What is Jātavedas Agni?

Question

What does the eighth śloka mean—especially the idea of Jātavedas Agni? What is this fire that must be praised every day?

Answer

Let’s move ahead to the eighth śloka:

“Araṇya nihito jātavedāḥ… ”
This is another difficult śloka, so we have to understand it by breaking it into parts. The key word here is Jātavedas—what is Jātavedas Agni?

First, the basic meaning:
Jātavedas Agni is compared to a fetus that is well-nourished by a pregnant woman, and like fire hidden between two wooden aranis. It is worthy of daily praise by awakened people and by those who offer oblations in the sacrifice of life. This same Agni is the very Supreme Soul you asked about.

To understand the śloka, we must separate its ideas.

The verse first says: there is a fire—a fire of knowledge—that we must praise every single day. This is called Jātavedas Agni.
“Dive dive ida”—meaning “every day,” “worthy of daily praise.”

So the question is: Which fire is this that must be praised daily?
We know many types of sacred fires. Earlier, five fires were mentioned—Gārhapatya, Dakṣiṇāgni, Āhavanīya, Sabhya, and Āvasathya.
But here the fire is different: Jātavedas Agni.

So what does Jātavedas Agni really mean?

To understand this, we look at Patañjali’s Yogashastra, where eight limbs of Yoga are taught:
Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, Pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna, and finally Samādhi.

Step by step, we practice Yama, Niyama, then Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, and so on, until we reach Samādhi.
What is Samādhi?
Samādhi does not mean sitting with closed eyes and leaving all work. Samādhi comes from sam + ā + dhā—to firmly hold or abide in one’s true nature.
Samādhi means: I have realized my true self and I remain established in it.

Even after realizing my true self, I still live my life and do all my work. But after Samādhi, the inner quality changes completely. That changed consciousness is what the Vedas call Jātavedas Agni—the inner fire of knowledge that becomes lit within.

So Jātavedas Agni means:
the fire of knowledge that awakens inside after Self-realization.

This fire is to be praised daily—meaning, I should wish that this inner fire also awakens in me.

To explain this inner fire, the śloka gives two examples.

1. First Example: Fire Hidden in Two Aranis

Just as fire appears when two wooden aranis are rubbed together, in the same way this inner fire arises through the inner “rubbing” or interaction between body and awareness.
The body and the sense of “I am the Self” are like two aranis. Their constant inner interaction produces the fire of knowledge.

2. Second Example: The Fetus in a Pregnant Woman

A fetus grows inside a mother. It remains hidden until labor begins—the inner winds of childbirth bring it forth.
Similarly, the Self sits in the heart-cavity like an unborn child. It becomes manifest when we churn it with knowledge—when we perform the inner churning of understanding.

Just as the sea was churned in the Bhagavata Purāṇa to produce nectar—symbolically, not literally—so too the Self manifests when knowledge churns within us.

Right now the Self is dormant; we do not know that it is there or that we are the Self.
But when knowledge churns, the inner Self becomes manifest. That manifestation is called Jātavedas Agni.

The next words in the śloka point to the kind of people for whom this fire awakens:

• “Jāgṛvatbhih” — awakened ones, those who are no longer asleep to their true nature.
  
  

• “Haviṣmatbhih” — those who constantly offer the oblations of knowledge into the yajña of life, meaning those who live consciously and purposefully.
  Only in such people does the Jātavedas fire appear.
  
  

And this Jātavedas Agni is nothing but the manifestation of the Self.
Yama tells Nachiketa: This is the very Self you asked about.

A single śloka contains many ideas, which is why it feels difficult. But this is the meaning.