[Advaita-l] Question on a short suurya namaskaaram

[Ravi Mayavaram]

S Jayanarayanan wrote:
> My Guruji was of the opinion that the sUrya namaskAra mantra was
> not a prayer to sUrya per se, just as the durgA sUktam.h was
> primarily to agni not to durgA per se.

Yes, most  of the verses in durgaa suuktam are addressed directly to 
agni. But what tilts the durgAsUktam  as suuktam adoring devii is the 
verse "tAmagnivarNam" -- please see the meaning at

http://www.escribe.com/religion/advaita/m14428.html
http://www.escribe.com/religion/advaita/m14431.html

This is one of the direct sharaNagati verses in veda-s (with the usage 
sharaNamaham prapadye). Here it is done to devii. Other one, again to 
devii occurs in shriisuuktam which comes in the khila bhaaga (taam 
padminiim iim sharaNamaham prapadye ...).

agni being the messenger, is understood and interpreted differently 
according to context.  And most devata-s are invoked traditionally in 
agni during sacrifices etc.



My 2c.

Ravi