Surya
Japa Kusuma — Surya dhyana
जपाकुसुमसङ्काशं काश्यपेयं महाद्युतिम् । तमोऽरिं सर्वपापघ्नं प्रणतोऽस्मि दिवाकरम् ॥
Japā-kusuma-saṅkāśaṁ kāśyapeyaṁ mahādyutim, tamo'riṁ sarva-pāpaghnaṁ praṇato'smi divākaram
Simple reading: Ja-paa ku-su-ma san-kaa-sham kaash-ya-pe-yam ma-haa-dyu-tim, ta-mo-rim sar-va paa-pagh-nam pra-na-to-smi di-vaa-ka-ram
About this mantra
The Surya verse of the Navagraha Stotra — the maker of day, red as the hibiscus flower, enemy of darkness, honoured at sunrise and in graha shanti.
Meaning
I bow to the maker of day — radiant as the hibiscus flower, descendant of Kashyapa, of great splendour, enemy of darkness, destroyer of all wrongdoing. The verse paints the rising sun in one image — that first deep red of dawn — and then names what the light does: it takes the night, and what the night hid, away with it.
When to recite it
Dawn practice and Sunday jaap; recited in graha-shanti where the Sun needs strengthening, at Chhath and Ratha Saptami, and by those beginning a surya-namaskar discipline.
Word by word
- जपाकुसुमसङ्काशंjapā-kusuma-saṅkāśaṁ
- radiant as the hibiscus flower
- काश्यपेयंkāśyapeyaṁ
- descendant of Kashyapa
- महाद्युतिम्mahādyutim
- of great splendour
- तमोऽरिंtamo'riṁ
- enemy of darkness
- सर्वपापघ्नंsarva-pāpaghnaṁ
- destroyer of all wrongdoing
- प्रणतोऽस्मि दिवाकरम्praṇato'smi divākaram
- I bow to the maker of day
Source: Navagraha Stotra (attributed to Vyāsa) — Sūrya verse