Good Morning To All From, India

Early morning life is always enticing and never leaves you disappointed. My dad has always repeated himself to me thus “go early to bed and rise early”. I have never understood why he has to intervene, since early morning long hours of sleep has its own pleasure.

It’s only during exams or when it is an early shift that I landed up waking before the sunrise. Its only when my first experience venturing on an outstation trip that I realized how beautiful the world around me is during the early mornings.

Well! Again it’s better late than never ;)

Early morning view from the terrace around 6:15am IST

Pleasant is not the word that I have to describe the break of dawn; with birds chirping and the swift breeze of air on you. I had a discussion with my mom; a lengthy one on why early morning is treated as best for humans. Our discussion started right from how the mind is open in the early mornings to why there is a Suriya Namaskaram in the Hindu culture. Here is something I understood in terms which is neither technical nor philosophical:

Suriya Namaskaram is a science of Sun worship. Life in early centuries of man did not have any documentation. And any form of worship was way of life shown to the world at large.

Reason why I call Suriya Namaskaram as science;

There are many vitamin tablets available in the market to supplement the body if you loose out. But have you ever heard of Vitamin D tablet in any drug store? Have you ever heard any fruit or vegetable intake which contains vitamin D?

The sun rays are supposed to supplement us with vitamin D.

We also know that sun rays are harmful to health, such as skin cancer, sun burns or radiation.. Thus the best part of the day for us to have the sun rays to hit our body is early morning, mild and yet very effective. Vitamin D for the body is received from the sun rays prior to 8am.

Namaskaram is a part of every worship ritual in the Hindu mythology. Namaskaram itself is an exercise to keep the body fit and fine. The Suriya Namaskaram is of complex in nature, contains 12 postures or asanas (exercises/yoga). The body is fully exposed to the Sun’s rays with bare minimum clothing to absorb the Vitamins emitted by the rays.

Also, this namaskaram generally is done near a lake, pond or river. Just before the ritual of Suriya namaskaram, the person takes a holy dip into the water. Now, lets understand the science behind the holy dip. The bath taken before the namaskaram has a valid reason. The suns rays are very harmful and the water dribbling down the body and on the cloth worn will help filter the infrared rays.

Every namaskaram done as per the Hindu mythology is an exercise for both men and women, to reduce the ego level in every individual. How many of us do namaskaram in our lives and how many of us have our ego in control is still a question mark.

Talking about questions, “Question the orthodox“, said Sir C V Raman, I just want to add another line to this; By questioning the orthodox you get to know the science that was unveiled a long long time ago by our ancestors.