Introduction                     It is customary to perform Panchaayatana puja daily among Hindu homes. It is a daily worship of the five deities viz., Ganesha, Shiva, Shakti, Vishnu and Surya (The Sun). Surya occupies a special status among these five deities because He is the only Pratyaksha Devata i.e. He is the only one Deity who is visible to the naked eye not based on any Anumanam (inference) or any other means of knowledge like Sabda etc.                         The objective of another prescribed daily ritual, Sandhyaavandanam, is the worship of Surya during the Morning, the Mid Day and the Dusk. The Gayatri mantra recited during this ritual is the m...