In the
final moments before a total solar eclipse, the temperature drops, birds and
insects sing, and the ambient light becomes otherworldly. Daytime morphs into a
360-degree dusk, and where the Sun once hung a black hole punches through the
sky, wreathed by a white ethereal glow
- what are we talking about ?
Covid-19
– the Corona Virus has shaken the Globe and swept people pulling the carpet
making them fall and cry. US President
Donald Trump’s re-election campaign took off with him telling potential voters
that a coronavirus vaccine will be ready by the end of 2020, even as European
leaders pledged to raise US $8.3 billion to “kickstart an unprecedented global
co-operation” between scientists, industry, governments and philanthropies for
vaccine development.
Global
efforts to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) have
progressed at an unprecedented pace aiming to stop the spread of the pandemic, which
has infected 3.5 million people, killed 250,000 and wrecked global economies
within four months. At least 120 vaccine projects are in various stages of
development since China shared the genetic sequence of Sars-CoV-2, which causes
Covid-19, with the World Health Organization (WHO) on January, 12, 2020. Of
these, seven have entered human trials to test the safety and efficacy of the
vaccine on healthy volunteers, according to WHO. Another 82 are in pre-clinical
animal trial phases, and at least two have been found to protect monkeys from
infection. Be hopeful – in nearer
future, Covid will be a thing of the past, one can just take a 3 day course of
medicine to treat it – but till such time, please stay at home, stay safe,
maintain social distance !
The
Neolithic concept of a "solar barge" (also "solar bark",
"solar barque", "solar boat" and "sun boat", a
mythological representation of the Sun riding in a boat) is found in the later
myths of ancient Egypt. Helios in
ancient Greek religion is the god and personification of the Sun, often
depicted in art with a radiant crown and driving a horse-drawn chariot through
the sky. Though Helios was a relatively
minor deity in Classical Greece, his worship grew more prominent in late
antiquity thanks to his identification with several major solar divinities of
the Roman period, particularly Apollo and Sol.
It is May
and SUN is hot .. Compared with the
billions of other stars in the universe, the sun is unremarkable. But for Earth
and the other planets that revolve around it, the sun is a powerful center of
attention. It holds the solar system together; provides life-giving light,
heat, and energy to Earth; and generates space weather. The sun resides some 26,000 light-years from
the Milky Way's center, in a tendril of our home galaxy known as the Orion Arm.
Every 230 million years, the sun—and the solar system it carries with it—makes
one orbit around the Milky Way's center. The sun formed more than 4.5 billion years
ago, when a cloud of dust and gas called a nebula collapsed under its own
gravity. As it did, the cloud spun and flattened into a disk, with our sun
forming at its center. The disk's outskirts later accreted into our solar
system, including Earth and the other planets. Scientists have even managed to
see these planet-birthing disks around our sun's distant young cousins.
At
about 864,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) wide, the sun is 109 times wider
than Earth, and it accounts for more than 99.8 percent of the solar system's
total mass. If it was a hollow ball, more than a million Earths could fit
inside it. But the sun isn't hollow: It's filled with scorching gases and soups
of electrically charged particles called plasma.
Some
might be surprised. ‘Corona’ is not a
new word, not a bad one either. That white ethereal glow described in the starting para is the solar corona, the Sun’s tenuous
upper atmosphere of ionized gas. Composed mostly of electrons and the bare
nuclei of hydrogen and helium atoms, it is the launchpad for the solar wind —
the stream of charged particles that escape the corona and wash over the
planets, eventually petering out at the threshold to interstellar space. Events
in the corona affect all of the Sun’s worlds, including Earth and the
technological society that humans have built upon it. The Sun’s corona is the
outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere. The corona is usually hidden by the
bright light of the Sun's surface. That makes it difficult to see without using
special instruments. However, the corona can be viewed during a total solar
eclipse.
The Sun
god is driven by a seven-horsed Chariot depicting the seven days of the
week. Going by Upanishad, their names are : Gayatri, Brhati, Usnik,
Jagati, Tristup, Anustup and Pankti. The charioteer of
Surya is Aruna, who is also personified as the redness that accompanies the
sunlight in dawn and dusk. Aruna was born to Vinatai and Sage Kashyapa….. the
other son is the most illustrious Periya Thiruvadi (Sri Garuda
Azhwar) ~ to Aruna was born Jatayu and Sampati, who are mentioned in
the epic Ramayana. The chariot of Sun travels at a speed of
3,400,800 yojanas calculated as 27,206,400 miles in a muhurtha.
At Thiruvallikkeni, in
the grand Brahmothsavam of Sri Parthasarathi Emperuman on day
4 morning it is - Surya Prabhai representing the Sun chariot pulled by 7
horses. We should have had the grand spectacular darshan of Emperuman in
Suryaprabhai today (8.5.2020 – sad, not) The radiance of Sun would sure get
overshadowed by the brilliance of Perumal. Centuries ago, Thiruvallikkeni
was such a pleasant garden with dense vegetation that Thirumangai Azhwar
described it as ‘இரவியின் கதிர்கள் நுழைதல் செய்து அறியா திருவல்லிக்கேணி”
~ the Thiruvallikkeni where the rays of Sun have not
ventured inside……today, it is a concrete jungle with so many flats, vehicles
and over-crowded that there is not proper space for the Perumal purappadu – of
course in tune with its older leanings, cattle still remain……
திருமழிசைமன்னன் வரிகளில்:
வானுலவு தீவளி மாகடல்
மாபொருப்பு,
தானுலவு வெங்கதிரும்
தண்மதியும், - மேனிலவு
கொண்டல் பெயரும் திசையெட்டும்
சூழ்ச்சியும்,
அண்டந் திருமால் அகைப்பு.
ஆகாசம், தீ, உலவுகின்ற வாயு,
பெரிய நீர்பரப்பான பெருங்கடல்கள், அண்ட வெளியில் நாள்தவறாமல் திரிகின்ற
வெம்மையான சூரியன், குளிர்ச்சியை அளிக்கும் வெண்மதியான சந்திரன், மழை சுமந்து
திரியும் மேகங்கள், இதர சேதனங்கள், திசைகள் எட்டு, ஆவரணங்கள்,
அனைத்தையும் தன்னுள் அடக்கிய அண்ட சராசரம் - இவை எல்லாமே - ஸர்வேச்வரனான
ஸ்ரீமன் நாராயணின் ஸங்கல்பத்தினாலேயே உருவானவை. அவனுக்கு மட்டுமே
ஆட்பட்டவை.
The forces of nature as
observed and seen – the sky, fire, Oceans, mountains, the hot Sun, cool Moon,
rain bearing clouds, eight directions, the Universe, the open that surrounds
the galaxies - all are manifestations of Lord Sriman Narayana.
Lesser mortals like us need
not worry about the future uncertainties, bad things and sins of
life including Corona and its fear –
Thirumazhisai Azhwar shows us the path of having in our hearts – that beautiful
Lord Krishna reclining on the riverside of the holy Kaveri, who will protect us
all the time. Here are some photos of Lord Sri Parthasarathi in
Surya prabhai at Thiruvallikkeni of the year 2011.
~ adiyen Srinivasadhasan
Mamandur Veeravalli
Srinivasan Sampathkumar
8.5.2020.
No comments:
Post a Comment