Rituals have an important place in human life. Human mind is such that it takes recourse to many seemingly unnecessary activities so that the harshness of life’s journey is mitigated. In the course of man’s long history thousands of such rituals have been developed. I would even like to call them plays. If they are taken playfully they add juice to life, they become occasions of celebration. And if we take them too seriously they become pathological, an aberration.
It was D-day in the whole life of human race when fire was discovered for the first time. It is the greatest discovery ever made throughout man’s history. Though we don’t know the discoverer, he brought in the greatest revolution. Even the splitting of atom or landing on moon is not that important compared to the fire. Now the same fire is so ordinary that we captured it in the tip of match stick- that we cannot comprehend its pristine glory. Human civilization is essentially the product of fire, rest all inventions came after and through this fire. Fire is foundational to everything in our life. Naturally when first invented the human race danced around the fire in utter ecstasy. This celebration now turned into ritual in many occasions. It was in those days so natural and spontaneous, as if it has exploded on us from nowhere. There was no other way to express our gratefulness to existence except by dancing and celebrating.
Every religion in ancient times grew around fire or sun. The darkness of night was frightening and the day of light was comforting. So human started worshiping Sun as God. When fire was invented it heralded the human victory over darkness. So he started to love fire & sun over anything in the world. Songs and dances, love and festivities grew around fire and sun. When Yuri Gagarin returned from voyage into space, the first man to enter outer space, the whole world rejoiced it. Many even named their child with his name. There used to be stampede, where ever he went. People wanted to have a glimpse of him. The advent of new fills man’s heart with delight and joy and we always celebrate the occasion with great fanfare. That is how it should be. It will be a sad day when world cease to enjoy over new and I would say it would be the death of all that is meaningful and vital in life.
I explained all this to show how Yajna came into being and how it became so significant in our life. Yagna was our way of celebrating the discovery of fire. We offered to it every good thing of our life. More details will follow …
Wishing you good health & happiness,
Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stress management people
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