Quotes from Upanishads----vaak and three forms of agni.

 

agni (self-manifesting Universal Consciousness) , vaakprithivI (physicality), and Sita (sItaa) as the personification of vaak---Quotes from Upanishads.

 agni (the god of fire) is the self-manifesting aspect of the Universal Consciousness. agni is also called praaNa. praaNa and vaak are the aspects of the Universal Consciousness by which every entity is expressed. In this article, many Vedic words related to the Universal Consciousness in the context of agni and vaak have been narrated along with some terms related to oblation to agni. A paragraph on sItaa of the epic Ramayana has been presented explaining how (pre)history and mythology are related, along with the significance of Sita's (sItaa) submission to agni and the mother earth (as narrated in the epic Ramayana)

 Finally, the three aspects of agni have been narrated.

Associated words related to the sacrifice and oblation to agni have been explained. Some other words which are related to agni as the expressions of the self -manifesting Universal Consciousness are also explained.

 (Three articles on agni were earlier publishedhowever, repetition from those articles to the extent possible has been avoided.)

 (Written, to the extent possible, following the teaching of the great seer Shri. BijoyKrishna Chattopaadhyaaya (1875-1945) and his principal disciple Shri. Tridibnath Bandyopaadhyaaya (1923 -1994).) 

 (debkumar.lahiri@gmail.com)


Index

  1. svayam-prakaasha agni, akShara, kShara
  2.      Ishvara, praaNa, kaala and aahavanIya agni.
  3.    agni, praaNa,praaNaagni
  4.    Words related to oblation
  5.     aahavanIya agni 
  6.      havis/haviH and vahis (bahis) / vahiH (bahiH)
  7.      suhavaa (suhava)
  8.    hotaa and vedi
  9.     huta, sUta, bhUta.
  10.  bahula and aakaasha; space and differentiation
  11.  agni,vaak and the earth
  12.  agni, vaak and pRithivI (earth) in Chandogya Upanishad
  13. sItaa (Sita), the wife of Rama
  14. shavda (sound)
  15. danta (tooth/ dental) and vidyut (electricity, thunder)
  16. The alphabet da.
  17. dah and dagdha (burn and burnt)
  18.  deha (body)
  19.  daMsh---to bite. dashana---tooth
  20.  dam, dama, and damana.
  21.  damayantI
  22.  dugdha (milk)  and doh / duh (to milk, to extract)
  23.  stanaitnu    
  24.  daana and the river vaitaraNI
  25.  day, dayaa
  26.  danta----tooth
  27.  vaishvaanara
  28.  pRithak-vartman and a hymn on cremation
  29.   sutejaa ( sutejas)
  30.  gaarhapatya agni / gRihapati agni
  31. Limbs or the spread of gRihapati agni 
  32.  dakShiNaagni / anvaahaaryapachana agni
  33.  Limbs or the spread of dakShiNa agni 
  34.  raatri/nakta/night,  shveta and nIla sarasvatI 
  35.  The three states of existence, the three fires, Nachiketa and yama 
  36.  aahavanIya agni and his spread

 

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 (Sanskrit words and alphabets, written in italics can be found in the English-Sanskrit Lexicon by Sir Monier Williams. (https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/2020/web/webtc/indexcaller.php)

 1. svayam-prakaasha agni, akShara, kShara

Universal Consciousness is svayam-prakaasha and it means that Universal Consciousness is self-manifesting (one who expresses oneself by oneself and does not need anything else to express). In this manifestation, there is the expression of the Soul as well as the expression of the entire universe. Duality cannot be expressed unless Oneness is also expressed. These expressed Oneness and duality (universe) are known as akShara aatman and khara aatman. akShara means 'who never decays'.  khara means 'decaying' or in whom the 'time' is acting. Every mortal soul or kShara aatman is held in akShara. 

2. Ishvara, praaNa, kaala and aahavanIya agni.
The control of the Universal Soul or what is known as Ishitva, is acting on all of us (kShara aatman) and calling us back to the Oneness or to the Universal soul (akShara aatman) who is our origin. This control-personality or activity of the Universal Soul as Ishvara is also known as praaNa. This 'call' to the Oneness is called 'kaala' (known as the time in common parlance) and the calling agni is known as aahavanIya agni.

 3. agni, praaNa,praaNaagni 

agni is the lord of fire. The word agni means 'who leads every one or every event and who is always in front'. The word comprises of two components, ag and ni.  ag means agra or 'front'. ni means nI or to lead.

agni is perceived in all activities, occasions, in all sacrifices as the initiator. The first flash of Consciousness is agni and thus agni is also called praaNa. praaNa means pra (prathama--first) + ana (animation or agitation of Consciousness). praaNa means the fire or agni who is burning in us as our senses, as our life, who is active in us and in the universe as 'activities' and as 'every activity'. 

 This praaNa is in the core and whose shell is so-called 'love and feelings'. Thus consciously or unconsciously we hail agni who is characterized by being 'foremost'; thus we attach our feelings 'to the eldest child', 'to the first love', 'to a beginning', 'to someone just born'; we inaugurate an event with special feelings and celebrations in our recognition to agni, knowingly or unknowingly.

Thus, along with praaNa, agni is also addressed as praaNaagni (praaNa + agni).

 agni invokes consciousness, senses, and animation everywhere. In Rik veda, the goddess vaak (who is the consort of agni) has described herself in a self-praising hymn as quoted below:

 chikituShI prathamaa yaj~nIyaanaam----I am the first (prathamaa), kindled with Consciousness (chikituShI ), (I am ) the first to initiate knowledge (yaj~nIyaanaam). 

 4. Words related to oblation

havana and hu

havana means the act of oblation or sacrifice to agni or holy fire. When we eat food, it is also havana;  what is an external object or food, that gets assimilated or absorbed in our Consciousness and nourishes us, supports our life. Like, if a paper or a rag is thrown into the fire, it becomes the fire; similarly, it happens with the foods. When we eat, the food is processed in several ways inside us by the control of agni. The subtle parts of the assimilated foods become our mind and spirit by the touch of Consciousness.

 The general meaning of the root word hu is ' to offer oblation'.  hu is the sound of praaNa or the elemental sound coming out of the Universal Consciousness from the activities of the Consciousness. The activities which are there everywhere and whose general name is 'time'. If you plug the two ear holes, you can hear this sound----the sound of the activities of praaNa in you--- the burning sound of agni or praaNa-agni blazing with flames. We are kindled with senses, feelings, and activities by this burning. 

 Before we break the word havana to understand its root, we will cite a few English words and a Bengali word that is connected to havana. The English words are 'have / has /do' and the Bengali word is 'hawoaa' (to happen). Bengali is an Indian language and is closely connected to Sanskrit like many other regional languages of India.

 The word 'do' and its auxiliary form 'have' or 'has' are from the word 'hu' which is one of the components of the word 'havana'. havana = hu + ana, essentially means, any action, any work that is done is a sacrifice or an oblation to agni, to prana.  We do everything for our dear life. 

Conversely, any action is an action of agni or Consciousness by whom everyone and every event are manifested. 

 hu, the call of the origin. Time and call of time (kaala)

There is another word hava derived from hu and it means 'calling, invocation, oblation'. 

The alphabet ha signifies to 'annihilation'; some words beginning with 'ha' also convey similar meanings, like 'hara' means 'taking away', hanana means 'to annihilate or kill'. The alphabet u is grammatically a particle that signifies 'calling' and also 'ascent'. 

 The word 'hara' mentioned above is also the name of Lord Shiva or the Universal Source or Universal Oneness. In this Oneness, everything becomes 'One', and duality is annihilated. 

 Thus hu means the call of the Universal Consciousness to every creature or entity to bring them back in the universal Oneness. This 'call' is 'kaala' or 'time' and it exists as long as we do not merge in the Oneness. 

 5. aahavanIya agni 

As agni calls or attracts everyone to merge (hu),so agni is called aahavanIya. The word aahvaana means 'to call or to summon'. 

aahavanIya also means anything that is for oblation. aa + havanIya (meant for oblation). 

aahavanIya is also called 'the fire of the divinity because divinity is characterized by the  Oneness expressing dualities. Divinity is the realm of self-manifestation and eternity.

 6. havis/haviH and vahis (bahis) / vahiH (bahiH)

The word havis/haviH means 'oblation' It is the 'noun' form. This oblation is the act of sacrificing / offering in agni or 'Universal Consciousness'. In the act of offering, the oblation or havis is called inward and in this process, duality is sacrificed into 'Oneness'. 

Many Sanskrit words conveying opposite senses are also constructed out of the same alphabets arranged in the opposite or nearly opposite manner. Thus, contrary to havis or haviH, vahis (bahis) or vahiH (bahiH) means 'external or outward'. 

 7. havana and vahana, vahni --- The two words, havana and vahana, are also formed by the alphabets in 'retroversion' or in the reverse arrangement. We have already discussed the word havana.  vahana means 'the act of carrying and bearing' or rather ' carrying from one place to another'. It implies the action of agni, who brings forth (or carries) the duality from 'Oneness';  agni also transfers 'duality' into 'oneness'. agni imparts 'motion' and is perceived as 'time'. This vahana or conductance is a property associated with the physical forms of agni as thermal and electrical conductance. Motion and kinetic energy are also the physical forms of agni. 

 One name of 'agni' is 'vahni'. vahni means one who draws or pulls. agni is also called vahni because he carries 'havih' or oblation to the other deities. Whatever one should get, whatever is 'due' to someone, agni makes it happen or makes it 'done'. This is also 'havana'.  

 7. suhavaa (suhava)-----Thus the Vedic word suhavaa (su + hava+a) means the goddess who makes every desired thing to happen spontaneously.

8. hotaa and vedi

 hotaa ---- agni is also called hotaa or caller, as agni calls everyone, as agni announces every event, agni being the leader and the initiator. Thus, hotaa is calling every moment, every event in which one lives.

 hotaa and vedi (altar)----So, where someone can find this hotaa? This is answered in Upanishad (KaThopanishad) as 'hotaa vedisat' -----hotaa resides inside the altar (vedi). vedi means 'altar'. It is from the word 'veda' (meaning 'knowledge' or 'consciousness'). vedi is the seat of 'feelings' or the 'heart'.

 Thus this hotaa is inside our body, in the heart. In Upanishad, body and heart (hRidaya) are mentioned as the 'same', because by heart we hare holding everything and the body is also held by the heart.

9. huta, sUta, bhUta.

huta means what is sacrificed or offered in agni. huta also means' who is called to merge in Oneness'.

Contrary to the meaning of 'calling inward or calling to merge in Oneness', 'huta' also means, 'calling outward' to call something from the Oneness to the 'outer space'. hu can signify a call or an action directed toward either outer-space or inner-space. The base or the root of the word hu is the alphabet ha which means 'void or nothingness '. Thus hu can point to inward or oneness (absence of duality) or to the absence of oneness or void. The absence of oneness or state of duality is always ruled by the 'fear' or 'death' or the 'possibility of going into inane'. 

So, when something or some event is created by the Universal consciousness, it is created from Oneness. This creation of an entity or an event is 'called' by the Consciousness and so it is also 'huta' 

In both ways (inward or outward), it is an act of sacrifice or havana. 

 Between the source or agni and the creation, there is a thread which is also called sUtra (meaning a cord or thread). sUtra is related to the word sUta meaning 'who has been brought forth' or 'who has flown out from the source as a stream and a trail can be seen'. 

sUtra implies the thread, that leads the creature to the source or its origin. The word tra in sUtra refers to traaNa or salvation. 

So, first is hUta or the 'call' and then the creature or creation comes out from the origin which is sUta.

The creature or the duality thus created, remains bound by its 'limitation'. A creature knows itself as it has been defined or created. A bird knows it as 'bird' and nothing else. This is the limitation and frozen to 'mortality' or 'physicality'. This is bhUta.

 10. bahula and aakaasha; space and differentiation

As everything or everyone is created from 'call', everything or everyone created has a 'name' (naama), or a definition when created. Everything is 'sound' or 'word' of the Universal Consciousness.

 Though the Universal Consciousness is self-manifesting, it is considered as of two parts (male and female), agni (praaNa) and vaak (consort of praaNa or vaak ) in the context of creation.   

 As  Consciousness calls,  space is created between the creator and the creature (who is called). This space is felt as 'sky' or 'void'. This space is the 'force' or the 'act of Consciousness' that maintains the stability of individual existence. It ensures that one entity does not get merged or mixed with the other. This creates the 'multiplicity' and a countable universe. So, the variance in creation, the isolation from one another is dominated by aakasha (sky/void)So, in Chandogya Upanishad (Fifth chapter), 'aakaasha'  is called as an aspect of the Universal Consciousness known as 'bahula' meaning 'numerous' or 'many'.   

 All that is not manifested, remains 'un-manifested in this void'. Upanishads have mentioned that this 'sky', this 'void' is not 'inane'; it is full of consciousness. Thus what is now un-manifested, unseen, not perceived now, will be manifested from this 'void'. Thus aakaasha is the 'mother' of all sounds, all names, all expressions. So, in the doctrines, aakaasha (sky) is called tattva, and shavda (sound) is called tanmaatra. shavda tattva means who is the source of 'all sounds or names' but who cannot be described by 'any sound or by any name'. 

 11. agni,  vaak and the earth

Every sound or word expressed in us contains our 'self '. Every word is our formation and embodiment of our self or soul. We are throwing ourselves as the 'words'. As the soul or oneness splits, the soul still remains 'one' but splits into a duality. The 'soul' (aatman) is then called praaNa and this power or the ability to split is called vaak. Thus, beyond every word, beyond every created entity, there are these two personalities (praaNa and vaak) in every individual and as a whole i.e. as the universal personalities.  praaNa is male and vaak is female.

Each word of ours contains our feelings and emotions. The word articulated is a 'shell' which contains 'the self or praaNa'. Word so created or formed or processed is called vaakya whose root is vaak. Anything, any entity, processed or created in the Consciousness is a 'word' of the Consciousness. This is why in Upanishads, the earth (pRithivI), vaak and agni/ praaNa have been mentioned as interlinked. Thus in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, it is stated: "tasyai vaachah Prithivi shariram jyotIrupamayamagnih"---- earth is the body of that vaak and this agni is her illuminated/manifesting form".  (Brihadaranyaka, First Chapter, Fifth Brahmin, Eleventh mantra.)

sharIra (body) and pRithivI (earth) are considered as same in Upanishads. Anything physical is the 'earth'.

 12. agni, vaak and pRithivI (earth) in Chandogya Upanishad.

In Chandogya Upanishad, in the first chapter, it is mentioned that the earth is Rik and agni is saama.

 yameva Rik agni saama (This earth is indeed Rik , agni is saama.)

 yam --it/ the earth/ anything materialized

aeva---indeed

Rik----is Rik

agni saama-----agni is saama.

 Where vaak and paraaNa are in togetherness it is sama or 'universal feeling of being same'.

 Also, it is said, 

yameva saa agni amaH

tad saama

 yam --it/ the earth/ anything materialized

aeva---indeed

saa----she (vaak)------anything that can be addressed is saa or vaak.

is

tad saama----that is saama

(Chandogya Upanishad, First Chapter, Seventh part.)

 Thus every entity is a defined form of the Universal Consciousness, held in the vibration or activity of the Universal Consciousness called Rik. Anything defined or physicalized /materialized is a 'word of Consciousness' and is Rik. It is the word blazed with a shape or form and the Universal Consciousness itself. This is Rik. It is the vision that speaks.  Thus in Chandogya, it is said,

 chakShuH aeva Rik -----eye indeed is Rik

aatmaa saama------aatmaa—(the One in us who sees, whose vision has become the eye) is saama.

 13. sItaa (Sita), the wife of Rama: 

In Hindu mythology (puraaNa), the true events of ancient times have been described along with the divine parts of the physical events. This is why the descriptions in puraaNa are generally thought imaginary. Every personality on the earth has a corresponding divine part. The divinity is the main part, the manifested physical part is insignificant compared to the divinity.

The seers have described the characters and events in the frames of divinity and mortality. So, the characters and personalities are described with the physical events along with references to the divinity. 

As the matter is created from Consciousness, the characters or qualities (guNa) create specific physicality or physical appearance. If someone has the capability of viewing the subtle forms of a physical entity, then such a viewer finds it more appropriate to narrate the physical state with reference to the appearance in the plane of 'pure qualities' or guNa. 

 The word dashaanana (dasha / ten + aanana/ mouth / ) meaning a being with ten mouths or ten heads is another name of Ravana (raavaNa). Ravana is the demon with whom Rama  (raama) fought to rescue Sita (sItaa). raavaNa does not necessarily mean a formidable grotesque demon with ten heads.

It may also mean a personality who has tremendous dominance on five senses (hearing, touch, vision, taste, smell) and corresponding five universal elements (sky/ void----universal elemental sound, air----universal elemental touch, radiance/illumination/energy/sun-----universal elemental vision, universal elemental water, universal elemental smell----earth and soma (the elixir in the earth which is revealed as the fragrance of herbs, plants, and flowers). The descriptions of the character called raavaNa in the epic Ramayana reveal such supremacy. He was a demon or raakShasa. raakShasa means who are protective or one who wants 'to keep' everything to 'oneself'. So, though raavaNa had the power over the five senses and five elements that build the universe, still he was knowing 'himself' as the only possessor of such power and was not knowing that he was also a part of the Universal Oneness to whom everything belongs. (This means sItaa was in captivity in his domain. See below.)

 In the epic Ramayana, in the chapter named 'Uttarakanda', sItaa described her (previous) origin to (previous) Ravana. (This incident was before Ramayana time and belonged to a different time frame.) sItaa narrated as below:

 kushadhvajo naama pita bramharShi mama dharmikaH

bRihaspatisutaH shrImaan budhya tulyo bRihaspateH

 (My father was named Kushadhvaja, a great sage and pious

He was the son of Brihaspati and a scholar comparable to Brihaspati)

 tasyaaham kurvato nityam vedaabhyaasam mahaatmanaH

sambhutaa vaa~NmayI kanyaa naamnaa vedavatI smRitaa

 ( Out of the incessant practice of the veda by the great soul {who is my father} I was born as her daughter made of vaak and known as vedavatI by name).

Thus sItaa was a historical character and was the goddess vaak personified. This is signified in the two events described in the epic, when sItaa entered the 'fire' and when sItaa entered the 'earth',  and also elsewhere. (See the section above on agni, vaak and earth.)

 raavaNa took away sItaa from her husband raama by abduction. rava means 'sound', 'yell' etc. The word vara and rava are formed by the rearrangements of the same alphabets in reverse order. The word vara means 'boon or blessing'. vara also means 'to enclose or embrace'. As every word, vaak is embracing praaNa or the soul. The word raama is from the root word ram which means 'to conjugate and be in a state of mutual pleasure'. vaak and praaNa are the 'universal couple' behind the creation.

 However, in every word. though vaak and praaNa are expressed, we are not aware of the same. vaak is carried away as 'sound' or rava which is a mere word to us. This universe is formed from the words of Consciousness. But we are feeling this as a physical universe with some animation of life in a very limited way. This is how sItaa is captured. It has been stated that sItaa was not born out of the human union. sItaa was found by her father janaka while he was ploughing the earth. It may be also noted that the word janaka is related to the word jana. jana is also the name of the centre of Consciousness whose physical location is the 'throat', from where the words are articulated or expressed in the outer space. (jana means 'generating'.)

 14. shavda (sound)

The word shavda comprises of two parts, (i) shava (corpse) + da.

When we sleep or die, we stop talking. When we are awake or live, we live with the mind illuminated with words. The word shava means a corpse or an entity in the state of inactiveness. da means 'to donate' or 'to confer'. Thus, shavda or sound means which can confer a state of inactiveness or which can freeze Consciousness into a fixed or specific entity defined by that shavda or sound or word. This freezing of unbound Consciousness into a defined, bounded entity is 'physicality'.  

 Another aspect of shavda or sound is to break or split the physicality or frozen state to reveal the divinity and this is described in the section below. This is vidyut or Electricity as in Vedas. Radioactive fission that happens when a nucleus of an atom is split by hitting it with subatomic particles is a physical example of this.

15. danta (tooth/ dental) and vidyut (electricity, thunder).

da also means the 'act of breaking or tearing'. The Sanskrit word for 'tooth' is danta (related to the English word dental, dent, etc.) which is also a tool to dent or to crush a hard thing or food. The face, as well as the words, are shaped by the teeth.

 The wort ' yut ' means 'to shine'. The word ' dyut ' also means ' to shine'; another meaning of dyut is ' to break or to tear open'. This shining and breaking open, these two properties are found in electricity. Thus, electricity/thunder is called vidyut. vi (two / binary) + dyut (break open or split). (This reminds us of the physical phenomena of radioactivity and splitting of atoms.)

 Thus, vaak is vidyut , as she splits the One into many. Thus, vaak or shavda can break a 'physical entity' to elicit its real shining form or divine form. So, the sound or shavda can freeze as well as it can unfreeze. In Upanishad it is mentioned that it is called vidyut since it breaks open ('vidonate iti Vidyut----Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Fifth Chapter, Seventh Brahmin/Part, First Mantra). 

 16. The alphabet da.

da is a dental consonant. da is the first alphabet of the word danta meaning tooth. danta or the teeth play the role of shaping the words when they are articulated in the air or external space.

 Thus alphabet da in Sanskrit signifies 'to donate, to confer, to assign’.  Like the words dish/dik mean 'to assign, to point out, to grant'.  It is noteworthy that the article 'the' in English sounds similar to the alphabet da in Sanskrit, and is used to specify, assign, or denote.  In Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it is stated that the creator pronounced da three times to assign three principles to the deities, demons, and human beings.  da has been described in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad as the divine sound that we still hear in the rumbling of thunder or cloud;  stanayitnu is the Vedic god of the rumbling of thunder.

Thus, danta or teeth of the Consciousness shape /specify the face as well as the words in us and in the universe

 When the creator pronounced da for the deities, he meant damana (self-restraint).  da pronounced for the demons (asura)  meant daya (kindness) and da pronounced for the human beings meant daana (donation).

The alphabet da stands for vaak (as praaNa is the consort of vaak, da in Vedas also represents praaNa.) Soseveral Sanskrit words beginning with the alphabet da implies their origin from either vaak or agni (praaNa). Let us look at some of the following Vedic words and significance.

 (17) dah and dagdha (to burn and burnt)

The word 'dah' means 'to burn' and 'dagdha' means 'burnt'. 

dah = da + h. The alphabet da means vaak. h/ha means ‘void, firmament, where there is no dimension’. Thus, dah means to uncover praaNa or agni by removing the physicality that acts as a shroud. This is why, Hindus perform cremation, which signifies that the body or the physical existence, though destroyed, existence still remains in praaNa/agni or in Consciousness.

 dagdha means what is burnt or seized by vaak or agni. vaak has materialized everything into defined forms and is dominating them. This is also a meaning of the word ‘burnt’ or dagdha.

 (18) deha (body)

The word deha. deha means body. In Vedas, the earth is commonly addressed by the demonstrative pronoun ' iyam '  instead of using a noun. 'iyam' means 'this'. 

Also, in Vedas or Upanishads, the words for earth and body are synonymous. So, deha means da + iha (this / this place). Thus, da (vaak/ what vaak confers or assigns) + iha (this) =deha means 'this or what vaak has given’ or 'this is what vaak has become'. We have already quoted earlier from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad that  "tasyai vaachah Prithivi shariram" (earth is the body of this vaak).

 

(19) daMsh---to bite. dashana---tooth.

daMsh means to bite.

daMsh = daM (vaak) + sh(shaasana---- administration of rules). The act or tools by which vaak delivers her rulings.

 dashana means ‘tooth’.

dashana is from the root word dash. The word dashaa means ‘the status or the state of an entity and the root dash means ‘to bestow or provide a status’.

dashana =dashana= dash + ana (praaNa) -----who provides a status or a form to praaNa or to an entity. We are processed to our status by vaak; we are her expressions, we are her ‘words’.

 The teeth crush the foods by biting and the process of assimilation starts. The eaten foods are processed, digested, and attend the ‘assimilated status’; a part goes to the mind and physical body, the more subtle parts go to praaNa and vaak (tejas) within us; what is not required is excreated.

 It is noteworthy that when raavaNa first met sItaa, he first noticed the beauty of her teeth. Below is a line quoted from Ramayana, which quotes how raavaNa was appreciating the look of her teeth before praising her other features:

"sama shikharina snigdhaa suchaaru dashnaa stava"

(your teeth are evenly crested, serene, and elegant). (Refer the section above on sItaa).

 (20) dam, dama and damana.

 dam 

The root word 'dam' means, 'to restrain, to subdue, to dominate'.  

The word damana derived from dam means, ' act of self -restraint'. The word, dama means, 'a place, house or a domain'.  dama = da + ma.

da = vaak

 ma = end or termination

 As explained before, anything and everything is a 'termination' or 'endpoint of 'vaak'. The Universal soul has split as vaak and praaNa and embraced (or worded) itself / praaNa in infinite ways to express what we know as the universe.  Thus in Vedas, the word dama has been used to mean 'supreme abode'.  In this sense, any region can be termed as dama or 'domain'.

The alphabet ma is the last consonant of Sanskrit alphabets of touch (sparsha varNa). It is the 25th or the last consonant of the first five groups of consonants. Each group has five members. ma is the super five and denotes the end or termination or ultimate status. Like the word uttama means, 'the best' and the word adhama means, 'the worst'.

 Thus a word, like dama, ending with ma is used to represent superlative status.

 

The word dama can be broken into two components as below:

 da (vaak) + ma (maatraa=measure; ma= martya or physical).

So, all that this created, which are all materialized by vaak is dama. Thus, this entire universe is dama or the domain of vaak.

 damana

damana means self-restrained and it was assigned to the deities; the deities to follow damana. The creator, by pronouncing da to the deities, meant damana. In Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (First Chapter, Fifth Brahmin/Chapter, Twelfth Mantra)  it is stated that ' this divinity is the body of the divine mind and the sun is the illuminated form of the mind; wherever is this mind, there  is the divinity and there is that sun"

(atha etasya manaso douH sharIram 

jyotirUpam asou aadityaH

tad yavat eva manasaH

taavatI dyouH

taavan asou aaditya). This is how the Universal consciousness is spread all over as the divinity.

 Divinity is Self-manifesting. That Universal Soul is manifesting everything from the Universal Soul/Oneness by itself (by the Universal Soul) is the base or the foundation of the divinity. In this manifestation, the Soul manifests as the Universal One as well as every entity. Thus, the Universal consciousness is known as svayam-prakaasha.  

As long as the inhabitants of the divinity or the deities know that their 'self-expression' is the 'expression of the Universal soul' they follow 'self-restraint' or damana.

So, by pronouncing the alphabet da, the creator meant the word ‘dam' or 'damana' for the deities. 

 (21) damayantI

Thus the word damayantI is from the word dam or damana. damayantI is the wife of king nala. nala means who has no termination -----na (no) + la (laya = end).  damayantI in her universal aspect is the shakti or the consort of the deities. She is the queen reigning over dama or domains; she the divinity is dominating over everything materialized.

 Thus, in a self -praising hymn (Rik Veda), vaak has proclaimed herself as:

 ‘aham raaShTrI sa~NgamanIM vasunam’

 aham= I (I am)

raaShTrI = who reigns over the domains, empress

sa~NgamanIM (duly move into)

vasunam (the vasu) {vasu are the group of deities who control the vastu or the objects or the realized universe.)

I reign over the domains, I move inside the vasu (who dominates over the realized universe).

 (22) dugdha (milk) and doh / duh (to milk, to extract)

In Chandogya Upanishad , it is stated that the goddess vaak herself extracts whatever is there in her as her milk for those who know her. 

 dugdhe asmai vaak doham yat vaacho doha-----Chandogya Upanishad, First Chapter, Sixth Part.)

 dugdhe --the milk

asmai---for him / her (for her follower)

vaak doham---vaak milks

yat (that, whatever that)

vaacho (from vaak)

doho (can be extracted)

Whatever is there in vaak that can be extracted, she extracts that milk for her follower.

vaak has been adorably addressed as 'dogdhi' or 'milkmaid' in the Vedas / Upanishads.  The word dugdha is derived from the root duh or doh, meaning to 'milk' or 'to extract milk'. This secretion of milk from her breasts, are the meanings those words bring to us, the feelings which we know in our hearts, the senses those keep us alive.

dugdha = duh + iddha. duh = to milk, to extract. iddha = illuminated. So, dugdha means the milk that is extracted or the breast milk that is fed by the divine mother to illuminate the sippers with the divinity.

Thus, here is a Vedic hymn:

ujjayataM parasuH jyotIShaa saha vuaaH

Ritasya sudughaa puaraNobat

 ujjayataM -illumine (us)

jyotIShaa saha ----with the light

vuaaH-----in abundance

parasuH---by removing the feelings of para (difference or duality); paraM shunati (kills the duality; the word parashu generally means ‘axe’)

Ritasya---of the truth; Rita----what flows and manifests as the truth or the reality

sudughaa----she who milks /extracts skilfully

puaraNobat---as it was done in the past

 

Illumine us, removing the sense of duality

With the light in abundance

You who milks out the truth skilfully

As in those bygone days!

 23.  stanaitnu     

This is why the thunder of clouds is called stanaitnu. The word stana has two meanings, (i) breast of a female, (ii) sound (also stanana).  The word stanaitnu is derived from the word stana. vaak secretes rains from the sky to nourish all the inhabitants of the earth. vaak secretes senses, feelings, and meanings from the inner sky. vaak is secreting life all over the universe.

vaak (also described as dhenu or the holy cow) is said to have four udders, out of which by two she (vaak) nourishes the devas (deities), by the third one she nourishes the divine fathers (pitRi-gaNa) ,and by the remaining one she nourishes the human beings. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Fifth Chapter, Eighth Brahmin/Part, First Mantra.)

 (24) daana and the river vaitaraNI

daana means 'the act of giving or donating'.  The act of donating (daana) and the act of receiving (grahaNa) happen together. This is an act by which the donor and the receiver get connected. Connecting two is the action of the heart and in this way, we remain balanced and live with the dualities. A very common example is that we human beings get everything after exerting an action or doing work. We are principally characterized by the work we do and the results we get. We act, we work, and earn our livelihood in return; we practise and gain the skill. Thus we give or donate ourselves to the society or to the 'work' and the society or the counterpart gets what we give and in turn, makes returns to us. The constant interactions, activities which we perform also is the basis of our evolution.
Our horizon increases and we evolve to become superior beings with superior faculties. This is the act of donating or daana.
Thus by work or karma we are evolving. Our activities are originating from the activities of the Soul or the Universal consciousness. By our activities, deeds, or work we can cross over the mortality or subjugation to the compulsory cycles of death and rebirth, by knowing this, by perceiving this active Consciousness or prana; by knowing that everything is a form of Consciousness, that we live in Consciousness, we are made of Consciousness, we originate and die in Consciousness.

daana = da + ana. ana means 'animation' or activities of Consciousness. Active Universal Consciousness is called praaNa.  When we see our activities as the activities of the Universal Consciousness or praaNa, our activities take us toward the 'origin' and we evolve to merge with the Universal Oneness or Soul. This is daana. When you see everything as the forms of Consciousness, you feel everything in you, you get connected, you give yourself to all of them. This distribution of the self to others, to all that you sense, feel, or do is called vitaraNa. The word vitaraNa means ‘to donate by distribution’. vitaraNa has another meaning-----vi (difference, dualities) + taraNa (crossing over)----to cross over the ‘dualities’.

Thus, there is a river called vaitaraNI which one has to cross over after death. This river is to be crossed without (vi) a boat (taraNI). This river is to be crossed over by vitaraNa or one can cross over this river if one knows what has been described above about daana and vitaraNa.

 (25) day, dayaa

The word day means 'to be kind, to take pity' and 'dayaa' means kindness or sympathy. The creator by pronouncing day to the asura (demon) instructed them 'to be kind'.
asura means those who are obsessed with the ra (ra~njana) colours and shades of praaNa (asu). asu means praaNa. 
So, they are after external wealth and domination.

The word dayaa can be broken into the following components:

dayaa =da + ya + a

ya is a semivowel and pronounced ‘internally’. ya means to connect and control internally.

Whatever we sense or feel as ‘external’, the sense happens ‘within us’. Thus as we follow this, the obsession with the ‘external vanishes’ and whatever is felt or sensed are realized as the forms of the Consciousness or the Soul. The perceiver or the knower sees that the source of all wealth, all that is desired, is ‘inside’ and one need not run here and there for acquirement. Whatever, such a knower desires, he gets it from within and he finds it as the form of the Consciousness.

So, this is day or dayaa.

(26) danta----tooth.

Like the word dashana, the word danta also means ‘tooth’.

danta = d(a) + anta. anta means ‘end’.  The teeth make the boundary line between the inner sky (physically, the void inside the mouth is a part of the inner sky) and the external sky. The goddess vaak as radiant (tejas/teja) word creates herself in your inner sky, then she condenses like clouds, as the ‘ideas, emotions, forming into words’, then next in your mind she becomes more definite ‘as formed words and determination (saMkalpa)  to act further or not to act (vikalpa)’. This makes you physically active. Thus the words are ‘aired’ or articulated in the external sky. The teeth are in the boundary between the internal and external sky; they make the end (anta) mark the end line.

Thus, there is a hymn on vaak:

oM oShThaapidhaanaa nakulI

dantaiH parimitaH paviH

jihve maa vihvalo

chaaru maadyeha vaadaya

(Om, covered by the lips and beyond the reach

Flowing while metered by the teeth

Never falter on my tongue

Here now speak to me what is charming!)

The word by word meaning of the above Vedic hymn is as below:

oM oShThaapidhaanaa nakulI

(Om, covered by the lips and beyond the reach)

(oShThaapidhaanaa—oShTha (upper lip) apidhaanaa (covered);

nakulI---na = without,  kul = caste or origin; nakulI-----untraceable; beyond reach)

dantaiH parimitaH paviH

(dantaih----by danta or by the teeth; parimitaH---restricted or controlled; limited within a perimeter; paviH---flowing; pavi also means ‘electricity, thunder-bolt).

(flowing while metered by the teeth; teeth take part in processing and regulating our words; the tongue, teeth, lips are all the divine personalities and are the members in the court of the empress vaak.)

jihve maa vihvalo

(never falter on my tongue; jihvhe--- in the tongue; maa---never;  vihvalo---falter, confuse.)

chaaru maadyeha vaadaya

(here now speak to me what is charming!

chaaru---charming, graceful; maadyeha= maa (to me) + adya (now) + iha (here)

27. vaishvaanara----One name of agni is vaishvaanara-----vaishva (universal) +a+  nara (man----manifestation) ------the Universal Consciousness who is the manifested universe or who is the 'universal person'.

vaishvaanara----vaishva(n) + ara (spoke)---The Universal Consciousness, who originated from the centre (Oneness) like the spokes of a wheel and pervaded everywhere.

Thus below is a quote from a hymn in Prashnopanishada:

yathaa araa iva rathanaabhO praaNe sarvam pratiShThitam

(Like the spokes of a chariot wheel which find their origin in the centre, similarly, every entity is rooted in praaNa.)

 28. pRithak-vartman and a hymn on cremation

 pRithak-vartman-----pRithak (different , separated) + vartman (course, circuits). (Chapter V of Chandogya Upanishad).

 agni is holding every entity differently. Everyone is placed differently in the cycles of birth and death. Everyone is led to different destinations by the births and by the deaths. The path along which one traverses is called raya. This path is the illuminated trajectory. Probably the English word 'ray' and the Sanskrit word 'raya' have the same origin.

Thus there is a hymn in Ishopanaishad which is often associated with the cremation of a dead body lit on the pyre:

agne naya supathaa raye asman

(Oh Agni, lead us along the easy-going paths of the rays)

 vishvaani devaa vayunaani vidwan

(You divine, {you} know all the deities of the universe and the connectivities/networks)

 yuyodhyasmajjuhuraaNaameno bhUiyisthaam te nama uktim vidhema

 (Remove from us all our sins by way of oblation; let our words of submission to you be in numerous expressions!)

 The word 'vayunaani ' in the above hymn is from the word 'vayuna'. The origin of this word 'vayuna' are the words vI (meaning 'in motion') and vaya (meaning 'one who weaves'). By the word 'vayunaani' the intertwined paths or woven networks of the universe created in the Universal Consciousness have been mentioned. We travel along these paths per our livings or actions (karman).  

 The joint word 'yuyodhyasmajjuhuraaNameno' in the above hymn is made of the following words:

 yuyodhi (remove) + asmat (from us) + juhuraaNaam (fit for oblation) +enah (sins):

 The word 'juhuraaNaam' is from the word 'hu' meaning 'to sacrifice or to perform oblation'. The sins when sacrificed to agni, they become 'no sin'. Anything given in 'fire' becomes 'fire'. The 'duality' is the source of sin. We experience 'death' due to 'duality'. 'Duality' is the duality of 'Oneness'. In Consciousness where 'duality' and 'Oneness' co-exist, there, Consciousness is called 'praaNa'. Thus in 'Brihadaranyaka Upanishad', praaNa is described by the number ' one and half '. 

 The word 'eno' > 'enah' is derived from the word 'enas' meaning 'evil' or 'sin'. The word enas is from the root word ' i' and 'inas'. ' i'  implies 'motion or movement'. 'inas' meaning 'here and there'. The diversion from Oneness is 'sin'. When we experience 'Oneness' or the 'Universal soul' as the source of all our activities or diversions we do not perform any sin. Our deeds do not lead us to 'void' or 'death

 29. sutejaa ( sutejas).

 agni is addressed as sutejaa in Chandogya Upanishad (Chapter V).  

sutejas= su + tejas

tejas/teja means 'tat + ejati'.  
tat = that;  
ejati is derived from ' ej '.  ej means ' to stir, to agitate, to tremble'. 

Everything, all dualities are from the 'agitation' or 'vibration' created in Oneness. 

Thus, teja also means 'shining, radiating'. 

The word su means 'to flow out of self /soul or from an origin'.  Thus the word suta means a child or an offspring. It is an entity with connectivity to the origin and it demonstrates that it has manifested from the origin and remained connected.

soma, the libation, the elixir, which intoxicates everyone is also called 'suta' because it is 'pressed out of the eternal immutable soul'. All the feelings, senses with which we are always occupied and obsessed are soma flowing out from our source and making our life to flow.

Thus, suteja means any entity which has flown out or exuded from the Universal Consciousness and thus created. It is created from the agitation or vibration of the Universal consciousness. This is not a mechanical vibration or movement. It is Consciousness desiring to create duality out of oneness.

So, in Chandogya Upanishad, it is said that 'divinity is suteja'. Divinity means 'self-expressing universal consciousness'. Any entity which has been created has its foundation in divinity.

 30. gaarhapatya agni / gRihapati agni (Refer Chandogya Upanishad..4th Chapter, 11th Part.)

 garhapatya agni / gRihapati agni is the personality of agni who dominates over one's house.

The word gRiha means 'house or home' and it is from the root word gRih meaning 'seizing', 'holding', 'taking'.  gRihapati agni is the agni by whom we are seized or held in our 'current form'. He is the driver and driving our every day.

gRihapati = gRiha (house/home) + pati (lord, ruler). The word garhapatya means what is related to gRihapati.

 The word gRih also implies 'taking or receiving' and the word grahaNa derived from gRih, means 'the act of receiving'.  Thus what one has received or inherited, the one lives with that under the dominance of gRihapati agni. gRihapati agni belongs to the 'father' or to the 'divine fathers' or pitRiloka. We inherit from the father. Our saMskaara (genetic memories) are from the father(s).

 31. Limbs or the spread of gRihapati agni 

 The followings are the limbs (tanu) of gRihapati agni . The general meaning of tanu is 'body'. tanu is from the root word tan. tan means 'to spread'. So, tanu means what has been created as the spread. Thus, the Universal Consciousness as gRihapati agni has spread with four limbs or has four bodies.

These are pRithvI, agni, anna, aaditya. 

pRithvI is the earth. It is the expression of the physical state of the Universal Consciousness. Here, in the earth, everything or everyone is characterized by a separate identity and being held with that identity by the ‘earth’.  pRithvI is related to the word pRithak meaning 'different'. 

What is pRithvI or the earth', is the 'body' in us. 

 agni is praaNa. We live in the body as long as praaNa stays in the body. When praaNa leaves the body, we leave with praaNa.

 anna is the common name of myriad forms of the Universal Consciousness or Universal praaNa by which prana/ (vaak) nourishes us.

 anna = an (praaNa) + na (denotes escalation of  an; an an an .....an). anna means an or praaNa existing in myriad forms to nourish us. anna means food, anna means the aspects of the Universal Consciousness or praaNa by which are animated and nourished, life is sustained. Hindus call rice as 'anna'. Rice when served are in many bits and creates an impression of  'many'. 

 aaditya means the 'sun'. The word aaditya is from the root word 'adana'  meaning 'to eat' (ad). It is the centre of gRihapati agni, from where he has spread. He is eating all of us. He is our 'time' and we are evolving with the time to merge with the Universal Oneness, whose centre is aaditya. . By eating, by assimilating, the Consciousness is embracing all of us in an unfathomed pleasure of the Consciousness. It is the centre of unification. He is the universal personality, looking at us, looking at all of us 'in the same manner' (Chandogya, 2nd Chapter, 9th Part). So, he is called aaditya which also means the one who is characterized by 'oneness' or 'without duality'. aaditya means who is from aditi (a =without + diti=duality). . Thus, we all who are existing, identified, and materialized, are parts or limbs of aaditya. We are all the spread of aaditya, who is looking at all of us in the 'same way'. This is saama, the sameness of the Universal Consciousness.

 32. dakShiNaagni / anvaahaaryapachana agni (Refer Chandogya Upanishad,4th Chapter, 12th Part.)

As gRihapati agni plays the roles of the divine father(s), dakShiNaagni plays the roles of the divine mother, or it is the divine motherhood by which we are built and we evolve. dakShiNaagni is also called anvaahaaryapachana agni.

  dakShiNaagni determines which all instincts will be active in us when or during which birth. Our evolution, our destiny, our movement through birth and life cycles are controlled by dakShiNaagni. 

 dakShiNaagni also determines the variations in the entities and species. The way one feels or endures 'cold' or 'heat' is different, the way one feels the intensity of a suffering or a pleasure is different from the way of another one. This is by the regulation of dakShiNaagni. It is by this regulation we are being built and we are evolving. Our destiny and our journey to destinations, life and death cycles are controlled by dakShiNaagni.

 dakShiNaagni---dakShiNa + agni

 dakShiNa means 'right' as well as 'south'. It also means 'dexterous'. It is the direction that Consciousness takes to become active. This direction or inclination of the Consciousness is called 'right'. 

We are active by the activities of the Universal Consciousness and by the activities we thrive and evolve. Thus, the karma or our activities and the consequences or our evolution are directly regulated by dakShiNaagni. 

 As we evolve our horizon increases. This is why dakShiNa also carries the sense of something that is ' wide, prolific'. Thus the word daakShiNya means 'generosity'. Thus in Vedic ritual, dakShinaa or offering is given to the priest who connects (joins) divinity to the yajamaana (who hosts the ritual). This dakShinaa is in the acknowledgment of the limitation/ mortality extended to divinity and thus magnified.

 The other name of dakShiNaagni is anvaahaaryapachana agni. This word composes of the following components:

 anu + aahaarya + pachana + agni.

 anu= following

 aahaarya= foods

 pachana = digestion, assimilation

 So, anvaahaaryapachana agni is the agni whom the foods follow for the digestion or assimilation.

 Assimilation of knowledge, sense, or food, whatever, that becomes our part or merges with us, is controlled by this agni. Thus due to the control by this agni, the same work or action will produce different effects among the individuals. 

 33. Limbs or the spread of dakShiNa agni 

 dakShiNaagni has the following limbs or spread:

  ap (water, divine water), dik (directions, inclinations), nakShatra (stars), chandramaa (moon).

 Before we go into the meanings, etymology, and significance of the above Vedic words, it is to be noted that there are many observations and scientific studies that describe the connectivity of the sense of directions and directional activities of the creatures to the sea to the moon, and the stars; also, we know that the liquid inside our ears controls the sense of balance. Research says that the eel fishes take cues (signals) from the moon to determine their orientation to the desired destination during migration. They do it even during the new moon or during the day time. Below is given a link of an article published on the movement and orientation of the eel fish and the influence of the moon:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.190812

 From the early days of navigation across the ocean, the direction or orientation has been determined by noticing the position of the North Star (Polaris) and other constellations, as the North star position does not change and the relative positions of the other stars change in a regulated and repeated manner. (https://www.naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/stars/). 

 Also, there are natural ways to determine the direction from the position of the moon (https://www.naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/moon/). If you are in the northern hemisphere, and if you connect the top and bottom edge of the crescent moon by an imaginary straight line, and extend it up to the ground, then the point where it will reach the ground will be on the south relative to your position. Similarly, the directions are written in the water, in the waves, in the ripples, and in the swells of the ocean (https://www.naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/sea/).

 What we are trying to point out is that these natural ways of learning/sensing directions from nature, follow the origin i.e. where the 'fundamentals' are created in the Universal Consciousness to build the universe. This is why nature and the mind work together and instinctively the mind picks up the signals from nature. This happens in different manners in human beings, in birds, in fishes, and other creatures and as mentioned before; this difference is in place by the regulation of dakShiNa agni.

 So, the spreads or the bodies of dakShiNaagni are ap (water, divine water), dik (directions, inclinations), nakShatra (stars), chandramaa (moon).

 (i) ap means water or divine water. Behind every creation, there is satisfaction and achievement (aap). This is ap or 'water'.  Water and other liquids solidify and their constituent elements i.e. the molecules lose the mobility. Also, water or a liquid can take any shape, i.e. it takes the shape of the receptacle where it is contained. The physicalization or materialization of the Consciousness happens from the state called ap or water. It is noteworthy that the fetus grows in the water bag that contains the amniotic fluid. The major component of this fluid is water.

 Also, the water or a liquid can dissolve a solid. Thus the reverse process is also true. The loss of physicality leads us through water i.e. through the aspect of the Consciousness called ap (whose physical form is called 'water'), during the initial part of our transformation to the subtle states after the death. (Refer river vaitaraNI, described above.)

 (ii) dik. Now, coming back to the state of physicality we observe 'definitions', 'shapes', 'boundaries', and in these directions play a role. Shapes or boundaries are made of directions (dik). The entire spatial distribution is held in the Consciousness as ‘directions’.

 dik or directions are the inclinations or tendencies of the Consciousness or praaNa. In Upanishads, it is stated that the directions like, east, west, etc. are the streams or inclinations of praaNa(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Fourth Chapter, Second Brahmin/Part, Fourth Mantra.)

Suppose, you are inclined toward a flower you to pluck or smell; this act is activated by dik; flower rises in your east. You deal with the flower and you are involved with it; this modifies you. This is in the domain of southern direction.

 When this is happening, the rest of your world remains dormant in the west; this is necessary to ensure your present (flower) prominent. When the dealing with the flower is over, ‘your dealing with the flower’ is led to the north (uttara) and stored there. Like this, everything is stored in the north and is refined by the divinity. When next time you are born and back, you are back with more refined and enhanced instincts, enhanced inherent capabilities. uttara also means ‘answer’.

 There is a sense of 'achievement or accomplishment' before and after any work; we begin in a work with a desire, to accomplish something. This sense of accomplishment is aapti or ap or water. Similarly, once the work is over, you are accomplished, content. This accomplishment acts on us, on our mental faculties, on our physical organs and body. It increases our skill and dexterity.

Water has a memory. Whenever, you will be again activated about that flower, the previous experience (of feeling a flower / ap) will be also initiated. The divine water, ap, is the seat or a platform from where the repeated materialization and de-materialization happen. One who knows this, one surpasses the compulsory cycles of rebirths. In this context, we are quoting the following conversations between  the sage Jaaratkaaru and the great sage Yaajnyavalkya  (yaaj~nyavalkya), about who can destroy the 'death' (compulsory cycles of rebirths) :

 (Jaaratkaaru asking Yaajnyavalkya)------- yad (when) idam (these) sarvam (all) mRityoH annam (foods of the death), kaa shvitsaa (who is the) devata (the deity) yasyaa (whose) mRityuH (Death) annam (is the food) (iti)? (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Third Chapter, Second Brahmin/Part, Tenth Mantra.)

 When all these are the foods of the Death, who is that deity whose food is the Death?

 (Yaajnyavalkya replying to Jaaratkaaru)-----agniH (Fire) vai (is indeed) mRityuH (the Death), saH (he) apaam annam (is the food of Water); apa (by the water)  punaH (repeated) mRityuM (death)  jayati (is circumvented).

 Fire indeed is the Death, and he (the Fire) is the food of the Water (ap); by the Water (ap), the repeated Deaths (repeated compulsory cycles of rebirth) are circumvented.

 By 'Fire', it is meant the physical or mortal entities because they are materialized from vaak or agni (Fire) or praaNa

By 'Water' is meant the 'divine water' or ap as explained above.

(The fact that the physical water quenches the physical fire, conveys the above 'knowledge'.)

 (iii) nakShatra (star) and chandramaa (moon). (http://www.mysticalmind.com/Shadows/ezine/Astrology/dothestars.htm)

 The stars and constellations are the centres by whose control the species and types are classified. The creatures or created entities are grouped in a 'set' and controlled. The word raashi in Sanskrit means 'a collection of multiple things, creatures, etc. and, it also means 'zodiac sign' or the constellations. Usually, the word raashi is used to describe the multiplicity /collection of a specific thing or a creature.

We have mentioned about kShara and akShara aatman earlier in this article. It has been mentioned that kShara are the myriads of individual souls or 'we', who have originated from akShara aatman (the one who is the immutable soul and everyone's soul, one who is the One in everyone).

 akShara aatman is also known as kUTastha puruSha (the one who is located in the highest position of a multitude or one who is located in the multitude) and also raashitha puruSha (one who is located in the multitude);  this means akShara aatman / raashitha puruSha is the source from which the 'sets' or ‘species’ are originating.

The word nakShatra can have the following several meanings, which are connected and which represent the characters of dakSiNa agni or the aspect of the Universal Consciousness called dakSiNa agni :

 nakShatra = na (no) + kSha (decay) +tra (salvation) = who does not decay and can provide salvation.

 nakShatra = na (like) + kShatra i.e. 'like kShatra'.  kShatra = kSha (wound---kShata) + tra (rescues) = who rescues from wounds or the decay.

 nakShatra= nakSha + tra;  nakSha = by nearing; tra = rescue. nakShatra=who rescues as by coming near or by nearing whom we are rescued. This meaning also implies the location of the destination during navigation by observing the location of stars or constellations. 

 As per Hindu mythology, the moon (chandramaa) is married to twenty-seven daughters of dakSha.(dakSha means who is dexterous and who is located in the south (dakShiNa).  These twenty-seven daughters are the twenty-seven constellations and the moon is known to spend slightly more than a day with each one of them, thus spending the entire lunar month. 

 chandramaa /chandra or the moon is the centre of dakShiNa agni and from this centre, dakShiNa agni has spread. chandra is known to be the gateway to the divinity. (Chandogya Upanishad Fifth Chapter, Tenth Part, Koushitaki Upanishad). We, who do not know ourselves or do not know the immutable soul or aatman; we return from chandra to mortal life after death. Our journey to the finer, subtler stages and various domains remain within the kingdom of chandra or dakShiNa agni.

 Thus, when we take the rebirth, it commences from the centre called chandrama and then through nakShtra we enter into the dik, then to ap. From ap, we enter into the process of 'physicalization/ materialization' or mortal birth or existence in physicality. When we die, we follow the same way in the reverse manner.

nakShatra = nak / naks / nakta (night) + kShetra (field or domain)---- the domain of the night. The abundant, unabated flow of Consciousness, soma, is gushing out of the Universal Consciousness through the lunar centre called chandramaa or chandra. 

 chandra = chamana (sipping /drinking) + dra (seeing, observing). 

 This act of drinking and observing/seeing or feeling what is being drunk is expressed in the terrestrial sky as the moon. The observation or the vision is the illuminated moon, the reflections of the divine mind (manasa / mana). The Consciousness regaling with the nectar soma is called somapaa indra (Indra drinking Soma). 

 34. raatri/nakta/night 

shveta and nIla sarasvatI 

 raatri / nakta / night is the goddess vaak in her un-manifested form or not manifested form. 

vyakta = vaak manifested

avyakta = vaak not manifested

nakta = n + akta= who is characterized (akta) by 'n' or negativity; who keeps everything under the shroud of Oneness. (n also implies ‘new’; one who always expresses in a new way.)

We explained earlier the two meanings of shavda or sound. By the sound, Consciousness expresses or defines an entity, creates the duality. This is toward the manifestation, and thus vaak is worshipped as shveta (white) sarasvatI (the goddess of words or expressions).

By the sound, the Consciousness can unfreeze a frozen or defined identity. The expressed identity, thus unfrozen, becomes avyakta (beyond expression) This is the aspect of avaktya vaak or neela sarasvatI. neela means ‘blue’ or the colour which is ‘dark and attractive’. In the Consciousness, so many of our future lives and states are now held in seeds, waiting to bud and blossom. In the Universal Consciousness, so many universes are annihilated and so many universes are waiting to be expressed.

What is avaktya to us, is all revealed in the Universal Consciousness.  Both darkness and light are there together in the goddess night, in vaak.  In our sleep, we feel darkness; someone who knows avaktya, the one will be in the self-illumination during the ‘sleep’.

Thus in Rik Veda, it is said that she (the goddess night /vaak) drives away the darkness by the light------jyotiShaa (by the light) baadhate (repels) tamaH (the darkness)------she repels the darkness by the light. (Rik Veda, Ratri Sukta.)

 Another hymn on the goddess Night says: 

"sambeshinIm samyamanIm

(aptly captivating, aptly regulating)

grahanakShtramaalinIm

(adorned with planets and stars)

praponno aham sivam raatrim

(I have come to thee, oh! the benevolent Night)

bhadre paaram asimahi

(You compassionate! sail me to the other bank.)"

 35. The three states of existence, the three fires, Nachiketa and yama  

vaak the night, as nakta, captivates all of us and so we sleep, blissfully rest in her. This is not darkness; Upanishads have used the word samprasaada (perfectly quiet state of satisfaction) to describe suShupti (deep sleep)

suShupti means to be in the state achieved (aapti) through suShumnaa (the vein or the passage in the Consciousness that leads one to the ever-calm, immutable soul, beyond all activities).

suShupti = suShumnaa + aapti

 vaak takes us to the 'sleep' (aahavanIya agni)vaak takes us to the state of awareness (gRihapati agni), vaak makes us dream (dakShiNa agni).

 gRihapati agni-----jaagrat/  jaagrata sthaana---realm of awakeness

 dakShiNa agni)---svapna sthaana----realm of dream

 aahavanIya agni-----suShupti-----realm of sleep.

 Nachiketa (nachiketa) remained awake in all these three states. So, the three agni (gRihapati, dakShiNa, aahavanIya) were named after him. (Kathopanishad)

 naciketa = n+ a+ chi+ keta

n = not

a = without

chi=chit,chetana = Consciousness

keta= marked or characterized

 Thus, nachiketa means who never loses consciousness or who is ever-awake. nachiketa went to the abode of the lord of death or yama and remained awake there. yama preached him of the immortal, eternal soul and mysteries of the three fires (agni). 

yama is the god by whom everyone is regulated to eternity. Thus he is a part of dakShiNa agni. He is dominating on the southern (dakShiNa) direction. He acts as the 'cover of the eternity' (aavaraNa devataa----the deity who acts as a shroud of the main deity). He is one of the supreme preachers of 'Eternal Soul'.  (This is the implication of the word 'samyamanIm' in the above-quoted hymn on the goddess night.).

 36. aahavanIya agni and his spread (Refer Chandogya Upanishad, 4thChapter, 13th Part.)

We have already mentioned about aahvanIya agni earlier in this article. The spread of aahvanIya agni or his bodies are as below:

praaNa, aakasha, dyu, vidyut.

 What is the physicality or pRithivI (the earth) in the domain of gRihapati agni, is ap in  dakShiNa agni. 

 What is ap or the divine water in dakShiNa agni is praaNa in aahavanIya agni. ap is the dress or the coat of praaNa. ap is the supreme satisfaction of having achieved everything in the soul. So, ap/aap is the cover (vasana) of praaNa. Thus is quoted in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad First Chapter, Fifth Brahmin :

 atha etasya praaNaashyaaH apaH sharIraM jyotIrUpam asou chandraH, tad yaavaan eva praaNaH taavatI aapaH tavan asou chandraH .............. Now, aap (water) is the body of this praaNa and chandra (moon) is the illuminated form; as much as this praaNa is spread, that much is aap and that much is chandra.

 What is agni in gRihapati, it is dik or the directions in dakShiNa agni. agni or propensities of praaNa are the directions or dik. The way our emotions are directed, our words are formed accordingly, our physical expressions are created accordingly. 

 What is dik (directions) in dakShiNa agni, it is aakaasha (sky/ firmament) in aahavanIya agni. In aakaasha the directions remain in equilibrium and so we see the sky as 'spherical'. aakaasha means aa (aatman) + kaasha (shine, visibility). 

aa means the spread of aatman. aakaasha means the radiance of aatman or the soul. aakaasha is the state of akShara aatman about to spread. This is the shine of the Oneness. As akShara aatman spreads, praaNa is created. In praaNa, duality and oneness are together.  Every duality or an entity is created with a specific inclination (dik) of praaNa. The entire 'formation and physicality, the spatial distribution' are held in dik.

 What is anna in gRihapati, it is nakShatra in dakShiNa agni and dyu in aahavanIya agni.  As countless centres, called anna, the Universal Consciousness is distributing life to the creation.  As countless centres, called nakShatra (stars and constellations), the Universal Consciousness is controlling and defining the species and clusters of creation.

 As dyu, the Universal Consciousness, vaak, is extracting the universe from the ocean of Oneness. The one who extracts (doh) is called duhitRi -----the daughter of the divinity who is milking the nectar. Thus, in the hymns to raatri (vaak) in Rik Veda, she (raatri) has been addressed as 'duhitardivaH' meaning the daughter of heaven or who is extracting (doh) the universe from the divinity.

 The one who is aaditya, he is gRihapati agni.  He has spread as the earth (pRithivI), fire (agni), food (annna). He is the lord of all households (gRihapati). He is holding all of us. This is why, while describing the spread of gRihapati agni, first earth or pRithiVI has been cited.

pRithivI also means who is holding everyone. Thus, is quoted in Upanishad that the earth is holding or supporting the entire universe:

 pRithiVI (the earth) vishvasya (universe) dhaariNI (holder/supporter) ------the earth (who) is holding the universe.   (The earth / pRithivI is addressed as a female personality; like the mother who holds us in her womb, she is holding all of us.)   (Quoted from Mundakopanishad, Chapter 2.)

 There is another hymn:

 om pRithvi tvayaa dhRitaa lokaa

 (Om. Oh Earth!you are holding all)

 devi tam viShNunaa dhRitaa

 (Goddess! you are being held by viShNu)

 tvam ca dhaaraya mam nityam 

(You, in turn, hold me always)

 pavitram kuru chaasanayam

 (And make my seat sacred).

 Thus, the earth is that aspect of the Universal Consciousness, by whom everyone feels secure, held in position, founded and established. Thus, in Chandogya Upanishad, pRithivI or the earth is mentioned as the feet of aatman vaishvaanara------the foundation or standing

 gRihapati / gaarhapatya is mentioned as the hRidaya or the heart of aatman vaishvaanara.  (pRithivI eva padou {earth is the feet}-----hRidayam gaarhapatyo {heart is gaarhapatya) (Chandogya Upanishad, Fifth Chapter, Eighteenth part.)

 Everything is held by heart or hRidaya. In each of us, hRidaya (heart) is holding everything as 'my money, my children, my life.....'. What we feel as gravity, it is the attraction of the heart of pRithivI. 

 Thus, it is said:  pRithivI is held in turn by viShNu. (Refer the hymn quoted above.) viShNu is the personality of the Universal Consciousness from whose movement time is generating. Movement cannot happen without 'vision'. When an observer views, the observer moves to it (what is being viewed). In our external space, the sun is one of the main centres exhibiting this movement (time) and vision (light). Thus the sun is addressed as 'viShNU tejase' (illuminated by viShNU).  Thus in Rik Veda hymns, the feet (pada), eye (vision), and motion (krama) of viShNU have been mentioned in the hymns. viShNu is the divine personality of praaNa. 

 The one who is known as gRihapati / gaarhapatya agni, the one who is located in aaditya (the sun), is the same one who is located in chandramaa or the moon and who is known as dakShiNa agni.

The moon is the reflection of the divine mind, by whose thoughts we are evolving. When I see a flower, it is the flower created in the divine mind (manasa), that is reflected in me. In the divine mind, it is an expressed 'thought' or 'word' (Rik).   In meit is the reflection; it is illuminated by the moon; I see a flower or I feel a flower, which means I listen to the 'word' (Rik) of the divine mind.  

 When we move in the external with an intention and determination, when we are active externally, during that stage, our mind is externally oriented and expressing. This is the illumination of the sun. We are expressing means 'we are becoming', this is the same as 'speaking a word'. The reflection is 'listening' and it is the shine of the moon. Whatever we speak we 'listen'. This listening is 'shruti'. Veda (veda) or the process of knowing has two parts, 'to become' and 'to know what Consciousness becomes'. Thus veda is also called shruti. shruti means the act of listening. 

 So, in Upanishad, it is mentioned that, 

tasya ha vaa aetasya aatmano vaishvaanarasya..........hRidayam gaarhapatyo, manaH anvaahaaryapachana,  aasyam aahavanIyaH------that, of this aatman who is vaishvaanara, his heart is the gaarhapatya, his mind (reflection / praana) is anvaahaaryapachana (dakShiNa agni), his aasya (mouth) is aahavanIya. (Chandogya Upanishad, Fifth Chapter, Eighteenth part).

 aahavanIya agni is the mouth of the aatman (the Universal Soul / Universal Consciousness). Because aahavanIya is calling back everyone in the universe to merge with aatman.

Also, the words creating the universe is coming out of this mouth. So, the mouth is called aasya from where the words are hurled. The word aasya is from the root word ‘as’, which means ‘to throw or to hurl’.

Thus eternal, universal Consciousness (mukhya praaNa) is called aayasya.  Chandogya Upanishad explained that the name aasyasa is given for the following reason: aasyad (from the mouth)  yad (since)  ayate (moves)-----since he (Consciousness) moves out of the mouth. (Chandogya Upanishad, Fist Chapter, Second part, Twelfth Mantra).

(Mouth = aasya=the void inside the mouth = the inner sky.)

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