Surya Siddhanta: Chapter One

...and because He possesses the three qualities The Gunas: Sattva (purity), Rajas (passion), and Tamas (inertia) in a manifest form, while in His absence of these, He is of an unmanifest form. Now, one might argue that this implies He is entirely formless rather than "unmanifest." To this, the author says: To the Soul of Qualities. This means He whose nature consists of eternal knowledge and bliss—the qualities of the Self. This is supported by the scripture: "Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, and Infinite." Thus, the idea that He lacks form is unproven. He is directly without qualities Nirguna, yet indirectly the soul of all qualities. How else could the creation of the universe be possible? As the Lord Himself said: "Governing My own nature, I send forth again and again this entire multitude of beings, who are powerless under the control of nature." Others interpret it this way. || 1 ||

Hindi Commentary: Salutations to Brahman, who is inconceivable beyond the reach of thought, of unmanifest form, without qualities, the soul of all qualities, and the embodiment of the support of the entire universe. || 1 ||

Now, to prevent the suspicion that his words are merely his own invention, the author intends to describe the beginning of the dialogue. He explains in two verses how Mayasura first performed penance:

"Maya" is the name of a certain great Daitya a race of giants or demons in Vedic mythology. He performed "penance" (Tapas), which consists of rules involving physical hardship, such as chanting, offerings, and meditation, to please a chosen deity. The penance of the Daityas is well-known at every step in the Puranas ancient Hindu texts. However, since their penance is usually famous for being directed toward a specific deity, one might ask: toward which god did he direct his penance? To this, the author says: Worshipping the Sun. He was serving Vivasvat the Sun God, who is Narayana Vishnu residing in the solar orb.

But knowing this deity to be the enemy of the Daityas, how could he worship his own enemy to achieve his goals? Surely one's welfare is not achieved through an enemy, otherwise the very definition of enmity is contradicted. To address this, the author describes the penance as: Most difficult to perform. This means it could only be accomplished through extreme suffering and intense hardship. It is established hundreds of times in the Puranas that the Lord, out of affection for His devotees, is well-pleased by such penance and fulfills the desires even of the Daityas. This is the sense of "worshipping" here.

One might ask: since this specific penance is not mentioned anywhere in the Puranas' accounts of Daitya penances, how can it be known as authoritative? To this, he says: When the Krita Age was nearly finished. In the age called Krita the first and golden age of the world, the word "but" implies it includes the transitional periods Sandhya. Thus, it refers to the end of the Krita Age proper. With a small amount of time remaining in that transition, Mayasura performed his penance. The idea is that this was performed by Mayasura so recently in cosmic terms that it is proven by the direct perception of all people and does not require the authority of other scriptures. Now, why did Mayasura perform penance? Not even a fool acts without a purpose. Therefore, the author describes Mayasura as: Desirous of knowledge. That by which something is known...

---

Note 1: Another reading is "named Maye."

Technical terms: Surya Siddhanta (The Sun Treatise), Mayasura (The demon Maya), Desirous of knowledge (Jijnasu), Vivasvat (The Sun), Krita Yuga (The Golden Age), Motion of the stars (Jyotisham gatih), Penance for a deity (Tapo-abhimata), Manifest form (Vyakta-rupa), Soul of qualities (Gunatman).