S03E04 - Five Fires - The Afflictions that Burn us From the Inside, and How to Turn them to Illumination.

There is an advanced sadhana our lineage practices called the Panchagni. Panch meaning five and Agni meaning fire. It is a practice that goes from mid January to mid July in which a yogi or yogini will sit in the middle of 4 fires with the fifth fire being the the sun above them. They sit in different forms of meditation, performing mantra as a way to burn out the rest of their karma. 

These five fires symbolically represent the fires of Manipura chakra, which hold us in duality. Desire, Anger, Greed, Attachment, intoxication with pride, we experience them everyday, they are portals for us to explore the places where we need healing, where we need to let go, to soften. Can we learn to become aware of and witness these fires within us? You may have encountered these as feelings, frequencies or vibrations within your body and mind. I know when I have encountered them, I have found out how they distract us from life. When I’m on my game, meaning I have been consistent with my own daily yoga sadhana, I have been able to keep myself from that place of identifying with these five fires, and this helps me to be of better service.  Sn. Shivani’s invitation is: can we be the still point at the center of the chaos that these fires provoke and be the light for others in the current state of collective anxiety? This is. And she reminds us that to have the clarity to witness these fires, we need our Sadhana, our spiritual practice, sangha, our community and satsang, sitting in the presence of truth. Do you have those tools in your life? Or do you know where to find them?