Third Basic Element: Agni

Agni comes third in the evolution ladder of universe. Agni or Tej tattwa is fire / heat 'principle'. It is more than mere fire or heat. The ‘principle’ has to be understood in a larger perspective.

It is that principle which ‘transforms’. It is the 'metabolism' that runs the universe. Knowing ‘Agni’ is about knowing this 'silent' energy, which 'transforms'. During this transformation, calories are burnt; 'heat' is generated. This very heat keeps the universe alive, keeps the individual alive.

The collective shakti or this power of transformation is to be understood as Agni. And every living individual also can feel this heat. You touch the body and you will come to know, Agni is in business. You touch a dead body and you know that Agni has left the body. It has actually become cold.

You shut the tragus of your both ears and you can ‘hear’ the heat of metabolism. You can know that this giant machine is on! And now you understand that you can't control this. It is just ‘on’ 24x7. May be at lower scale at night, but, it is on!

The button of Agni is put on at birth and is turned off at death. One has to 'know', has to comprehend that it is ‘on’ at the subtle, microscopic, ultra-microscopic levels.

The processes are going on. Various processes...give and take in the tissue, regeneration, nutrition, growth, maturity, division, shedding off, so on and so forth.

'Transformation' is ‘the’ integral part of all these processes. ‘Change’ is the only constant as they say.

The principle of transformation is Agni. The power, by virtue of which we keep on changing at every single moment, is Agni. This power of dynamism within every living individual is bestowed by Agni.

Agni decides the basal metabolic rate (BMR). At gross level, of an individual, status of Agni can be known by knowing the hunger. The gross, mass, easily understandable conversion or transformation takes place in the gastrointestinal canal and obviously is of food. We eat food and it is converted into body! We do not eat food and we emaciate. The conversion is not easy to understand and lot many processes, micro-processes have to occur when we say that food is transformed into body. Rightly guessed, Agni is responsible for this transformation. You apply a lotion and it is absorbed and ‘converted’ into or becomes part of your skin cells, of your body. Agni is required for each and every transformation. External objects are perceived by our sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, skin and tongue). Chair for example, which is an external object, is seen by eyes. The stimulus of chair is ‘transformed’ into the ‘knowledge’ of chair. The color, the shape, the dimensions are grasped. The ‘external’ chair now becomes ‘internal’ chair. We close the eyes and visualize the chair. This is the ‘digested’ chair. At subtle level, certain Agni is responsible for this type of specialized, ‘difficult to understand’ digestion also. Again, at subtle level Agni is required to convert ‘information’ into ‘knowledge’. ‘Sharpness’ of a person is an indicator of good Agni of certain type.

Every moment the Universe is ‘new’. Every moment the living body is ‘new’. Every moment the flowing river is new. This ‘newness’ or this dynamism, one needs to comprehend, one needs to ‘feel’. Agni inside your body will start conversing with you.