Vedic Symbology- Agni

[Guest guest]

Agni is the sacred fire, the most important of the Devas.

 

He represents not the chemical fire, but the Fire of Conciousness, the

flame that exists in our heart.

 

This fire tries to understand the external world through the mind and

other instruments, but only causes smoke. The Vedic Dharma was based

on the sacrifice to fire but this was a sacrifice to the fire of

conciousness, not chemical fire. The Rishi would sacrifice all their

actions to the inner fire, the way Krishna told Arjun to dedicate his

actions to God.

 

This inner fire was not just inert consciousness, but Conciousnes with

Will. This Will is the Divine Will that makes us search for peace and

truth in the world of duality.

 

Agni was the main God, the 1st to be worshipped. It was said that he

brought all the other Gods down. Agni, our Will, brings down other

Gods like Indra(Divine Mind), Soma(Divine Bliss), and all others. But

the Sadhak has to 1st of all enkindle his flame of consciousess, and

turn his will towards God.

 

The highest sacrifice is when the Sadhak sacrifices his own ego in the

Fire of the Heart. As Krishna says:

 

" As the fire burns up the wood and turns it to ashes, so the fire our

knowledge turns all karma to ashes " . 4-37

 

The Vedic religon is the Religons of fire- the Flame of Conciousness

that exists in everything- from rocks to plants to animals. It is to

this inner Fire we bow when bow to the external fire.

[Guest guest]

, shanracer <no_reply wrote:

 

Dear Shantanu,

 

Namaste!

 

Your posting on Vedic Symbology - Agni made an interesting reading.

You state that the rishi would sacrifice all their actions to the

inner fire but from what i gather is they were always involved in

making a " havan kunda " and offering oblations and invoking

Gods/Goddess for their needs. In fact both during Ramayan and

Mahabharat time rishis were show involved in Chemical Fire and

invoking some deities. Which is true? By that i mean majority of

the rishis were involved in actual chemical fire and i think a few

minority were given to superior offerings to the inner fire.

Please explain.

 

With warm wishes

Sudhakar

HARI OM TAT SAT! Cheers! )

[Guest guest]

> Gods/Goddess for their needs. In fact both during Ramayan and

> Mahabharat time rishis were show involved in Chemical Fire and

> invoking some deities. Which is true? By that i mean majority of

 

Sudhakarji, in the later texts like Mahabharat, Puranas, the Vedic

rituals had been corrupted & lost. In Mahabharat, Indra was just

another Devta that caused rain(of the H2O type), & not the power of

Divine Mind that caused rain of wisdom. Soma was not Divne

Ananda(bliss), but just a sort of alcohlic drink offered to

ritualistic fire.

 

I am talking of the original Vedic teachings, which had been lost for

a long time. In later times, Indra came to signify the King of heaven,

while in the Vedas he was a Principle of Sat & the Divine Mind.

 

In the Puranas Indra was inferior to other Gods like Vishnu who often

taught him a lesson. But in the Vedas, there was no concept of

inferior/superior- Indra contained all other Gods, as did Agni, Varun,

Soma etc.

 

The Vedic Gods were parts of the Nirgun Brahm. Since it is impossible

to worship the Nirgun Brahm, Vedic Rishis worshipped parts/qualities

of it.

 

Later Rishis who worshipped actual Devas with chemical fire were

decidedly inferior to original Rishis. But remember, even in Satyug,

not everyone understood these principles, so the Rishis worshipped an

external fire to guide ordinary people. External rituals are a

reflection of the inner- anyone who does external rituals without

understanding their inner significance is just a priest, not a Yogi.

 

love

Shantnu

[Guest guest]

> a long time. In later times, Indra came to signify the King of heaven,

> while in the Vedas he was a Principle of Sat & the Divine Mind.

 

So Shantnu, why did this happen? Why did the meaning of Vedic deities

change, & why were Deities like Indra demoted?

 

Does this mean it can happen in future too( ie, Shiv or Vishnu will no

longer be main Gods, but considered junior to someone else?)

 

Radha

[Guest guest]

>So Shantnu, why did this happen? Why did the meaning of Vedic deities

>change, & why were Deities like Indra demoted?

 

Radhaji, there are many theories.

 

The most plausible is given by Graham Hancock in his book Underworld.

 

Hancock was surprised how many religons all talk about a great flood.

Doing research, he found that around 10,000 BC, due to several

reasons, the polar caps suddenly melted, causing great rise in ocean

level. This would have been enough to drown several countries.

 

It is believed the original Vedic culture was based somewhere

else-Krishnas city Dwarka which has been found under water, also some

ruins near South of India. Many people believe, & folk tales tell of a

great civilisation that existed South of India, where the Indian Ocean

is(it would be near sri Lanka, & the ocean for several hundreds of

miles around it. Sri Lanka would have been land locked part of that

great civilisation. Remember, this is long before Ramayan).

 

Some South Indian texts give a date of around 7000-8000bc when this

civilastion collapsed, which tie in well with the date of around

10,000 BC Hancock found(this process wouldnt have happened overnight-

some parts may have been drowned immeditaely, while some taking time).

 

The Vedas talk about Rishis who anchored their boat to the Himlayas,

thats how high the flood was(which is funny, as official history, as

written by Westerners & taught by patriotic Indians, says that the

Aryans had never seen the sea, even though hundreds of Vedic verses

talk about the sea).

 

It is possible some Rishis of the old civilisation escaped, & came to

North of India, in the Himalayas, the only place in India high enough

to survive the flooding. They would then have had to restart

civilisation, just as our texts say. Of course, the new people would

have forgotten the old cultural habits(worshipping Indra etc). The new

civilisation was created by a seed of the Vedas, but it was completely

new, with its own culture & social rules.

 

This makes another interesting point- as it further destroys the Aryan

Invasion theory- rather than a white Aryan race coming into India from

North, the Vedic culture may have been started by South Indians. So

Ram's(of Ramayan) journeys to South may have been a re-establishing

of Vedic culture in the South, & not introducing it for 1st time, as

is believed.

 

What do you think?

 

Further reading:

 

1. Underworld: Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age by Graham Hancock. Read

a good review http://www.grahamhancock.com/underworld/review2.php

 

2. Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition

by Marshall Govindan - Gives some description of this sunken kingdom,

based on what Babaji(from Autobiography of a Yogi- who Marshall claims

to have met) told him.

 

3. The Cradle of civilisation- by David Frawley, Subash Kak