A Morning Meditation on Fire

Varanasi, 6 Dec.

It is easy to see how water is central to this special city. The great river embodies t he mother goddess for the Hindus, and all life revolves around her. But there is also fire, as an early morning ride to the river confirms. In the West fire is often associated with destruction -- wildfires, house fires, refinery explosions, eternal damnation -- and the closest many of us get to fire is with a gas-log "fire"-place in our homes. For Hindus, fire sustains life; it provides heat for cooking, and already the tea and milk is boiling at street corner vendors. Fire gives warmth, comforting the morning chill for families in make-shift houses and policemen awaiting the day's traffic. Fire cleans and purifies, as small piles of garbage, carefully swept, are lit and miraculously disappear. Fire praises the divine, through candles and small fires at puja shrines, in temples, and with the morning offerings of "respect" for the sun and the new day. And fire enlightens, literally, giving necessary glow for house work and reading.

Ancient Hindu philosophers contemplated on the nature of fire: What exactly is it, and does it reflect reality? Is there fire without fuel, or fuel without fire? How is it so powerful, and yet gone in a flash (no pun intended)? Perhaps modern physicists and other scientists can provide technically correct answers, but the mystery, and the beauty, remain.

slp