Om Shree Dham–A Healing Biosphere September/October 2020 Satsang | Volume 48 #4 | New Era 77
Table of Contents
Om Shree Dham, Australia–A Healing Biosphere
Parama Dham’s 47th Anniversary
Article on Agnihotra Published in International Journal of Plant and Environment
Homa Psychotherapy: The Fivefold Path of Vedas as Our Way Out and In
Om Shree Dham, Australia–A Healing Biosphere
Om Shree Dham is a Homa farm located in New South Wales, Australia. Certified Homa Therapy teachers Lee and Frits Ringma have been practicing Agnihotra and Homa Therapy techniques there since 1994. Lee writes:
Om Shree Dham is a Homa Therapy Centre promoting holistic ecology, organic farming and overall well-being. The Centre is nestled in a beautiful valley in the Hunter region of NSW.
We are happy to welcome you to our lifestyle where we practice Agnihotra and other Homas daily. These simple practices from Ayurveda involve pyramid Fires and resonance to bring life force, nutritional fragrance and heightened vibration into the environment. This helps nature function at her best, which in turn nurtures our health. (Note: At this time, they seek to host visitors with construction and gardening/farming skills.-Ed.)
The main Homa is called Agnihotra and is performed at the precise time of sunrise and sunset, vitalizing all that lives within the biosphere–the trees, vegetables, wildlife, ourselves and more. We invite you to stay with us and experience the effects this beautiful, rich environment has on your own health: mentally, physically and spiritually. You are also welcome to learn about the practices of Homa Therapy, a self empowering practice that you can continue at home if you wish. See www.agnihotra.com.au
It is this peaceful, vital atmosphere that provides a perfect space for learning about Homa Therapy and growing healthy organic vegetarian food, while unwinding in Homa atmosphere.
Accommodation at Om Shree Dham – Caravan or bring your own tent or mobile home. For those who wish to imbibe Agnihotra and Homa Therapy into their lives as well as benefit from a healing and transformational Homa biosphere created over a nearly 30-year period, contact us at info@agnihotra.com.au.
Linda Cleveland
visiting Om Shree Dham from the U.S.
I came to Om Shree Dham, Agnihotra Centre in NSW to visit my daughter and granddaughter. I flew over from the U.S. with the plan to rest up and then do some traveling. A couple of days after I landed not only did I develop a head cold, but Covid-19 lockdown started. Frits and Lee were very warm and welcoming. They assured me that I would be feeling better soon. I had known about Agnihotra Fires for several years, but did not understand what a difference the practice can make in your life. This is something that truly needs to be experienced. I sat in on the daily Homa Fires. Gradually, I felt better; jet lag gone, cold gone. It actually cleared up quickly the moment I started taking colloidal silver made with Agnihotra ash water. Every day I felt better and better; every day a little healthier, a little bit lighter in my mind and heart.
Then I started doing the Fires myself. It’s been only two months and I feel like a new person. I feel better physically. My knee has been slightly swollen for years. That is totally gone. I have been applying Agnihotra ash and ghee ointment on it during the night. Stress is also gone. I have more energy and stamina. I have a more positive outlook.
One week after writing this testimony I had an unusual experience. I felt awful for a couple of days. I came to realize that I was in a negative thinking pattern; a recognizable state of mind for me pre-Agnihotra. Once I witnessed what I was doing, I chose to adjust my attitude and I felt fine again. I have been delighted with the physical health improvements and now I am astonished and delighted about the mental improvements as well. At first I had no understanding of what it meant when people would say that Agnihotra brings about transformation of the mind. Now I have direct experience of that.
I feel a peaceful, loving atmosphere at Om Shree Dham that I attribute to the Agnihotra Fires and the Homa lifestyle. I like the rhythm and structure Agnihotra gives to your day. Being present and mindful of the beautiful sunrises and sunsets gives a more connected feeling to nature. Nature as well seems to connect with Agnihotra.
Adam, Irish Wwoofer (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms)
After a series of amazing coincidences I stumbled across a lovely guy named Sunbare, who happened to be practicing Agnihotra with some fellow anti-5G activists under the phone tower, in the town of Mullumbimby, NSW. I will never forget feeling the poor night’s sleep I had while doing night watch under the tower, melt away into serenity during sunrise Agnihotra. I believe we also rolled out our yoga mats afterwards to take full advantage of the sun’s Prana flowing through us. Because I knew nothing about Agnihotra prior to that, I needed to know more.
This journey has led me to the beautiful Om Shree Dham farm, the pillar of Agnihotra in Australia found in the Hunter Valley. From the moment I arrived, I have felt more love, compassion and devotion towards saving the planet than when I have been with any other group of people. Lee and Frits have taken me under their wing and guided me along the path of self-discovery and true good health.
It’s clear to see that regardless of what path you are on in life, Agnihotra has the capability to enhance the divine essence within you and aid you in reaching your full potential. My meditation has become much more then wrestling with the monkey mind and struggling to find comfort. I can feel a great sense of compassion and love growing inside me and far less attachment to my old addictive tendencies that led to my own frustrations and negative thought processes.
Now I have a renewed hope for mankind and our phenomenal planet, and a spiritual practice that benefits the environment as much as myself and those around me. I’m forever grateful to all who have shown me the light of Agnihotra.
For more information, go to www.agnihotra.com.au
If you would like to visit, please contact them in advance at this link. Due to changing COVID-19 restrictions all over the world, it is especially important to check with Lee and Frits before planning a visit.-Ed.
Parama Dham’s 47th Anniversary
Ed.
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020 marked the 47th anniversary of the Parama Dham Fire Temple in Madison, Virginia. Inaugurated by Shree Vasant in 1973, Parama Dham was the first Fire Temple in the world established under Parama Sadguru Shree Gajanan Maharaj’s dispensation of resuscitation of the ancient science of atmospheric purification for the New Age. The name Parama Dham, which means House of Almighty Father, was chosen by Maharaj Shree.
In a Fire Temple, there is no priest and nothing is worshipped. Agnihotra atmospheric purification technique is performed there twice daily at sunrise and sunset. A fixed set of mantras is chanted after Agnihotra. With the exception of the mantras, silence is observed in the Fire Temple at all times. The atmosphere becomes supercharged with healing energies.
In a separate room from the main temple room, 4 hours of Om Tryambakam Homa are performed daily. On no moon and full moon days, more hours of Om Tryambakam Homa are done there.
Regarding Fire Temples, Shree Vasant once stated, “Time is coming in a few years when extremely strict disciplines will have to be maintained to keep up the purity of these places and the harmony cycles around them. These places will become special refuge for multitudes. It is preferable that they be situated in a large garden area where food can be grown by the YAJNYA method. We need some places in cities also.”
Due to COVID-19, we cannot receive visitors to Parama Dham at this time. The fires are being maintained by the Madison Homa community. The community expects that visitors will again be permitted once COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted. In accordance with guidance received, when the Fire Temple reopens, visitors will be required to bathe and put on clean clothes before entering the temple.
Heartfelt thanks to all the people over the years, from many places, who have helped us in various ways to keep Parama Dham going.
Article on Agnihotra Published in International Journal of Plant and Environment
Ed.
The article titled “Agnihotra and the Environment” by Dr. Ulrich Berk has been published in the International Journal of Plant and Environment, Volume 6, Issue 1: 56-6
https://ijplantenviro.com/
Homa Psychotherapy: The Fivefold Path of Vedas as Our Way Out and In
Barry Rathner
Jordanow, Poland
(Barry Rathner has a private counseling psychology practice in Poland at Ecovillage Bhrugu Aranya. He moved there in 2009 after counseling inmates at several California jails and prisons for 10 years.
COVID-19 has contributed to an increase in clients wishing support as well as audiences wanting clarity on the value of Homa Psychotherapy in addressing psychological and physical issues of the pandemic.–Ed.)
The coronavirus is trying to teach all of us many lessons. One of them is particularly applicable to India—a mecca of spirituality facing especial challenges today with respect to material and physical issues.
Vedic culture provides simple—though not easy—solutions.
The Fivefold Path of Vedas—Yajnya, Daan, Tapa, Karma and Swadhyaya—has never before been brought into such a clear focus as it is today.
First, it was pollution. Then it was climate change. Now it is coronavirus. Not only is the writing on the wall; it is staring at us and smacking us in our collective faces. Nonetheless, free will never goes away. We have constant choices related to what to believe, to whom we listen, what to do. How to meander through the miasma? Go within. They only way out is in. And that is the purpose of Swadhyaya, Self-Study, the fifth step of the Fivefold Path. If we shirk its responsibilities, we do so at our own peril.
Doing Swadhyaya requires measures of Tapa, self-discipline. At times, it may feel as if we need to ‘force’ ourselves to look within. And no, looking within requires more than a good search engine. Google is good, but as a vehicle for reaching high levels of enlightenment or even self-knowledge, it has its limitations.
Google is not God. No ‘d’ is in the word.
The crucial aspect of Fivefold Path is the first step—Yajnya. Specifically, I refer to daily sunrise/sunset Agnihotra whereby two offerings of rice mixed with ghee are put into the copper pyramid healing fire at the precise moment of sunrise/sunset, accompanied by a short mantra recited once.
Is it possible to accomplish other aspects of the Fivefold Path without Yajnya? Probably yes, but with the exception of those among us who prefer to make their lives more difficult rather than less difficult, why would you want to take that route?
Aren’t things difficult enough? Aren’t there enough challenges on our plates? To not use the tools spelled out in Vedic culture may be silly or even criminal, some might say—criminal to ourselves, our environment, our children, our grandchildren.
Atmosphere-Prana-Mind is the tagline and the ‘formula.’ Heal the atmosphere by doing Agnihotra and the atmosphere then heals you and much more.
The atmosphere currently enveloping our planet—be it the physical atmosphere of pollution compounded by climate change, or the more subtle, but not less real, atmosphere of fear and stress and unknowingness—is deleterious to our mental and physical health.
Many people try to separate mental health from physical health. Interestingly, when a patient enters a mental hospital, the initial days are taken up by intensive physical health tests and workups.
Why? Not only can some mental conditions/disturbances be directly correlated to physical problems, but, the alleviation of physical problems of and in themselves can improve mental states.
We have less control over some aspects of atmosphere. Others are within the realm of purview and responsibility.
This is not a time for philosophic syllogisms but for practical, useful survival tools. In foxholes, as they say (a bit controversially), there are no atheists. The point is to let us investigate solutions to today’s challenges, free of preconceived dogma.
When patients enter therapy, they are seeking relief, insight and support. Yajnya and Tapa directly benefit us by the introduction of tools for relief and support. The Fivefold Path of Vedas constitute a platform of a way of living. The tools are so simple (and non-controversial) that they may be used universally without regard to religion, nationality or political affiliation.
It is not difficult to see the connections of each tool to issues of the mind, including psychotherapy.
Yajnya, first step and the foremost one, directly effects atmosphere, which then transposes those effects to Prana, hence, the mind.
Daan helps us reduce attachments to material objects—a great source of difficulty and trouble during Covid-19 lockdowns. The viral video of the 7-year-old girl in tears of grief when told the family could not go to McDonalds or KFC epitomizes our individual and collective angst at having to modify our daily routines—everything from being unable to go to gyms (or cinemas or bars or bowling alleys or churches or temples) to not socializing with our fellows. And when will my favorite type of potato chip return to store shelves? The shipping disturbances are cramping our lifestyles and stomachs.
Tapa: Were we able to see and appreciate the immense value in ‘burning’ the samskaras (old impressions on our minds) we would be less hesitant to engage in simple disciplines with the full cooperation of our minds and intellects. Control over our senses certainly is strengthened by doing tapas. Or as the Rolling Stones so eloquently put it, “You can’t always get what you want/ but if you try sometime you just might find/ you get what you need.”
Karma: Worldwide reactions to Covid-19 display shocking disregard for the Law of Karma. How else can one describe the wanton disregard of medical and scientific opinions as to how to modify our routines and behavior?
Roll the dice, if you will, but be fully aware that what goes around, comes around, and that the house always wins—sooner or later.
Swadhyaya—This is where the rubber meets the road, where push comes to shove. Why am I here? Who am I, really? What is the work for which I have taken birth?
Here is the Fivefold Path of Vedas presented in traditional form:
- Yajnya
HOMA Therapy is the science of purification of the atmosphere through the agency of FIRE. AGNIHOTRA HOMA (YAJNYA) is the basic HOMA. It is tuned to the biorhythm of sunrise/sunset and gives nutrients to the plant kingdom, removes diseases in a certain area and removes tension on the mind. This is the basic process in the Vedic sciences of medicine, agriculture, climate engineering and interplanetary communication.
2. Daan
Sharing of your assets in a spirit of humility. This corrects imbalance in financial matters and creates non-attachment to worldly possessions.
3. Tapa
Self-discipline of body and mind. This is conducive to a change in attitudes of mind and body. It results in a harmonious state of mind.
4. Karma
“You reap as you sow.” Always practicing good Karma (actions) diminishes the burden of negative Karma and one begins to invest in his own future. This means that what you do today will bring its fruits. Sowing seeds of love and kindness will bless my garden with plenty of love. Do Karma for self-purification.
5. Swadhyaya
Practice Swadhyaya (Self-study) for liberation. Who am I? Why am I here? My work on this planet is to learn to react with total LOVE with each opportunity given to me.
This is the Fivefold Path for happy living on the planet. By practicing the Fivefold Path you become better members of your society, group, religion, community, etc.
For more information, kindly go to:
Experiences in our Homa Garden
America Camacho
Malaga, Spain
We arrived at this apartment in June 2014, which has a 7 × 2.30-meter outdoor patio, and that is where we now have our mini Homa garden. We sow and plant everything only in pots.
We have been practicing Agnihotra for approximately 22 years and we learned about these healing Homa Therapy through Homa Therapy instructors Abel and Aleta. We share the Homa fires with people who come to our home.
In this same courtyard, I always perform Agnihotra and Om Tryambakam Homa when I am not working. In addition, we practice Om Tryambakam Homa for several hours on the new and full moons and on other special days, energetically and astrologically speaking.
In 2019, my husband, Josue, built planters or beds of recycled wooden pallets, which are waterproof on the inside. I could sow whatever I wanted. That year, 2019, although we were purely experimenting, we had a good harvest of large and small cherry tomatoes, mirasol chili peppers from Peru, grapes, potatoes (to prepare papa Huancaína), leeks, celery, eggplant, fried pepper (the typical Miguelin de Málaga), basil and bell peppers.
This year, 2020, we planted tomatoes, peppers, basil, zucchini, and more. The pumpkins came out spontaneously from the compost we prepare and with the soil, Agnihotra ash and cow dung powder. Also, this year, we bought Californian red worms for vermiculture to obtain liquid worm castings, an excellent nutrient for plants. The worms also receive the Agnihotra ash. We use Agnihotra ash for practically everything. We think it is very useful in our mini Homa garden. We water the plants with this solution.
Although the gardens within the cities are more beleaguered by pests, we generally do not need to use anything else.
Of course, we also consume the healing Agnihotra ash regularly.
Healing with Homa Therapy
Yovanna Calle Vasquez
Piura, Peru, South America
I started with the practice of Homa Therapy more than two years ago; soon it will be three. I am 41 years old and was born in Piura. I am a teacher. I am married and have a son named Salvador.
All my problems started when I was in the saddest moments of my life. At that time, I was 15 years old. That’s when my depression and anxiety began. I had a terrible relationship with my mother. I had intermittent crisis episodes for many years. I had stretches of time when I had to go to the psychologist and I improved for a time.
Also, for a time I went to the psychiatrist, but the medications were too strong and they hurt me by generating tremors in my body.
Also, for a time I did acupuncture therapy and other therapies that the psychologist told me to do. I got better for a while and then relapsed. That, added to the problems with my mother and my brothers and especially with my sister, made me suffer a lot. I had periods of insomnia and despair, especially when I became a mother. That’s why I sought the support of an aunt to help me raise my child until he was almost 4 years old.
Almost 3 years ago, when I had another crisis, I went to the Hospital Reateguil. While I was waiting my turn, I talked to a lady, whom I consider an angel. I told her about my problems and she suggested that I go to the Homa Therapy session, which was free of charge. It was in the late afternoon when she told me that this therapy was done at sunset in the Municipal Library of Piura, which was nearby and there was little time left. I went there with my son Salvador. We both learned about Homa Therapy. In the following days I attended again and I liked it because my insomnia improved and I could sleep and started feeling better. So, I decided to practice Homa Therapy with more discipline and take the Agnihotra ash.
I saw improvements not only physically, but also spiritually. I prayed to God for answers and wanted to improve on a spiritual level. I went to the different places where Homa Therapy was performed and I cried at the beginning and at the end. I was looking for spiritual answers and I was getting them, either by reading or perhaps in something I heard or with a report. I found answers.
Once, returning from an Agnihotra session, I met my mother and from the bottom of my heart, I looked at her and said, “I forgive you.” She was surprised and I felt that this had taken a great pain out of my soul.
As I continue to do Homa Therapy, I have not needed any medications for stress or anxiety.
I continue to do the healing Homa fires and even the relationships with my brothers changed and improved. I did not speak to my sister for years and this was a great suffering for me. Now we have a beautiful relationship. I have forgiven her and she has forgiven me.
My son also practices Homa Therapy and my family inquires if I have done Homa Therapy. Now, even my husband, who at first was resistant to these healing fires, asks me if Agnihotra time is approaching.
With Homa Therapy, the luminous fires and the healing Agnihotra ash, I find peace and tranquility. I feel that my physical and above all, my spiritual life, has improved. I keep improving in my spirituality. I feel that I get much closer to the Higher Being every time I do the healing fires. With these Homa Fires, I protect my family and my house and help others. I feel that my solidarity and compassion to other human beings has expanded.
I bless and thank that angel who crossed my life and let me know about Homa Therapy. Thanks also to Homa Therapy teachers Abel Hernandez and Aleta Macan, as they fulfill a very beautiful mission, which is to teach the Homa healing fires and improve humanity. Om Shree Om.
From Shree Vasant’s Teachings
From Talks with Scientists in Europe, 1980
Due to pollution, chemical reactions begin to develop in a peculiar way, giving results in a different way than they ever have, like a new ingredient is added. Some reactions do not give the same results twice.
Elements of nature are changing. Barium and Cadmium are fusing, becoming a new element. In large quantities this new element becomes very hazardous to health. It will be found in several places in the world in large concentrations.
Where industrial wastes have been carelessly disposed of, Barium and Cadmium become catalysts and cause a change in the geneological structure of man. There will be many new mutations found in newborns.
On Yajnya
The whole earth has been robbed of its elements by pollution. How to replace these things which are vital to all life? Yajnya is the only way. Perform Yajnya for fruition of thy affirmation.
Elements begin to change. Somehow due to a magnetic-like pull setup where Yajnya is performed, the elements required to make certain life-sustaining essentials are again attracted to the planet by manifestation of some other mode of transference. Even some may come from other planets.
By doing Agnihotra we attune ourselves to rhythms of nature that affect our biological functioning and simultaneously shield ourselves from the ravages of pollution. This biorhythmic switch of Agnihotra is similar to winding a clock. Just a couple minutes to wind it, yet it is kept going smoothly all day. So we are kept running smoothly if we do Agnihotra every sunrise and sunset. It is not good enough to do a few minutes of Yoga and a few minutes of macrobiotics and then act like the same old monkey the rest of the day. We must be full of love every moment of the day. YAJNYA IS THE CATALYST THAT TRANSFORMS ‘GOOD INTENTIONS’ INTO EVERYDAY PRACTICE.
Self Study
Remember always that your body is only your instrument, your car. You are not the body. It does not concern you. You can get out when you want. Its interests are only so far interesting for you that it functions further. All else is not interesting for you and belongs to the reach of PAN, not you.
A part of a different sphere (PAN) is kept ready at your disposal so that you can fulfill your task to transform energy from higher to lower levels. But this part does not belong to you and has no right to put claims on you.
Matter has its own laws with which it must work and through which it must develop. It has nothing to do with your Self. The hammer has nothing to do with the worker. It keeps only ready for use and the worker takes care that the hammer remains fit for its work. The wooden handle takes its own development, rots or is burnt or so. The iron takes its own development, rusts or is melted or so. When the hammering is over, both have nothing further to do with the worker.
Similarly, the soul, when the work here is done, gives its body, as instrument, back to nature kingdom and lets its natural development take place. It has nothing further to do with it. This work the Nature Spirits do.
Keep this in mind and handle your body accordingly. This will save much confusion when you, from the beginning, refuse strictly all the useless claims your body puts on you and banish it to its level and laws. It is only your hammer which you use for hammering and which you keep only for hammering and nothing further.
Each body and the subtle envelopes belong to the sphere in which they work and have to follow the laws which have validity there.
When the SELF rises higher, it leaves behind every body in its level and has nothing to do further with it. Who are responsible for these instruments or envelopes? The laws of the corresponding levels. They only lend to the Self a part of their power over these stuffs for a special task which the Self should accomplish through the limiting envelope according to its level. Afterwards the connection is dissolved and finished.
Fivefold Path for Happy Living
1. Yajnya
HOMA Therapy is the science of purification of the atmosphere through the agency of FIRE. AGNIHOTRA HOMA (YAJNYA) is the basic HOMA. It is tuned to the biorhythm of sunrise/sunset and gives nutrients to the plant kingdom, removes diseases in a certain area and removes tension on the mind. This is the basic process in the Vedic sciences of medicine, agriculture, climate engineering and interplanetary communication.
2. Daan
Sharing of your assets in a spirit of humility. This corrects imbalance in financial matters and creates non-attachment to worldly possessions.
3. Tapa
Self-discipline of body and mind. This is conducive to a change in attitudes of mind and body. It results in a harmonious state of mind.
4. Karma
“You reap as you sow.” Always practicing good Karma (actions) diminishes the burden of negative Karma and one begins to invest in his own future. This means that what you do today will bring its fruits. Sowing seeds of love and kindness will bless my garden with plenty of love. Do Karma for self-purification.
5. Swadhyaya
Practice Swadhyaya (Self-study) for liberation. Who am I? Why am I here? My work on this planet is to learn to react with total LOVE with each opportunity given to me.
This is the Fivefold Path for happy living on the planet. By practicing the Fivefold Path you become better members of your society, group, religion, community, etc.
Publisher: Fivefold Path Inc.
Parama Dham (House of Almighty Father), 278 N. White Oak Dr., Madison, VA 22727 USA
Editor: Lisa Powers
Published seven times yearly.
Please direct all Satsang correspondence to the Editor.
Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of Satsang.
ISSN 0735-1321
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