Evil Forces Self Declare and Surrender Before Agni
We are seeing about the meaning of a sukta from Atharva Veda in which Agni Deva is being prayed to, that he may destroy evil forces even before they are able to act.
It is not for success in a battle.
It is about destroying the enemy even before they attack.
When the evil intention comes in the mind of the enemy itself, they should be destroyed.
Now the third mantra of this sukta:
वि लपन्तु यातुधाना अत्त्रिणो ये किमीदिनः ।
अथेदमग्ने नो हविरिन्द्रश्च प्रति हर्यतम् ॥३॥
Here also, two kinds of negative forces are being spoken about — atrinaha and kimeedinaha.
Atrinaha means bhakshakaha — after you eat something, it is gone. It doesn’t exist anymore.
When atrinaha eye something, it is destroyed.
Their nature is to destroy.
There are people with this nature. They are disruptive.
Something is going on smoothly — they don’t like it.
They can’t tolerate it. So, they destroy it.
This is the nature of atrinaha.
Kimeedinaha — kim idaneem vartate —
'What to do now? What now?' — they go on looking around to create trouble.
Both these kinds of evil forces, Agni Bhagawan should destroy.
Understand that when you say demon or rakshasa, they can be evil natures existing inside people also.
These days that’s how they are.
They get into people and make them do all sorts of evil things.
They don’t have to act directly.
With knowledge about how to live a virtuous life — or how to live life itself — disappearing from society, these evil forces easily get into people and make them do all sorts of evil things on their behalf.
When people were taught what is right and what is wrong, everyone had their own barriers.
Now, we are teaching what is profitable and what is not profitable.
We are only teaching how to be a go-getter, how to develop killer instinct, and how to be street-smart.
We don’t have protective barriers anymore.
That’s why even those who come from good families, well-educated, end up committing heinous crimes.
And they say invariably, 'I don’t know, something happened. Something took over me. Normally, I am not such a person, you know that.'
This is the evil force we are talking about.
They take over.
They take control of the person when his own barriers are weak.
This happens when he doesn’t have a clear understanding of what is right and what is wrong —
not just as a set of rules, but also why something is right and why something is wrong.
Now, Agni Bhagawan is told, please invite Indra also here.
Indra is the king of Devas.
King stands for paramaishwarya.
इन्द्रः परमैश्वर्ययुक्तो देवः
When evil energies exist, there can be no aishwarya there.
Once Agni starts destroying the evil forces, he can invite Indra also — meaning, to the place where the homa is being conducted —
so that Indra can fill that place with aishwarya and prosperity.
Now the ghee being offered is meant for both Agni and Indra.
Now the fourth mantra:
अग्निः पूर्व आ रभतां प्रेन्द्रो नुदतु बाहुमान् ।
ब्रवीतु सर्वो यातुमान् अयमस्मीत्येत्य ॥४॥
Indra is the king, Agni is the commander of his army.
He leads the Deva army — अग्निरग्रे प्रथमो देवतानाम्
Agni has started destroying the evil forces — अग्निः खलु वै रक्षोहा
Now, the king will come.
He will also take part in the destruction of the evil forces.
In the first mantra itself, it is said aa vaha — drag the evil energies here even before they are able to cause trouble.
Here it is more interesting.
Yatuman, the leader of these evil forces —
when he sees both Agni and Indra in action —
he will come and surrender.
He will come and say ayam ayam asmi — this is my name, I am surrendering.
You know how bandits surrender before authorities.
They say their name, lay down their arms, and surrender.
This is what the leader of the evil negative forces also will do.
There are three more mantras in this sukta. We will see them later.
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