Spending time with agni

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté

Spending time with agni can be at the knowledge level, sound level and experiential level. I hope to offer some of these as (interesting) subject matter for ones consideration. It is put in this folder of uttara as I hope to discuss the deeper and significant values associated with agni, beyond the notion of 'flame' as some Western translators may have one believe.

My intent is not academic sparing with another's view of agni i.e. Western translations. I thought it would be a delight to offer and explore a few names and mantra-s of agni, as I was reviewing some of the sūktā-s¹ of the ṛg ved.

But why agni?
Agni is quite important devatā in the ṛg ved. He is beyond the notion of simple 'fire' or tejas (point or top of a flame or ray). There are ~ 10,552 mantra-s in the ṛg ved. About 2,000 (19%) have agni as the subject. In fact the very first mantra of the ṛg ved addresses & adores agni - agnim īḷe puróhitaṃ ...
There is great interest to 'kindle agni' (ṛg ved 1.26.5) by the ṛṣi-s i.e. some would say to bring forth Divine Will. That is, agni is instrumental, say the wise, in initiating one into the spiritual path.

If we look to the great seer/ṛṣi śunaḥṣepaḥ ājīgartiḥ and his hymn 1.24.1 and 1.24.2 of the ṛg ved he asks,

1.24.1
' Being in doubt I ask, among the immortals (amṛta - immortal, imperishable) which deva/deity with an auspicious name shall we call? Who is that God who will restore us to the mighty aditi¹ (the Infinite, wholeness, fullness) so I may behold again the father and the mother ( i.e. spiritual parents) '

1.24.2 śloka gives the answer:
'Agni, the first among the immortals - his auspicious name will we utter.'

So what of this name agni ? It is said it is the mystical symbol for 'r'. Since a consonant cannot be said without a vowel, it is then said as 'ra' . What is ra? It is brightness , splendor . It is fire and heat, it is also love and desire ( the ~heat~ of passions).

This agni is also rooted (√) in 'aṅg'. And were do we find this aṅg applied? In aṅgāra -charcoal. We think of fire within coal. This aṅgāra is also another name of Mars (aṅgāraka). Aṅgiras is a noun of agni and also a family of ṛṣi-s. We can see the connection to aṅgāra and aṅgiras - both deal with luminosity.

This is a good beginning… In further posts I hope to offer some additional meaningful names we find in the ṛg ved along with some sūktā-s that may help us (me) better appreciate and understand this most note worthy devatā.

I invite all those that wish to contribute in an uplifting manner to please participate per your inspiration.

praṇām

words and references

sūktā-s are the groupings of the mantra-s. As mentioned there are 10,552 mantra-s in the ṛg ved grouped into 1028 sūktā-s or hymns. These sūktā-s are grouped into 10 maṇḍala-s. I myself am reading the first 121 sūktā-s or ~63% of the 1st mandala. I use the 9th and 10th maṇḍala-s also as references.
This aditi is made of a+diti. It means 'a' not + 'diti' splitting, dividing. So a+diti is one that is not split, not divided, hence wholeness, fullness, with no splits or divisions hence is pūrṇa - fullness.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté


Names of agni
We will just be looking at a few names for now , yet in future posts will revisit the mantra-s from where the name came from as they fit into the larger scope of agni.


The ṛṣi of the following verses is medhātithiḥ kāṇvaḥ
In the ṛg ved 1.13.2 and 1.13.3 we have some interesting names of agni. It is considered part of the āpṛ (āpri) family of sūkta-s. Āpṛ is defined as to give aid, to protect. Āp means 'to arrive at one's aim or end , become to cause one to reach or obtain or gain'.
tanūnapāt तनूनपात् - 'son of himself , self-generated' ; this word is also another name for 'fire' as you would expect due to its association with agni.
tanū-the body , person ; form or manifestation. It is worthy of note that tanu means small, fine, delicate.
napāt- is son, offspring

There are two ways of viewing this most delightful name.
1. He is born within the aspirant - He grows there, this divine will, the flame of purity and upliftment. He is kindled within and begins to manifest more and more. Because he is born within , the ṛṣi sees him as the 'son of the body', of the human aspirant. He is invited in and to manifest to grow.
2. In mantra 1.13.3 agni is addressed as narāśaṃsa. On first inspection many see this word as narasiṃha or 'man-lion', a noun for viṣṇu-avatāra. This is not the case here.
narāśaṃsa नराशंस means 'the desire or praise of men' . Why so? In this position it is he, agni that brings the praises from the aspirants ( the yajamāna-s) to the devatā via the yajña, hotra, puja's, etc.

If you recall agni/fire tattva is also that tattva that brings speech. The praises of men come via vāc ( or vāk) and this speech ability is kindled by fire tattva. Hence praise is enabled by speech and speech is enabled by agni.

In mantra 1.12.9 and 1.12.10 agni is addressed as pāvaka. This means pure , clear , bright , shining a perfect name for agni as luminance. Yet pāvaka is used as purifying/cleansing. We can call another pāvaka and mean a saint , a person purified as the word works back to a root 'pu', cleaning, purifying.

praṇām

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté


Names of agni (continues)


An interesting name of agni found in śloka 1.1.5 is:
kavikratuḥ - kavi कवि is defined as with insight , intelligent , knowing , enlightened .Yet on occasion it is considered a singer , bard , poet . Many times a ṛṣi is called a 'poet' in terms of his/her offerings to the veda-s as if a writer, yet using the word kavi defined as with insight ~enlightened~ seems to me a much (much) better fit.

Yet there are some that derive kavikratuḥ to mean divine will. How does this occur? With the advent of kavi it is not too hard to see this as 'divine' as it aligns well with enlightenment, with the notion of a sage, and in its masciline gender is considered varuṇa , indra , the aśvins , maruts , āditya-s , hence 'divine' is not a stretch in thinking.

But what of this kratu ? Some dis-assemby is required. Kra brings us to kram (krama) meaning uninterrupted, regular progress , order , series , regular arrangement , succession. Uninterrupted ( for me ) is a good fit. Yet inside this kra we have 'kṛ' as an associated root.

This 'kṛ' is to cause, to cultivate, to make happen, to procure for another , bestow , grant. Hence it seems reasonable to collectively gather these words into the notion of ~will~. But what of this 'will' ? As a noun it means 'the faculty of conscious and deliberate action ' as this aligns to the definition of 'kṛ' .

Hence kavikratuḥ as 'divine will' as a notion is reasonable, albiet there could have been a more straight foreward way of saying this no? Such as icchā-deva.

But who am I to offer madhuchandāḥ vaiśvāmirtaḥ-ji ( ṛṣi of these sūkta-s) a better way? It is MHO that the sound quality , the meter, etc. are all taken in consideration when these mantra-s are offered by the ṛṣi. That was how the vibration occurred within the ṛṣi and hence the compostion of the vibration to insure the overall perfection of this mantra stays in tact with the proper word-sounds that make up the śloka. That is, sound quality, chandas , and the like all come into view of the ṛṣi-s cognition.

praṇām

words

icchā - wish , desire , inclination + deva - divine ( from 'div' to shine, be bright).

[atanu]

Yajvan ji please allow me a few moments with the theme of Time with Vayu.

I do not know whether this will touch anyone's heart here. It is said that music touches the heart like nothing else. Yesterday afternoon I shut myself in a room and immersed in western classical music for 3 hours. I put the music loud, almost near the maximum volume. Being a music lover (without any capability myself however), I have equipped my room with the best music system of the world that throws out sound patterns without distortion at highest of driver capacity. And the driver capacity of the system is sufficient to make audible a whisper and a cannon shot simultaneously.

Lazing with half closed eyes through many pieces of divinely inspired designs, which create intricate air wave patterns that have stood the test of time, pleasuring and inspiring humankind through ages, I came to an eight minute play of Beethoven's 'Symphony No.5 in C minor "Fate"'. It will not be an exaggeration to say that I saw the music. I saw Beethoven's design as dancing air waves come to me and fade away only to re emerge with new colours, from every whatever direction. Eight minutes of wonderment. Eight minutes of dancing air waves tantalising me -- not particularly my aural senses but the whole of me. I almost became the dancing air, which actually I am.

Possibly, with appropriate music, darknesses and bumpy places in heart can be erased? Pranayama does it. But music, fundamentally being waves of prAna, should also do it. Indeed Indian Classical musicians attain yoga effortlessly. And, I remember a news of some fast food chain in USA finding out that playing Blue Danube mitigated the problems of hooliganism in their premises.

Om Namah Shivaya

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté atanu


Eight minutes of dancing air waves tantalising me -- not particularly my aural senses but the whole of me. I almost became the dancing air, which actually I am.

A joyful experience that is also supported by the āgama-s.

73rd kārikā , Vijῆāna Bhairava

gītādi-viṣayāsvādasama-asukhyaikatatmanaḥ |
yoginas tanmayatvena manorūdhes-tad-ātmatā ||

Svāmī Lakṣman-jū's translation:
When the mind of a yogi is one with the unparalleled joy of music and other (aesthetic delights), then he is identified with it due to the expansion of his mind which has merged with it.

He suggests that the yogi whose mind is focused on the joy of the music while experiencing the melodious tunes, becomes united with that unparallelled bliss or asama saukhya = unequaled + health , happiness , felicity.

praṇām

[AmIHindu]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté

Spending time with agni can be at the knowledge level, sound level and experiential level. I hope to offer some of these as (interesting) subject matter for ones consideration. It is put in this folder of uttara as I hope to discuss the deeper and significant values associated with agni, beyond the notion of 'flame' as some Western translators may have one believe.
I invite all those that wish to contribute in an uplifting manner to please participate per your inspiration.

praṇām



Namaste,

This is very good explanation for Agni Dev. Share some more with me. Is there anything to do with Brahmcharya and Agni ? Brahcharya, my definition, not having sex at physical level as well at thought level.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

Namaste,

Brahcharya, my definition, not having sex at physical level as well at thought level.
... about brahmacarya. One immediately thinks celibacy. That can be a component , yet let's take a look brahma+carya.

We know that Brahma as the creator, the creative impulse of all + carya is conduct. So , both put together, it is the conduct of Brahma, the source, Brahman. The path that leads to Brahman.

You will find that brahmacarya is connected to yajña and yajña connected to agni. More can be found on this HDF post:
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2960

praṇām

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté


... about brahmacarya. One immediately thinks celibacy. That can be a component
If one considers the absense of celibacy or an active desire for sexual congress we can infer with a high degree of confidence that rago-guṇa is active. From this kāma (desire, longing) is kindled. Yet there are some ( the saṃyāsin and many a sādhu) who find this desire a nagging hinderence to their sādhana.

yajvan, what does this have to do with agni ?

They , saṃyāsin and sādhu perform the viraja homam. This viraja means free from passion, clean , pure.

In this practice ( kalpa ) or pūja they symbolically throw, give up, offer rago-guṇa & rāga¹ into the sacrificial fire ( homam¹) i.e. agni. Giving up these items to agni to burn away.

What is to become of this ? In a word nirveda. In the masculine gender this word can be applied to mean complete indifference , disregard of worldly objects. In this case passion, rāga.

praṇām

words

rāga - feeling of passion; inflammation, the color red;
homam is also homa - the act of making an oblation to the deva-s ; offering clarified butter (ghee) and other ingredients ( physical and mental) into the fire .
We can also call this deva-yajña - oblation with fire , burnt-offering , any oblation or sacrifice.

[brahman]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/8016536.cms



oṁ agne,








Here is a short mantra on fire, which is meant to be recited on kindling the sacrificial fire, and is addressed to the fire thus kindled.

Seer of the mantra is Sri. Narayana Guru, a 1925 work, in this Sri. Guru was all praise for Agni and treats the seven tongues of fire as our mind intellect and the five senses.


Homa Mantra

Oh fire this effulgence of yours pertains to the absolute,

Therefore you are the perpetual form of the absolute,

The five senses, mind and intellect are your *seven tongues (sapta-jiḥvāḥ),

In you I sacrifice the samit* that represents the objects of my senses,

In you I sacrifice the ghee which represents my ego,

May you pleased with us, may you pleased.

May you grant us the values of this life (preyas) as well as the values that are eternal (sreyas)

Svaha

oṁ shanti shanti shanti
-------------------------------------------------------

* Samit(nine grains used in rituals)

* Seven tounges of fire as on shruti(First Mundaka: Second Khanda 4th matra)

kālī karalī ca mano-javā ca sulhoitā yā ca sudhūmravarṇā, sphuliṅginī viśva-rūpi ca devī lelāyamānā iti sapta-jiḥvāḥ.

Kali (the flame accompanied by dark smoke),

Karali (the leaping flame),

Manojava (the Swift as thought),

Sulohita (the Very red ),

Sudhumravarna (of the colour of bright smoke; purple),

Splulingini (the Scintillating),

Visvaruchi (the All−gleaming, all−formed)−these seven, flickering about, form the seven tongues of the fire.

Note: The seven tongues do not necessarily denote the number of flames in a burning fire, but are the seven primary ways in which fire flames, symbolising the ways in which the absolute manifests.



This thread has been really informative, Thanks to you Sri. Yajvan for this great initiative.Love:)



.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Another most noble upākhyā¹ for agni is jātavedas. It is defined as knowing all births, some say one who knows all generations.
IN the ṛg ved (6.15.13) it says ,
aghnirhotā ghṛhapatiḥ sa rājā viśvā veda janimā jātavedaḥ|
devānāmuta yo martyānāṃ yajiṣṭhaḥ sa pra yajatāṃ ṛtāvā || 13

Jātavedas (jātavedaḥ) knows (veda) all, every , every one (viśvā) birth/production (jani) + (mā). This mā is what makes this sloka interesting to me because it means:

knowledge
time
to measure out or measure acrossSo it is jātavedas that knows every and all births for all time . Note too that 'veda' means knowledge It also means perception. So one can draw the proper conclusions of what jātavedas knows and perceives.

As mentioned it is said he can perceive (see and hear) the invocations that are rendered to him. Yet there are some (yāska-ji¹) who says jātavedas means having innate wisdom.

Another view which is from a slightly different viewpoint is jātavedas = he exists in all creatures. One way this is said symbolically is from the ṛg ved (3.29.2):
araṇyornihito jātavedā garbha iva sudhito gharbhiṇīṣu |
dive-diva īḍyo jāghṛvadbhirhaviṣmadbhirmanuṣyebhiraghniḥ || 2

This says in general,
jātavedas is deposited in two (fire) sticks ; (he) lies within the within the womb (garbha) of pregnant women.

　
So, if we note the word, we learn just by inspection the term jātavedas is a compound (karmadhāraya¹) word.
The 1st part ( defined as pūrvapada¹) is jāta + vedas, the 2nd part of the word ( defined as uttarapada¹). Now why even exercise this part of decomposing a word ? Because we are also told that the roots of jātavedas may look like this: jan + ta + vid (I too have seen it written jan + kta + vid )

jan = produced, to cause to be born
ta = womb
vid = to know; obtain , get , acquire We find this in the śatapatha brāhamaṇa : tad yat jātaṃ jātaṃ vindate tasmāt jātavedaḥ
That which obtains every born being and produced substance is jātavedas

Now we really have quite an in-depth and profound view of agni = jātavedas, which is way beyond the notion of ~fire~ .

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Agni_and_consort.jpg/220px-Agni_and_consort.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Agni_and_consort.jpg)


iti śivaṁ

words

upākhyā - epithet ; a secondary name
epithet - an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned
yāska-ji - the author of the nirukta (the etymology of vedic words contained in the lists called nighaṇṭu-s) ; he is supposed to have lived before pāṇini
gārbha - born of the womb
garbha - womb; the inside , middle , interior of anything
pūrvapada - the 1st member.

uttarapada - the last member of a compound word
karmadhāraya - name of a class of tatpuruṣa compounds (in which the members would stand in the same case if the compound were dissolved


tatpuruṣa - a class of compounds (formed like the word tat-puruṣa , " his servant ") in which the last member is qualified by the first without losing its grammatical independence
two subdivisions of these compounds are called karmadhāraya and dvi-gu

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté



Jātavedas (jātavedaḥ) knows (veda) all, every , every one (viśvā) birth/production (jani) + (mā).


Now if one were of a thinking mind, this statement has far reaching implications. Jātavedas knows every birth, every production. If we limit ourselves, then one ends up thinking, He knows every birth.
But if one opens up the possibilities, we have an extensive range for the notion of 'birth'.

the birth of all human beings and any/all beings on this earth or above or below it.
the birth of any seedling that becomes a plant or flora.
the birth of a thought
the birth of an idea
the birth of an action
etc.These are just a few ideas of the far reaching comprehension of what jātavedas knows and may wish to perceive.



iti śivaṁ

[smaranam]

praNAm Yajvanji

IN the ṛg ved (6.15.13) it says ,
aghnirhotā ghṛhapatiḥ sa rājā viśvā veda janimā jātavedaḥ|
devānāmuta yo martyānāṃ yajiṣṭhaḥ sa pra yajatāṃ ṛtāvā || 13
Jātavedas (jātavedaḥ) knows (veda) all, every , every one (viśvā) birth/production (jani) + (mā).

the ṛg ved (3.29.2):
araṇyornihito jātavedā garbha iva sudhito gharbhiṇīṣu |
dive-diva īḍyo jāghṛvadbhirhaviṣmadbhirmanuṣyebhiraghniḥ || 2
This says in general,
jātavedas is deposited in two (fire) sticks ; (he) lies within the within the womb (garbha) of pregnant women.

We find this in the śatapatha brāhamaṇa : tad yat jātaṃ jātaṃ vindate tasmāt jātavedaḥ
That which obtains every born being and produced substance is jātavedas



So basically this jAtaveda agni is [not only] the knower of anything that manifests, is the "spirit" (cause) behind the birth i.e. manifestation (for it to occur),
but also the final devourer, absorber, the END of all that is born and produced (manifest).

This means jAtaveda-agni is [a form of] Bramhan.

Interesting, that AvAhan (request to appear) is made to jAtaveda in Shri-sUkta and it appears in this sukta quite often. Shri-sUkta is otherwise a praise of Shri (of course with ample knowledge about Her tattva in us).

Perhaps you may have some insight to offer about why that is
i.e. The connection of the golden (suvarNa-varNa) Shri (that accompanies NArAyaNa) and Agni. (Shri is praised here as both "golden" (pure) and "Lotus-complexioned")

om namo bhagavate vAsudevAya _/\_

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

praNAm Yajvanji
So basically this jAtaveda agni is [not only] the knower of anything that manifests, is the "spirit" (cause) behind the birth i.e. manifestation (for it to occur),

It is quite interesting that agni ( dhūmaketu - having smoke as His banner) is called as being the youngest (yaviṣṭhya¹) but also the ṛṣi of the following śloka calls him as the father:

ṛg ved (1.69.1)
śukraḥ śuśukvānuṣo na jāraḥ paprā samīcī divo najyotiḥ |
pari prajātaḥ kratvā babhūtha bhuvo devānāṃ pitā putraḥ san ||
You are the father & mother (pitā = pitṛ = parents) of the devā-s (devānāṃ) yet their son (putraḥ= son, also child)


iti śivaṁ
　
1. yaviṣṭhya - youngest

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté




It is quite interesting that agni ( dhūmaketu - having smoke as His banner) is called as being the youngest (yaviṣṭhya¹) but also the ṛṣi of the following śloka calls him as the father:

ṛg ved (1.69.1)
śukraḥ śuśukvānuṣo na jāraḥ paprā samīcī divo najyotiḥ |
pari prajātaḥ kratvā babhūtha bhuvo devānāṃ pitā putraḥ san ||
You are the father & mother (pitā = pitṛ = parents) of the devā-s (devānāṃ) yet their son (putraḥ= son, also child)


Now how can we agni as the youngest ? It seems to me that each time
a fire begins, he then is born again ( and again) - he is the newest/youngest born.

iti śivaṁ
　
1. yaviṣṭhya - youngest

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

If we notice we will see that the comprehension of agni comes on 3 levels:　

abhidhā or the conventional meaning i.e. the literal meaning
lakṣaṇā or indirectly via sign, symbol, inference.
vyañjanā or the figurative expression more intuitively offered some may call implied indication , yet is on a higher level of meaning.This is more formally called out as:

ādhiyājñika - relating or belonging to sacrifice , sacrificial or yājña
ādhidaivika - proceeding from the deva-s ;that is, natural phenomenon and the universe that surrounds us
ādhyātmika - relating to the Supreme ; from . adhy-ātma , relating to Self or ātmanNow who says this ? Our ācārya yāska¹ is his work niruka. There are other sources for this also i.e. brāmaṇa āraṇyaka and śatapatha (100 paths) brāmaṇa; some too try and tease-out this 3-fold view in the chandogya upaniṣad (3.18.2) but this takes a bit more work to come to the conclusion of the 3 mentioned above.
　
So why am I mentioning this when it comes to agni ? Because He can be addressed/viewed on 3 levels:
Within the sacrifice (ādhiyājñika) He is the fire, let alone delivers the offerings to the devatā-s , He is the hotravāham. We are told He is aratim (servant) bearer of these offerings, suggesting He selflessly serves the devatā . The word used in the ṛg ved is dūtamaratiṃ¹

We will look at the remaining two in the next post.

iti śivaṁ
words　

Yāska, an early ācārya (circa 2000 BCE), was one of the earliest saṁskṛt (sanskrit) grammarians or etymologist. He mentions several interpretations of the ṛg veda itself - that of naiyāyika (logic), itihāsika (or history some call mythological in its most noble sense), yājñika (rituals), ādibhuta (natual powers) and ādhyāyma ( spiritual and that of the Supreme).
hotravāham = hotra + vāham ; note the vāha is bearing , drawing , conveying ; a bearer , any vehicle , carriage , conveyance + hotra = a burnt-offering , oblation with fire . We find this in the ṛg ved 5.26.7.
dūtamaratiṃ is the word used in the ṛg ved 3.17.4 - dūtam + aratiṃ : dūta = a messenger , envoy , ambassador + aratiṃ is applied as disinterested. Some use the term 'discontented' , yet on upon further inspection one will find this arati's second derivation is servant, administrator, and 'moving quickly.
aghniṃ sudītiṃ sudṛśaṃ ghṛṇanto namasyāmastveḍyaṃ jātavedaḥ |
tvāṃ dūtamaratiṃ havyavāhaṃ devā akṛṇvannamṛtasya nābhim || 3.17.4

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté



ādhiyājñika - relating or belonging to sacrifice , sacrificial or yājña
ādhidaivika - proceeding from the devā-s ; that is, natural phenomon and the universe that surrounds us
ādhyātmika - relating to the Supreme ; from . adhy-ātma , relating to Self or ātman
The notion of ādhidaivika is the world of creation. We see agni jātavedas within our community, in our house hold, above us in the sky, within devices. The easist and most recognizable is agni as fire. Every fire from the stove to the furnace that melts steel is agni. He is in our house as we cook , light a candle, and even within us as our body tempeture. Humans are beings of heat. This heat and fire ( of digestion) is agni.
Fire brings light, luminance; He is the light of consciousness within us and every being we see. It is by our eyes that light is taken in, it too is a function of agni.
The light comes from the sun - agni. Light from the stars - agni. Light from galaxies forming or exploding - agni.
Light from lightening - agni. This agni is śukraśociṣe¹ : śukra = pure, bright , resplendent + śociṣe = śocis = shining , brilliant , splendor.
　
The notion of ādhyātmika or relating to the Supreme has been reviewed above:

If we look to the great seer/ṛṣi śunaḥṣepaḥ ājīgartiḥ and his hymn 1.24.1 and 1.24.2 of the ṛg ved he asks,

1.24.1
' Being in doubt I ask, among the immortals (amṛta - immortal, imperishable) which deva/deity with an auspicious name shall we call? Who is that God who will restore us to the mighty aditi¹ (the Infinite, wholeness, fullness) so I may behold again the father and the mother ( i.e. spiritual parents) '

1.24.2 śloka gives the answer:
'Agni, the first among the immortals - his auspicious name will we utter.'

We are told He is amṛta - immortal, imperishable i.e. amartya or divine. This word amṛta when used in the neuter gender is final emancipation , world of immortality , eternity. He is the final destination.

He no doubt is worthy of our praise & study. It is the seers (ṛṣi-s) who properly recognize this in the very first word of the ṛg ved :
agnimīḷe purohitaṃ yajñasya devaṃ ṛtvījam |
hotāraṃ ratnadhātamam || 1.1.1
agni I adore…

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iti śivaṁ
1. samidhā jātavedase devāya devahūtibhiḥ |
havirbhiḥ śukraśociṣe namasvino vayaṃ dāśemāghnaye || ṛg ved 7.14.1