We have already briefly looked
at agni (Sanskrit for ´fire´ and cognate with the Latin ´ignis´) in a discussion of the concept of five elements. To
recapitulate, agni as a principle represents heat and light, combustion, metabolism and transformation.
Fire has been revered in virtually
all cultures for its provision of light, warmth, and its ability to transform raw
materials into food. In some cultures, including the Vedic, fire is still considered
sacred and fire rituals play an important role in worship and cultural and
religious rites. Fire transforms the gross into the subtle, both physically and
mentally. (The god of fire, dispeller of the night, ‘’the radiant one’’ of the
Rig Veda, with fierce sun-like energy, who both purifies and ´´eats up´´ the
dead, as well as carrying the sacrifices of humans to the gods, is also called Agni.)
The sun, without which we could not
live, turns raw material, plants, into energy for humans through photosynthesis,
and cooking transforms raw material into more digestible food. The digestive
flame completes this process by breaking down food so that it can be separated,
nutrition can be assimilated and waste products expelled. Agni is not only responsible for the breakdown of dense physical
matter in the form of food, but for the digestion and assimilation of other information,
sensory experiences and emotions. (Everything we ingest provides information of
some kind and is either necessary or unnecessary, and beneficial or harmful, to
our bodies and minds).
Agni works in our digestive tracts as stomach acid and digestive enzymes, in our brains as information is processed, in our eyes as light is perceived and transformed into images and in our skin where it determines temperature. In fact its presence throughout the cells of the body is responsible for all metabolic functions As such it is vital to significant transformations of the body – digestive function, cellular metabolism, mental perception, and overall health and well-being.
Psychologically, fire is the light of intelligence but
is also anger, hatred, criticism and competitiveness. The guna of fire
are hot, sharp and spreading. We use ´fiery´
or ´hot´ to describe the temperament of someone who is easily roused to passion
or anger.
Ayurveda has described the
underlying function of digestion and metabolism in our body as agni and Charaka
stated that balanced agni is one of the most important factors in a person
being healthy and leading a long life. Digestive
fire, agni, is a function of pitta. Both aggravated and weakened pitta
will mean disturbed agni whereas balanced pitta will mean
balanced agni. (We should remember, however, that all dosha are
involved in digestion. Vata controls appetite and hunger mechanisms and
the transport of digestive enzymes, while kledak kapha is responsible
for stomach mucous.)
Agni should be balanced for excellent digestion and good health, neither too low, nor overly high: just high enough to completely metabolise food without leaving any of it undigested or half-digested. Agni should transform food into nutritional rasa that can be absorbed by the body. If agni is too low, food is only half cooked, creating ama (literally the toxic result of undigested food particles) in the body, if agni is too high, food is burnt up too quickly and insufficient nutrition is absorbed.
“Due to the purification of the
body, the capacity of digestion and metabolism is enhanced, normal health is
restored, all sense organs start working with vigor, old age is prevented and
diseases cured.” – Charaka Samhita Ch. 16 Sutra 17-19
