The next time you strike a match, stop and consider what you have just done. With a slight flick of the wrist, you have generated Fire instantly. You didn’t have to exert great effort rubbing two sticks together or striking flint and steel trying to catch sparks in combustible tinder. Instead, you made an instantaneous display of humankind’s most significant achievement – the production and control of Fire.

Human beings have been using Fire for at least 400,000 years. Leavings discovered at sites where Peking man lived in China indicate this quite clearly. Since then, wherever humans are, so is Fire, and our history is enlivened, enriched, and intensified.

According to historian Jacob Bronowski, Fire is “…the alchemist’s element by which man is able to cut deeply into the structure of matter… not a material, any more than life is a material. Fire is a process of transformation and change”.

If you pause for a moment and look around, you will see that almost EVERYTHING in human life (the way we presently live) is made possible by creating/controlling Fire. Fire has shaped the entire history of human evolution / invention using the infinite transformations fire produces. Our documents, their paper, ink, electricity to run the lights to read this article, the computer, printing presses, photographic processes, binding machines and electronic encryption would not exist without using and controlling Fire in some form.

From the homes in which we live to our clothes, food, water supply systems, entertainment systems, arts, sciences, medical systems, transport mechanisms, space exploration processes and NOW the computers spouting forth Artificial Intelligence  – the use of Fire in some form is required to change raw material into specialised components / communications. Humans then combine those components in increasingly unique ways to perform an endless and rapidly growing variety of actions.

It was the genius of humans to recognise Fire as the transformative process itself and grant it great importance and reverence in this life. Not only did humans use Fire to produce changes in their environment, but also, Fire functioned as one of the first altars – the place in which the light of the sun could manifest. Sun worship was almost universal in ancient times, and Fire (a manageable symbol of solar energy) was its most immediate representative.

For Semitic peoples, Aryans, Slavs, Central Europeans, Asian, Pacific, and people of the Mediterranean lands, “…the principal element used for delivery of offerings to Divinity is Fire. Fire necessarily occupies an important place in the mythologies and religion of humans since it is the only one of the basic elements of the mythic cosmos which is not immediately found in nature. All others, like earth, water, air, are spontaneously given to humans for his use, where Fire had first to be found and then maintained.

Due to the original rarity of Fire, it is hardly ever considered to be man’s natural heritage and belongs to the Divine in a special way. Fire also has a destructive power and can make disappear in a short time anything combustible that is given to it. This disappearance could also be interpreted as a sign of transference from this world to a more subtle one, specifically, the realm of the Divine.” (Heat and Sacrifice in the Vedas, U.M. Vesci 1985)

Fire was much easier to travel with (stored as glowing embers in a clay pot) than large icons and sculptures. For this reason and those previously noted, it is possible to imagine ancient nomadic peoples choosing Fire as their altar. Fire itself became the manageable representation of, as well as the intermediary to, Divinity.

The rarity of Fire evoked in simple nomadic peoples a profound reverence. It warmed them, protected them, took away the darkness (evil) of the night, and cooked their food for them.

For still unknown reasons, these nomads left their northland homes and migrated south into the near-east and what is now known as Iran. Eventually, some of these nomadic peoples arrived in northern Pakistan-India near the Indus valley. These people have been given the name “Aryans” due to their language structure, and scholars are still debating where their original home might be. Three altogether different theories suggest Central Europe, Sweden, or Southern Russia. Regardless of their origin, the important event is their arrival in India, bringing a highly organised spirituality. Their belief in ONE COSMIC ORDER saw LIGHT (common to ALL spiritual understanding) in the three regions of earth, sky, and “heaven.” On earth, this representation was Fire. In the sky, it was lightning, and in “heaven,” the sun.

Due to the insular nature of the Indian subcontinent and the disposition of its peoples (open Fire is still widely used for cooking and heating), the use of Fire has remained an integral part of the dialogue between man and Divinity. Over time, this practice became increasingly complex and exacting. Despite this complexity, the vision of the original purpose remains. ‘Mother India’ took into her arms the use of Fire as an altar and nurtured it and protected it from the ravages of time.

Although the advances of stressful digital civilisation are squeezing modern India, the fire altar, the “Mouth of God,” is still burning. Once, I asked Herakhan Baba, a great Indian saint, the following question: “Babaji, people all over the earth have used the fire ceremony for worship. Which one should I write about?” His answer baffled me for a long time: “Write about the oldest one,” with a twinkle of light sparkling in His eyes.

After his samadhi years later, the answer came roaring at me like a forest fire. According to the “Vedas,” the sacred books of the Aryan peoples, the ritualistic aspect of the fire ceremony originated from the simple belief that to create the World, God cut Itself up in many bits and scattered them throughout the universe. Wherever a piece fell, a life form sprang up. The Vedic and pre-Vedic peoples considered this act the greatest sacrifice, and they strove to emulate it, becoming known as “The People of the Sacrifice.” They felt that it was their responsibility to help God replenish Itself by offering their food through the Fire so that God could continue creating the world every day. Fire thus became known as The Mouth of God.

The ancient pre-Vedic and Vedic seers looked upon the entire cosmic process of creation-maintenance-destruction as the the Greatest Sacrifice. They believed that if they aligned themselves and their activities with that process, it would fulfill life’s meaning and enhance their spiritual and physical wellbeing.

Today, the fire ceremony acts as a dramatisation of all the sacrifices made so that we might be alive, and of our duty to share this aliveness with others. The greatest sacrifice is: to give one’s life for another through genuine acts of kindness and caring. As an act and symbol of sacrifice, the fire ritual reminds us of our place in the primordial world order. It reminds us of the Ultimate Mystery in which “I” appears and disappears.

©August 8, 1987, Ram Dass / JD Marston / revised March 7, 2025

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