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Ayurveda > Agni
By Dr. Satish Kulkarni.
Agni is
the fire inside our body. Agni
is the body which governs living
beings physically and mentally. We
can describe it as an element related
to our general body metabolism. We
have seen in the last article that Agni
is the successor of pitta (one
of the tridoshas i.e. the
basic body constituents) and pitta
is the successor of Divine Fire (tej)
(one of the five supreme powers). Agni
plays a vital role in the creation
and maintenance of dhatus (body
tissues). There are seven types of agnis
for seven different dhatus.
Agni is
related to both the body and the
mind. It initiates digestive
activities in the digestive tract and
generates thoughts, emotions and
decisions in our psyche. Agni
contains heat which helps in the
digestion of external elements that
enter our body. The food which enters
our digestive tract is converted into
life sap with the help of agni.
This then goes on to ensure our
survival, growth and recovery from
illness.
The knowledge
of the external environment which
enters our body through our special
senses is transformed into memories
with the help of agni which
further initiates thoughts, generates
emotions and helps in taking
decisions.
The main
function of agni is the break
down of external stuff and its
conversion into body stuff. Agni works
with and for every body tissue. Agni
gears the dosha-dhatu-mala
cycle and thus life goes on.
Agni
also helps in destroying ama (toxins).
These are produced if there is an
imbalance of doshas. In other
words agni helps in
maintaining the status of health and
in interrupting the disease process.
Thus agni is a statutory body
which governs our immune system.
Agni protects
us from both external as well as
internal problems. It saves us from
attack by external and internal
‘terrorists’. Agni
keeps a careful watch on the body
functions. A wide range of functions
(from digestion of food to giving
color to the skin) is taken care of
by agni.
Impairment of agni
suggests that the basic balance of
the tridoshas has been
hampered. Affected metabolism,
compromised immunity and lowered
general body resistance are all
results of impaired agni. If agni
is impaired, food will not be
digested properly. It will not
initiate the chain of formation of
the seven dhatus (from rasa
to shukra) in a proper way.
Instead of creating a life sap, ama
(toxins) will be created and these
will accumulate in the body. The body
channels will choke and life will
enter a state of illness.
To summarize; ama
indicates a diseased body.
Ama
is produced when agni (body
fire) is retarded, which in turn is a
result of the imbalance of tridoshas
(vaat-pitta-kafa). Agni’s
functioning depends on the food,
clothes and shelter we use. It also
depends on the things we see, hear,
smell, taste and touch. If these
things are pro-life then we will also
be healthy. If these things are
anti-life then we may acquire ill
health.
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