Why we offer water to the sun?

I was exercising in my balcony in the morning.

In the facing building, I saw a woman offering water to Surya Devta (Sun God) from her balcony.

It brought to my mind an old Guru Nanak Dev story. Once he was standing in a river. He would take some water in his palms, raise his arms, and release the water in the air. His back was towards the sun.

A Brahmin was passing by and saw Guru Nanak performing this strange ritual. The Brahmin said, “You silly man, the sun is on the other side, and you are offering the water in the wrong direction.”

“I’m not offering water to the sun,” Guru Nanak replied. “I’m watering my fields back home.”

The Brahmin laughed, “How do you expect this water to reach your fields?”

“Well, I have seen people offering water to the sun,” Guru Nanak said. “If the water offered to the sun can reach lakhs of miles away, why can’t I water my fields that are just a few miles away?”

This is a household tale repeatedly told to demonstrate how Guru Nanak tried to dismantle the meaningless ritualistic practices.

So, I was wondering, Guru Nanak was a highly intelligent individual. He was a poet. He was a reformer. Didn’t he know that even those who offered water to the sun couldn’t in their right minds believe that the water actually reached the sun? Especially when they could see the water falling to the ground right in front of their eyes.

Extensive literature and analysis weren’t available to everyone. Now we know that rituals have a deep symbolic meaning, sometimes even scientific, but back then, he wouldn’t have known.

He was an observer. He was a wanderer. He saw that these rituals and practices were used by a few to exploit the masses. He wouldn’t have known their origin, he just observe that these rituals that seemed illogical to a thinking person, were being used to a wrong end.

Without study and research, it is difficult to understand what a practice represents, especially when the practice is thousands of years old.

What does offering water to Surya Devta mean? Here is my understanding.

Recent studies have shown that water, or liquid, is known to carry information. If you take a glass of water and if you say something or think of something strongly, the information is stored in the water.

In Western movies and TV series you must have seen people raising a toast. What does that mean?

While holding a glass of wine or champagne or water, or anything liquid, they say something positive, and then everyone drinks.

They may not be aware of what they’re doing. They are sending positive thoughts into the liquid they are holding, and when they drink that liquid, they send those positive thoughts inside themselves. They internalise those thoughts. The ancients who came up with this practice must have known something about the ability of the liquid to carry thoughts.

The same happens when you are offering water to Surya Devta. You chant a mantra. Or you say a prayer or a wish that you want to manifest. You do it while holding the water. Whatever you are thinking, the thoughts are stored by the water. Then you release the water. Your thoughts are released into the atmosphere.

The water falls to the ground, you may say.

Here comes a mixture of spirituality and science. Since the beginning of civilisation, it has been known that the sun is the life giver. It grants practically everything on the planet. The sun is the first Godlike manifestation that you witness in the morning when you wake up. In fact, you wake up when the sun rises.

When you offer water to the sun you are praying to the mightiest presence in your life. The water may fall to the ground, but they must have thought that with the sun’s heat, it also evaporates and rises to the heavens. Taking your wishes along.

Whenever I see someone offering water to Surya Devta in the morning, I’m filled with immense energy.