Indra is the most powerful God in the pantheon of the Rigveda. He has been king of Devas and rules heaven (third of upper seven Lokas), with his capital in Amaravati. Indra is God thunder and lightning. His favourite weapon is the thunderbolt – Vajra. Twashta designed this deadly weapon for Indra. He is associated with somrasa, a kind of herbal medicine. Dyou is Indra’s father. Agni and Pusha are his brothers and Indraani (Shachi Devi) is his wife. His most lauded activity was the destroying of the demon Vṛtra using his famed vajra — diamond thunderbolt. Indra finds also mention in Buddhist and Jain literatures.
The appearance, importance, significance and a few select Rigvedic hymns are discussed hereunder. Indra in Rigveda: Indra is the king of all Devas in Rigveda. Indra has been extolled in 1028 suktas (250 hymns and about 300 hymns refer to him in association with other Gods) of Rigveda. A few verses in praise of Indra are mentioned here:
It is not certain what today or tomorrow will yield to us. Who knows that what is wonderful? The mind of another person is unsteady and it must be comprehended well. Failing in its deep study also goes waste. Commentary – The governing idea of the hymn belongs to a stage of spiritual progress when the human soul wishes by the sheer force of Thought to hasten forward beyond in order to reach prematurely the source of all things without full development of the being in all its progressive stages of conscious activity. The effort is opposed by the Gods who preside over the universe of man and of the world and a violent struggle takes place in the human consciousness between the individual soul in its egoistic eagerness and the universal Powers which seek to fulfil the divine purpose of the Cosmos.
English translation: O Indra, you protect highly learned persons, who are preservers like the prana. Such persons have the power of endurance. You ward off anger and insult, and face all pains and challenges of opponents in the discharge of duties, and uphold truth. Support us, so that we may acquire true knowledge of soul and strength and comprehend the nature of the soul.
“They have styled (him, the Sun), Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is the celestial, well-winged Garud (bird), for learned priests call one by many names as they speak of Agni, Yama, Wind.”
“I invoke, at repeated sacrifice, Indra, the preserver, the protector, the hero, who is easily propitiated, Indra, the powerful, the invoked of many; may Indra, the lord of affluence, bestow upon us prosperity.”
“The most exalted, the humblest, (invoke) Indra; the middle (classes) invoke Indra; those going, those stopping, (invoke) Indra; those dwelling at home, those going in battle, (invoke) Indra; men needing food invoke Indra.”
“We invoke that Indra who is the destroyer of mighty foes, the supervisor (of all things); do you, the many organed, the protector of the good, the distributor of wealth, be unto us (the insurer of) success in combats.” Appearance of Indra: According to the Viṣṇudharmottarapuraṇa, an ancient Sanskrit text the image of Indra (also called Sakra) should be golden in complexion and should wear blue garments. The statue of Indra is placed on an elephant, Airavata (one of the fourteen gems found in Samundra Manthan) which have four tusks. The eyes of the image of Indra are made to show the eyes placed crookedly towards the forehead. Along with the image of Indra, the statue of his wife Shachi is also placed. The idol of Indra should have four hands holding a lotus and an elephant goad in right hands and the vajra (made of sage Dadhichi’s bones) in the left hand. Another hand of left side should be placed behind the idol of his wife. Importance of Indra:
Why Indra not so popular today: There are many explanations given by scholars:
All of us have certain negative traits such as anger, lust, jealousy, addiction, dishonesty etc. Like Indra, we should use our potential to destroy these negative traits and liberate ourselves.
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Agni is the element fire, more precisely the god of fire. In Rigveda, Agni is the second most important deity on the basis of his influence and magnitude. Around 200 hymns are addressed to him in the Rigveda. Agni is considered as the mediator between the deities and the devotees or sages.
Agni is the first of the powers, the unspoiled and foremost. Agni is the form, the fire, the forceful heat and flaming will of conscious force of Divinity. As a flaming Force of knowledge, he descends to build up the worlds and seated within them, a secret deity, initiates movement and action. Agni is a truth-consciousness soul, a seer, a priest and a worker, - the immortal worker in man. His mission is to purify all that he works upon and to rise up the soul struggling in Nature from obscurity to the light. The other gods awake with the Dawn, but Agni wakes also in the night; he keeps divine vision in the Darkness. No sacrifice is possible without Agni. He is at once the flame on the alter and the priest of the oblation. Agni destroys and purifies. His very hunger and desire, infinite in its scope, prepares the establishment of a higher universal order. He attains the immortality and maintains unhurt its law of truth and joy in the human creature. In the end we overpass all crookedness of falsehood and error. The duality of truth and falsehood, light and light and darkness, conceptional right and wrong are the confusions of knowledge born of egoistic divisions; the dualities of egoistic love and hatred, joy and grief, pleasure and pain are the confusions of Love, perversities of Ananda; the dualities of strength and weakness, sin and virtue, action and inaction, are the confusions of will, dissipaters of the divine force. Agni is the Divine Will which enlightens us. Forms of Agni: Agni is light as well as force. He is also the fire that assimilates and the heat energy that forms. He is the heat of life and creates the sap, the rasa in the things. Agni is said to have ten forms. They are lightning, fire, sun, absorbing fire, destructive fire, fire yielded through sticks used for sacrifices and rituals, fire given to a student during his Upanayana ceremony, domestic fire used for household uses, southern fire of ancestors used for some types of rituals and funeral fire in cremation rituals. The ancient seers divided Agni into three parts, Garhapatya (for general domestic use), Aahavaniya (for inviting and welcoming a deity or personage) and Dakshinagni (for fighting against all evil). Birth & Appearance of Agni: The birth of Agni is associated with the manifestation or vision of luminous herds. God Agni is the flame, the power and priest of the sacrifice; - by the word, and Brihaspati is the father of the Word. Agni is said to be the eldest son of Brahma. In another version, he is said to be the son of Dharma (eternal law) and Vasubhaarya (wife of light). In later writings, Agni is said to be the son of Sage Angiras who discovered fire and its uses. Agni is represented by two heads, one head marking immortality and the other marking an unknown symbol of life. He is said to have two or seven hands, four horns and three legs. His seven hands represent the seven flames or Swastika and the three legs represent the three worlds which he reigns. His pot belly denotes his love for rich oily food. His consorts are svaha and svadha. Agni is the lord of household activities. No religious activity is possible without Agni. Agni lavishes wealth and dispels the darkness. His vehicle is said to be the ram which is a sacrificial animal and connected with rituals. His descriptions are varied. He carries a flaming javelin in one of his hands. Divine Potentialities of Agni: Externally, offerings (oblations) are done in Vedic sacrifice (also called Yajna) along with Vedic mantras to please the Vedic gods and to get material prosperity. The oblation signifies always action (Karma) and each action of mind or body is regarded as a giving of our plenty into the cosmic being and the cosmic intention. In the conscient offering, he comes in front; he is the priest set in front (Purohit), guides the oblation and determines the effectiveness. Agni manifests divine potentialities in a death-besieged body; Agni brings them to effective actuality and perfection. He creates in us the luminous forms of the immortals. Internally, the flame of Agni is the divine Will. The divine Will-Force is that of which all the other godheads are forms and he manifests all these powers of supreme truth as he grows in us. Hymns of Agni gives the purity, the power, the knowledge, the increasing riches, the faculty of new formation and spiritual productiveness by which the mortal grows into immortality. It destroys the enemy, the assailants, the powers of evil, enriches the soul with all they try to withhold, gives the triple peace and the triple fulfilment of the mental, vital and physical being and, labouring in the light of the supramental Truth, leads beyond, creating in us the world of immortal felicity. No religious activity is possible without Agni. The Vedic sacrifice is, psychologically, a symbol of cosmic and individual activity become self-conscious, enlightened and aware of its goal. The whole process of the universe is in its very nature of sacrifice, voluntary or involuntary. Agni, the Divine Will-Force in Rigveda: A few hymns in Rigveda on Agni are illustrated as under: कथा दाशेमाग्नये कास्मै देवजुष्टोच्यते भामिने गीः | यो मर्त्येष्वम्र्त रतावा होता यजिष्ठ इत कर्णोति देवान || (Rig Veda I.77.1) English Translation - What should we give to and what speech is agreeable to enlightened persons and liked by them should be addressed to this Agni (Preacher of Truth) who has noble indignation to root out evil and injustice, who as a soul realises that he is immortal spirit among the perishable bodies, observant of truth, receiver and giver of knowledge, unifier who makes people full of divine virtues and learned. You should give him as we do. अग्निम अछा देवयताम मनांसि चक्षूंषीव सूर्ये सं चरन्ति | यद ईं सुवाते उषसा विरूपे शवेतो वाजी जायते अग्रे अह्नाम || (Rig Veda 5.1.4) The minds of men who grow in the godhead move entirely towards the flame of Will even as all their seeing converge in the Sun that illumines. When two Dawns of opposite forms (one day) are delivered of him, he is born as the White Horse in front of the days. वि जयोतिषा बर्हता भात्य अग्निर आविर विश्वानि कर्णुते महित्वा | परादेवीर मायाः सहते दुरेवाः शिशीते शर्ङगे रक्षसे विनिक्षे || (Rig Veda 5.2.9) Agni in the form of sun (sun-light or knowledge) etc. shines with great radiance. This flame of Will shines out with the vast light of Truth and makes all things manifest by the greatness of him. He overpowers the formations of knowledge that are undivine and of an evil movement; he sharpens his horns to gore the Rakshasa or germs of diseases. (In the same manner, one should dispel al un-divine deceitful intellect or ideas which lead to evil outcome from all sides.) तवम अग्ने वरुणो जायसे यत तवम मित्रो भवसि यत समिद्धः | तवे विश्वे सहसस पुत्र देवास तवम इन्द्रो दाशुषे मर्त्याय || (Rig Veda 5.3.1) O Will, you are Varuna, (who represents the ethereal purity and oceanic wideness of the infinite Truth), O Will, when you are born; you become Mitra, (the all-embracing harmony of the Truth, the Friend of all beings, therefore the Lord of Love), when all the gods entirely kindled. in you, O son of Force; you are the Indra, (Ruler of our being, Master of Swar which is the luminous world of the Divine mind) for the mortal who gives the offering. विशां कविं विश्पतिम मानुषीणां शुचिम पावकं घर्तप्र्ष्ठम अग्निम | नि होतारं विश्वविदं दधिध्वे स देवेषु वनते वार्याणि || (Rig Veda 5.4.3) Will that be the Seer and Lord of the creature in the human peoples, that is pure and purifies, with his surface of the mind’s clarities, Will omnisciently hold in you as the priest of your oblations, for this is he that wins for you your desirable boons in the godheads. स हि दयुभिर जनानां होता दक्षस्य बाह्वोः | वि हव्यम अग्निर आनुषग भगो न वारम रण्वति || (Rig Veda 5.16.2) The Will is the priest of offering of the peoples; by the illuminations of the discerning mind he is the giver of strength of the arms, the continuous order of their offerings and as the divine enjoyer (Bhaga) he moves to his good. परातर अग्निः पुरुप्रियो विश सतवेतातिथिः | विश्वानि यो अमर्त्यो हव्या मर्तेषु रण्यति || (Rig Veda 5.18.1) Let the Will be affirmed in the dawning (The dawning of the divine Dawn of the higher knowledge in the mind). guest of the creature with his many delights who, immortal in mortals, takes joy in all their offerings. यम अग्ने वाजसातम तवं चिन मन्यसे रयिम | तं नो गीर्भिः शरवाय्यं देवत्रा पनया युजम || (Rig Veda 5.20.1) – O Will, O conqueror of our plenitude, the felicity which you alone can conceive in the mind, that make full of inspiration by our words and set it to labour in the gods as our helper. देवं वो देवयज्ययाग्निम ईळीत मर्त्यः | समिद्धः शुक्र दीदिह्य रतस्य योनिम आसदः ससस्य योनिम आसदः || (Rig Veda 5.21.4) Let mortal man adore the Will, the divine, by sacrifice to the powers divine; but you, O Brightness, shine out high kindled; enter into the home of the Truth, enter into the home of the Bliss. Reference:
In the chapter 4 in Section 5 of Kailash-Samhita of Shiva Purana, Shiva informed about the conduct of Sanyasi.
The devotee shall get up in the Brahma Muhurta and think about the preceptor Shiva seated in the thousand-petalled lotus on the head. He shall bow to the preceptor with palms joined in reverence and worship him with scents, fragrant flowers etc. created by his imagination. He shall pray thus — “O lord, let whatever I do from morning till sunset and from sunset till daybreak be your worship.” After intimating to the preceptor thus and securing the permission he shall retain the breath and sit down, with his mind and the sense-organs under full control. He shall then meditate on the six-fold wheels from the root to the Brahma Randhra. In the middle he shall think of the Nirguṇa Sadashiva, free from ailment, the great Brahman, with the lustre of crores of lightning, identical with splendour, with the body of existence, knowledge and bliss. He will do daily course and take bath. The Sandhya prayers shall be performed with thoughts on the preceptor. After performing the Achamana twice he shall take the ashes repeating the Sadyadi mantra. Then repeating the mantras “Agniriti” he shall touch the body. Repeating the mantra “Apo vai”— he shall mix the ashes with water. He shall make two balls of the pasted ashes with the mantras “Om Apo Jyoti” and “Ma Nastok” — He shall divide one of the balls into five and apply each respectively to the head, face, chest, private parts and the feet. He shall repeat the mantra beginning with “Ishana”— and ending with “Sadya.” After applying the ashes, he shall repeat Om touching all the parts of the body. He shall wash his hands, feet and take the other ball. Adoring as before he shall apply three parallel lines on the forehead repeating the mantra ‘Tryayuṣa’ and the ‘Tryambaka’. He shall apply the same on the chest with the Praṇava and on the shoulders with “Oṃ Namaḥ Shivaya.” Uttering Panchikaraṇa mantra, the scholarly ascetic shall think of his preceptor. In the manner as explained hereafter he shall perform six Praṇayamas. Touching the navel, the joints of the arms and the back in order he shall wash both the hands duly and perform Achamana twice. He shall take some water in the right hand and cover it with the left hand. Praṇava is then repeated twelve times. Sprinkling this water thrice on the head he shall drink water thrice meditating on Omkara—Shiva with pure mind — Shiva who is stationed in the middle of the solar disc, the god consisting of all splendour, possessing eight arms, four faces, the wonderful form half-female, endowed with wonderful qualities and bedecked in ornaments. After meditating thus duly he shall offer three Arghyas. After performing the Japa of Gayatri hundred and eight times, he shall offer Tarpaṇa twelve times. After performing the Achamana he shall perform Pranayama thrice. Then he shall go to the hall of worship thinking on Shiva. After reaching the door he shall wash his feet silently and perform Achamana twice. He shall enter it duly placing the right foot at first. Inside the Maṇḍapa there, he, the intelligent ascetic, shall draw the mystic diagram (Yantra) in due order and worship. |
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