What is this Brihadaranyaka? It is the Immense (Brihath) hermitage. This ashram is the combined expression of the mind, speech, and life. Tejas (effulgence) symbolises vak (speech). Mind is represented by food –Annamaya. Prana (the Life-Principle) is Rasamaya (essential sweetness). The effulgent speech, in association with the mind as food becomes the essence of the Life-Principle. This truth was proclaimed by the sages in the Upanishadic declaration: Raso Vai Saha (He, the Divine, is all sweetness) – the form of Brahman. The Rasa principle is present only in Prana (the Life Principle). The cosmos is based on life. There is, however, the Atma, which transcends the Life Principle.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is the unified form of Vak, Manas and Prajna. As the sages in the forest contemplated on this form and realised the bliss of experiencing the Divine, this got the appellation Aranyaka (Forest). As fire arises in forests, Agni (Fire) got the name Aranya. Man’s life originates in fire, grows on fire and ends in Agni. Born from the warm womb of the mother, sustained by the fire of his digestive organ, man ultimately ends on the funeral pyre. Fire is thus the basic cause of human birth and death.
Agni is an embodiment of the Divine. Fire is effulgent. It nourishes the whole world. But it needs to be kept under control. ‘There is nothing great without restraint.’ (SSS Vol.26, pp. 272-273)