A powerful way to spend Sunday: Listening to Surya Upasana
A serene and uplifting way to spend Sunday is to listen to the late Pandit Jasraj’s Surya Upasana album.
This album contains 7 powerful hymns dedicated to Surya — the Sun Lord.
Listen to a sample here.
Upasana (Sanskrit: उपासना) means “worship” and “sitting near, attend to” (Upanishad shares the same etymology: a disciple sitting near his Guru to receive his/her wisdom)
In Jyotish (Hindu astrology), today — Sunday — is associated with the Sun.
Listening to these 7 hymns on a Sunday will bring you nearer to your “Inner Sun” so you can bathe in its Divine Light.
This Inner Sun is the “Antaratman”, your soul that is metaphorically depicted as a flame the size of a thumb that dwells in a secret cave in your heart
Heart in Sanskrit is ‘Hrudayam’
‘Aditya Hrudayam Stotram’ is a powerful hymn dedicated to the Sun and helps enkindle the flame of your Soul and feel its warmth
(listen to Uma Mohan’s beautiful rendition of Aditya Hrudayam Stotram)
I’ve been listening to Pandit Jasraj’s Surya Upasana since this album was released in 2008 and I’ve experienced its transformative effects.
For instance, in early 2011, I was working as Executive Director of The Centre for India & Global Business at Cambridge Judge Business School (UK).
I was feeling restless and anxious. I knew I had to make a radical decision but didn’t dare to.
At that time, I attended the 5th Indian Marketing Conference at Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) in Noida on January 22–23, 2011:
In the early morning of January 23, 2011, which is a SUNDAY (!), I woke up early and practiced Yoga while listening to Pandit Jasraj’s Surya Upasana watching the sun rise.
In the midst of the practice, I heard an inner voice that loudly but gently said:
“You must go live in Palo Alto, California.”
In 2011, I was planning to spend more time in India to do deeper research and write a book on INDOVATION — the Indian way of innovating frugally, inclusively, and sustainably.
But Lord Aditya (another name for Sun) was telling him I had already done enough research on the Indian way of innovating and it was time for me to return to Silicon Valley (where I was living till 2008) and write a book on it.
I was already planning to write a book on INDOVATION but didn’t know how to go about publishing it.
Then magic happened.
In March 2011, Bridget Wagner Matzie, an American literary agent, emailed me out of the blue and asked me if I would be interested to write a book on jugaad.
I immediately accepted her offer.
On July 1, 2011, I returned to the US. The very first day I arrived, I found an apartment in Palo Alto, California.
While I was living in that apartment, I and my coauthors Jaideep Prabhu and Simone Ahuja co-wrote Jugaad Innovationin just … 6 weeks !
Launched in March 2012, Jugaad Innovation rapidly became a global bestseller, selling over 200,000 copies worldwide, all in hardcover !
OM SURYAYA NAMAHA !
