Gazing at the mighty sun

Sooryaji Jowell says physical and mental benefits can be gained by looking at the rays of the early morning sun

By Shevlin Sebastian

In 1999, Sooryaji Jowell went to the Guru Dattatraya mountain peak in Girnar in Gujarat to meditate. There he met a tall, broad-shouldered black sadhu who was covered in ash. “He stood in front of me and said, ‘Follow me’,” says Sooryaji.

The young spiritual seeker meekly followed the sadhu to his underground cave. “It was full of light inside,” he says. The sadhu told Sooryaji about the state of the world and concluded, “The sun will guide you.” Then he gave a dry fruit to Sooryaji to eat. When he did so, something happened. “A force entered me,” he says.

Thereafter, Sooryaji went to Tapovan in the Himalayas and meditated in a cave for 18 days non-stop. “It was extremely cold,” he says. “Every morning I had to break a sheet of ice at the entrance to go out.”

One day, an intense desire arose in him to see the spiritual masters. Tears rolled down his face as he began an intensive meditation.

“Then I saw two beautiful faces, with long hair,” he says. “There was no doubt that I had seen Jesus Christ and Mahavatar Baba (the founder of Kriya Yoga). It was such a wonderful experience.”

From the Himalayas Sooryaji went to Mumbai and started the Sooryayog Foundation in 2003 and the Kochi branch on LFC Road in 2005. And now there are centres all over India.

“If you eat and drink sunlight through the eyes, which are the windows of your spirit, all your problems will vanish,” he says. “Plants absorb light through photosynthesis. Similarly, man can do the same with the help of Sooryayog.”

To the sceptic, he says there is a scientific basis to what he is saying. He shows two books, ‘Light, Medicine of the future: How we can use it to heal ourselves now’ by Jacob Liberman, and ‘Sunlight and Health in the 21st century’ by Richard Hobday.

“Sunlight is the basic component from which all life originates, develops, heals, and evolves,” says Liberman. “It has been used for healing since the time of ancient Egypt.” Incidentally, the famous Egyptian Queen, Nefertiti, was a sun worshipper.

In a review of Hobday’s book in Amazon, J. Hagg writes: “Sunlight can heal diseases like breast cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and osteoporosis. Before antibiotics, sunlight was used successfully to speed up the healing of wounds.”

Every day, Sooryaji and a group of people go to the Jawaharlal Nehru International stadium at Kaloor at 6.30 a.m., before the sunrise at 6.45 a.m. A silver coin is placed at the centre of the forehead.

“This will attract the cosmic consciousness,” says Sooryaji. “It will also activate the third eye.” Members are asked to look at the sun for five minutes. “After that, they have to close their eyes, bow down to earth, clap their hands vigorously for several moments and laugh,” he says. “Your depression will vanish when you laugh.”

The foundation members wax eloquent about him. Says Anita Madan: “He knows how to bring an awareness of the self. He is a friend in times of bliss and woe.” Adds Sajini Jacob: “Sooryaji has the answers for everything. I feel a peace when I am with him.”

To all of them Sooryaji says, “Chant the name of HARI OM, acknowledge the short life he has given you. He wants you to HURRY HOME, to your real father, the eternal master.”

Sooryaji admits there are other methods to purify oneself but Sooryayog is the most powerful. “That is why, Sri Ram, Krishna, Hanuman, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed, Raman Maharishi and Mahatma Gandhi all looked at the sun.”

This son of Kerala was born in Thulasipara, Idukki, the eldest child of a farmer. From an early age, he had a spiritual bent. “I would have visions of planets and galaxies,” he says. “Sometimes I drew them on paper, but I was afraid to tell anybody because I felt nobody would understand.”

It was only when he finished his B.A. in philosophy from S.N. College in Kollam that he felt this intense inner urge to seek God and set off on his travels.

Today, at 37, he is lean and tall, smiles easily and speaks with deep emotion about Sooryayog. He says that most people are unhappy.

“That is why I am giving them light,” he says. “You have to get rid of the bad karma in your life. Discipline yourselves and purify your mind. Let Universal love flow into you.”

(The New Indian Express, Kochi)