10

There are many hymns dedicated to Wind, Sun, Fire in the Vedas. There was also a yajna done to please them. Sun is called Aditya, meaning son of Aditi and Kashyapa Rishi. How can a star be born from a living being?

In Ramayana, Hanuman is the son of Wind. How can Wind have a son?

In Mahabharata, Arjuna got the Gandeeva Bow from Fire. How can Fire give a bow to someone unless it is living? Karna was son of Sun. How is this possible? How can a star have a son?

So, this brings me to the question are Wind, Sun, Fire, etc. also living beings? If yes, how? Sun stays at one position all the time totally unconscious. Wind blows following laws of nature totally unconscious. Fire also burns as long as there is fuel. They all seem non-living. How can they then react like living beings and have children? Also, in many stories from scriptures, they appear in front of people and talk to them. How is this possible at all?

Sarvabhouma
  • 25,803
  • 11
  • 123
  • 202
Lokesh
  • 2,093
  • 12
  • 27
  • "Sun stays at one position all the time totally unconscious" - The sun revolves around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. – YDS Jun 04 '18 at 20:04
  • Similarly, how Ganga, which is a river, can have sons? – Tat Tvam Asi Jun 05 '18 at 15:32
  • @NarayanaSharma many Q-A https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/ganga are there in this site which describe how Santanu and Ganga incarnated on Earth and who were they earlier....or how Ganga became river etc...etc... – YDS Jun 05 '18 at 19:37
  • this is no different from asking - how can a bunch of cells grouped into a 6 ft long thingy with 4 thin thingys protruding (limbs) and a round thingy on top (head) - be a living being ? You are assuming that 'life forms' can only have a certain shape or size or position or purpose, because those type of life forms are the only ones you know about. There could be other forms too. Wind, Sun, Fire are some of those. – ram Nov 03 '19 at 23:42
  • Science is a relevant tag here because you say Sun is a star, it is a lifeless being and can't talk (according to science). But he is not a star, he is a planet according to Hinduism. You are mixing different things here. Mahabharata, Itihasa are irrelevant tags. They should only be added if you are specifically asking about itihasa and Mahabharata. – Sarvabhouma Nov 04 '19 at 07:06
  • It is talking about the Devatas of those elements, not the elements themselves. When it is said, "Hanuman is the son of wind," it means Hanuman is the son of Vayu, the Sun God. – Ikshvaku Nov 05 '19 at 00:38

1 Answers1

8

To understand it better, I am answering after keeping your question limited to the Sun.

Sun is called Aditya meaning son of Aditi and Kashyap Rishi. How can a star be born from a living being?

The star was not born from Aditi. It is not true that there was no Sun before the Aditi's son.

The star Sun came out from the Golden Egg in the very begging. From the creation chapters of Matasya and Kurma Puranas:

In the very beginning, inside the golden egg, Brahma created himself. Therefore he is also known as Svayambhuva and Hiranyagarbha.

After Lord Brahma,

From golden egg, the Sun was also born. Since he was the first (adi) being to be born, he is known as Aditya.

As the Sun emerged from the Golden Egg, Hiranyagarba is also name for the Sun same as Lord Brahma.

Due to this very reason Lord Brahma also called as SuryaAgraja.

Markandeya Purana also confirms that the Sun emerged in the very beginning (source 1, source 2).

And after this Sun (star) was emerged, Lord Brahma created Marichi (Kashyap's father) and Daksha (Aditi's father).

Not only the Sun but also,

Everything that there is in the universe was already there, in in embryonic form, inside the egg. There the moon, the stars and the planets etc.

How the Sun became son of Aditi

From Markandeya Purana,

A great battle was fought between the deities and the demons in which the deities were defeated. Aditi, the mother of the deities became very sad. She did a rigorous penance to please the Sun god. She observed fasts and eulogised the Sun god for most of her time. At last, the Sun god appeared before her but she could not bear his radiance which was so powerful that she could not even open her eyes. She requested him to subdue his power so that she could see him.

Markandeya says- 'After being pleased by the eulogy of Aditi, the Sun shed its radiance and became sombre. Now, Aditi could see him. She said- 'O lord! Be pleased upon me. The Daityas and the Danavas have captured all the three worlds from my sons. I request you to take birth as my son and defeat the demons.' The Sun god agreed to take birth as her son.

Now your question boils down to who was this Sun god who appeared before Aditi?

Most of God's names are posts actually they own the responsibility of that thing. For example, if someone says Indra as rain god then Indra is not rain but he owns the responsibility of rain. And when someone owns the responsibility they get some special powers, the one who rules the star Sun should have the powers to bear the heat of the star Sun. He also gets the radiance of the star Sun. So before Aditi's son someone was ruling the Sun or Sun was abode of someone. The same person incarnated as Aditi's son named Vivasvana. And Aditya got one more meaning Aditi's son (other than the first (adi) born).

Karna was son of Sun. How is this possible? How can a star have a son?

Karna was son of Aditi's son Vivasvana, the ruler of the Surya Loka.

Community
  • 1
YDS
  • 24,276
  • 2
  • 58
  • 123
  • How about Wind God? How did He gave birth to Hanuman? – Lokesh Jun 05 '18 at 17:12
  • @Lokesh Hanuman and Bhima are sons of Vayu, the lord of the winds...but not of the wind itself...to understand this lets take one example... in some texts even Rudra is depicted as the lord of winds, do you also question how did he give birth to someone?..No, right? – YDS Jun 05 '18 at 19:28
  • This doesn't answer 'How can Wind have a son?'...'How is this possible? How can a star have a son?' - I think the question itself is off-topic for the site. – Say No To Censorship Jun 07 '18 at 16:34
  • @Lokesh it isn't clear whether Hanuman is avatar of Shiva or Vayu since scriptures are contradicting on this but neither gave birth to Hanuman instead Hanuman is an avatar. – Wikash_ Nov 03 '19 at 21:21
  • 3
    @sv, This does answer the question. You only feel it does not answer because you personally don't believe it. The question is no different from asking - how can a bunch of cells grouped into a 6 ft long thingy with 4 thin thingys protruding (limbs) and a round thingy on top (head) - be a living being ? It is no different from the question of 'what is life?'. You are assuming that 'life forms' can only have a certain shape or size or position or purpose, because those type of life forms are the only ones you know about. There could be other forms too. Wind, Sun, Fire are some of those. – ram Nov 03 '19 at 23:43
  • Read the last line of this answer which is a one liner. No explanation whatsoever. It doesn't address the central question "How is this possible? How can a star have a son? ... They all seem non-living. How can they then react like living beings and have children?" This was not my question, it was someone else's and as a reader I'm simply commenting whether the underlying question has been sufficiently answered. You need to re-read both the question and this answer. This is a superficial answer; doesn't address the central question of OP. @ram – Say No To Censorship Nov 04 '19 at 21:05
  • @sv, > I'm simply commenting whether the underlying question has been sufficiently answered - your commentary is unnecessary. While u seem to draw a difference between 'This was not my question', and 'it was someone else's question', try to draw the same difference between 'their response' and 'your response' to the answer. This answer still raises the train of thought 'but they seem like non-living beings', in your head. It may not raise the same in OP's head. Since you made a comment thinking you are speaking for OP, I too made a comment on his behalf with an opposite view. – ram Nov 05 '19 at 14:31
  • @sv, as I mentioned earlier - asking whether the sun is a living being, or a table is a living being, or a human is a living being, are all philosophically the exact SAME question. The only way or proof we have is the testimony of someone claiming that they are alive. I can say 'a table is a living being', with exactly the same amount of philosophical proof that I can say 'a human is a living being'. This is no different from the question 'do fish feel pain'. You cannot SEE the soul. You can only infer it's existence. And even that inference cannot be proved to OTHERS. – ram Nov 05 '19 at 14:35
  • @sv, Science needs to wake up to the fact that there are truths which are self-evident. By that I mean evident only to the self. Cannot be proved to others, because the tools of said proof involve the 5-senses. It's like trying to describe the color red with your nose. It can't be done, but that need not and does not stop one from picking a red rose, or a red shirt or a red paint. – ram Nov 05 '19 at 14:38