Eternal India Encyclopedia

In Yasna 34:4, Zarathushtra says,

‘Thine Inner Fire Ahura, to see

‘We yearn, - He blazes mightily through truth;

‘He has thy strength, our hope and Goal is He,

‘He lights the faithful clearly through life;

‘But O Mazda, in the hearts of the unfaithful;

‘He sees the evil at a glance.’

The physical fire is merely an out-

ward symbol of this Inner fire. God is

formless in Essence, and so is fire.

When a Zarathushti worships fire, he is

worshipping this Inner Fire contained

within the symbolic outer physical fire.

In Zoroastrian temples sacred fire is

kept constantly burning. The highest of

these is the Atash-Behram, where the fire

is tended by an ordained priest, who has

undergone certain disciplines and has at-

tained such competence in his work, as to be

able to perform all the higher religious cere-

monies. He alone can enter the inner sanc-

tum sanctorum in which the fire is installed.

The sources from which the fire is col-

lected, range in variety from fire produced by

lightning, fire from a cremation pyre, fire

from a priest’s hearth, to other fires ob-

tained from ovens and furnaces. The holiest

Shrine of the Fire of Iran, is situated at

Udvada, about 100 miles from Bombay. It

was established in A.D. 721 and has been

blazing ever since. At that time Dastur

Nariosang Dhaval, invoked and created

lightning for the consecration of the fire.

The external physical fire in the temple is

fed with sandalwood. The vegetable king-

dom is considered a fit offering for the Con-

secrated Fire. Similarly the body is the

temple of the sitting friend, and it should

also be fed with pure sathwic food, and not

animal matter. If it is imperative that the

Consecrated Fire is to be fed with sathwic

offerings, then it stands to reason that it is

equally important for the body to consume

only pure sathwic food. Animal food is

tinged with

rajas,

and it arouses passionate

rajasic qualities in the mind, which are not

very conducive to spiritual progress or ac-

quiring peace.

The sacred fire is to be utilised for puri-

fying the body, mind and soul, through vari-

ous rituals and practices, so that the Son of

God, ATAR, may be installed on His throne,

the pure heart.

(Eruch B. Fanibunda)

“Vision of the Divine”

Agni,

god of

Fire,

promi-

nent deity of

the

Vedas.

Shown as a

red

man,

having

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 Mys-

tic Fire, the fundamental Agni, issue

Jada-

Agni

(ordinary fire),

Vaidyuta-Agni

(elec-

tric 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'.

PERCEPTIONS

Eternal India

encyclopedia

AGNI

(THE PRIMEVAL FIRE)

The Universe without (the macrocosm)

and the Universe within (the microcosm) are

alike peopled with Powers and Personali-

ties, 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

Guru.

‘Gu’ means dark-

ness and ‘Ru’ means remover or destroyer.

The word means, He who destroys the

Darkness of Ignorance. The fire or Agni, de-

stroys, 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 perme-

ates all creation is called USHATANA.

When the manifest form is destroyed and

returned to its elements the Ushatana re-

turns 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.