A man was running from a tiger, when he slipped and fell into a deep well. He grabbed the root of a tree, to halt his fall – only to realize the hiss of many snakes at the depth of the well. Just as a jungle rat started to gnaw at the roots which lent him life, he savored the drops of sweet honey, dripping from an overhanging honeycomb.
Such are the pleasures of mortal life said Sri.Vellukudi Krishnan, at his Upanyasam on the Chandogya Upanishad, part of the Sama Veda. He talked about the PanchaAgni Vidhya – which I try to convey as close to verbatim as possible.
Context:
The PanchaAgni Vidhya is a conversation between Raja Praah-vanan and the saint Swate-Kathu, who is accompanied by his father. The king describes to the saints the knowledge of what happens to the soul from the moment of death to point of time it is reborn on this earth.
The 5 fires:
The PanchaAgni Vidhya mentions 5 sacrificial fires (Agni) to which the soul is the offering (Ahuti) . In essence it talks of the 5 stages a soul travels from the point of death to the point of re-birth.
The First fire: Upon death, the soul takes on another body, in a subtle atomic (Sushma) form and travels to Heaven (or hell - as the case may be). This form of the soul called the Sradha. Thus the heaven is the Agni and the Sradha is the Ahuti.
The Second fire: The soul cannot stay in heaven indefinitely (Time and place cease to exist only on Moksha, which is partial equality (samyapathi) with the Param Brahmam). The duration of stay at Heaven is determined by the accumulated punya. After which the soul will be cast out into the clouds. This is called the casting of soma, representing the fall from pleasure. Thus the Clouds are the Agni and the Soma is the Ahuti.
The Third fire: The soul residing in the clouds falls to earth as rain. This rain can fall anywhere on earth, on soil or on sea. The rain which falls on land , cause the growth of food (Annam), Wherein the soul enters the food. The Earth (Prithiv) is the fire and the rain (and the soul within) the Ahuti.
The Fourth fire: The act of feeding by the human (Purushan) is the offering of the Soul, now in the form of Annam to the Purushan, the fourth fire. It’s obvious that this food can be consumed by animals of all species, directly or indirectly, causing branches to the described path. This food is causal for the strength and vigor of the human race. The Purushan is the fire and the Annam (and the soul within) is the Ahuti.
The Fifth fire: The act of sex causes the Soul to transfer from the man to the Women (Sthree), where the soul develops the into a pregnancy, to be born back into this world. The Sthree herself is the Agni and the Veeriyam (sperm - and the soul within) is the Ahuti.
Comprehension:
What is the point of knowing the passage of the soul? We apply a bit of probability to the PanchaAgni Vidhya to answer this question. We soon realize that the PanchaAgni Vidhya describes the straight line, which has a million branches.
Since it is obvious that only a human being is mentally capable of breaking the cycle of birth & death, we need to see – what the probability is for us to be born again as a human being.
1) What is the probability that rain falls on cultivable land and not into the sea? For then the soul will enter the aquatic life cycle.
2) What is the probability that the soul inside the food would not be consume by a dog or rat.
3) What is that probability that – the human who has the food would also bear a child at that point of time.
And so on…
We need to conclude that worldly pleasures are drops of honey. We need to realize that time is gaining on all of us, as we should desire to break this cycle of birth and death. The paths for this are many Bakthi, Yogam, Sharanagathi, etc.
After all, how do we know how many millions of years we would have to wait for another birth as human?
Such are the pleasures of mortal life said Sri.Vellukudi Krishnan, at his Upanyasam on the Chandogya Upanishad, part of the Sama Veda. He talked about the PanchaAgni Vidhya – which I try to convey as close to verbatim as possible.
Context:
The PanchaAgni Vidhya is a conversation between Raja Praah-vanan and the saint Swate-Kathu, who is accompanied by his father. The king describes to the saints the knowledge of what happens to the soul from the moment of death to point of time it is reborn on this earth.
The 5 fires:
The PanchaAgni Vidhya mentions 5 sacrificial fires (Agni) to which the soul is the offering (Ahuti) . In essence it talks of the 5 stages a soul travels from the point of death to the point of re-birth.
The First fire: Upon death, the soul takes on another body, in a subtle atomic (Sushma) form and travels to Heaven (or hell - as the case may be). This form of the soul called the Sradha. Thus the heaven is the Agni and the Sradha is the Ahuti.
The Second fire: The soul cannot stay in heaven indefinitely (Time and place cease to exist only on Moksha, which is partial equality (samyapathi) with the Param Brahmam). The duration of stay at Heaven is determined by the accumulated punya. After which the soul will be cast out into the clouds. This is called the casting of soma, representing the fall from pleasure. Thus the Clouds are the Agni and the Soma is the Ahuti.
The Third fire: The soul residing in the clouds falls to earth as rain. This rain can fall anywhere on earth, on soil or on sea. The rain which falls on land , cause the growth of food (Annam), Wherein the soul enters the food. The Earth (Prithiv) is the fire and the rain (and the soul within) the Ahuti.
The Fourth fire: The act of feeding by the human (Purushan) is the offering of the Soul, now in the form of Annam to the Purushan, the fourth fire. It’s obvious that this food can be consumed by animals of all species, directly or indirectly, causing branches to the described path. This food is causal for the strength and vigor of the human race. The Purushan is the fire and the Annam (and the soul within) is the Ahuti.
The Fifth fire: The act of sex causes the Soul to transfer from the man to the Women (Sthree), where the soul develops the into a pregnancy, to be born back into this world. The Sthree herself is the Agni and the Veeriyam (sperm - and the soul within) is the Ahuti.
Comprehension:
What is the point of knowing the passage of the soul? We apply a bit of probability to the PanchaAgni Vidhya to answer this question. We soon realize that the PanchaAgni Vidhya describes the straight line, which has a million branches.
Since it is obvious that only a human being is mentally capable of breaking the cycle of birth & death, we need to see – what the probability is for us to be born again as a human being.
1) What is the probability that rain falls on cultivable land and not into the sea? For then the soul will enter the aquatic life cycle.
2) What is the probability that the soul inside the food would not be consume by a dog or rat.
3) What is that probability that – the human who has the food would also bear a child at that point of time.
And so on…
We need to conclude that worldly pleasures are drops of honey. We need to realize that time is gaining on all of us, as we should desire to break this cycle of birth and death. The paths for this are many Bakthi, Yogam, Sharanagathi, etc.
After all, how do we know how many millions of years we would have to wait for another birth as human?
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