Hear now the sacred account of the greatness of worshipping Aditya, the Sun. Whoever gazes upon Aditya with reverence, using the eyes as instruments of worship, is never diminished in vitality or fortune. One who continually offers lamps is blessed, for the lamp of knowledge is kindled within them. When sesame seeds, pure oil, or the excellent gift of a cow fed on sesame are offered in fire rituals or as lamps, these gifts have the power to destroy even the gravest of sins. The person who always donates lamps in temples, at crossroads, and along the streets becomes radiant with beauty and graced with good fortune. The first lamp offered should be prepared with proper offerings, and the second with the juices of sacred herbs. Lamps should never be made with substances such as marrow, fat, or bone extract. A lamp, by its nature, rises upward; it never falls. So too, the one who gives lamps is uplifted and does not descend to lower states. One must never steal or extinguish a lamp that is always burning; such an act leads to bondage, destruction, anger, and darkness for the thief. But the giver of lamps shines forth, radiant as a lamp, in the world of the gods. Whoever anoints the lamp with saffron, aloe, and sandalwood attains, after death, wealth, fame, and prosperity. Those who remain pure and use red sandalwood and red flowers in their worship are especially blessed. By offering arghya—libation or water-offering—to the Sun at sunrise, one attains success within a year. This sacred observance should be maintained from sunrise until sunset. Even reciting a little mantra or hymn facing the Sun destroys great sins. The arghya should be offered with all its proper ingredients; when performed with faith at sunrise, it frees one from all sins. The person who offers arghya, accompanied by gifts such as gold, a cow, a bull, land, and garments, receives blessings that last for seven births. Arghya should be offered carefully in fire, in water, in the sky, on pure ground, upon an image, or on a ball of rice or similar substance. Always make these offerings facing forward, never to the left or right, using ghee or even guggul, and do so with devotion to the Sun. At that very moment, all sins are destroyed—of this there is no doubt—especially if the offering is made in a square vessel or one crafted from devadāru wood. By offering incense of camphor and agarwood, one attains the path to heaven, whether during the Sun’s northern or southern course. Worship performed with special care during solstices, lunar eclipses, and at the beginnings of the sixty-eight divisions of time frees one from all sins. Therefore, at all such auspicious times, and always, one should worship the Sun. Whoever worships the Sun with devotion is honored in the Sun’s own world, with offerings of rice, milk, cakes, fruits, roots, ghee, and cooked food. By making a bali-offering to the Sun, one’s desires are fulfilled; by offering libations with ghee, one becomes accomplished in all aims. Offering with milk keeps the mind free from distress, while offering with curds brings success in all undertakings. Whoever, with focused mind, draws water to bathe the Sun’s image at a sacred place and with purity, attains the highest state. By giving an umbrella, banner, canopy, flag, or fly-whisk to the Sun with faith, one attains the desired goal. Whatever substance a person offers to the Sun with devotion, the Sun multiplies that gift a hundred thousand times. By the grace of the Sun, all misdeeds—whether of mind, speech, or body—are completely removed. Even the merit gained from worshipping the Sun for a single day, when accompanied by the prescribed gifts to Brahmins, surpasses that earned by a hundred sacrifices. Thus, the greatness of the Sun has been revealed. Hearing this, the assembled ones addressed the Lord: “O Lord of the world, what you have spoken is rare and wondrous. Speak again, O Lord of gods, for our curiosity is great. Tell us, for a householder, a student, a forest-dweller, or a mendicant—whoever seeks liberation—how should he worship? How can one attain everlasting heaven and the highest good? And, having reached heaven, how may one avoid falling again? Who among the gods is the supreme deity, and who among the ancestors is the foremost? Tell us, O Lord, that which is highest, from which nothing is greater. From where was this universe, moving and unmoving, created? And at dissolution, to whom does it return? You alone are worthy to speak of this.” The Lord replied: “As the Sun rises, he dispels the darkness of the world with his rays; there is no deity higher than him, O best of the twice-born. He is without beginning or end, eternal and imperishable; with his fierce rays, he scorches the three worlds. He is composed of all the gods, foremost among those who shine; he is the lord of the whole world, the witness of all, the master of the universe. He contracts all beings and then creates them anew; he shines, he heats, and he sends rain with his beams. He is the creator and the ordainer, the origin and sustainer of beings; he never perishes, his orb is eternal and undecaying. He is truly the ancestor of the ancestors, the deity of the deities; his realm is firm, and from it, there is no return. At the time of creation, the entire world is born from the Sun; at dissolution, it returns to him, the radiant illuminator. Countless yogis, having abandoned their mortal bodies, become like the wind and enter into this mass of light, the Sun himself.” Thus is the glory of Aditya, the eternal Sun, revealed in the words of scripture.