Alluring Agnihotra: Explaining a ritual

 Yes, I am born Agnihotri. It is hence a little awkward and quite embarassing that I did not know that March 12 is the World Agnihotra Day. 

Why do I say so? Let me explain a little. To begin with, well, 'Agnihotra' is no longer a Brahminical ritual. Yes, I am a high caste brahmin (highly dangerous admission these days!), and, yes, I do perform Agnihotra every evening as my parents honoured the practice, and it was followed most ritually in my paternal family just a generation away. 

How is the Agnihotra performed ritually? In a copper pyramid-shaped pot, the holy fire is lit, ideally via the Vedic way, with two pieces of holy wooden sticks. In to that holy fire are offered cow dung cakes,  ghee and rice to the chanting of certain Vaidic rucha's. It is mostly performed in the evening, circa the dusk setting.

Now, in a big city becoming a metro, all these steps are not possible. Hence, instead, I burn "Bhimseni kapur", the best and most natural camphor, and chant the related shlokas.

Why call it 'alluring agnihotra'? In a way, it is like performing daily a mini 'holi' with all its spiritual significations . No, I am not being flippant. I sincerely believe that the 'agnihotra' is a way of connecting with the basic principle of the universe.

Why, the Rigveda begins with the praise of the holy fire, the major principle of the "panch mahabhoota"! Even if one were to look at the notion from the anthropological perspective, the 'caveman' became 'human' only when fire became the focus of lived life. Before fire thus defined/refined life, the nomadic man was no better than a beast.

Now let us look at the practice from within the contemporary context. Currently, pollution of every variety is at its peak. The 'agnihotra' flame, even if it is the camphor variety,  purifies the ambience.

 Traditionally, the holy 'Agnihotra' flame symbolised divine energy. Even if you are sceptical about such a connect, why not look at it as a process of understanding your relation(ship) with the wider universe about which cosmologically as well as astronomically, we are getting to know more by the day? 

Why, we do already know that the sun IS basically a massive sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light and infrared radiation with a certain per centage of ultraviolet energies. It is the main source of energy for life on the earth.

No, I am neither apologetic about the 'agnihotra' practice. Nor do i consider it an instance of the 'Brahminical', 'manuvadi', superstitious traditionalism! 

My firm faith in science teaches me utmost humility because basically the scientific framework forever tells me that science operates within the paradigms known so far, which can be, and are, re-interpreted anew, and often, thereby rendering any/all earlier concepts redundant superstitions. Aristotle, the father of Western science, has often been so (im)proved, right? And, oh, yes, technology has its own rituals, too, right?

Hence, even if I were to be much mocked for being an Agnihotri, I look at it as a way of spreading positivity in my own small way.  And, of course, I do try to spread it in multiple other ways, too. 

Even at the social level, moreover, these days, performing 'agnihotra' is hardly casteist. On the World 'Agnihotra' day or whenever such group activities are performed on a large scale, at places, I believe, like Akkalkot, everyone participates, beyond casteist considerations. 

In other words, the 'Agnihotra' is not revivalism. Rather it is an alluring way of re-connecting with the larger principles, thereby making the banal metro modes of life slightly conscientious!

Pratima@ In today's post-truth world where everything is merely narrativisation, necessary it is to explicate significations of rituals because, otherwise, interest groups would reduce every praxis as mere mumbo-jumbo.

Quote of the day:                                                         "With the demise of religion, many people are left stranded in a chasm of emptiness and doubt; without rituals to recognize, celebrate, or negotiate the vital thresholds of peoples lives, the key crossings pass by, undistinguished from the mundane, everyday rituals of life. If we approach our decisive thresholds with reverence and attention, the crossing will bring us more than we could have ever hoped for," says John O’Donohue.

Word of the day: ritual                                             A ritual is defined as a structured, repeated series of actions or words, often holding symbolic, religious, or social significance. These ceremonies or habits connect individuals/families/communities to traditions, larger wholes, or personal, meaningful practices. Examples include prayers, weddings, even daily morning coffee/tea routines, or specific cultural ceremonies like the Japanese/Indian bowing or lighting lamps or making of tea/coffee to modes of cooking.