Perceptions

INDIA-2001 encyclopedia

PERCEPTIONS

AGNI (THE PRIMEVAL FIRE)

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The Universe without (the macrocosm) and the Universe within (the microcosm) are alike peopled with Powers and Personalities, perils and possibilities, purposings and perversions, but Agni is the womb of all, the home of all, the tomb of all - and the seed-cell of resurrection as well. Sacred Fire : In the Atarsh Niyaesh, the symbol of Fire is personified as the son of Ahura /Mazda, and in Yasna Haptanghaiti 36:6 as the most beautiful Body of God. These references are not to the actual physical Fire, but the Divine Spark or the Inner Fire in man, and therefore the Fire is our inner teacher or Gum. 'Gu' means darkness and 'Ru' means remover or destroyer. The word means, He who destroys the Darkness of Ignorance. The fire or Agni, destroys, and burns agnyana or ignorance through its self-effulgent illumination, within the heart. Fire in its latent aspect is contained within all forms manifest in the universe. It is the Divine energy, the Shakthi aspect which lies at the root of all creation, and is derived from Mazda. Therefore, in Yasna 62, Fire is called Atar', the Son of Ahura Mazda and throughout the Avesta texts, he is always conceived as the Inner Spark. The vital fire of the sun and that which permeates all creation is called USHATANA. When the manifest form is destroyed and returned to its elements the Ushatana returns to the Sun. The Fire present in the vegetable king- dom is described as URVAZISHTA and the one in the animal kingdom as ATAR SPEN-ISHTA. Here, they are equated with the life force contained in the seed and the sperm.

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Agni, god of Fire, prominent deity of the Vedas. Shown as a red man, having 2 heads, 3 legs

and 7 arms, dark eyes, eyebrows and hair. He rides on a ram, wears a Brah-manical thread, and a garland of fruit. Flames of fire issue from his mouth and seven streams of glory radiate from the body. The very first word of the very first verse of the very first hymn in the very first Mandala of the Rig Veda invokes Agni. And who or what is Agni? O Agni, warm coldest dust of the gods, Life and Light of Existence; Infinite energy of consciousness, destroyer and preserver! Agni is "the divine force which builds the cosmos, the destructive energy which shat- ters unwanted forms, ...also the great puri- fying agency hidden in all things and the 'sacrificial priest' and 'invoker', the 'guest' in the human tabernacle, the 'immortal in mor- tals' which makes the gods manifest" Jeanine Miller Agni is behind and beyond, at once centre and circumference, charging, enveloping and sustaining everything. There are so many transactions, so many variations of stasis and flux, but Agni is the root and sap of all, the alpha and the omega: and from the Mystic Fire, the fundamental Agni, issue Jada-Agni (ordinary fire), Vaidyuta-Agni (electric fire) and Saura-Agni (solar or nuclear fire), the great God Agni who is the Divine Master of things : 'Agni (as Daksha) entered into Aditi (the Sun) to produce the Aditya... and they gave LIGHT to the world'. "All things on earth and in heaven are, therefore, the handiwork of Agni, and the climax of them all is reached in LIFE'. 'The manifested World of Sound is noth- ing but Agni'.

Agni is Shakthi-Power too, deus ex machina in the Universe, life-giver, life-sustainer, and life-destroyer'.