Agni - The Divine Will

(This article was first published in the March 2016 issue of 'The Call Beyond', monthly magazine of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, New Delhi.) 

Agni is the first and foremost deity in the Vedas. A very large portion of the Rig Veda is entirely dedicated to Agni and hymn after hymn invokes it with the choicest of praises. 

But who is Agni? Is it only the sacrificial fire that is being so earnestly praised? Sri Aurobindo explains in The Secret of the Veda that to the minds of the Rishis, Agni had a profound spiritual meaning, that it was a conception entirely psychological, and the physical fire was only a suitable device to represent this deep significance.

Each word in Sanskrit derives its meaning from its root and the word ‘agni’ holds the meaning of strength, force, and brilliance.^[1] Therefore, Agni is always presented in the Veda in the double aspect of force and light.^[2] It is the divine force or power which is rooted in the light of divine knowledge. It is therefore referred to as jātavedas - knower of all births.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “Psychologically, then, we may take Agni to be the Divine Will perfectly inspired by Divine Wisdom, and indeed one with it, which is the active or effective power of the Truth-consciousness.” ^[3]

To illustrate, Sri Aurobindo analyzes the following hymn among many others:-

Agnir hotā kavikratuḥ, satyaś citraśravastamaḥ;

devo devebhir ā gamat – R.V. I.1.5

Here, Agni is first addressed as the hotā - the priest. The priest leads the sacrifice with his knowledge. Agni, the Divine Will, leads man to perform actions based in Truth-consciousness.

“… it is repeatedly said (in the Veda) that the gods have established Agni as the immortal in mortals, the divine power in man, the energy of fulfilment through which they do their work in him. It is this work which is symbolised by the sacrifice.”[4]

Next, Agni is called kavikratuḥ. Kavi is the seer - of Truth. Agni, the Divine Will, works (kratuḥ) with the knowledge of truth-consciousness. Agni is satya - true in his being - and citraśravastamaḥ - full of inspiration to do the perfect work.

He is devo devebhir, god with the gods, which means the divine or immortal power that coexists with other divine powers within our being.

“… man by the right use of their mental action in the inner sacrifice to the gods can convert them into their true or divine nature, the mortal can become immortal.”[5]

This is how the Rishis saw Agni and its role in man’s spiritual sacrifice. Sri Aurobindo works upon many such hymns to show how the Veda itself points us to an inner, spiritual significance of its symbols. Through this analysis, he presents the principle ideas of the Veda:

“…the invocation of the gods as powers of the Truth to raise man out of the falsehoods of the mortal mind, the attainment in and by this Truth of an immortal state of perfect good and felicity and the inner sacrifice and offering of what one has and is by the mortal to the Immortal as the means of the divine consummation.”[6]

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[1] The Secret of The Veda, Pg. 56, Line no. 16

[2] The Secret of The Veda, Pg. 65, Line no. 25

[3] The Secret of The Veda, Pg. 65, Line no. 35

[4] The Secret of The Veda, Pg. 65, Line no. 30

[5] The Secret of The Veda, Pg. 66, Line no. 33

[6] The Secret of The Veda, Pg. 68, Line no. 34