1. अर्घ्य प्रदानम्

From here onwards is the critical part of this कर्म. If जल is not available, take anything as a replacement (like Earth) and offered this as अर्घ्य to the सूर्य. All three parts viz प्रणव (viz ॐ), व्याहृति (viz भूर्भुवः सुव:) and गायत्री (viz तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि | धियो यो न प्रचोदयाSत ) are chanted here.

Start with a सङ्कल्प to undertake अर्घ्य as below:

प्रात: संध्या अर्घ्य (three times)	मध्यान्न संध्या अर्घ्य (two times)	सायं संध्या अर्घ्य (three times)
लघुसङ्कल्पः  पूर्वोक्त एवङ्गुण विशेषण विशिष्ठायां शुभतिथौ ममोपात्त दुरित क्षयद्वारा श्री परमेश्वर मुद्दिस्य श्री परमेश्वर प्रीत्यर्थ-म्प्रातस्सन्ध्याङ्ग यथा कालोचित अर्घ्यप्रदान-ङ्करिष्ये ॥	लघुसङ्कल्पः  पूर्वोक्त एवङ्गुण विशेषण विशिष्ठायां शुभतिथौ ममोपात्त दुरित क्षयद्वारा श्री परमेश्वर मुद्दिस्य श्री परमेश्वर प्रीत्यर्थ-म् मध्यान्न संध्याङ्ग यथा कालोचित अर्घ्यप्रदान-ङ्करिष्ये ॥	लघुसङ्कल्पः  पूर्वोक्त एवङ्गुण विशेषण विशिष्ठायां शुभतिथौ ममोपात्त दुरित क्षयद्वारा श्री परमेश्वर मुद्दिस्य श्री परमेश्वर प्रीत्यर्थ-म् सायं संध्याङ्ग यथा कालोचित अर्घ्यप्रदान-ङ्करिष्ये ॥
Chant Once Only ॐ भू ॐ भुव: ओ गुं सुव: ॐ मह: ॐ जन: ॐ तप: ओ गुं सत्यम् || ॐ तथ्स॑वि॒तुर्वरे॓॑ण्यं॒ भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि । धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचोदया॓॑त् ॥ ओमापो ज्योतिरसोSमृतं ब्रह्म भूर्भुव: सुवरोम ||	Chant Once Only ॐ भू ॐ भुव: ओ गुं सुव: ॐ मह: ॐ जन: ॐ तप: ओ गुं सत्यम् || ॐ तथ्स॑वि॒तुर्वरे॓॑ण्यं॒ भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि । धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचोदया॓॑त् ॥ ओमापो ज्योतिरसोSमृतं ब्रह्म भूर्भुव: सुवरोम ||	Chant Once Only ॐ भू ॐ भुव: ओ गुं सुव: ॐ मह: ॐ जन: ॐ तप: ओ गुं सत्यम् || ॐ तथ्स॑वि॒तुर्वरे॓॑ण्यं॒ भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि । धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचोदया॓॑त् ॥ ओमापो ज्योतिरसोSमृतं ब्रह्म भूर्भुव: सुवरोम ||
Chant three times ॐ भूर्भुवः सुव: | तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि | धियो यो न प्रचोदयाSत |	Chant two times ॐ ह॒ग्ं॒ सश्शु॑चि॒ष द्वसु॑रन्तरिक्ष॒स द्दोता॑ वेदि॒षदति॑थि र्दुरोण॒सत् । नृ॒ष द्व॑र॒स दृ॑त॒स द्व्यो॑म॒ सद॒ब्जा गो॒जा ऋ॑त॒जा अ॑द्रि॒जा ऋ॒तम्-बृ॒हत् ॥	Chant three times ॐ भूर्भुव॒स्सुवः॑ ॥ तथ्स॑वि॒तुर्वरे॓॑ण्य॒-म्भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि । धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचोदया॓॑त् ॥
Stand up, take plenty of जल into one’s hands, point the hand towards सूर्य and after each chant, pour जल into the plate ensuring that the water flows through the fingers but the thumb is separate from other fingers	Stand up, take plenty of जल into one’s hands, point the hand towards सूर्य and after each chant, pour जल into the plate ensuring that the water flows through the fingers but the thumb is separate from other fingers	Remain seated, take plenty of जल into one’s hands, point the hand towards सूर्य and after each chant, pour जल into the plate ensuring that the water flows through the fingers but the thumb is separate from other fingers

Commentary

There is a story in the वेद that explains the purpose of अर्घ्य. This कर्म protects the सूर्य देवता (symbol of धर्म). मन्देहा got a boon fromब्रह्मा after their तप that they will be able to trouble or eat up the सूर्य. And ब्रह्मा granted the वर following which  मन्देहा went on to attack the सूर्य. However, all three viz देवता, ऋषि and मनुष्य wanted सूर्य to continue to exist. Therefore, when the attack happens from मन्देहा, the ऋषि then converted water as a वज्र (by chanting these three मंत्र) and this वज्र is used to attack the असुर. Then these असुर are thrown away to a distant island called as मन्देहारुणद्वीप:. They however keep coming again and again and ऋषि also keep doing अर्घ्य again and again. Philosophically, मन्देहा असुर represents the असुर within the individuals in the form of देह अभिमान (मन्देहा  is understood as मम देह) while सूर्य represents the आत्मा within all. It is  देह अभिमान  which causes or triggers राग & द्वेषdescending us into flurry of negative thoughts. देह अभिमान is present at a higher level during सन्ध्या time and hence that is the most appropriate time to undertake सन्ध्या.

मध्यान्न संध्या अर्घ्य 

ॐ ह॒ग्ं॒ सश्शु॑चि॒ष द्वसु॑रन्तरिक्ष॒स द्दोता॑ वेदि॒षदति॑थि र्दुरोण॒सत् । नृ॒ष द्व॑र॒स दृ॑त॒स द्व्यो॑म॒ सद॒ब्जा गो॒जा ऋ॑त॒जा अ॑द्रि॒जा ऋ॒तम्-बृ॒हत् ॥

All these are नाम of परमेश्वर. 

नाम	अर्थ
हंस:	हंस refers to सूर्य भगवान्. Just as हंस has wings using which it flies, सूर्य also moves about with its rays surrounding it. हंस means one which has प्रकाश स्वरूप and also that which has व्यापक लक्षण (trait of moving or spreading out).
शुचिसत्	सत् means existence. शुचि refers to अग्नि – and परमेश्वर exists in अग्नि
वसु	Vasu is सूत्रात्मान्– just like a thread binds all pearls, परमेश्वर is present within the entire universe
अंतरिक्ष सत्	Present in अंतरिक्ष
होता	होता means अग्नि स्वरूप which calls out all देवता during a यज्ञ
वेदिषत्	वेदि refers to अग्नि कुण्ड within a यज्ञ – परमेश्वर is present in the कुण्ड
अतिथि दुरोणसत्	परमेश्वर lives in the place where गृहस्थ lives as an अतिथि. Note that the real गृहस्थ is the अग्नि (since in ancient times, all houses had अग्नि lit up – in a modern day, if दीपम् is lit up in all houses throught the day or at least in the morning and evening, such a house may also be referred to as a place where गृहस्थ lives). Therefore, when an अतिथि comes to one’s house, look at such a person as a representative of परमेश्वर.
नृषत्	नृ refers to nerves present within our body or may also be taken as जठराग्नि within all. In 15th Chapter of the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, कृष्ण says that He is present in all as वैश्वानर अग्नि within all beings,
वरसत्	He is present in all श्रेष्ठ or पुण्य स्थल – while सूर्य or ईश्वर is present in all places, His divinity gets revealed to a भक्त at the पुण्य स्थल – that is the idea here.
ऋतसत्	ऋत means सत्य – ऋत also means कर्म that is aligned to the शास्त्र. Thus, in our regular daily actions too, we can detect the presence of परमेश्वर if we pay close attention to Her
व्योमसत्	व्योम means आकाश – one can take this as चिदाकाश (most subtle consciousness) as well as दहराकाश within all हृदय
अब्जासत्	अब्जा means on living in water while. Since She is present in these, we are pending down to Her when we bend down to water.
गोजा	अब्जा means cow and गोजा also means वेद मंत्र and She is present in cows as well as all वेद मंत्र. When we bend down or do प्रदक्षिणा of the cow, we are bending down to HER only.  Outer form is स्थूल while the inner तजस् in these in परमात्मा.
ऋतजा	ऋत means the सत्य conveyed by the वेद in the form of various कर्म like यज्ञ, etc. She is present in all कर्म that is aligned to the वेद
अद्रिजा	अद्रि means mountain where medicinal plants exist – She is present in them too
ऋतम् बृहत्	बृहत् means big बृहत् while ऋतम् means सत्य and therefore, ऋतम् बृहत् means ब्रह्म or परब्रह्म

सायं संध्या अर्घ्य 

No commentary required for this as the अर्थ has been conveyed elsewhere 

कालातिक्रमण प्रायश्चित्तं (when one misses to perform कर्म on a timely basis)

Since one has been unable to perform कर्म on a timely basis, in addition to the above, one must chant the following and perform an additional अर्घ्य as a प्रायश्चित्त for the दोष (of not performing the कर्म on time). 

पूर्वोक्त एवङ्गुण विशेषण विशिष्ठायां शुभतिथौ ममोपात्त दुरित क्षयद्वारा श्री परमेश्वर मुद्दिस्य श्री परमेश्वर प्रीत्यर्थ-ङ्कालातिक्रम दोषपरिहारार्थ-ञ्चतुर्था अर्घ्यप्रदान-ङ्करिष्ये ॥

ॐ भूर्भुव॒स्सुवः॑ ॥ तथ्स॑वि॒तुर्वरे॓॑ण्य॒-म्भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि । धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचोदया॓॑त् ॥ ओ-म्भूः । ॐ भू: । ॐ भुवः । ओग्ं सुवः । ॐ महः । ॐ जनः । ॐ तप: । ओग्ं स॒त्यम् । ॐ तथ्स॑वि॒तुर्वरे॓॑ण्यं॒ भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि । धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचोदया॓॑त् ॥ ओमापो॒ ज्योती॒ रसो॒-ऽमृत॒-म्ब्रह्म॒ भू-र्भुव॒-स्सुव॒रोम् ॥

• सजल प्रदक्षिणं

ॐ उ॒द्यन्त॑मस्तं॒-यँन्त॑-मादि॒त्य-म॑भिथ्या॒य-न्कु॒र्वन्ब्रा’’ह्म॒णो वि॒द्वान्-थ्स॒कल॑म्भ॒द्रम॑श्नुते॒ असावा॑दि॒त्यो ब्र॒ह्मेति॒ ॥ ब्रह्मै॒व सन्-ब्रह्मा॒प्येति॒ य ए॒वं-वेँद ॥ असावादित्यो ब्रह्म ॥

(Keep standing while chanting this मंत्र, pour जल into one’s right hand, do a प्रदक्षिणा but turning a full circle once and then pour the जल into the plate)

Commentary 

On one who rises and sets, during both संध्या times, do ध्यान and do कर्म – any ब्राह्मण (one who lives a life aligned to the वेद, to तप, to यज्ञ, धर्म and परब्रह्म) and a वि॒द्वान् (here, it means one who knows ब्रह्म or one who is capable of knowing ब्रह्म) who undertakes such an action will always be prosperous/ happy (भद्रम् here means attaining of all four पुरुषार्थ as well as attainment of मोक्ष). Do उपासना of आदित्य as ब्रह्म. 

ब्रह्मै॒व सन्-ब्रह्मा॒प्येति॒ य ए॒वं-वेँद ॥: Doing उपासना of आदित्य and one who does उपासना of सूर्य in this way becomes ब्रह्म and thereby gains access to ब्रह्म. And “becoming” ब्रह्म does not mean that one becomes something that one is not – instead, since the स्वरूप of all is ब्रह्म only, the उपासक attains a connect with one’s स्वरूप, viz ब्रह्म, and once this connect happens, one then has easy access to ब्रह्म (meaning the person has become ब्रह्म). 

Note: One may argue – why उपासना of आदित्य needs to be done taking आदित्य as ब्रह्म? One may argue that if ब्रह्म is everywhere, we can take any other object too and do its उपासना – so why आदित्य alone is to be taken as उपासना हेतु पदार्थ? It must be evident already – सूर्य is responsible for all life – ब्रह्म is response for everthing in ब्रह्माण्ड; सूर्य rises, stays and sets every day – ब्रह्म does सृष्टि, स्थिति and लय at all times, सूर्य is प्रकाश स्वरूप – ब्रह्म is also प्रकाश (meaning ज्ञान स्वरूप), nothing escapes the eye of सूर्य since entire life on earth is it its range of vision – nothing escapes the eye of ब्रह्म as it is the inner चेतना that is present in all, सूर्य is accessible to all – चैतन्य is ब्रह्म is the inner aspect present within all, etc. Key point is that for उपासना purposes, nothing can be a better हेतु than सूर्य and as our उपासना intensifies more and more, we align with the qualities of ब्रह्म in the most appropriate manner and over time, such an उपासना enables us to gain access to ब्रह्म everywhere.

असावादित्यो ब्रह्म; Here, we do ईश्वरी ध्यान. उपासना is usually done in two different ways – one is भेद उपासना and other is अभेद उपासना. In भेद उपासना, we meditate as though the ईश्वरी is different or separate from us. But वेदान्त states that the ईश्वरी is not different from me, to train the mind of the student, the शास्त्र prescribe अभेद उपासना as the highest state. Here, I do not invoke ईश्वरी anywhere else but in myself and I see ईश्वरी and me as one and the same. After this उपासना alone is successfully undertaken, one becomes fit for वेदान्त विचार when the imagination demonstrated by the साधक during उपासना takes the form of ज्ञान when विचार on this aspect conveyed by the शास्त्र deepens in the mind of the साधक. असवादित्यो ब्रह्म ब्रह्मैवाहम् अस्मि (spend a minute or two with closed eyes) (सूर्य represents ईश्वर and I represent जीव and I am saying that that सूर्य viz ब्रह्म and that ब्रह्म is not far away but that ब्रह्म is me only)

• आदित्यादि तर्पणम or सन्ध्याङ्ग तर्पणं

तर्पणम् means pleasing through offering of water. It is necessary for a Hindu to offer तर्पणम् on a daily basis to देवता, ऋषि and पितृ. Even when one is doing स्नान in a river, people offer तर्पणम् to these three. The मंत्र chanted at all three काल is given below:

मम उपात्त समस्त दुरितक्षयद्वारा श्री परमेश्वर प्रीत्यर्थं आतस्संध्याङ्ग तर्पणम् करिष्ये

प्रातःकाल तर्पणं (Face East)	मध्याह्न तर्पणं (Face East)	सायङ्काल तर्पणं: (Face West)
सन्ध्या-न्तर्पयामि, गायत्री-न्तर्पयामि, ब्राह्मी-न्तर्पयामि, निमृजी-न्तर्पयामि ॥	सन्ध्या-न्तर्पयामि, सावित्री-न्तर्पयामि, रौद्री-न्तर्पयामि, निमृजी-न्तर्पयामि ॥	सन्ध्या-न्तर्पयामि, सरस्वती-न्तर्पयामि, वैष्णवी-न्तर्पयामि, निमृजी-न्तर्पयामि ॥
While chanting the above मंत्र, take जल from the vessel other than the vessel used for आचमनम् and after pour into the right hand from which the जल will flow directly into the plate – ensure that while pouring, the thumb is not touching rest of the fingers

As may be evident from the above, while chanting संध्या and निमृजी तर्पणम् is common at all three times, we can find तर्पणम् being given to the same परमात्मा as गायत्री (feminine) and ब्रह्मा (masculine) in the morning, सावित्री (feminine) and रुद्र (masculine) in the afternoon and सरस्वती (feminine) and विष्णु (masculine) in the evening. 

With this, पूर्वाङ्ग is over.