Chapter 31 - One Hundred and Eight Names of Sun-God

The sages said:

1-2. Please tell us more stories about Sun-god. Listening: to the pleasing stories we never reach the point of satiety. The Sun-god is brilliant. He has great refulgence like that of mass of fire. O lord, we wish to know this—whence is the greatness and power of that god?

Brahmā said:

3-4. When the worlds were enveloped in darkness, when mobile and immobile beings perished at the outset, the cosmic intellect was born of Primordial Nature. It was the cause of the attributes. Ego, the activiser of great elements, was born thereof. Then wind, fire, waters, Ether and Earth originated. Thereafter, the (Cosmic) Egg was born.

5. It is in this Egg that these seven worlds are founded. The Earth is inclusive of seven continents and seven oceans.

6. Lord Viṣṇu, lord Śiva and I (Brahmā) were stationed there alone. All of us were deluded by all-enveloping darkness. We were meditating on the supreme god.

7. Thereafter, Sun-god the dispeller of darkness, the deity of great brilliance, appeared. Then he was recognized as Savitṛ (Sun-god) by us by our Yogic power of meditation.

8. After realising him as the Supreme Soul we eulogised, him by means of divine hymns.

9. Prayer: You are the primordial lord of Devas. By your power of lordship you are called Īśvara. You are the first maker of all living beings. You are the cause of daylight and the lord of Devas.

10. You are the enlivener of all living beings. Devas, Gandharvas, Rākṣasas, sages, Kinnaras, Siddhas, Nāgas and birds.

11. You are Brahmā, Śiva, Viṣṇu. You are Prajāpati. You are the wind god, Indra, Moon, Sun-god and Varuṇa.

12. You are time, the creator, annihilator and sustained. You are the lord. You are the rivers, oceans, mountains, lightning and Rainbow.

13-14. You are (the cause of) dissolution and origin. You are Eternal, manifest and unmanifest. Beyond Īśvara is Knowledge. Beyond Knowledge is Śiva. You alone are the lord, greater than Śiva. You are Parameśvara. You have the extremities of feet and hands all round. You have eyes, hands and mouths all round.

15. You have thousand rays, thousand faces, thousand feet and thousand eyes. You are the cause of Elements. You are the worlds Bhū, Bhuvaḥ, Svaḥ, Mahar, Satya, Tapas and Jana.

16. The form that the leading Devas praise is divine, brilliant, and difficult to comprehend. It dazzles, it illuminates the world. Obeisance to you.

17. The form that you possess is resorted to by Devas and Siddhas. You are eulogised by Bhṛgu, Atri, Pulaha and others. Your form is extremely unmanifest. Obeisance to you.

18. The form that you possess is comprehensible to those who know the Vedas. It is accompanied by omniscience. You are the overlord of all Devas. Obeisance to you.

19. The form that you possess is identical with the world. It is the creator of Universe. It is worshipped by Fire-god and Devas. It is stationed everywhere, yet incomprehensible. Obeisance to you.

20. The form that you possess is greater than sacrifice, greater than the Veda, greater than the world, greater than heaven. It is famous as the supreme soul. Obeisance to you.

21. The form that you possess is unrealizable, unobservable and unchanging. It is not realized in meditation. It has neither a beginning nor an end. Obeisance to you.

22. Obeisance to the causes. Obeisance to you who liberate from sins. Obeisance to you honoured by Aditi. Obeisance t you who dispel ailments.

23. Obeisance, obeisance to you who bestow boons. Obeisance to you who bestow happiness. Obeisance, obeisance to you who bestow riches. Obeisance, obeisance to you who-bestow intellect.

24. When eulogised thus, the lord assuming the brilliant form expressed inauspicious worlds—“what boon shall be given to you?”.

Devas said:

25. “O lord, none will be tempted to bear this excessively brilliant form of yours, For the welfare of the world, may that form become bearable.”

26. Saying “Let it be so,” the Sun-god the cause of all creation began to bestow heat, rain and snow for the fulfilment of all worldly affairs.

27. Ever since, the adherents of Sāṅkhya, Yoga and other systems of thought who seek salvation meditate on you who are seated in heart.

28. Even if a man is devoid of good traits, even if he is imbued with heinous sins, he surmounts all by resorting to your feet.

29. The holy rite of Agnihotra, Vedas and sacrifices wherein much wealth is distributed as gifts do not deserve even a sixteenth part of devout obeisance of the devotee being offered to you.

30. Devotees resort to you who are on a par with the greatest of all holy centres, the most auspicious of all auspicious things and the holiest of all holy objects.

31. Those who bow down to you, who are eulogised by Indra and others are liberated from sins and go to your world.

The sages said:

32. O Brahma, for a very long time we had been cherishing this desire to hear. Tell us the hundred and eight names of Sun-god which had previously been mentioned by you.

Brahmā said:

33. O brahmins, even as I recount to you the hundred and eight names of the Sun-god, they constitute a great secret which yields celestial pleasures and salvation.

One Hundred and Eight Names of Sun-God

34-45. (1) Sūrya (2) Aryaman (noble-splendoured) (3) Bhaga (fortune) (4) Tvaṣṭṛ (5) Pūṣan (nourisher) (6) Aṛka (7) Savitṛ (one who begets subjects) (8) Ravi (9) Gabhastimān (possessed of rays) (10) Aja (unborn) (11) Kāla (Time) (12) Mṛtyu (Death) (13) Dhātṛ (creator) (14) Prabhākara (cause of lustre) (15) Identical with Earth (16) Water (17) Fire (18) Ether (19) Wind (20) Parāyaṇa (the greatest resort) (21) Soma (Moon) (22) Bṛhaspati (Jupiter) (23) Śukra (Venus) (24) Budha (Mercury) (25) Aṅgāraka (Mars) (26) Indra (27) Vivasvān (possessing riches) (28) Dīptāṃśu (having bright rays) (29) Śuci (pure) (30) Śauri (31) Śanaiścara (Saturn) (32) Brahmā (33) Viṣṇu (34) Rudra (35) Skanda (36) Vaiśravaṇa (Kubera) (37) Yama. (38) Vaidyuta (lightning) (39) Jaṭhara Agni (gastric fire) (40) Aindhana (fuel fire) (41) Tejasāṃ Pati (Lord of brilliance) (42) Dharmadhvaja (banner of Virtue) (43) Vedakartā (creator of the Vedas) (44) Vedāṅga (ancillary of the Vedas) (45) Vedavāhana (having Vedas for Vehicle) (46) Kṛta (47) Tretā (48) Dvāpara (49) Kali (50) Sarvāmarāśraya (support of all immortal beings) (51) Identical with time units such as Kalā, Kāṣṭhā, Muhūrta, Kṣapā (night) Yāmas, and Kṣaṇas (52) Saṃvatsarakāra (cause of the year) (53) Aśvattha (holy fig tree) (54) Kālacakra (Wheel of Time) (55) Vibhāvasu (having lustre as riches) (56) Śāśvatapuruṣa (permanent Being) (57) Yogin (58) Vyaktāvyakta (Manifest and Unmanifest) (59) Sanātana (Eternal) (60) Kālādhyakṣa (Presiding deity of Time) (61) Prajādhyakṣa (lord of subjects) (62) Viśvakarmā (of universal activities) (63) Tamonuda (dispeller of darkness) (64) Varuṇa (65) Sāgarāṃśa (part of the Sea) (66) Jīmūta (cloud) (67) Jīvana (enlivener) (68) Arihā (destroyer of enemies) (69) Bhūtāśraya (support of Elements) (70) Bhūtapati (Lord of living beings) (71) Sarvalokanamaskṛta (bowed by all the worlds) (72) Sraṣṭṛ (creator) (73) Vivartaka (transformer) (74) Yajñī (Possessor of sacrifices) (75) Sarvasya Ādi (cause of all) (76) Alolupa (non-greedy (77) Ananta (without an end) (78) Kapila (79) Bhānu (80) Kāmada (bestower of desires) (81) Sarvatomukha (having faces all round) (82) Jaya (Victorious) (83)Viśāla (extensive) (84)Varada (bestower of boons) (85) Sarvabhūtahitarata (engaged in the welfare of all living beings) (86) Manaḥ (mind) (87) Suparṇa (88) Bhūtādi (cause of elements) (89) Śīghraga (moving fast) (90) Prāṇadhāraṇa (sustainer of life) (91) Dhanvantari (92) Dhūmaketu (comet) (93) Ādideva (first lord) (94) Aditeḥ Sutaḥ (Son of Aditi) (95) Dvādaśātmā (having twelve forms) (96) Ravi (97) Dakṣa (Efficient) (98) Pitā, Mātā, Pitāmaha (father, mother, grandfather) (99) Svargadvāra (gateway to heaven) (100) Prajādvāra (entrance to the Subjects) (101) Mokṣadvāra (entrance to Salvation) (102) Triviṣṭapa (heaven) (103) Dehakartā (creator of the body) (104) Praśāntātmā (of calm soul) (105) Viśvātmā (soul of the universe) (106) Viśvatomukha (having faces all round) (107) Carācarātmā Sūkṣmātmā (the subtle soul of the mobile and immobile beings (108) Maitreya Karuṇānvita (son of Mitra endowed with mercy).

46. O excellent sages, this is the beautiful hymn of one hundred and eight names of the Sun-god of unmeasured splendour. He is worthy of being glorified. It has thus been recounted by me.

47-49. For the welfare of all I make my obeisance to the sun-god who is served by Devas, manes and Yakṣas, who is saluted by Asuras, moon and Siddhas, and who has the lustre of gold and fire.

The man who reads this hymn with great concentration at sunrise shall obtain sons, wives, riches, heaps of precious gems, faculty of remembering previous birth, perpetual memory and the finest of intellects.

The man who repeats this prayer of the most excellent of Devas, with pure mind and concentration, is liberated from conflagration of miseries and ocean of sorrows. He obtains all objects of his desire.