Agni

Agni, the sum-total of the Gods. He is Vishnu and the Sun in His glory; He is the fire of matter and the fire of mind blended and fused; He is the intelligence which throbs in every atom; He is the Mind that actuates the system; He is the fire of substance and the substance of fire... ~ Alice Bailey

Agni (/ˈæɡni/ AG-nee, Sanskrit: अग्नि, Pali: Aggi, Malay: Api) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire, and connotes the Vedic fire god of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction, and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples.[9] In the classical cosmology of the Indian religions, Agni as fire is one of the five inert impermanent constituents (Dhatus) along with space (Akasha/Dyaus), water (Jal), air (Vayu/ Varuna) and earth (Prithvi), the five combining to form the empirically perceived material existence (Prakriti).

Agni – (Sk.). The God of Fire in the Veda; the oldest and the most revered of Gods in India. ~ H.P. Blavatsky

Quotes

• The translations by Grassmann and Ludwig show once again quite strikingly the errors that an exegesis that wants to see in the Veda something other than a purely Indian monument and that does not take Indian views into account must lead to. ... Here, verse 1 says that the gods determined that the place where a man who makes a sacrifice is to be found is the east. Such a man, the text says directly, is the east, but verse 4 says that in the west is a miser who lets nothing come of it and a rich man who gives no gifts. ... "In the west are the ill-wishers whose horses are badly harnessed; in the east are those who are here for giving, who give a variety of gifts," i.e. the misers who have given bad horses are to be in the extreme west, the region of the sunset, thus of darkness and therefore of raksas, while the generous are to be in the east, the region of the sunrise, thus in the eternal light, which is what 10, 107,2 says. So 7,6,3 is to be translated quite literally: "He (Agni), the Eastern One, has made those who do not make sacrifices into Westerners," i.e. he, the bright one, has plunged them into deep darkness.
  • Richard Pischel, Karl F. Geldner - Vedische Studien Vol. 1 -Verlag von W. Kohlhammer (1889) p 302-3

• I praise Agni, the priest who is the light and the invoker of the sacrifice, whose chants bestow treasure.
  • Rigveda Mandala 1, Hymn 1, verse 1- Start of Hymn 1
  • quoted in The Vedic Tradition Cosmos, Connections, and Consciousness by S. Kak, 2022

• It is astonishing to what a degree some remember instances from their past lives, whereas others have completely lost all memories of their former accumulations. A karmic cause does not completely explain such a marked difference in the understanding of life. Truly, the deciding factor in such understanding lies not in the circumstances of former lives, but in the acceptance of Agni. People call such wisdom a talent, but it is no special talent to keep Agni alight. Only the kindling of the centers produces uninterrupted vigilance of consciousness. Even a partial manifestation of Agni already preserves the accumulations inviolate. Agni is no violator, but our friend. It must be explained that the ascent of the spirit is indeed a manifestation of Agni.
  • Agni Yoga, Fiery World I, p. 516 (1933)

• Agni, the Lord of Fire, rules over all the fire elementals and devas on the three planes of human evolution, the physical, the astral, and the mental, and rules over them not only on this planet, called the Earth, but on the three planes in all parts of the system. (p. 65)
  • Alice Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire (1925)

• Agni, the sum-total of the Gods. He is Vishnu and the Sun in His glory; He is the fire of matter and the fire of mind blended and fused; He is the intelligence which throbs in every atom; He is the Mind that actuates the system; He is the fire of substance and the substance of fire; He is the Flame and that which the Flame destroys. (p. 602)
  All potentiality lies in the vitalising, energising power of Agni, and in His ability to stimulate. He is life itself, and the driving force of evolution, of psychic development and of consciousness. (p. 606).
  • Alice Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire (1925)

• "Our God is a consuming Fire" refers primarily to Agni, the controlling factor in this age. The devas of the fire will play an increasingly important part in all earth processes. To them is given the work of inaugurating the New Age, the new world and civilisation and the new continent … Agni controls not only the fires of the earth and rules the mental plane, but He is definitely associated with the work of arousing the sacred fire, the kundalini . . . The Lord of Fire will achieve his peculiar work for this cycle by arousing the fire of kundalini in the large numbers of those who are ready. This will be begun in this century, and carried forward actively for the next one thousand years. (p. 390/1)
  • Alice Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic (1934)

• Agni – (Sk.). The God of Fire in the Veda; the oldest and the most revered of Gods in India.
  • H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophical Glossary, (1892)

• Who shake the mountains across the wavy ocean. May Agni come with the Maruts.
  • Rigveda I.19.7
  • Quoted in Frawley, David. The Rig Veda and the History of India. (2001). Quoted from Frawley, D. The Hindu, 25th June 2002. WITZEL’S VANISHING OCEAN – HOW TO READ VEDIC TEXTS ANY WAY YOU LIKE. A Reply to Michael Witzel’s article “A Maritime Rigveda? How not to read the Ancient Texts”.

• All delights converge in Agni, as seven mighty streams the ocean.
  • Rigveda I.71.7
  • Quoted in Frawley, David. The Rig Veda and the History of India. (2001). Quoted from Frawley, D. The Hindu, 25th June 2002. WITZEL’S VANISHING OCEAN – HOW TO READ VEDIC TEXTS ANY WAY YOU LIKE. A Reply to Michael Witzel’s article “A Maritime Rigveda? How not to read the Ancient Texts”.

• Agni, you move to the ocean of Heaven...to the waters which are beyond the luminous heaven of the Sun and to those which stand below it.
  • Rigveda III.22.2‑3
  • Quoted in Frawley, David. The Rig Veda and the History of India. (2001). Quoted from Frawley, D. The Hindu, 25th June 2002. WITZEL’S VANISHING OCEAN – HOW TO READ VEDIC TEXTS ANY WAY YOU LIKE. A Reply to Michael Witzel’s article “A Maritime Rigveda? How not to read the Ancient Texts”.

• Far far away hath Agni chased those Dasyus, and, in the east, hath turned the godless westward.
  • Rigvedia 7, 6, 3, as translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1889)
  • Variant translations:
    • Agni assailed repeatedly those Dasyus and from the east turned the unholy ones to the west.
    • Quoted in Kazanas, N. (2002). Indigenous Indo-Aryans and the Rigveda: Indo-Aryan migration debate. Journal of Indo-European Studies, 30(3-4), 275-334.
    • He (Agni), the Eastern One, has made those who do not make sacrifices into Westerners.
    • Quoted in Richard Pischel, Karl F. Geldner - Vedische Studien Vol. 1 -Verlag von W. Kohlhammer (1889), p 302-3

• Vaiśvānara the God, at the sun's setting, hath taken to himself deep-hidden treasures:
  Agni hath taken them from earth and heaven, from the sea under and the sea above us.
  • Rigvedia 7, 6, 7, as translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1889)

See also

• Agni Yoga