Tejas - Agni Tatva

Tejas or Agni is one of the five basic elements ‘panch mahabhoota’. Entire creation is made up of these five elements only. These are Akash, Vayu, agni, Jala and Prithvi. Each element has its own attribute or tanmatra. Aakash has shabda tanmatra, Vayu has sparsh, agni has roopa, Jala has rasa and Prithvi has gandh tanmatra. Accordingly, they can be sensed by different sensory faculties - ‘indriyas’. In the purest, subtlest form these are known as panch tatva, while gross form or mahabhoota also has some attributes of other tatva also. Aakash is the subtlest and has only shabda tanmatra while Prithvi is grossest with all the five tanmatra. 
Agni has shabda and sparsha attribute besides its own roop tanmatra. Agni usually means fire but as agni tatva it encompasses all forms of energy. Agni has fascinated animal world since evolution. Fire in the woods causes damage to trees and animal life and causes migration of animals. Lightening and thunder storm causes fear among animals. Hence when one of the great apes- the human beings knew how to control fire, they became the most powerful on the earth. Fire helps them to keep all the dangerous animals away and also help as a source of light in the dark. Gradually man learnt how to use fire for various other activities. He started cooking. Security obtained from use of fire let him settled at one place and start farming. His intelligence grew due to good nourishment. Use of fire helped him melting various metals and making tools for agriculture. Probably because of this man started worshipping it as fire god. Yajna tradition developed in India to worship the agni devata and offer oblations to different deities. Although the fire was very helpful but producing it was very difficult, hence keeping a place for continuous burning of wood as a source of fire was thought as essential. In India such a tradition is called as Agnihotri, where at some homes, fire is kept burning at sacred place and from there it could be taken by anyone for other purposes. Similar tradition is seen in Parsi temple ‘agiyari’. In Olympic games also, fire is taken to the stadium as a torch and kept burning till the end of games.
As we know that by agni tatva we mean all forms of energy. Energy is important at very subtle level for the bond between small subatomic particles and movement of electrons and also in the universe to maintain the structure of galaxies and solar systems. Our own solar system is because of our sun. Multitude of atomic fusion reactions akin to hydrogen bombs are occurring and leading to emission of energy in the form of light and other radiations. Once this source of energy is depleted on the sun it will start increasing in size and engulf all the planets. The energy from sun is helpful in creation of life and its sustenance on our planet. Millions of years ago our planet had different atmosphere and bonding of some chemicals lead to formation of nucleic acids, the first form of life. From there the life evolved. Presence of radiation leads to changes in nucleic acid structure and hence changes in the body structure and function. Those changes that were compatible to life, were carried through generations and hence different forms of life evolved. Energy is required for the metabolic reactions in the body. Energy at the cellular level is kept in the form of energy bonds of phosphates with nucleic acids. ATP is the energy currency for most of the processes. On conversion of ATP to ADP by breaking of one phosphate bond this energy gets released. Intracellular movements of ions and Muscle contraction occurs due to this energy. Energy is also required for maintaining body temperature. Mainly the fat in the body is burnt for this purpose. Excess calorie intake is stored in the body is saved as fat under the skin and between abdominal organs. Too much of eating leads to fat deposits in organs and various diseases due to obesity. Some animals like reptiles and amphibians can’t maintain their body temperature and have to hibernate during winter and summer. Temperature is also important for sex determination of eggs of certain reptiles and fishes. Only plants have the capacity of utilizing solar energy for converting CO2 into glucose and other types of food material. Hence plants are necessary for sustenance of all kinds of life on the earth and keeping environment clean. Energy is also required for industries, offices and homes in the form of electricity. Electricity production and distribution is a great leap in the human evolution. Our body also uses electricity for nerve conduction and cardiac and muscle activity. Thoughts are produced in the brain as electrical impulses. So agni Tatva (Tejas) is essential and very important part of our life.

Thu Sep 7, 2023