From the earliest dawn of time, the use of heat and warmth have been essential for human survival. Fire is how the human civilization cooked their food to avoid the dangers of eating raw meats. Now, with the readily available sources of heat at our fingertips, we haven’t really needed to know how to start a fire with two sticks unless we want to impress our friends on a camping trip. Even though fire helps us to survive, fire also destroys our homes and even our forests. Fire has become a symbol for our lives and it can be found in the common phrases we say every day, like: “I have this fire burning inside me that keeps me motivated”. Fire is an extremely important symbol in the Hindu religion, because it can be found in the deities and even
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Another translation by Swami Nikhilananda of specifically just the Mundaka Upanishad says this about the seven fires: “Kali (the Black), Karali (the Terrific), Manojava (the Swift as thought), Sulohita (the Very red), Sudhumravarna (of the colour of bright smoke; purple), Splulingini (the Scintillating), and the luminous Visvaruchi (the All-gleaming, all-formed) − these seven, flickering about, form the seven tongues of the fire” (English Translation of Mundaka Upanishad, 3). These fires are the fires of the Karma-Yoga which is a work of action to become one with Brahman. The spark is the Atman and the various yogas is the fire poker to stoke the flames and make our fire burn high and bright enough to soon become one with …show more content…
In the Vedas, Agni, the god of fire, “is the embodiment of the fire which consumes the offerings to the Hindu gods, so he is seen as the mediator between heaven and earth” (Agni The Hindu God of Fire). He represents the fire that burns the offering which, in burning the offering, the fire, or Agni, carries the sacrifices to the gods (Agni the Hindu God of Fire). Though Agni is more commonly known for his role in sacrificial fires, he is also in charge of other fires, such as, lightning and “the funeral-pyre; [where] he leads the dead to their final judgement by Yama, ruler of the Underworld” (Cartwright). Sadly, the importance as a god that Agni had to the ancient Hindus started to diminish over time as Hinduism began to shift focus over time by focusing “less on performing sacrifices and more focused on devotion” (Agni the Hindu God of
Another translation by Swami Nikhilananda of specifically just the Mundaka Upanishad says this about the seven fires: “Kali (the Black), Karali (the Terrific), Manojava (the Swift as thought), Sulohita (the Very red), Sudhumravarna (of the colour of bright smoke; purple), Splulingini (the Scintillating), and the luminous Visvaruchi (the All-gleaming, all-formed) − these seven, flickering about, form the seven tongues of the fire” (English Translation of Mundaka Upanishad, 3). These fires are the fires of the Karma-Yoga which is a work of action to become one with Brahman. The spark is the Atman and the various yogas is the fire poker to stoke the flames and make our fire burn high and bright enough to soon become one with …show more content…
In the Vedas, Agni, the god of fire, “is the embodiment of the fire which consumes the offerings to the Hindu gods, so he is seen as the mediator between heaven and earth” (Agni The Hindu God of Fire). He represents the fire that burns the offering which, in burning the offering, the fire, or Agni, carries the sacrifices to the gods (Agni the Hindu God of Fire). Though Agni is more commonly known for his role in sacrificial fires, he is also in charge of other fires, such as, lightning and “the funeral-pyre; [where] he leads the dead to their final judgement by Yama, ruler of the Underworld” (Cartwright). Sadly, the importance as a god that Agni had to the ancient Hindus started to diminish over time as Hinduism began to shift focus over time by focusing “less on performing sacrifices and more focused on devotion” (Agni the Hindu God of