(Abhimānin, Abhīmānin, Abhimānī) A name of AGNI, the god of fire, in the Hindu Visnu Puranas. He is the son of BRAHMA, the Cosmic LOGOS. Abhimanin is also the father of the three fires: the electric fire (Pavaka), the solar fire (Suchi) and the fire produced by friction (Pavamana). The three had in turn forty-five children, totalling 49 fires. The three fires, according to the Bhagavata-Puranas, were condemned by a curse of Vasistha, the great sage, “to be born over and over again.”

According to Helena P. BLAVATSKY, Pavamana (fire by friction) is the parent of the fire of the Asuras, while Suchi (solar fire) is the fire of the gods, and Pavaka (electric fire) is the father of the fire of the PITRIS (SD II:57).

H. P. Blavatsky writes that these three fires are Spirit, Soul and Body. The fire of friction refers to the union between BUDDHI and MANAS. In the physical sense, “it relates to the creative spark, or germ, which fructifies and generates the human being” (SD II:247).

Vicente Hao Chin, Jr.

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