Lighting the Kundalini Fire

“Fire” said Babaji, “has been sacred to all ancient civilizations. Agni, the God of fire was invoked daily in Vedic times. Have you thought about why fire is so important”?

I said – “One needs fire to cook food and in winter, fire keeps you warm and wild animals away……”

Babaji laughed. “Yes, but there is much more to it. In ancient times, there were no matchboxes. To produce fire, one went through the elaborate ritual of rubbing dry sticks together with invocations to the fire god. When the spark appeared it was indeed a miracle. Where was this fire before it manifested asked seers? Surely it was hidden in the wood always and needed the right conditions to manifest. So fire became a symbol of the spirit, all-pervading, yet manifesting only under certain conditions.”

Babaji’s insights were revealing. Another reason fire was used as a symbol of the spirit, is that fire always burns upwards. Try holding the firewood downwards, the flames always move upwards. Also just one spark is enough to set the whole forest on fire. You can light a thousand candles from one flame with no loss to the original mother flame. What better symbol of the spirit?

The sacred fire of love and compassion burns all self-centeredness to ashes. Ascetics apply ashes on their bodies to show they are free from limitations. It is not only the visible fire which is called Agni. All forms of combustion are Agni. Even the catabolic and anabolic processes that sustain the body are called the digestive fires, as also, the fire of desire higher or lower. A former lover is called an old flame, and not an old water or air because love, desire, and inspiration all these are a kind of fire. So is imagination…

The fire becomes our friend and protector. Our minds merge with the flame and we are one. Fire, like all of nature, has a mind of its own, and our minds are linked intimately with Agni the lord of fire, so much so that the flames fulfill any wish that we may have. So the inner fire, the Kundalini, which is actually part of the universal power of combustion, identifies itself with the outer fire and manifests in the Dhuni. Flames burnt forth from it and reach the thousand-petalled lotus and man becomes God. Vast dimensions of consciousness can now be accessed and tapped

Babaji looked at the fire with intense attention and said, “O Flame of my heart who dances in the Dhuni, go higher and higher and reveal your majesty.” One of the tongues of the fire began to grow tall. My skeptical mind was about to attribute this to the cold wind that had begun to blow when I realized that only the flame was growing. The flame went up like a swaying pillar of fire, almost as tall as the Deadhar tree that stood some distance away.

Now touch the boy’s navel O Agni, May Madhu’s inner fire be awakened with your blessings. I trembled with awe as the tall tongue of fire curved towards me in a flash, licked my navel, setting my whole body on fire. The fire moved upwards burning all obstacles to ashes till it reached my brain and exploded into a many splendored, multi-colored flash that surprisingly radiated a cool, pleasant feeling down my spine. A link had been established between the lower and the higher. The way was clear and I had to traverse it patiently with Babaji’s kind encouragement…….