I learnt this from … Fire!!!

“Aarti” time holds me in awe of the light from the wicks soaked in ghee (clarified butter). The flickering “aate wala diya” placed in a big “thaali” splashed generously with rose petals moved clockwise before the deity with hymns playing in the background and focus on the Almighty, eliminating all distractions with the ringing bells, invoking the Supreme to bless us mortals … it is the most picturesque of all rituals. And this “thaali” holds the food for the soul …

The flower petals … the opening of the heart

The ringing bells … warding off distractions and invocations to “Him”

The camphor … burning of the evil desires

The singing and the clapping … the joy you experience

The “thaali” … the tray that holds the offerings … the tray that holds the blessings received.

The lamp … the fire …

                The light of life … Fire … be it the Sun or the blaze … illuminates and teaches us to illuminate our beings like the pious light of the lamp, to fill our lives with the light of knowledge, to be able to see truth and the beauty through that truth, to make our thoughts and actions pure and beautiful.

            Raise … Fire … always rises upwards and teaches us to do the same … by heart, by words and by actions.

            Brightness … Fire … has the power and that power makes it shine bright and bold … teaches us to shine bright on the power of virtues

            Assimilation … Fire … assimilates all that is close to it … wood, gold, or iron … everything … teaches us to become the “samidhaa” … the offering in this sacred fire and get assimilated with the Almighty, become one with the Lord.

            Vast spread … Fire spreads … has a wide reach … Look at the Sun … so many light years away but it is the fire in the Sun that illuminates your days … teaches us to be like the Sun, to be able to help others with our capabilities, to help others to see the light and to make our presence be felt far and wide.

            Struggle … Fire … is born out of struggle … the struggle of clouds, the struggle of water … that give birth to the light … the fire. It teaches to struggle to learn, to grow spiritually, and to be free in every sense and actual sense.

            Altruism … Fire converts the “samidhaa”, the sacred offerings made with devotion and love into pious, powerful and primary elements and returns them back to the devotees. It converts the crude ores to pure gold. It teaches us to use our powers, our resources, and our capabilities in the welfare of all that surrounds us. To self analyze and to burn our impurities.

            Active … Fire … does not rest … when it does, it dies. It teaches us to give up the inertia … to be industrious in order to achieve our goals.

This, they say, is the Vedic Learning from the Fire. And this, I hope has been decently translated by me because the source of all these golden words was a newspaper article in Hindi.

Never really understood why people worship Fire … why Fire finds it way in almost all sacred activities. But now I know. And am I happy that I know? Yes, ecstatic.

Truly, “Learning never ends” … this time it is the Fire … I wonder what it will be next????