Fire sustains life. There are five types of fire.The first is Bhutagni. Bhutagni is the fire with which you heat your home, the fire that keeps warmth within you. It sustains life. It is the physical fire. It is very evident. It may not be as important in tropical countries—they don’t attribute such great importance to fire. But you know how crucial it is in cold countries. Without physical fire, the light goes out. To some extent, this physical fire also exists within the body.
The second type of fire is known as Kamagni, the fire of desire. When it arises, it consumes you. This is the fire of lust and passion. It is precisely because of this fire that life on the planet continues to exist. It is present in all living beings of creation.
The third type of fire is called Jataragni—the fire of hunger and digestion. This is one of the foundational principles in Ayurveda. Depending on whether it is more or less active, it affects your health. It influences your balance. When you have a fever, you treat the symptoms. You don’t understand the root cause.
When a foreign body enters your system, your entire body heats up. You begin to shiver.
When you shiver, the body is actually building a defense mechanism. It burns all the foreign particles and invaders that have entered your body. The moment the foreign bacteria leave your system, the fever subsides. It purifies the system. The purpose of the fever is to cleanse the body, to rid it of the virus or foreign agent. Isn’t that so?
Next comes Badabagni, the fire of criticism. When people criticize you, what happens? A fire rises within you. A fire is lit in your system. When you stand before a crowd, what happens? You feel your heart pounding, trembling with fear of their criticism and judgment. This is a fact.
The next type is the fire of knowledge or love: Premagni and Jnanagni.
When your life flows among all these fires, it remains cold. Unfortunately, we haven’t understood this principle. We don’t even allow the fire to burn. The moment we get a fever, we take paracetamol, suppress the symptoms, and our immune system weakens. I’m not saying don’t take medicine. Take it, but try to deal with the root cause, not just suppress the symptoms of the fire in your system.
Naturopathy and Ayurveda address all of this. Your body develops its own climate system. If you constantly keep the air conditioner on, you don’t allow the body’s self-regulating system to function. Especially in tropical countries, ACs are used constantly, day and night. There is no prana (life energy), no purity, no freshness in the environment. Have you noticed this?
Our body creates sweat, which cools it down like a breeze passing through the body. It has its own ventilation system.
For this to happen, you need to be accustomed to it from a young age. But unfortunately, we’ve been used to air conditioning since childhood. So, making a sudden change is very difficult. Still, you can look at it from this perspective. I have nothing against ACs, but make sure that fresh prana is entering the body and that your body’s temperature is in harmony with the surrounding environment. You will feel the difference. Then you’ll be able to work in the cold without having to bundle up, or be in a hot place without feeling suffocated.
Then comes Kamagni, the fire of passion.We don’t allow the fire to burn within us. The moment a desire arises, we instantly satisfy it. Then the fire doesn’t stay in you and doesn’t burn you. People who engage in casual relationships have no Kamagni. They don’t allow the fire to ignite and burn them even a little, to roast them just a bit. The moment the desire for sex arises, they immediately fulfill it.
Then Kamagni doesn’t take birth in you.Sex is one of the oldest samskaras (impressions), along with eating. Since ancient times, all living beings have certainly done two things—eaten and had sex. A cow, monkey, donkey, horse, ox, or whatever animal—it has done these two actions.
When this passion arises, observe it. It envelops every cell of your body. It consumes you, burns you, and disappears. If this transformation occurs, then 100% awareness and alertness emerge and grow within the desire (kama). If you don’t allow this to happen—if, whenever a desire arises, you immediately satisfy it—then your shakti, your inner potential, diminishes.
You become sluggish and less sensitive. Laziness and inertia set in. Then there is no vitality, joy, or enthusiasm in any action a person performs. That’s why people who indulge in casual affairs lack this enthusiasm. They don’t have the strength, willpower, or energy for anything. Have you noticed that? Yes or no?
It’s the same with Jataragni.Even before you feel hungry, you keep stuffing yourself. The more you overeat, the more toxins accumulate in your body. Many people fall ill or die not from hunger, but from overeating.Today, very few people around the world die from starvation. More and more are dying from eating too much.
We don’t allow the fire of hunger to rise within us. We’ve never ignited it.
This is the principle of fasting. When you fast, every cell in your body comes alive. Fasting is a very effective therapy. It purifies your system. Jataragni cleanses you from all toxins.
