Surya
Surya — dispeller of darkness (Surya name 3 of 12)
ॐ सूर्याय नमः
Simple reading
Om soor-yaa-ya na-mah
Oṁ Sūryāya Namaḥ
About this mantra
Surya, the name the whole star answers to, is third: the impeller, from the root that means to set in motion. He does more than shine; he drives: sap up the stems, winds across the oceans, the whole machinery of the day. This is the sun as mover of all that moves.
Meaning
Om, salutations to Surya, the impeller, dispeller of darkness. The name makes the sun a verb as much as a light: that which sets things going. The reciter bows to the force that has already set this very morning in motion, and asks to be moved by it rather than by inertia.
Learn it by heart
Say the first line until it comes without reading, then add the next line and say both, until the whole mantra comes on its own.
Whole mantra
This mantra is a single line. Learn it whole, then add it to your review deck so it comes back for a check.
ॐ सूर्याय नमः
Oṁ Sūryāya Namaḥ
0not said yet
Aim for eleven. Stop reading as soon as the whole mantra comes on its own.
Progress stays on this device.
When to recite it
One of the twelve names of the Surya Namaskar cycle, recited one per posture at sunrise, or counted together as a Sunday (Ravivar) jaap. Take up Surya when momentum is the need: a stalled project, a slow recovery, a morning that refuses to start.
Word by word
- ॐoṁ
- the primordial sound
- सूर्यायsūryāya
- the impeller, dispeller of darkness
- नमःnamaḥ
- I bow, salutations
Source: Sūrya Namaskāra mantra sequence (traditional twelve names of Sūrya)