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 thorough Sanskrit scholar, for the compilation of the eight meanings of this word.

Têjas signifies:

1. Sharpness, cutting edge.

2. Fire, splendor, light, glow, heat.

3. Healthy appearance, beauty.

4. The fiery and color-producing power of the human organism (thought to be in the bile).

5. Power, energy, vital force.

6. Passionate nature.

7. Mental, also magic, strength; influence, position, dignity.

8. Sperma.

This gives us a dim idea of how, for primitive thought, the so-called objective world was, and had to be, a subjective image. To this thought must be applied the words of the "Chorus Mysticus":

"All that is perishable Is only an allegory."

The Sanskrit word for fire is agnis (the Latin ignis);[43] the fire personified is the god Agni, the divine mediator,[44] whose symbol has certain points of contact with that of Christ. In Avesta and in the Vedas the fire is the messenger of the gods. In the Christian mythology certain parts are closely related with the myth of Agni. Daniel speaks of the three men in the fiery furnace:

"Then Nebuchadnezar, the King, was astonished, and rose up in haste and spake, and said unto his counsellors: 'Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?'