Sun Worshipper

by Nicole Becker
​June 21, 2022

​The truth is no mystery: all life on earth is utterly dependent on the sun.
Our ancestral cultures around the world were intimately aware of this and had many daily and seasonal rituals of worship and gratitude for the life-giving light of our home star.

In the Yoga tradition, the sun also represents the supreme light and power of enlightenment. In India, it is traditional to greet the morning sun by chanting the Gayatri mantra - an invocation to the physical sun as well as the light that dwells within us. In some cases ritual aarti or fire offering is made at dawn and dusk to give thanks for the life-sustaining energy of the sun (image is from my trip to Varanasi, India in 2016). 

As an outsider it may seem naïve or even heretical to “worship" the sun - but the devotional tradition is not about idolatry. The devotees do not mistake the sun for “God”. Rather, they use the form of the sun as the basis for a very deep gratitude practice.
 
After teaching Sunday's sun salutation (Surya Namaskar) class I sat in meditation and wrote the words of prayer below. I share them with you today in honor of the Solstice. 
 
P.S. If you missed the class and would like to practice with the recording, I've added it to the on-demand video library which you can access either with your unlimited membership or a video library “day pass”. (You'll find the class in the ‘Holistic Yoga’ collection) 
 
Blessed Solstice to All!
May all beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.

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​INVOKING THE LIGHT

I stand open in the spirit of universal friendship and loving kindness.
I lift my heart to the principle of Illumination
and bow to the energizing force of Light.
I offer gratitude to the abundant beauty revealed 
by the Light of Awareness and dedicate myself to 
the lifelong path of sacred remembrance.
I prostrate myself to the earth - source of worldly nourishment. 
I honor the ultimate source of spiritual sustenance 
deep in the golden center of the everynow.
I humble myself to the unfathomable radiance that shines 
through all things known and unknown. 
I bend my knee and lift my cup to the birthplace of this sacred Light
invoking its power to dispel all forms of ignorance and untruth.
Every facet of my being is given in complete surrender to the ineffable One.
May all beings remember their Enlightenment 
and receive the grace of unconditional Love.
​
– Nicole Anami