Arogya Ayurvedic Health - The Importance of Agni in Yoga and Ayurveda

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The Importance of Agni in Yoga and Ayurveda

(c) Ved Kovid Durgadas / Arogya Ayurvedic Health Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.

By Ved Kovid, Durgadas

"I invoke Agni, the Priest,
Deity and Master of Sacrifice!"
-Rig Veda.I.1.1

Agni or Fire is an important concept in Yoga and Ayurveda, yet has been greatly misunderstood and also ignored by the masses who fail to understand the importance of Agni and the role it plays on a social, individual and biological level.

In the Rig Veda, Agni is associated with the Vasus who represent the various elements of nature as heaven (dyaus), atmosphere (antariksha), wind (vayu), fire (agni), earth (prithivi) as also the sun (surya), the moon (chandrama) and stars (nakshatras); Agni is the cosmic man (Vaishwanara) or the Purusha the Supreme Being in Yoga.

As Jatavedas or the "knower of all births", he is reborn many times within the our hearts (Rig Veda.X.5.1) as the bound and reincarnating soul. He is Chidagni or the fire of consciousness, the individual soul who yearns to be reunited with his true form as Vaishwanara, the cosmic man, the later concepts of Atman (soul) and Paramatman or Brahman, the Supreme Soul or Supreme.

There are many forms of Agni or fire in Hinduism and in Yoga and Ayurveda of which help us maintain our various states of optimum health along all levels.

These Agnis or Fires are:

Jatharagni (digestive fire), Bhutagnis (agnis or the five elements; Akashagni, the ethereal fire; Vayavagni, the fire of air; Tejagni, the fire of light and heat; Jalagni, the fire of the waters and Parthavagni, the fire of the earth), Dhatvagnis (agnis of the seven tissues of the body, such as fires or agnis of the rasa or plasma, meda or fat-tissue, mamsa or muscle-tissue, majja or marrow-tissue, asthi or bone-tissue and shukra or reproductive tissue) and the Manasic Agnis or mental fires (Icchagni, the fire of will-power; Vivekagni, the fire of discrimination; Kriyagni, the fire of action and Jnanagni, the fire of knowledge).

There are also several other fires, such as Suryagni or the Fire of the Sun and also the other fires of planets, gaseous and otherwise. Gemstones themselves have their agni or fires, being created from the the earth's fire itself.

Aushadhagnis are the fires in herbs or the powers to heal. Such powers can by themselves manifest not simply as heat, but as astringent and bitter tastes which have more cleansing and healing energies themselves that reduce fever and infection. Others such as the Madhvagnis or sweet agnis manifest as sweet tastes that help promote vitality (ojas) and relate to the balagnis or the agnis of strength.

In order to have good strength of all bodily tissues and also of all the elements in their pure state, we have to keep these agnis or fires alive and well. Yet, we do not seek to do this as we do not consider this important today in our pursuit of a drug and artificial culture over a more organic culture which would be more conducive to our health.

Today's culture limits and suppresses our Agnis on all levels. The media culture and that of TVs, video games and even social media limits our attention span to the outside world and causes our agni mental agnis to decline. Others such as the chemical culture with reliance on pharmaceutical drugs suppresses our intellects and minds as also out digestive fires, hindering our ability to digest thoughts, emotions, feelings and also limits our metabolism. We clutter our minds and bodies with toxic impressions.

Ayurveda gives various qualities to all foodstuffs and their qualities upon the mind. Foods such as mushrooms for example are seen as being tamasic and dulling to the mind and also being harder to digest, help put out our jatharagnis, our digestive fires also, causing Ama or toxins in the body as a result, which breed disease when relocating in the body. This ancient and subtle science of keeping track of not just what we eat, but how we are eating has destroyed our digestive fires as a race over the past few centuries as Ayurveda has declined and as we consume our food without regard to our individuality and bodies. There is often a generic or "one size fits all" regime, whether it be raw and vegan foods on one size and generic diets based on allopathy on the other. No consideration is given as to our digestive fire or capacity for digestion (aharashakti) and as per how such foods and how we consume them (raw, cooked, with what spices and oils etc.) will affect us individually, such as the doshic types refine in Ayurveda with individual levels of biological constitutions.

Ayurveda recognises that just as we all have different minds and personalities and features, so also our bodies cannot simply conform to one simple diet alone. The effects of foods also changed when cooked or uncooked or when spices are added. For this reason, Indian cooking has always uses spices such as turmeric, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, ajawain, garlic, onions etc. along with oils such as sesame, mustard and ghee (clarified butter) in cooking in order to keep our digestive fires healthy and awakened. This is in sharp contrast to Western diets, which eat heavy meats and vegetables with little or no spices for digestion and in cooler climates, which Ayurveda considers environments for creating ama or toxins in addition to this.

Our Pranagni or the fire of Prana or breath that we take in is also largely toxic today. We breath in oxygen that is mixed with so many foul smells and also carbon monoxide which is in itself unhealthy on so many levels. In ancient times, Yogis and Kings used to perform large-scale Havanas or fire sacrifices by offering fragrant substances and clarified butter into the fire, by which purified the atmosphere and also the air we breath. They were cautious about breathing in toxins in the air and keeping the Pranagni, the fire of breath alive of which wards off airborne bacteria and parasites and hence such fire sacrifices were performed for this reason, as also to ward off foul smells created in day to day life by humans and animals alike. Today, there is no true consideration given to restoring this fire, although groups protests against pollution, but have no real answer to curing it, such as the ancient fire ceremonies of the ancient world, performed for these reasons.

Agni in the Rig Veda is also associated with the Rudras, the fiery deities and forms of the god Shiva, who represent the ten Pranas within us in Yoga and Ayurveda in the body of which there are five main pranas or breath and five lesser. The eleventh is the Atman or Self, which we have already noted as Chidagni or the fire of consciousness.

The Agni of the Pranas then is very important and requires that we keep these alive, especially with regards to Ayurveda and the five main forms of Prana in the body and their various functions:

Prana-Vayu – Rules Nutrients for body and mind (Mind, Head)

Udana-Vayu –Rules Exhalation and speech (Neck, Head)

Vyana-Vayu – Rules Flow of blood / Circulation (Chest, Arms, Hands)

Samana-Vayu – Rules Inhalation and digestion (Stomach)

Apana-Vayu – Rules Discharge of ama (toxins) (Legs, Sexual organs)

Each of these agnis of these pranas are important and relate to the five subdoshas of pitta (bile) and also kapha (phlegm) in the body also.

If our agni of our samanavayu is low for example, then our digestion will be sluggish and low (manda) or variable (vishama), as also if the agni of our apanavayu is likewise too high, we can suffer from loose stool and dysentery etc.

Our Vyanavayu which relates to the flow and circulation is blood is also important, as a low agni here manifests in poor circulation and also poor breath or prana throughout the body, which may be low or toxic, as in the flow of blood into the liver which, if toxic, creates liver and pitta (bilious) disorders.

In order to keep the Pranagni awaken individually along with these, practices such as Pranayama or breath-control was performed as in Yoga in order to throw out toxic air from our bodies and bring in fresh air; the retaining of air inside the body and also holding the breath when breathing out itself creates a heating-energy, of which also awakens our own fire of Prana or breath inside our bodies and helps us resistance against disease by consuming it or burning it up, just as a good metabolism or digestive fire does and as a good buddhagni or intellectual fire helps us burn up unwanted impressions of the mind, or ama or toxins in the mind.

The agni was kept alive in ancient times by burning diyas or ghee-lamps as well which psychologically helped awaken the mind and keep mental fires awakened as well as purified the home. In addition, every home in Vedic times in India performed the Agni Hotra or fire offerings twice daily also as also on public occasions where these were held to celebrate festivals such as Deepawali etc.

In the epic Ramayana, when the great hero Sri Rama returns after his conquest over Ravana of Sri Lanka, his pathway is lit by thousands of diyas or ghee-lamps, representing light over darkness. Sri Rama's wife, Sita Devi is also tested as to her chastity whilst in the captivity of Ravana by walking through Agni or fire, of which she remained unburnt and untouched, showing her purity. In ancient times it was believed that only those with papa or sin were burnt by the fire, indicating how Agni or fire is the enemy of demonic people or tamas - spiritual darkness and ama, toxins. Today, our society is greatly toxic and tamasic or dark and ignorant on all levels, and we are breeding a new kind of unconscious humanity as already mentioned, through smothering the agni out.

As an example, calculators have replaced the buddhagni or intellectual fire by reliance on them as opposed to physical mathematical skills which are waning in our youth. Yet even today these are waning physically, as our ancient Indian mathematicians as Astronomers and Astrologers who developed this science did their arithmetic in their heads, faster than what modern calculators can. This again is as they had strong powers of agni in the mind keeping it alert, awake and sharp. This is also how their smaranagnis, their agnis or fires of memory were sharp and high and could memorise the entire Vedic texts with correct pronunciation and metres of the mantras in the Vedic Sanskrit and their translations for for many thousands of years.

According to Yoga, the writing down of things as in books etc. is a lesser state of evolution as opposed to oral traditions and the culture of the mind, where these are retained and can be accessed at any time and are not subject to destruction by time, fires, floods and other natural disasters. This is how the Vedic wisdom was preserved for so many thousands of years unlike other more materialistic cultures, due to the Yogic teachings of awakening the agnis of the mind and keeping them alive so as the jnanagnis, the fires of wisdom would remain alive in the world and not die. Ancient Yogis and Brahmins were literally "walking encyclopaedias". The modern world has even now resorted to storing information electronically in computers and digital word and the physical book culture itself is declining, showing another devolutionary phase and another phase of deliberately killing our intellectual agnis.

The Agni in our culture is hence also our drive, fire and shakti or power also. It is also what keeps us moving forward and going. It is the heat that maintains the body and doesn't allow it to drop or rise excessively and cause disease. In Yoga and Ayurveda then, Agni and it's equilibrium is the key to everything in regards to sustenance and preservation, both individually and globally.

There are the Agnis of the Eight Limbs of Yoga also:

-Agnis of the Yamas (ethics) and Niyamas (retrains and observances) of Yoga

-Agni of the Asana or Yogic postures which help us in flexibility. These here relate to the Agnis of the Dhatus or bodily tissues and their spancidity and healthy states.

-Agni of Pranayama or breathing techniques, which as we have discussed, relates to the Pranagni or the agni of Prana or breath and useful to eliminate toxins in the body and also by reoxygenation of our bodies and brains.

-Agni of Pratyahara or withdrawal. This helps retrain our senses and is the Agni or power of restraint of the senses.

-Agni of Dharana of the power of concentration. This is required in order to help us focus more on any subject intently without our mind wavering and moving. Such examples are Trataka or yogic gazing at a candle to help focus the mind more intently and make it ekagra or single-pointed.

-Agni of Dhyana or meditation. This requires that we internalise our focus and are able to discriminate between the higher and lower levels of meditation and bring our minds through the power of agni or fire away from the material world and desires and focus upon more inner spiritual truths and extract their essences.

-Agni of Samadhi or Yogic absorption. This requires that our agnis or fires in the Yogic state of trance are awakened so that we do not fall into lesser or non-spiritual samadhis and that our minds remain sattvic and pure through the agnis or fires being awakened in our intellects, so that we can discriminate between the material world and the spiritual world and any visions etc. or realisations that we may have.

In Ayurveda also, the science of Agnikarma is that of cauterisation. It was done specifically when arbudas or cancerous tumours were cut from the body and the area was then burnt with fire or heat (agni) to kill off the roots and also promote healing. It is similar to Radiation Therapy used in treating cancer today.

The therapy of purgation or Virechana in Ayurveda also releases excesses of agni from the body, but also as a general health maintenance, is done in Ayurveda with individuals with weaker and variable digestions, such as Vata or airy and Kapha or phlegmatic types, with erratic and slow metabolisms respectively. Such formulas as Triphala (three fruits), Trikatu (three pungents) and Eranda Taila (castor oil) are commonly used in such types to ensure the proper workings of the jatharagni or digestive fires, which in turn helps nourish the dhatvagnis or fires of the bodily tissues. Such types need warmth (ushna guna) as by nature they are cold (shita) and are most in need of agni or fire in their bodies and most people today have low agnis and suffer from food allergies, nervous disorders, anxiety, stress, irritability, insanity, arthritis and old-age disorders, which fall under Vata or airy disorders or depression, diabetes, weight gain / obesity etc. which are Kapha or phlegmatic disorders according to Ayurveda. We are hence a culture that suffers from low agni overall; even in Ayurveda, of all disease categories, Vata or air produces the most, followed by Pitta (bile) and lastly Kapha or phlegm.

The issue today is that individuals with too much Agni or fire, a more rajasic and tamasic or passion-based and darker / wicked type of fire rule the world and people and go into politics, as inherit in their natures and minds. This however breeds only more excessive agni in them of an unrefined and even destructive level, just as a controlled house-fire provides warmth and can be used for cooking and is necessary, but also an excessive fire when it spreads, easily becomes destructive and can destroy several houses and entire cities. Such types require cooler therapies and influences that reduce and stabalise their agnis and return them to sattvas or purity, not promote them more to become more aggressive, destructive and egotistical (ahamkaric). The culture of vanity today for example is one such rajasic agni type culture that misuses and creates a destructive type of agni in people and in society itself.

This relates to Agni or fire historically as the fiery planet Mars, the deity of war or Aries. He can be useful for protection when one is invaded and one takes up arms to defend oneself. Yet on the other hand, with war comes responsibility and those who have the Martian energy can easily misuse it by force and arrogance and forcefully taking over the properties and nations of others, since Agni or fire, when to aggressive, burns all and knows no boundaries!

We therefore need to think about what type of Agni we are breeding in society today and what kinds we need to promote for the future. As it is now, the Agni is on a more destructive path as per the world leaders and yet the majority have their fires repressed by these types, causing all types of complications.

Unless we start practices such as awakening our own agnis as through Agni Hotras and Pranayamas as in Yoga and be more conscious about this, we will let our agnis burn out as a whole and will allow those in the world who dominate, to burn out and consume everything good in the world with their excessive Agnis or fires of destruction!

References:

Rig Veda Samhita

Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham: Aushadh Rahasya: The Secret of Ayurvedic Herbs and Disorders of the Mind: Lulu Publications, 2012

Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham, Purna Ayurveda Pariksha: Lulu Publications, 2012

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Arogya Ayurvedic Health
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New Zealand
ph: /WhatsApp:+ 64 27 446 6547
idl@snap.net.nz