What is the significance of Arghya (offering water to the sun)?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Water is symbol of love. In fact, in Sanskrit, it is synonymous to love.
‘Apa’ means water and it also means love. That is why, someone very close to you, what do you call them? Apta – means very dear. Apa and Apta are very close.
So, giving water is not important, feeling the connection with the sun is important.
What people used to do was they used to hold water in their hands and let the water leak out of the hand slowly, and for that much time they used to do sun gazing. You look at the sun, gaze and allow the water to seep down. So you need to know timings - It will take a couple of minutes, maybe two or three minutes for the water to leak out. Till that time, you gaze at the sun and let the water leak out and you will see that your body gets energized.
That was the technique behind it. Not just giving water to the sun like that, it will not work.
‘Apa’ means water and it also means love. That is why, someone very close to you, what do you call them? Apta – means very dear. Apa and Apta are very close.
So, giving water is not important, feeling the connection with the sun is important.
What people used to do was they used to hold water in their hands and let the water leak out of the hand slowly, and for that much time they used to do sun gazing. You look at the sun, gaze and allow the water to seep down. So you need to know timings - It will take a couple of minutes, maybe two or three minutes for the water to leak out. Till that time, you gaze at the sun and let the water leak out and you will see that your body gets energized.
That was the technique behind it. Not just giving water to the sun like that, it will not work.