“Why arghya (water offering) to the sun?
It is a common belief that by giving arghya to the sun one’s sins are washed out. It is written in the Skand-Parana that to take food without arghya to tha “sun is like committing sins
अथ संध्याया यदपः प्रभुक्ते ता विपुषो वज्रीयुत्वा
असुरान पाध्नान्ति ।।
The water used in prayer converts into vajra (hard stones) and destroys demons. The destruction of demons through sun-rays is figurative language. The demons for mankind are typhoid, tuberculosis, pneumonia etc. and their bacterias in water are destroyed by
the divine strength of sun-rays. The germs of anthrax, which survive years of drying, are killed by sun-rays in one and a half hours. Likewise, the harmful germs of cholera, pneumonia, small pox, T.B., which survive in boiling water are easily killed by the ultraviolet rays of
the sun, reactivated by water.”
In suryarghya, the devotees stand, in the morning facing the sun, take handful “attentively, you will see the seven coloured spectrum of light.
It is considered proper to offer water to the sun from a lota with convex edge. If the edge of the
pot, from which you are offering water to the sun, is concave, you will see the sun in a bigger form
In such a situation our eyes will not be in a position to bear the sun-rays. It would be better if the lota is of copper or brass, instead of a bright metal such as aluminium or
