FIVE ELEMENTS OF NATURE

Photo:blogspot

Out of the all five important elements available on earth, the  Earth, Water, Air, Fire  and  Sky or Space only the fire remains unpolluted. Because fire itself is a purifier. Apart from the thousands of symbols it stands for, the fire is known for remaining pure after purifying other things. 

The Earth other four elements have got limitations and we see that in today's life they stand polluted beyond recognition. It is true that the earth is patient, even when we dig them deep and hurt it harsh. It never retaliates.The saint Tamil  poet says, "We humans should be patient even when we  are humiliated just as the land which is so patient as we dig it deep". But today we have made the Earth itself  'a patient' is another matter to ponder over. 

Water too is a great purifier and it washes of our external dirt. Again the saint poet talks of Water as a  purifier of  the external part of our body and says the purification of the inner soul is possible only through Truth. But today we come across water-bodies turned into gutter bodies and the most preferred abstract part of speech of our speeches and actions revolve around falsehood.  Every one loves lies and  their lives. People prefer illusion over reality.  Hence no amount of water can wash off our sons,sins,and souls.

Also the divine poet says water as the divine nectar. 

The world its course maintains through life that rain unfailing gives; 
Thus rain is known the true ambrosial food of all that lives.

 The Air which is so paramount for man is thick with smoke and already people have started to store Oxygen cylinders along with LPG cylinders. Knowing well the importance of the 'life gas' he makes no attempt to keep it pure. The rich is away from the pollution he created and well protected. The  poor is as usual unprotected and die early. As we all think the air is in abundance and none can pollute we pay least attention to this storm. Men are to realize his folly and since no man can hold within his territory or border it is really a global issue. If not today,  tomorrow the moving angel is going to punish him harshly.

The man left the sky for centuries. Nowadays the greed   grows fast and thick as it is the breed all around the world grown  with latest and intense hatred, competition and rivalry. Metal pieces called satellites in thousands  are orbiting the skies and they are left to go around even after their life time. A cut throat competition to conquer space is on and nations which have half of its population without toilets seeks to settle down in Mars and to settle down scores with their rivals.

Indians, we  who used to worship all the Five elements of nature are unhappy that they are unable to pollute the Fire.  

   



ON FIRE

PARITALA GOPIKRISHNA

The first sloka of the Rig Veda: "agni meele purohitam"

अग्निमीळे पुरोहितं यज्ञस्य देवं रत्वीजम |
होतारं रत्नधातमम || Rig Veda 1.001.01

aghnimīḷe purohitaṃ yajñasya devaṃ ṛtvījam |
hotāraṃ ratnadhātamam || Rig Veda 1.001.01

* Translation by Sa_yan.a and Wilson 1.001.01

I glorify Agni, the high priest of the sacrifice, the divine, the ministrant, who presents the oblation (to the gods), and is the possessor of great wealth. [Agni = purohita, the priest who superintends family rites; or, he is one of the sacred fires in which oblations are first (pura) offered (hita); deva: a god, the bright, shining, radiant;
fr. div, to shine; or, one who abides in the sky or heaven (dyusha_na); or, liberal, donor (in the sense of giving); r.tvij = a ministering priest, he is also the hota_ (Aitareya Bra_hman.a 3.14), the priest who presents the oblation or who invokes or
summons the deities to the ceremony; fr. hu, to sacrifice; or, fr. hve, to call; ratnadha_tama: lit. holder of jewels; ratna = wealth in general; figurately, reward of religious rites].
---------------------------------------------------
Song of creation: first words recorded

The gramophone (aka record player) was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in the United States in the 19th century. For the first recording, and to demonstrate the new machine, Edison asked Professor Max Muller, an eminent scholar of Sanskrit in England, to speak in front of an audience.

After recording Muller’s voice on a disk in the morning, Edison played it back to the audience on the gramophone in the afternoon. The audience was thrilled to hear the voice of Max Muller coming from the instrument. After several rounds of applause and congratulations to Thomas Edison, Muller came to the stage and addressed the audience and said, “You heard my original voice in the morning. Then you heard the same voice coming out from this instrument in the afternoon. Do you understand what I said in the morning or what you heard in the afternoon?”

The audience fell silent because they could not understand the language in which Muller had spoken. Muller explained it was Sanskrit and the words he recorded was the first sloka of the Rig Veda: agni meele purohitam. The Rig Veda is comprised of hymns, or songs, of creation.

Max Muller explained his choice to the audience. He said, “Vedas are the oldest text of the human race and agni meele purohitam is the first verse of Rig Veda. In the most primordial time, when the people did not know how even to cover their bodies and lived by hunting and housed in caves, Indians had attained high civilization and they gave the world universal philosophies in the form of the Vedas.”

When agni meele purohitam was replayed the entire audience stood up in silence as a mark of respect for the ancient Indian Sages.

Jabalimuni Putrevu