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THE FIVE ELEMENTS
Swami Nityamuktananada
The FIVE elements are Earth, Water, Fire, Air & Space. Earth and Water have been contemplated.
Part 3 - Contemplation of Fire
There is hardly a culture that has not a myth about fire and its source, the sun. For mankind, fire has always had two strong connotations: being a great helper and a powerful destroyer. Its inherent power might have been the reason why Zeus wanted to keep fire out of reach of man, yet Prometheus, with the intention of giving mankind protection from the elements, stole the fire from the Gods and gave it to the humans. For this Zeus punished him severely, and in addition sent a flood to earth to quench the uncontrollable fire.
Some main characteristics of fire are immediately clear: it inspires, it can protect yet it is dangerous beyond our control. But let us have a closer look:
Starting simple, there is a matchbox and a candle in front of me. Striking the match on the box a flame comes with which to light the candle. Fire comes into existence by friction between two different components i.e. sticks, stones or matches – and/or massive collisions of energy/matter in space. Let’s however focus on the earthly version.
Through friction (release of inherent energy) a spark is created and now exists in its own right, for a short time – to grow and last it has to be fed and nourished. However, its growth has to be monitored carefully, for further sparks easily fly off and create new fires. The growing spark itself increases in size and intensity rapidly while its host is consumed equally rapidly. Sacrificing itself combustible material allows fire to grow while its own form is destroyed.
A candle flame looks harmless enough, yet what makes its flame, is the burning of wick and wax … both give up their present existence to become flame. Fire can not be separated from its burning power – nothing to burn – no fire! Fire destroys while it creates. It transforms one thing, one form of matter into another. It transforms wood into ashes/chemicals … which then nourish next year’s daffodils. In this way (on the base level) fire transforms matter into another form of matter. There is however a sinister aspect to this: watch a grass fire!
Fire “eats” Grass! But watch what happens then … finished in one place, the fire proceeds, going on to take the next bits of grass! Behind it is devastation; fire can’t go back over the same ground – there is nothing for it to feed on; there is no going back - no past, just death.
And moreover keep watching as the grass fire reaches a path! There might be more burn-able grass growing beyond the path, but when the fire reaches the path it dies for lack of burning material. Fire has no past - but also it has no sense of future, it only exists right now. It lives totally in the present. Contemplate it!
What it leaves behind are minerals, base chemicals that form more earth; mix that with water, only then future begins, but not the future of fire, by itself it has no future - it needs feeding by the “other”
And that is not all.
There are byproducts of this process. Flames give of energy we experience as heat
or as kinetics; but the most noted byproduct of this transformation (the wick of the candle being burned to ashes)…is light!
Yes, Fire is the power of transformation, we could say in Yoga speak: Fire is the Shakti of transformation. But She works on two distinct levels: the gross manifest (matter into matter, one form into another) and on transforming gross to subtle levels – matter turns to light! In ourselves, this transformation, this process of burning … is effort, is pain, is tapasya ; the very destruction of the old - makes way for new creation.
In the new creation fire is joyous, glorious, happy – hence we celebrate the new with Fire (the New Year; the new season, the new life (birthday) etc. ) We use Fire for celebrating and honouring light ... many cultures mark the Equinoxes of the sun by lighting Fires.
Just to give one example: On the most southwestern tip of UK (Cornwall) in a direct lineup, with the setting sun, on a hilltop, since long before the Christian Era bonfires are lit. From there, when the fire is seen on the next hill, the next fire is lit. In this way a beacon of light races throughout the island, honouring the longest day - celebrating the annual pinnacle of light.
When we talk about Fire as the material form of light we are in good company. Scientists tell us that light, might very well be the building block of the universe. In Yoga speak we talk of the Divine Light beyond all form. On the highest and subtlest level that Divine limits itself, gives up its subtle form to manifests in the perceptible universe, becoming a form that we can recognize with our senses. One form transforming into another, light manifesting in fire - fire dissolving in light; the power of transformation!
This power is never still. You might have seen Shiva dancing in a ring of Fire! Fire, the power that is never still, simultaneously destroying and creating.
There is much benefit in contemplating the various forms of fire: Contemplate the awesome power of wild, destructive forest fires, killing the green lungs of the planet – killing the producers of the very oxygen that it needs to burn Think about a hungry straw fire that flares up brightly, yet dies almost immediately, having devoured its fuel.
Fire in its destructive form is awesome yet it is completely dependent on the immediate source of its existence, it’s food! If there is nothing more to burn it dies instantly! Burning-transformation is its “inherent nature”, its dharma. As water’s dharma is to flow and to nourish, Fire’s dharma is to burn and transform.
Fire, like each of the Elements manifests on a huge scale, it has – even seemingly opposite, characteristic (just like ice and vapour are both water). Contemplate the flame of a candle versus the inferno of nuclear holocaust!
Out of the many aspects of fire, we will contemplate two aspects: fire in the hearth and the sun, source of all fire.
Let us first focus on the comforting glow of a fireplace or hearth; most of us will have enjoyed watching its gentle, dancing flames. Albert Einstein (theory of relativity) and Max Plank (quantum physics) both started their inquiries by observing apparent
annomalies anomalies of light in front of an ordinary fireplace.
The process of burning uses and generates energy which is given off as warmth - and light. Light being a certain vibration of electromagnetic energy, which we receive and use to interpret our world. In the case of the fire of the fireplace it signals safety, rest and security. In Greek mythology, this slow burning fire is presided over by the Greek goddess Hestia. She is felt to be present in the living flame of the round fire that used to be in the centre of the home, temple and city. Her symbol was (just as in many cultures) a circle; she was worshipped not in an image or statue, but as a spiritually felt presence, embodied in the sacred fire, that provided illumination, warmth and heat. She was the oldest sister of the first generation of Olympian Gods, yet took no part in their affairs of love and war. Homer describes how Zeus gave her - instead of a wedding gift - the central place of the house, so that she could receive the best offerings.
Her Roman equivalent is Vesta; in her temples the sacred, central fire was tended by 'vestal virgins.' Her companion was Mercury, the messenger. He guarded the fire and the temple, representing the outgoing quality of the element Fire. The two belonged together yet they were not involved in each other; meaning fire does not have to go outward, it can be contained, working inner most!
Hestia stands for those that have controlled the wildness of fire and have learned to be able to avoid being caught up in passion of the moment. Hestia is not attached to people, possessions, prestige or power. She feels whole, warm and content as she is. Her fire is the spiritual link to others; that literally would be carried as an ember from the temple to the houses and even from the house and taken on a journey etc.
These embers were symbolic of the steady glow of the divine fire in us. The Latin word for the hearth is 'focus,' contained fire is focus, is concentrating, is being totally absorbed, perceiving things by looking inward and intuitively sensing what is going on. This perception is shared in Chinese, Indian and many other traditions. In Yoga speak: Intense focus, is Tapasya, is the burning purifying fire.
This tamed fire is very different from my second choice of contemplation.
I am sitting in front of a big 'French window'; the day is overcast yet somewhere out of my sight, is the sun. A huge ball of fire, or rather, of hot gas. Its outer periphery is still 6000 degrees Celsius hot; such heat is beyond our imagination. Its heat is the result of constant nuclear fusion. Yes, our beloved sun is a cauldron of constant nuclear explosions. The energy set free in these processes makes the sun 'shine.' Giant tongues of hot gas are whirled off the surface into space, much further than the atmosphere around the earth. Sometimes particles from these enormous explosions hit the earth and when they reach us they cause the beautiful lights we call aurora.
The vast temperatures we know of in the core of the earth are nothing compared to the temperatures reached in the stars and sun, where matter turns into gas and eventual dissolution into…? And yet this unimaginable destructive power is the same one that gives us life. For us this awesome power is beneficial – because it’s far away! We can't see or experience the activity of the fierce, boiling cauldron; we are safe because it is exquisitely, minutely balanced in distance. A cosmic law holds us just right; a bit closer we would melt, a bit further we would freeze! An amazing insight in the delicate balance, the careful control inherent in taming the fire! For fire to be beneficial it needs to be tamed, contained, or in Yogic terms turned inward.
In many traditions and esoteric literature, the sun is worshipped in recognition of its life-giving light, its radiance; its splendour! On an inter-religious conference I met a Shaman from the Shwar, indigenous people of the Amazon, who stated categorically that: there can be no life without Aruta, Padre de LUZ, - father of light.
In the Judeo/Christian tradition the light is also frequently used to describe divine truth: 'While you have the light, trust the light,
The Lord is my light and my salvation.' (Ps. 27,1)
Christ said: 'I am the light of the world' (St. John 8,12)
Many traditions worship this radiant light as a God. In Egypt, Ra sailed across the skies; in ancient Persia, the Sun God rode in his chariot. In the northern Philippines Manaue, the Sun God lives in the treetops; for the Celts, the sun is a charioteer riding across the sky. Today in the South American Mountains, Indians still go into the mountains just like their forefathers, and worship the sunrise. During man's history some of the greatest constructions of mankind have been built to worship the sun, e.g. the Sun Pyramid in Mexico or Stonehenge in England. Furthermore, Kings derived authority for their lineage from the sun such as the Japanese Emperor (who is said to be a descendant of Amataresu, the Sun), or Louis XIV (the French: Roi du Soleil, - King of the Sun).
Even today, our 'sun- worshippers' fill the beaches all over the world!
The wise of India celebrated the sun as Surya, associated with life-creating energy and timely dissolution this was celebrated in Fire ceremonies, Yajnas. Surya guides us to righteousness and inspires wisdom; he is the eye of God, (as well as our eye), because through him, we can see the love of God and the love in each other. As such the inner 'sun,' the sun of love, is soul and points beyond the individual. Even today we say about someone we love, that the sun shines out of his/her eyes.
Swift and beautiful are you,
- 0 Sun, maker of the Light,
- Who illumines all the radiant sky
- Gazing beyond the dark we reach
- The supreme Light and attain the Sun,
- The God of gods, the Light. (Rig Veda, 1.504)
The sun, due to whose light alone I can see, is itself an ordinary star - just as the other billions and billions which we see in the sky. To worship the sun as God, points beyond the physical to 'that which illumines out of itself.' The Self-luminous is absolute power behind everything. Out of this understanding the Gayatri is born, allegedly one of the oldest, most potent prayers in the world:
Tat Savitur varenyam That most beautiful, brilliant light, the solar orb, that gives
birth to all
Bhargo devasya dhimahi; May that Divine burning One, so fill my person that I become
that light
Dhiyo yo nah pracodayãt. May being That, be my meditation.
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There is another aspect worth contemplating about the sun. The sun’s instant combustion throws off light and heat, generating conditions on earth, in which life can be
generated, but in the process sun destroys itself in time (so the scientists tell us).
Remember what we said earlier about the candle… the wick and wax burn - give up their existence - to bring about the flame. No wonder at the origin of ancient wisdom, is the idea of sacrifice! Every aspect of life on this earth is in one way or another fed by the gigantic fire – the giant sacrifice, the giant transforming power that is the sun. Even creatures that live in the dark, deep oceans can only exist there because the sun keeps the ocean from freezing.
Moreover a piece of plastic is not immediately recognised as 'sun-made'; yet even plastic containers are made from fossil oil (petrochemicals) which are compressed plant fibre (having stored solar energy) from long ago. Whatever we look at, sooner or later will be revealed as a form of sun energy. It brings us right back to modern science, where matter is light and light becomes matter – and that includes us!
Sacrifice always serves and precedes new form – it is ultimately positive, creative, life-giving. This life-affirming quality has been throughout the ages associated with love; making everything positive and good. Many mystics have see and described it:
- I am light itself, reflected in the heart of everyone;
- I am the treasure of the Divine Name
- The shining Essence of all things
- I am every light that shines,
- Every ray that illumines the world.
- From the highest heavens to the bedrock of the earth
- All is but a shadow of my blazing Light.
- If I dropped the veil covering my true essence
- The world would be gone- lost in a brilliant light.(Fakhruddin Araqui/Sufi,1213-1289)
- When talking about light, the boundaries between sunlight and God-light seem to disappear only too easily. How can we understand it? We know that all we normally perceive is vibrating energy yet we see it as different objects, forms and colours because sunlight is reflected or refracted much like a sunbeam in a glass of water. This 'reflected light' our mind interprets and labels according to our conditioning: green tree; red flower; brown hair etc. thus the world appears to us as millions of objects. Moreover, when our senses receive these vibrations and interpret them, this evokes feelings in us. These feelings we label according to certain frequency bands of light and as such their range is attributed to the Five Elements. What this seemingly absurd idea tells us is that everything we see is in fact vibrating light, light that originally comes from the sun.
It might seem strange to you but be assured, it is in accord with Scientists, Mystics and Poets. The Element Fire illumines not just the 'objects' of the world, but our very thoughts, hearts and minds. Indeed the greatest human achievement is to be illuminated, to reach the state of 'En-lightenment,' where we can see things for what they are… and not what label/concepts we project on it. In ‘The Divine Comedy’ Dante Alighirie writes:
- So dazzling was the splendour of that ray,
- that I must certainly have lost my senses …
- 0 light eternal fixed in itself alone...
- here my powers rest from their high fantasy,
but already I could feel my being turned -
instinct and intellect balanced equally
as in a wheel whose motion nothing jars -
by the love that moves the Sun and the others stars.
Dante's testimony bears witness to the power of such insights, and the transformation that results.
Fire transforms darkness into light (this is the true meaning of the word Guru); equally it transforms light into matter: plants, trees, animals, people etc., and yes, it transforms clay into ceramics, ore into gold and carbohydrates into diamonds, food into the muscles, flesh and energy of our bodies. In us such a fire also burns, it constantly transforms air, orange juice, potatoes, bread and chicken into useful oxygen, amino acids, lactic acids etc. and then again burning these with the help of oxygen gives off energy which makes us shine, radiating with health and vitality. The wise of India spoke of this process as the ‘gastric fire.'
Through the qualities of Fire i.e., illumination, insight and understanding, we can transform hatred and anger into love; this transforming power of light has been called 'love,' numerous stories about the life of Saints and Sages bear witness. The story of Catherine of Sienna is just one.
In the 14th Century, in the middle of the bubonic plague (which in its first five years killed one third of the European population), a daughter was born to a craftsman, the twenty-third child of twenty-five born to her parents. She was a tiny, charming child; when six years old, she walked with her brother and suddenly saw the sky open and before her sat Jesus, magnificently dressed in radiant light. As she stood and stared at the sight, her heart opened towards the radiant source of love.
Following this experience she dedicate her life to God. She ate little and withdrew into her room, until she was allowed to join the order of 'Mantellatte' (for the cloak they wore). She followed the command of her God and began nursing the sick and dying. She did not want anybody to know about it, so she went out at night to the houses of needy families where she left gifts or helped in some small way. During this time she had many more visits of her radiant Lord who told her: "It is your duty to love your neighbour as your own self. Help them spiritually and materially at least with your good will if you have nothing else."
Where does a young girl get her strength from? It is said, the Lord appeared again to her and reached into her chest, removed her physical heart and replaced it with his own. Catherine later wrote that the Lord had said, "Dearest daughter, I now give you my own heart and forever you must live by it alone." Her service of love to the sick and dying increased and in time she had many visitations from her Lord. She described this time of transition in her diary: 'The One who had kindled in my heart this fire of love, kept fanning it day by day to a more consuming flame... love had grown strong as death, my heart was rent in two, my soul was set free from this flesh, but alas! For how short a time!' Soon the simple girl, who never went to school soon found herself teaching before the great minds of her world including, bishops, popes and kings. Such is the power of divine inspiration. Surrounded by a community that called her 'dolcissma mama' - sweetest mother, she died when thirty three, not long after having written
what she simply called 'The Book;' it is 'the dialogue' between her soul and the Lord.
What would it be like, to live in an awareness that constantly perceives everything as light and love, how would we act? How would we feel? How does light taste? How do we dance with it? How do we sleep in that light, that love. What else can there be, when the fire of love burns in us?
We are used to thinking of 'love' as the passionate and possessive feeling towards our lovers, partners, friends, children, dogs, cats, cars, etc. That love is created from wanting to have, hold, dominate -- real love comes free - like sun energy! It gives forgiveness and warmth to a child; compassion and support to a person who needs; it gives friendship to an equal and respect and devotion to those that are older and wiser. When we have love to give, we don’t need something in return – we feel content, full - knowing and trusting there is enough! Such 'loving existence' seems forgotten in many contemporary societies and with forgetting it, we starve ourselves of love, the consequences of this are apparent every day.
We, as a society, behave like hungry fire, consuming all in its wake leaving only destruction , then having to die for lack of love. Sun does not stop shining because we are warm enough, it still gives warmth the next day, and the next, ad infinitum. The experience of such abundance brings joy, fills us with enthusiasm (Greek: filled with God, interpreted more freely: filled with light). When I picture joy and enthusiasm, my mind’s eye sees Fireworks:
- sees an abundance of bursting, sparkling colours thrown against a dark night sky;
- or the abundance of a summer meadow overflowing with poppies, like a Monet picture; or the gurgling, laughter of a small child giving itself to the joy it feels;
- or a songbird, that sings to its hearts delight, not for an audience, but out of delight;
The fire of our 'earthly love' needs to be fed! Give… not just to those we love, give support, care, guidance, warmth, share your light, etc., When we are 'in love' we do it naturally, we give our time, thoughts and unending attention to the object of our love – and if we stop feeding our love, do not talk, share, write or perform such actions anymore with/for our loved ones - love dies.
The spiritual fire of love, the fire of enlightenment, gets fed by austerities or self-discipline; the fire of spiritual love just like any fire …needs food; and that means giving up something that can be transformed. What we have to give up could be as simple as our tea break, or as complex as our Ego or our Life's aspirations. We love children; we give up much time in bringing them up. We give up our own time and interests in order to have jobs, so that we can provide for them. We love nature, we give up destroying the environment. The more we love life itself, people, animals and plants – the easier we can give up our life to serve them. However little or small, however high or low - if we love it, we have to give up something for it, even if it is our fear, anger or hate! That is the nature of things; that is the law of fire!
What are you willing to give up for the fire of divine love? Only through renunciation, through giving up something, can the burning transformation take place. This process has been called: purification. Metal ore has to give up its association
with earth in the melting process so that it can become pure gold
Learn from the fire to transform baser tendencies.
Learn from the fire how to enjoy life and celebrate.
Learn from the fire to balance and to give… not to take and destroy!
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