Aditya Hridayam

Aditya Hridayam, is a hymn associated with the Sun or Surya and was recited by the great sage Agastya to Rama on the battlefield before fighting with Ravana. This historic hymn starts at the beginning of the duel between Shri Rama with Ravana himself. Sage Agastya teaches Lord Rama, who is fatigued after the long battle with various fighters of Lanka, this procedure of worshiping Surya for strength to defeat the enemy. These verses belong to Yuddha Khanda (Book 6) Canto 105 (or 106), in the Ramayan written by Valmiki.

Significance of Slokas

In Aditya hridayam there are thirty Slokas in total. The significance of the verses is as follows:

1,2 : Approach of Sage Agastya to Shri Rama.

3, 4, 5 : Greatness of the Aditya Hridayam and advantages of reciting it.

6 – 15 : Surya as a means of self evident consciousness, conveying that the One pervading outside and inside is the same. 16 – 20 : Mantra Japa.

21 – 24 : Mantra Slokas extolling Sun God.

25 – 30 : The fruits of this prayer, the method of recital and the procedure followed by Shri Rama, invoking God to bless him with the requisite strength for the victory in the battle field.

Text

See Sanskrit for details of pronunciation.

Don't pronounce words here starting with 'pha' as 'fah' as in 'pharmacy'. Here, 'pha' is pronounced as a stressed tone of 'pa'.

References

* http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry502.htm
* http://www.mypurohith.com/Rituals/Aditya_Hrudayam.asp
* http://www.yudit.org

Related links

* http://sanskrit.safire.com/pdf/ADITYA_TRANS.PDF
* http://www.mypurohith.com/Rituals/Aditya_Hrudayam.asp
* http://www.prapatti.com/slokas/mp3/aadityahrudayam.mp3