But on the condition that they make sacrifices. Contrary to popular belief, making sacrifices does not mean killing other living animals, but to give up material desires. To thee, dispeller of the night, O Agni, day by day with prayer Bringing thee reverence, we come Ruler of sacrifices, guard of Law eternal, radiant One, Increasing in thine own abode. Be to us easy of approach, even as a father to his son: Agni, be with us for our weal.
Soma is a psychedelic plant that symbolically represents having a lavish time. Here we see the two aspects of Agni within human nature. The positive attributes are the decisions the ego makes when listening to the higher conscious mind. The negative view represents the side of our character that indulges or obsesses over material desire that we want, rather than things we need.
The higher faculties of our subconscious mind, the part that wants us to thrive, informs the ego what we need to do to evolve. Oftentimes however, this is not to our liking or means venturing into the unknown. And it is human nature to favour the things we know rather than try something different. The mind is habitual. In one of the celebrated hymns of the Rig Veda, we find Agni battling against the Kravyads, enemies of the God. The unusual role of Agni in this poem is that he is also a Kravyad and thus warring against his own kind.
Here we see the awakening ego beginning to understand that sacrifices have to be made. Subsequently, we are forced to face our demons and battle with our subconscious desires. Because fire is the best purifier and cannot be polluted, the power of Agni is a force you need to have with you. Sign in. Log into your account. Password recovery. Starting a Mindful Running Program. Yoga Trends — Kitten Yoga. Taking Yoga on Instagram with a Pinch of Salt. Along with Indra and Surya, he makes up the holy triad of Vedic gods.
He is depicted as having two heads. One head signifies immortality, and the other is a symbol of life. He was one of the Supreme gods of the early Vedic period, along with Indra and Varuna.
He is often said to be the link between the heaven and earth, and humans and deities. He is associated with Vedic sacrifice, and takes sacrifices of the devotees to their beloved and much respected and adored gods in his fire. His mount, or ram, is said to be the ram. The people living in the early Vedic period, who developed the worship of fire, personified him as the sacrificial fire. It is said that Agni was born in three levels, earth, mid-space, and heaven.
Once Agni had offended sage Bhrigu, who cursed him to become the devourer of everything in this world. Terrified of this curse, Agni went to Brahma and requested him to do something about it, otherwise Agni would have been responsible for the destruction of the entire world.
So, Brahma modified the curse in such a way that Agni became the purifier of all the things he touched. The origin of his birth is a mystery. Different people have different ideas about it. Some say his parents were sage Kashyapa and Aditi, some say he was born of Dyaus Pita and Prithvi, and some say he was the son of a queen who kept his birth a secret from her husband, the king.
Agni is sometimes said to be the son of ten mothers, who were all sisters, depicting the ten fingers of a man. His sisters are the personification of night and dawn, and his wife is Svaha. He is the father of Pavak, Pavman, and Suchi.
He has been given various names over the years, like Jivalana, Dhananjaya, and Vahni. When Agni is represented in a humanoid form, he is shown to have two faces, which are smeared with butter, to provide fuel to the flame.
He has seven fiery tongues and sharp golden teeth. He has black, long hair, and is red in colour. Seven rays of light come out of his body, and he has seven hands and three legs. He is often shown to be riding a chariot either pulled by rams or goats, or sometimes he rides parrots.
For him, the young and the old, the rich and the poor, a Brahmin and a Kshatriya, everyone is equal. He is often thought to be a mediator between the heaven and earth, which is why all yajnas take place with Agni being present. It is said, that when people use fire, they should use it in different directions.
For using fire to offer sacrifices to the gods, the fire should be in the direction facing east. When facing south, the fire should be used to offer sacrifices to the dead.
When using fire for cooking food, the direction should be in the direction of west. In the later Vedic period, his prominence reduced considerably. So we cannot reach any of the gods without Agni or fire as the medium. It is believed that Agni consumes ritualstic offerings, and transfer them to the respected gods through smoke.
Rig-Veda Book 1 Hymn1. The, Faithful One, Immortal among mortals, a God among the Gods, appointed envoy , Priest, best at worship, must shine forth in glory. Agni shall be raised high with man's oblations. Rig-Veda Book-4 Hymn 1. Agni is the only element of the five elements Prithvi, Akash, Jal, Vayu and Agni which cannot get altered or get polluted by the thing it purifies i.
In this vow, Saptapadi or Saat Phere - which involves taking seven steps walking around the fire for completion of marriage, is done. We also see Valmiki Ramayana describes how Lord Rama asked his wife Sita to affirm her chastity in the presence of fire. Then, the fire-god, the witness of the whole world , spoke to Rama as follows " Here is your Seetha. No sin exists in her. The worship of Agni enables us to burn up our impurities, during performing ritual or in our day-to-day lives.
When such work is done regularly with the flame of ritual Fire, many benefits are bestowed on us, to progress on the Path, e. So here, Agni shines as the most important element. Burn up all malice with those flames, O Agni, wherewith of old thou burntest up Jarutha, And drive away in silence pain and sickness. Oh, Lord Agni, the foremost one,the knower of the intricate Paths of creation! Lead us by the simple righteous Path to felicity.
Destroy our past Karma, eliminate from us the attraction to dubious and ignorant paths. We offer our worship to you. Ishavasya upanishad. In Hindu tradition, bodies of dead persons are cremated, that is, burned through Agni - this is called Antyesti. Antyesti literally means "last sacrifice" , and refers to the funeral rites for the dead in Hinduism.
So from this, we can see that Agni is very important even in last rites ritual done in Hinduism. Fire is the Vedic Deity Agni. That is,Agni forms the bridge between the performer of the Yajna and the receiver of the oblations or the Gods.
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