in nearly every yoga class throughout the world.  While often used today as no more than a “warming sequence,” we have to look back to Vedic times to discern its spiritual and esoteric purpose. Surya Namaskara was then a ritualised prayer in which each of the twenty-four positions was a mudra (spiritual attitude) which reflected a particular spiritual quality of the sun’s light as it moved through the heavens establishing the rhythm of time.  It was a dance to the rhythm of the sun in which each step had its own mantra, the Vedic solar mantras. What a beautiful thing it is to learn and chant the names of the sun, and what a rich dimension it brings to Surya Namaskara, elevating it from what can sometimes be treated as gymnastics, to prayer in motion, and meditation in movement! 

We each have a number of inner suns, or chakras. where the light of consciousness vibrates with energy (prana); and these also dance to the rhythm of the sun in the heavens.   When we resound to the mantra of the dance of the sun, we consciously take our awareness to these inner suns so that we link the inner and outer. Now we are offering homage to, and gratitude for, the particular quality of light (consciousness) as it manifests in our own little solar centres; and in the process, pranic energy is generated, for it is a law that energy follows consciousness. Sound, symbol and meaning quiver with light at each chakra!

One meaning of the word Tantra is to “weave”, and a practice becomes truly Tantric when the outer (bahir) resonates with the inner (antar), and this is when asana becomes mudra. To appreciate how Surya Namaskara is organically woven out of the warp and weft of outer and inner, let us reflect on its sixth position, astangasana. This is “noon” in a sequence which mirrors the sun’s twenty-four hour journey, when the sun is overhead, and there is a temporal pause in nature’s rhythm; the body remains static - in a mudra of receptivity and breathless anticipation, with breath held out (bahir kumbakha) and navel lifted upwards, as if in uddiyana bandha; awareness is at the navel; on a pranic level.  In this pregnant pause, we have created a space (akash), where the vayus (vital airs) of prana (upward moving polar energy) and apana (downward moving polar energy) reverse their flow. The polar energies unite at the navel chakra (manipura) in a charge of energy which resounds to the mantra “Om Pushne Namaha!” (salutation to the imparter of strength!). This in turn inaugurates us into the next half of the sequence/day, symbolised by the awakened energy of the mudra of cobra in the next position (bhujangasana). 

So, why not try it for yourself, and add a ritualistic and spiritual dimension to your daily practice of Surya Namaskara, especially in the golden days of approaching Summer. The mantras follow the classical sequence of Surya Namaskara, with the appropriate chakra positions.

Vedic Solar Mantras:

Om Mitraya Namaha

Salutation to the friend of all (Heart Chakra)

Om Ravaye Namaha

Salutation to the shining one (Throat Chakra) 

Om Suryaya Namaha

Salutation to the one who induces activity (Pelvic Chakra) 

Om Banave Namaha

Salutation to the one who illuminates  (Eyebrow Chakra)

Om Kagaya Namaha

Salutation to the one who moves quickly in the sky (Throat Chakra)

Om Pushne Namaha

Salutation to the imparter of strength (Navel Chakra)

Om Hiranyagarbhaya Namaha

Salutation to the golden cosmic self (Pelvic Chakra)

Om Marichaye Namaha

Salutation to the lord of dawn (Throat Chakra)

Om Adityaya Namaha

Salutation to the son of Aditi, the cosmic mother (Eyebrow Chakra) 

Om Savitre Namaha

Salutation to the Lord of creations (Pelvic Chakra)

Om Arkaya Namaha

Salutation to the one who is fit to be praised (Throat Chakra) 

Om Bhaskaraya Namaha

Salutation to the one who leads to enlightenment (Heart Chakra)

Hari Om. 

Yogacharya Michael McCann