Fire translated as Agni is a very important part of the Vedic Hindu life.
Agni Suktam is the first hymn in the oldest of the Vedas, the Rig Veda and is addressed to Agni, the fire-god, who is considered a cosmic power, who protects and guides human beings towards perfection.
1 I glorify Agni, the chosen Priest, God, the divine, minister of sacrifice,
offerer and possessor of wealth.
2 Agni is Worthy to be praised by living as by ancient seers.May Agni brings the Gods here.
3 Man obtains ever increasing wealth,through Agni, also fame and progeny.
4 Oh Agni, the perfect sacrifice which you surround,that certainly reaches to the Gods.
5 May Agni, possessor of immense wisdom Priest, he who is true, most gloriously divine,The God, come here with the Gods.
6 Whatever blessing, oh Agni, you will grant to your worshipper,
That, Aṅgiras, is indeed your essence.{In the Rigveda, Agni is sometimes referred to as Angiras or as a descendant of Angiras (RV 1.1).}
7 Oh Agni, dispeller of the night, we come near to you day by day with prayer,thought
Bringing thee reverence, we come,
8 Oh Agni,Ruler of sacrifices, guard of Law eternal, radiant One,
Increasing in thine own abode we approach near you.
9 Oh Agni please be accessible to us,just as a father to his son:
Agni, be with us for our well being.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post on the weekly Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium where thirteen of us write on the same topic. Today’s topic has been chosen by Will. The twelve other bloggers who write regularly are, in alphabetical order, Anu, Delirious, gaelikaa, Grannymar, Maxi, Maria SF, ocdwriter, Padmum, Paul, Shackman, The Old Fossil and Will. Do drop in on their blogs and see what their take is on this week’s topic. Since some of them may post late, do give some allowance for that too!