Agni

Recently, I was in a brief online discussion with a friend about agni. agni is a cosmic force, beyond the physical fire that we are familiar with, the greatest of all the cosmic powers that manifest themselves in humankind. Vedic tradition speaks of this great impersonal power present in all of us, on several occasions in the ṛg veda. What I am writing about today is the opening hymn from the first mandala of that veda, composed by the ṛṣi madhuccandaḥ vaiśvāmitraḥ and comprising nine stanzas.

Before I proceed further about agni, let me attempt to explain what it represents. agni is the cosmic power of will united with wisdom. It is this cosmic power that works in all of us, to summon the other divine powers – mind, action, life energies, bliss, and revelation and so on – also manifest in us. Hence the application of the epithet hotāraṁ or summoner to agni.

The vedic seers had a methodical approach in their entire yajña or spiritual journey – an approach that seeks to awaken each aspect of the cosmic power that is dormant in us, in an orderly sequence, what I would term as a sort of building-blocks approach in realising sat cit ānanda, the divinity in all of us.

In the words of Sri Aurobindo:

“. . . [these cosmic powers] represent each some essential puissance of the Divine Being. . . they recognise in the soul of man their brother and ally and desire to help and increase him by themselves increasing in him so as to possess his world with their light, strength and beauty.”

In invoking these powers, the question then arises to whom shall we first offer our sacrifice?

It is to agni first, for without his presence the sacrificial flame cannot burn on the altar of our soul. Full of intellect and purified in discernment, he is the perfect friend born of heaven and earth who establishes the bliss, the pure and sublime mediator between heaven and earth. It is agni who is present in the course of our adhvara, the journey, right from its commencement through its entire course, before he finally leads us to his own home of Beatitude.

The opening nine verses of the ṛg veda hold the key to approaching this deity.

अग्निमीळे पुरोहितं यज्ञस्य देवमृत्विजम्।
होतारं रत्नधातमम् ॥
अग्निः पूर्वेभिरृषिभिर् ईङ्यो नूतनैरूत।
स देवाँ एह वक्षति ॥
अग्निना रयिमश्नवत् पोषमेव दिवेदिवे।
यशसं वीरवत्तमम् ॥
अग्ने यं यज्ञमध्वरं विश्वतः परिभुरसि।
स इद्देवेषु गच्चति ॥
अग्निर्होता कविक्रतुः सत्यश्चित्रश्रवस्तमः।
देवो देवेभिरागमत् ॥
यदङ्ग दशुषे त्वं अग्ने भद्रं करिष्यसि।
तवेत्तत्सत्यमाङ्गिरः ॥
उप त्वाग्ने दिवेदिवे दोषावस्तर्धिया वयम्।
नमो भरन्त एमसि ॥
राजन्तमध्वराणां गोपामृतस्य दीदिविम्।
वर्धमानं स्वे दमे ॥
स नः पितेव सूनवे अग्ने सूपायनो भव।
सचस्वा नः स्वस्तये ॥

agnimīḻe purohitaṁ yajñasya devamṛtvijam
hotāraṁ ratnadhātamam
agniḥ pūrvebhirṛṣibhir īṅyo nūtanairūta
sa devām eha vakṣati
agninā rayimaśnavat poṣameva divedive
yaśasaṁ vīravattamam
agne yaṁ yajñamadhvaraṁ viśvataḥ paribhurasi
sa iddeveṣu gaccati
agnirhotā kavikratuḥ satyaścitraśravastamaḥ
devo devebhirāgamat
yadaṅga daśuṣe tvaṁ agne bhadraṁ kariṣyasi
tavettatsatyamāṅgiraḥ
upa tvāgne divedive doṣāvastardhiyā vayam
namo bharanta emasi
rājantamadhvarāṇāṁ gopāmṛtasya dīdivim
vardhamānaṁ sve dame
sa naḥ piteva sūnave agne sūpāyano bhava
sacasvā naḥ svastaye

In the first, the ṛṣi aspires adoringly for agni, described variously as purohitaṁ, the one who goes in front, the lord of the yajña and ṛtvik. The word “ṛtvik” has a special connotation. The word ṛtu in the veda means the Order of the Truth and its arranged law, time and circumstance. The ṛtvik is one who performs a sacrifice in accordance with the natural law and season. agni is also hotāraṁ, the summoner capable of bringing the gods to our sacrifice. He is also ratnadhātamam, the person who establishes excellent felicities in us, the human aspirants.

madhuccandaḥ then describes agni in the second verse as “the one adored by ancient (pūrvebhiḥ) and new (nutanaiḥ) seers too, [who] brings the gods here [to the sacrifice]. “Here” is a place within us, in a deep sense both physical and metaphysical. As I read this verse again, I realise that to call agni a mere physical flame is to ascribe to this force a pedestrian meaning and acknowledge the poverty of my own expression.

It is through agni that one enjoys (aśnavat) an inner plenitude, an inner felicity of being (rayim). This inner felicity increases (pośameva) day by day (dive-dive) and the force that it is endowed with enables us to overcome obstacles that prevent the enjoyment of bliss. This force is therefore aptly described as glorious (yaśasaṁ) and full of heroic power (vīravattamam).

The veda views the entire concept of sacrifice as adhvara or journey. The word adhvara is derived from adhva or path and ra meaning to move. This journey is the gradual transformation of the material body culminating in all sided perfection. It is agni who charts for us the path of ascent in our yajña-pilgrimage. The ṛṣi acknowledges that the yajña-pilgrimage that is surrounded on all sides by agni is the only one that reaches the gods.

The fifth mantra of the first sūkta describes an additional faculty that agni possesses – kavikratuḥ i.e. seer-will. kavya is seer-wisdom, revealed by supraphysical experience and kratuḥ is the will associated with wisdom together with the force that makes its execution possible. agni is kavikratuḥ, who possesses the power to grant us a true (satyaḥ) audition (śravas) that is of infinite variety (citra) and excellent (tamaḥ). A god (devo), he comes with the gods (devebhiḥ āgamat). This mantra again serves to reinforce my belief that this force is not physical in nature.

madhuccandaḥ lauds agni in the sixth. agni, or aṅgiraḥ – one possessed with a glowing quality of preeminence , alone creates a truth (satyaṁ) for the giver (dāśuṣe), [which Truth] is bhadraṁ or an auspicious happiness. agni is a creator of happiness that is combined with spiritual good.

I believe that the veda veils its message in a subtle manner. The seventh mantra translates as follows: “To you O Agni, day by day (dive-dive), in the night and in the light (dośāvastaḥ), we approach (emasi) carrying (bharanta) our obeisance (namo) by our thought (dhiyā)“. The means to seek this cosmic force within us is through a meditation that is continuous. Continuity of meditation is not measured by the time spent on the act itself. It is measured by the quality of the attitude that we bring to this act, a quality that continues under all circumstances, of illumination and otherwise as well. That is the true purport of this verse.

agni, the master or overlord of the pilgrim-yajña (rājantamadhvarāṇāṁ), is the luminous (dīdivim) guardian (gopaṁ) of the Truth. His power of manifestation increases (vardhamānaṁ) in his own home (sve dame). agni’s home is described elsewhere in the ṛg veda as satyam ṛtam bṛhat. satyam, the Absolute Truth is also ṛtam, the Truth in action in consonance with the natural law and therefore it is not bounded by any limitations, physical or psychological, hence it is bṛhat or vast. agni, is the guardian of manifested Truth.

Finally, we pray for agni to be of [ever] easy access to us, like a father is to his son, to cling to us so that we may maintain our happy state. With divine will constantly in us, false consciousness which is a basis of misery, is eliminated.

Disinterested, sleepless and invincible, the divine will force agni works in the world as a universal soul of power housed in all beings. agni vaiśvānara, the greatest, most powerful, most brilliant and most impersonal of all cosmic deities – he claims no primacy, he seeks no separate end, merely content to be a worker for man, indeed he is man’s greatest helper, our most beloved friend. To him, we offer our oblations first.

Peace
S

PS: Lest I forget, this friend of mine, Anu Iyer is also a great teacher in her own right and she indirectly spurred me into writing this piece. Call it homework from a summoner of a different sort!!!