Brotherhood of Indra and Agni

Like I said in one of my previous posts that the general concepts are webbed together. They are linked through some sort of relation or they just work together. Those that have a relation can tell something about how family relationships work. In this post we will see that there is a mutual companionship between Indra and Agni that defines there brotherly relation. Likewise, Rudra gives insights to the role of a father. The Soma-Chandra combination gives insights to the role of a mother. The Maruts give insights to the role of a child. Prithvi-Dyaus combination gives insights of how the mother and father should work together. These insights are ideal models. If the environment doesn't favor the ideal model, they can be changed to maintain balance between all members.

Indra and Agni are two totally different concepts like we just saw. You can imagine them to be two beings with totally different characteristics. But they have a mutual companionship and are always together. The being together part doesn't actually define their brotherly relation. It's just one of the things. The main thing is that they shoulder each other like best buddies, but at another step beyond. The Vedas also claim that they are the sons of Prithvi and Dyaus, i.e. The Earth and The Sky, and that actually gives them the brotherly relation.

If I were to pick the eldest one (from the explanations I've given so far about both) I would go for Agni. I still have to find out whether the Vedas make the same claim. But with the Vedic knowledge I have gained so far, I believe I might be right in the choice. But remember it's just my opinion. If I find that the Vedas have the opposite claim, I will think over it and then mention the explanation later in my blog.

So let's work through their brotherly relation. In the previous post we patched the "learning" aspect of Agni with the "cyclic" aspect of Indra and we figured out that learning can use some sort of feedback. Let's do more. All "living" things have a "form" that follows a closed loop fashion. Living things "consume" for "sustenance". "Sacrifice" is something that "one does to itself". The total amount of "converted" material equals to the total amount of material used for conversion. That's a "balance" and it sounds like the Law of Conservation of Energy. If there exists a conversion gain, then that sets the "limit". "Balance" can be made only when there is a mutual/bidirectional "conversion" capability, like the animal-plant take in and give out. Between Oxygen and Carbon-Dioxide. So all "cycles" have multiple "conversions" that finally give back the starting material. The same thing happens in mathematics. Most of the theorems postulated have a converse theorem to make it intact. Some don't have converse theorems because they cannot be proved. Now let me get to this.

If the conversion is bidirectional/reversible, there is a balance and let's call these Indra processes. If the conversion is not reversible, then there is a one way conversion, we can call these Agni processes. Why? Because whatever material was used for the conversion remained in the converted state, like it just got "eaten". An example of this is the recent economic downturn which was due to an Agni process. Money was spent on immovable assets that didn't bring back money because of the uncontrolled mortgage and housing loan plans. All the money got "eaten" by construction of the immovable assets. So over here we see that Indra processes create sustainability or balance while Agni processes create imbalances. A sort of contradicting behavior between brothers. Although imbalance may sound like a menace, it's sometimes a good thing, like for growth. Growth happens when something accumulates. That's how "living" things grow. So now we have one more keyword for Agni, "growth". "Learning" is "growth" of maturity. "Sacrifice" is also a "growth" of maturity. "Consumption" is done for "growth". "Conversion" ensures "growth" of something. Indra processes do not ensure growth. In the political scenario, Indra processes sound like tit-for-tat behaviors that never ends, much like how a "cycle" can keep rolling. To stop the cycle from rolling you will need an Agni process. So if peace had to made between two rival nations, one of them has to stop. If the other one still insists, then the sovereignty of that nation can be removed, for the one reason that it's being a menace. The nation that stopped, will be taken care of for it's loss. The same thing happens in life. If someone keeps beating you, you become an asset while the other one becomes a liability. It's a "balance". There were and still are living examples of this. Every celebrated figure went through tremendous amount of suffering to reach that level. It's something that nature does to maintain balance. This idea can be an extension of the Law of Conservation of Energy and so there is also a "balance" during an Agni process.



So far we have visualized the togetherness of Indra and Agni. We will talk more about this in my next post after I explain the Prithvi-Dyaus concept. The brotherly relation between Indra and Agni will become more intact.

The Rig Veda is said to be composed in such Cyclic fashion called Mandals. There are ten volumes for the Rig Veda and each volume is a mandal. I guess it was written in this fashion to make the concepts, when taught, well intact.