What is Agni?- Part 2

All matter follows a rule of entrainment, which states that matter tends towards lower potential. Keeping this rule in mind we will follow our journey towards finding answers to our questions.

Let me explain the concept of entrainment in short. Entrainment means in common man’s language, “blending in”. Thus according to this rule, all matter tries to blend in with its surroundings in the best manner possible. This is not forced, but a natural principle of matter. For example, if several pendulum clocks are placed in a room, in some time you will notice that the pendulum of all the clocks start oscillating together. This shows entrainment. Another example is that when a cup of hot coffee is kept in room temperature, then the coffee starts emitting heat to the surroundings, thus cooling off so as to blend in with the surroundings. This is also another example of entrainment. Thus in all these examples we come to know that nature tends towards moving from duality to a state of oneness and from the state of excitability towards a state of inertness. And all this occurs naturally without any external application of force.

Now, in this blog, I will explain in detail, what is jatharagni and its role in our body:

To understand this, we must also understand the principle of individuality, which in classical terms is known as “Ahamkara”.  To try and explain it as simply as possible let me ask some questions to a fictionary person and try and remove the answer from within him. Let me name the fictionary person as say Rahul

Manaan: Do you identify yourself as the computer or phone next to you?

Rahul: No. Because according to me, I am not the phone.

Manaan: Then how much is you and how much is not you?

Rahul: Well, this body, I can call mine but anything out of this does not come within “me”

Manaan: Can you please be more precise?

Rahul: Well, anything beneath the skin including the skin is a part of me.

Manaan: So do you indentify the leaf you just ate is a part of you?

Rahul: No. Not yet, only after it is absorbed by my stomach

Manaan: But it still comes beneath your skin, so how can it be that it is not a part of you?

Rahul: Then I must need to improve upon my definition. Anything beneath the skin including the skin excluding all elements that are within the GI tract including the GI tract is me. So, in short, everything under the skin and outside of the GI tract is identified as a part of my body and not as an alien particle.

Manaan: The boy sitting next to you also has a skin and a GI tract, so do you become a part of him as well?

Rahul: No, he is an individual

Manaan: So what is the factor that individualizes you and him?

Rahul: This factor is known as “Ahamkara”.

Thus, the factor that not only differentiates but also individualizes you from your surroundings is known as ahamkara.

Now coming back to the topic of Jatharagni. To understand this in the right sense, we must know the ways of functioning of jatharagni.

Jatharagni functions in two ways:

1.  Firstly jatharagni digests and converts the “food” which is not a part of the self, into a consumable form which is still not a part of the self. This conversion takes place in two ways.

i. Active conversion: Here, digestive juices, including gastric juices, pancreatic juices, bile etc are secreted to actively help in converting this “food” into a more acceptable form, or in other, more specific words, they help in bringing about rapid entrainment using means of chemical reactions so that the food now starts to blend in with the frequency of the body.

ii. Passive conversion: As we have discussed earlier, the food, slowly and steadily starts entraining itself with the body and the body with the food. This goes on continuously even If digestive juices do not act. The stronger the frequency of the food, the more the body will have to blend in with it, thus, gaining more of its properties (Saamanya Siddhant) and the weaker the food the less the body has to blend in with the food, thus, gaining its properties to a very mild extent. This determines the potency of the food (by potency I do not mean virya, but I mean the power of its properties). Thus we are advised to eat food according to our prakruti, etc (Astau ahar vidhi visheshayatanani) so that, that food already has a frequency closer to our current frequency and can blend in easily giving desired results.

Thus this is one way of functioning of jatharagni, out of which only one part is what we thought, in the previous blog as jatharagni.

2. Now, when the food is actively and passively converted to the frequency of the body, Ahamkara acts on the food (converting it to the body’s frequency itself is ahamkara, but it does not act completely in the first stage). In the first stage, the food becomes in the form of convertible energy. Now in the second stage, only that portion which has completely been entrained is accepted and absorbed by the body and the other part is thrown away eventually.

Now, the question arises that why is it that generally liquid portion is absorbed and stool turns out to be solid? The answer to this question is that liquids, due to their increased intermolecular space can more easily and rapidly be entrained and its absorption is very easily done, but solid being more dense takes time to be entrained and not all of it is generally entrained.

Thus, now we realize that jatharagni is not matter that we can see or find in the body but is the strength of collective processes of entrainment, digestion, conversion and absorption of food.

I have only written about the details of Jatharagni in this blog. I will write about dhatvagni, bhootagni and their use in spirituality, tantra, aghora, etc in my further blogs.

Please feel free to comment on my blog and on my thought process and please correct me if u find anything that is wrong and if you do not understand any of the concepts, feel free to ask.