Fire is important in every ceremony, even today. The gross fire, the transforming principle, is personified and deified with Agni. Because of this divinity of fire, India refrains from blowing out flames.
Agni is the highest priest at the sacrifice, the messenger between Gods and men. He invites the Gods to sacrifice and brings the sacrifice to the Gods.
Born from the Arani sticks.
Married with Svaha. In her honor, gifts in the sacrificial fire are ended with the exclamation ‚Svaha‘.
In earlier times, when there were no temples where people wandered around as nomads, the altar for the sacrifice was set up in different places. How should the Gods know where the sacrifice is taking place? Agni informed them.
He is also called the ‚God of the house‘, without fire people could not cook their food. No deity was as close to them as Agni.
There are three fires: sacrificial fire, hearth fire, corpse fire.
Agni manifests itself: on earth as fire, in ether as lightning, in heaven as sun.
Ayurveda calls the metabolism ‚digestive fire‘.
But besides all of this, Agni is the spark of life in every living being.
The subtle Agni is Tejas, the inner splendor, the radiation of a person.
Fire reduces everything to its ultimate substance.
All the Gods gathered to eat. Agni greedily startet … Brahma found this inappropriate and cursed him to become an omnivore.‘ Agni apologized, Brahma should please reverse this punishment. Brahma was not willing but said: ‚Everything you have eaten is pure afterwards.‘