In the Vedas, the Sun is called the soul of the world. Life on earth is possible only from the Sun and that is why the worship of the Sun has been practiced in India since Vedic times. The Sun God has been praised in many places in the hymns of the Vedas.
At the beginning of the creation ‘Om’ had appeared from the mouth of Brahma Ji, which was the initial subtle form of the Sun. After this, the words Bhuh Bhuv and Swa were born. When these three words merged into ‘Om’ in the pind form, the Sun got a gross form. Being born at the beginning of the universe, it was named Aditya.
Birth story of Sun
This story of the birth of Sun God is also very popular. According to this, the son of Brahma was Marichi and the son of Marichi was Maharishi Kashyap. He was married to Diti and Aditi, daughters of Prajapati Daksha. Daityas were born from Diti and Aditi gave birth to gods, who were always fighting among themselves.
Seeing this, Devmata Aditi was very sad. She started worshiping the Sun God. Suryadev was pleased with his penance and granted him a boon to be born as a son. After some time she got pregnant. Even after conceiving, Aditi kept a strict fast, due to which her health became very weak.
Maharishi Kashyap was very worried about this and tried to convince him that it is not right for his children to do so. But, Aditi explained to him that nothing would happen to our children, he himself is the form of the sun. When the time came, a brilliant child was born from her womb, who became the hero of the gods and later killed the asuras. Due to being born from the womb of Aditi, he was called Aditya. At the same time, it also comes in some stories that Aditi gave birth to a Hiranyamaya egg by the boon of Suryadev, which was called Martand due to the brightness.
Detail story
The detailed story of Suryadev is found in Puranas like Bhavishya, Matsya, Padma, Brahma, Markendeya, Samba etc. Worshiping the Sun God at sunrise in the morning, the Sun God remains happy and blesses the native.
The Sun, fulfilling the wishes of the mother, mercilessly suppressed the enemies, hence the Sun is called a cruel planet and not a wicked or a sinner. The birthplace of Sun is Kalinga country, Gotra Kashyap, and caste is Brahmin. Surya is pleased with the sacrifice of jaggery, guggal by incense, with sandalwood blood, by the sweetness of incense, by the lotus flower.
A wheel in a chariot, a snake is a bridle
Surya’s chariot has only one wheel. Seven splendid horses of different colors pull him and his charioteer is lame, the path is free, instead of a horse’s bridle there is a rope of snakes. According to the Srimad Bhagavat Purana, a chakra (wheel) of the Sun’s chariot is called Samvatsara. In it there are twelve araas in the form of a month, six nemishas in the form of the season, and the navel in the form of three-four months. One end of the axis of the Rasa Ratha is on the top of Meruparvat and the other on Mount Manasarovar, in this chariot, Aruna, a charioteer, lives towards the Sun.
Two wives and 10 sons
Suryadev has two wives Sangya and Nikshubha. The noun has many names like Surenu, Ragni, Dyau, Tashtri, and Prabha, and the second name of Chhaya is Nikshubha. The noun Vishwakarma is the daughter of Tvashta. Lord Surya was blessed with ten children namely Vaivasvatamnu, Yama, Yamuna, Ashwini Kumar Dwaya and Raivant and from Chhaya Shani, Tapti, Vishti, and Savarnimanu.
Form of Sun
Sun is the lord of Leo zodiac. Their Mahadasha is of 6 years. The favorite gem is ruby. The favorite things of the Sun are the Savatsa cow, jaggery, copper, gold and red clothes etc. The metals of the sun are gold and copper. The chanting number of Surya is 7000.
Its Beej Mantra is ‘Om Hraam Hreem Hraum Saha Suryay Namah’. At the same time, the common mantra is ‘Om Ghrini Suryay Namah’. If the Sun is weak, then by daily worship of the Sun, by offering Ardhya to the Sun, by observing a fast on Sundays and by having daily darshan of the Sun God, the Sun God is pleased and strengthened.