Ratha saptami

By: Smt.Meera Tadipatri



Pic.courtesy: Smt. Sowmya Rayabhari

Audio: Rathasaptami 

During the month of Magha, the maasa-niyamaka is Kamala-Madhava. The month is called as Tapas maasa in shastra. The saptami in this month is very special for the worship of His rupa in Surya.
During this maagha maasa, arunodaya snaana is very punyakara. This day of "ratha saptami" it is even special as the punya that is obtained is of same merit as done during grahana kaala i.e., about 1 and half hours before sun rise. Kashyapa-Vinata putra Aruna is the abhimani for this kaala.
Surya is an indicator of time and also reminds as that by the passing of each day we get closer to death. Thus he wakes up everyone to do the right things in life and repent for all the bad deeds. In Him, Bhagavan as Kaala niyamaka Surya accepts all our prayers and makes our life meaningful.
Saptami is very special for the worship of Surya Antaryaami Narayana as Surya is the abhimaani and all Gods above Surya are also abhimaani-s. Thus, Bhagavan is worshiped as antaryaami in the Sun as well as inside as as our antaryaami.
He is indeed the real "Sapta Vaahana" in both surya and deha ratha.
Surya is also pitru devata and offering daana on this day pleases Surya Antaryaami Narayana and gets his blessings.
As per Tantra saara Sangraha, Surya is worshiped as "Ghruni" aka Krupaalu/karunaalu. He is thought of along with his spouse.
Sanjya devi, as having purusha form seated in a one chakra chariot drawn by 7 seven horses. He has a reddish deha with red vastra and having red kamala in each of his two hands. He is adorned with all jewels and sees us with krupa drushti. Surya is just a pratima for God. Inside Surya, all seven indriya abhimaani devatas are present and above them Bharathi and Mukhyapraana and in them Laxmi Narayana is present as the real giver of everything. Thinking of the presence of all devatas both inside Surya, Surya mandala and inside our body removes the ill effects from all internal enemies.
God in Surya is also called as "ahaha" -- the remover of darkness both external and internal and giver of light. Same God is present in our hrudaya as "aham". His light inside us is expressed through our eyes. As he removes darkness, sorrow and all negative things in the form of disease, he is specially worshiped on saptami to get rid of 7 types of sins done in our prior janmas.
1. Sins thr' eating forbidden food.
2. Sins done thr' krodha/anger
3. Sins done mentally
4. Sins done by speaking ill of others etc
5. Sins done from hand and legs.
6. Sins done thr' our reproductive organs.
7. Other sins done knowingly and unknowingly
To get rid of this, snana is done in the arunodaya kaala with 7 arka patra and 7 badari patras are used. Depending on sampradaaya, 3 pairs are kept on head and two each on shoulders.
As always it is not the mere action/karma but the thought of God present in these Arka patra and Badari patra that cures us of all doshas.
Badara also mean Chandra and the Lord who controls chandra is Badari. It is he who removes bad thoughts in our mind and paves way for good thoughts.
Bhagavan is called Arka -- Acharya Madhva says in His Mahaitareya Bhashya that Bhagavan is the one who is very well worshiped by sajjanas, so He is called Arka. In Bruhadaranya Bhashya Acharya says that by worshiping this worship worthy Bhagavan called Arka, one will get happiness [Ar+ka -- ar = archana and ka is sukha]. This Arka is present in Surya, so even he gets His fathers' name called Arka.
By being in Surya, He controls the seven segments of daytime [sapta-saama] so that everyone including birds, animals can go about their activities. As the Sun goes down, He takes away a day of life from us, however when the day is passed with His thoughts, the same day leads to "death-less" state aka moxa.
As part of the puja, Surya ratha with eka chakra and seven horses is drawn near the Tulasi brindavana with rangavalli and puja is done to this pratima and arghya is given.
Surya provides 4 types of shakti -- tapani, pachani, shoshani and prakashini. Symbolically, we think of these gifts and cook milk with rice and offer to the God inside Surya.
What prevents us from attaining the dukha rahita state is our own tons of sins done due to ignorance. The all compassionate Bhagavan has given us all these special days where it is possible to get rid of many sins. To achieve this, Bhagavan has kept special property of removing "unseen" doshas in a special way in the leaf so much so even that leaf is called as Arka.
This Bhagavan who is in Surya and in the, Arkapatra is also present inside our deha as sapta-vahana in all our sapta dhatus [skin, tissues, blood, muscle, marrow, fat and bones] which make up this body. Being in sapta-rishi-s, He instigates good thoughts in us; Being in Agni as sapta jihva, He instigates good [vedic] speech . Because He is there, we are Alive and able to speak [His glory]. With this thought if we remember, then, He removes our sins and gives joy both here and in moxa.Thus, by thinking of him in the sapta dhatus in sharira removes the rogha connected with these sapta dhatus and paves way to get the anugraha of sapta chandas devatas who give us the knowledge contained in sapta vidyas like 4 vedas, Purana, Mahabharatha and pancharaatra. This continues year after year and in every fraction of that kaala like 7 days of a week.
The snana is symbolic to make us think about Him with gratitude.
Symbolically, one wheel chariot is drawn to indicate that the kaala rupa bhagavan controls the time -- the wheel has 12 spokes representing 12 months, and there are 6 segments representing 6 rutus/seasons and hub a holding them together. In our siddhanta, all these are not jadas but abhimani devatas who control these seasons under His command. This is the very basis for our nitya sankalpa too.
On top of this wheel, inside the ratha, in an elevated simhasana, we draw the pic of a surya and INSIDE this, we visualize Surya-Narayana [in mukhyaprana]. He is surrounded by 12 groups with each group having 7 set of devatas.
Each group controls each month of the year.
The seven groups are:
1. Aditya for the month -- for this month it is Pusha
2. Apsara is GhritAchi
3. Naaga is Dhananjaya
4. Yaxa is Sushena
5. Rishi is Gautama
6. Gandharva is Suruchi
7. Raxasa is Vaata
This month is called Tapas.
Aruna is the charioteer and He faces God all the time. The 7 horses are the seven abhimani devatas of 7 chandas like Gayathri, Ushnik, Anushtup, Bruhati, Pankti, Trushtup, Jagati. The rope is Shesha.
Because of Him, there is produce and every single life form, so with this awareness that everything belongs to Him, devatas offer everything to Him --
Surya gives heat and light while
Varuna gives rain to grow the crop;
the prithvi devata offers grain which the Agni devata cooks for naivedya;
Vayu carries Sugandha and shabda while Vinayaka gives space for everything to move about. 
These very devatas staying inside us offer four types of food -- milk [vishada], sugar [tixna], poha [sthira] and fruit [nirahara] to the Lord with gratitude.
Another item that is very significant is Til -- it is used as oil for deepa, used in bathing, food preparation, tarpana/homa, dana today. Kushmanda, aka "bompla" dana is also very meritorious to ward off bad things.
Thus basically, it is His thought, that is very important. That is why even if we don't have access to Arka patra or all of the puja items, still by contemplating on the Lord on this day in particular, gives great merit.

Shri KrishnArpanamastu.




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