Painting by Sylvia Brown. See "Sacred Fire in Hawaii"

Perform Agnihotra Heal The Atmosphere

NEW ERA 61 JANUARY & FEBRUARY, 2004 Vol. 31 No. 5

Contents

From Vasant's Correspondence

Sacred Fire in Hawaii

Homa Healings

Homa Farming Reports

Letters to Satsang

From Vasant's Correspondence

What is known as "fulfillment" in life can only come when one reaches a stage of non-attachment to whatever happens. Pleasure or pain, ideas of gain or loss, one remains unattached. This is TRANSFORMATION OF MIND in the direction of TOTAL LOVE. Mind is the instrument of our bondage and we have to learn to turn it into an instrument of liberation.

To do this, both body and mind have to go through some type of discipline. Here AGNIHOTRA is the greatest material aid one can find. It helps the body, the nervous system, circulatory system, the brain cells, etc. It also helps reshape the mind in the direction of total Love.

The Fivefold Path of ancient wisdom is based on these principles to make the journey of life an endeavour of joy.

Sacred Fire in Hawaii

Silvia Brown, Hawaii

One night I lay on my bed and instead of falling asleep, I began to float to the ceiling.   I looked down at my body and felt no concern. The next thing I knew, I had floated out into the dark, night sky. I kept floating higher and higher until I had completely left Earth's atmosphere. I was amazed by the sight of the Universe. I found myself looking at five Beings of Light standing together amidst the darkness of outer space. Light shone all around them as They seemed to be in deep discussion. I heard nothing. They never looked at me or acknowledged my presence.

One of the Beings of Light I recognized as my best friend's Guru and Spiritual Advisor, Parama Sadguru Shree Gajanan Maharaj.   Shree, as His devotees like to call Him, had been commanded by His Guru to show the world an ancient fire ritual that purifies the atmosphere. I was in the beginning stages of learning the Sanskrit mantras that were needed in order to do this Sacred Fire. 

Another Being of Light stood out from the group because He had a huge bow attached to His back. The other three Light Beings remained indistinct to me.

I was so excited and curious about who this Being of Light with a huge bow on His back could be, and that He was at my gate guarding my home just blew me away! The next day I called up my closest spiritual friend, Jamal, who lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and told him everything I had seen and experienced. Jamal immediately told me he knew who this Being of Light was. I was pretty shocked.

One day, while reveling in the beauty of my Hawaiian surroundings, I was filled with such awe that I transcnded my normal perception. What sent my Spirit flying was a look out my bedroom window at the green mountain peaks that surround the peaceful valley that I live in with my family. The valley sweeps down gracefullly to empty, white sand and then, the turquoise blue Pacific.

Glancing towards the front gate to my house, I saw a tall, white-haired older man with a huge bow tied to his back. The moment I saw Him, He disappeared from my sight. Still, I `knew' He was there, guarding my home. I was so shocked by this revelation, in the middle of the day, that I ran outside to the front gate and mentally thanked Him, whoever He was, for being there.

Slowly I walked back into the house where my twin daughters were playing and where my infant daughter lay sleeping in her basinette. Suddenly it dawned on me that I had seen this Being once before in an out-of-body experience I had nearly fifteen years earlier. 

Although I thought Jamal would help me, I never thought it would be so easy to get the answers I was looking for. Jamal told me that this Being of Light I had seen was a Light Entity that had been on Earth longer than 10,000 years and that He is of the Brughu family lineage. His name is Lord Parshuram and His name is mentioned numerous times in the Vedas. It was He who set Shree on His path to bring the Vedic wisdom of Universal Laws to the world.

After learning all this about Lord Parshuram, I began to talk to Him. I asked Him to please bless me with the understanding of why He was there at my gate, and what it was that He wanted of me and my family.

A few weeks after seeing Lord Parusharam, I began painting landscapes of Hawaii. In particular I painted the mountains that surround my home along with the beautiful plant life....the flowers that color the landscape of Hawaii. After painting one particular mountain, I felt moved to paste a cut-out photo of Shree into the landscape I had painted and then hung it up over my bed as if to say, visually, that Shree was here, with me, in Hawaii bringing purification and universal truth to everyone in Hawaii.

It was a Sunday afternoon near sundown. My husband and I and our three young daughters were out taking a drive up the coast of our island. We passed by the mouth of an ancient cave known to have spiritual significance for Hawaiians. I had heard different stories about the cave; I didn't really know the truth about any of them. Some of the stories were rather spooky and I'm not a person who believes in spooky things, so I didn't pay much attention to the stories.   When you drive up that way, the road goes so close to the mouth of the cave, it's just a few feet away from you as you're driving by. Just as we got to the mouth of the cave I turned and looked inside. To my surprise, I saw a very tall Hawaian warrior with a yellow feathered headdress that looked remarkably like some of the headdresses I've seen Tibetian monks wear during ceremonial rites. He was looking directly at me and beckoned me into the cave with His hand. All that happened within the few moments it took to drive by the cave. Excitedly, I told my husband what I had seen. "That probably was the Hawaian god, Maui," my husband told me. "I think He is known to have lived in that cave." Neither of us knew where all this would lead us, but we were sure that the meaning would become more clear to us as we continued down the path of knowing ourselves better and better.

The next day it dawned on me that the only really powerful thing I could share with the Being in the cave was the Sacred Fire I had been taught to do, so I took my family down into the cave at sundown and did Agnihotra.

I didn't recieve any major information or even any clues about what I had seen in the cave for over three years. The Spirit isn't concerned or connected to time. I realize now that everything was waiting...waiting for me to be empty enough to recieve more understanding.

Three years went by very quickly. My twins were old enough to go to school. It surprised me when I found that the school they were enrolled in was at the bottom of the mountain I had painted three years earlier and had pasted a cut-out picture of Shree into the landscape. It was still hanging over my bed. In order to keep a close eye on their academic development, my husband took a job as a counselor at their school. One day when he came home, he told me that the principal at the school was known to be very knowledgeable about Hawaian spirituality. "You should try to get a chance to talk with him about your experience in the cave," he suggested. From that moment on, I waited and watched for the right moment. Then one day it arrived.  

We sat on a school bench and talked. I first asked him about the mountains that were
around us, about their spiritual significance for the people who have been living with them for over a thousand years.

Turquoise, Topaz and Jasmine Brown in front of their school, where we did Agnihotra.

I had quite a few questions about the mountains because I had been looking at them and painting them for several years. After we both felt comfortable talking to each other, I began to tell him about my experience in the cave. I asked him to help me understand the significance of my experience from a Hawaian perspective. He told me, "Two Hawaian gods are associated with that cave!" Then, he asked me what color the headdress was. I remembered it was yellow. When I told him, he jumped up excitedly. "Look!" he said. "I've got `chicken skin' talking about this with you! Who you saw was our Creator God, Kane.  He lived in that cave and is associated with several other areas around here." What the principal told me reverberated in such a way that I sensed it was the truth about that which I was learning. I had been worshipping the Creator of the Universe since I could remember.

Months later while driving with my family, again in the same area of the coastline as the ancient cave, the mountains in a certain area began talking to me. Even though I knew mountains can't talk, I also knew it was they who were talking to me. They "showed" me how and where native Hawaiians would offer offering to their male Gods and to their female Goddesses, and it was in two different places and in two different ways. I was quite intrigued. One part of me, the growing part, knew I was being shown something true.   Another part of me wanted confirmation and more explanation.

This time I called the principal and talked to him on the phone. I felt strange telling him that the mountains were talking to me, but I put my fears aside so I could learn whatever he would allow me to know. 

Because of the push to Christianize Hawaii since the 1800's , many Hawaians who know the ancient ways are reluctant to tell others what they know in the fear that they will be
discriminated against. Since historically this has happened repeatedly, most of their fears are well-founded. But, this time, on the phone with me, the principal was very kind and open. He confirmed what I had heard. Something about what I confided to him made him open up even further and he began to tell me about a problem he had been dealing with without any resolution.  

It had to do with the school. He told me that the school had been built on an ancient burial site and that the local Hawaiian residents had protested the plan but had been ignored. He confided in me even further and explained that the land had been in his family's care since ancient times and that his family was one of the oldest families on our coast. Then he told me that after the school had been built, the Hawaian elders, called Kapunas, had come and offically blessed the site, singing their chants and offering certain offerings to the Hawaian Gods and to the spirits of their ancestors, especially the ones who were buried on the campus. "Did that appear to help the situation?" I asked. "No, right away everyone seemed to feel a negative force happening there. One of the elders who blessed the school died and another went crazy, and then negative things began to happen with regularity. Finally, my Kapunas asked me to come back to my ancestral home and take this job as Principal of this school to try to find an answer to this problem and other problems happening here."

While the principal was speaking, my concern was growing and growing. I already knew the history that left ninety percent of all Hawaians dead within two generations of coming in contact with Western civilization. , I knew about the total disregard of their Hawaiian culture, spirituality--the disregard of their very lives! You add this story to the fact that my childern were going to this school every day, my husband worked there; I couldn't have felt more involved if I had tried!

I instantly knew what I wanted to do, but would the prinicpal understand? Hesitantly, I spoke. "You know, I might know something that would help the situation, but, I'm not sure how you would feel about it. It involves chant, fire and the power of Nature. It is something I have been involved with for nearly twenty years! But don't decide now, think about it and call me if you should decide to try it." I gave the principal my home phone number, wondering if I would ever hear from him. Two weeks later, he called me and said, "Yes!  The sooner the better!!"

We set a date, but ended up having to change it several times because the principal was just
so busy. Finally, we set the date on the full moon of April. The full moon triggers specific healing energies, according to the ancient Hawaiian understanding of Nature. Other cultures reflect this belief. I knew that my teachers and advisers spoke of the full moon as expansive and healing. This Sacred Fire I had been taught, called Agnihotra, blends its energies very well with the energy of the full moon. So we set the date, knowing that somehow we would keep it this time.

The monument we erected where I first "saw" Lord Parshuram. Around the Shivalingam we put rocks from all over the world.

As the full moon came up, so did the wind. We were having gusts of 30 miles an hour and more. I asked the principal if he could stop the wind. He laughed, and said he didn't think so. Still, I was counting on the Universe cooperating with us.

As I was getting ready and readying my family to go that day, I got a phone call from the principal. He was stuck in traffic on his way home from a meeting. We agreed to meet at the school. He said he thought he would be around twenty minutes late. That would put us pretty close to sundown time, when I would be in the process of lighting the fire and giving the world of spirit an offering of rice and clarified butter (called ghee). I sent a little prayer up asking those in Spirit who had helped me in the past to come together now and help this moment to happen with Grace and blessings.

A friend who had experienced Agnihotra once before and wanted to experience it again enough to drive an hour and take us to the school, picked me and my family up.    We drove to the school in high spririts and waited for the prinicipal. He came, opened the school for us and then left quickly to pick up what he needed to do the Hawaiian blessing we had agreed he would do after the Sacred Fire burned.

I knew that we had to do Agnihotra outside because we would set off the fire alarms inside the school, but, the 30 mile an hour gusts of wind made me look for a place where we would have as much protection as possible. I found a little alcove right off the Health room and set up some chairs and a small table on which to place the copper pyramid that we use to do Agnihotra. I carefully arranged the cow dung in the pyramid and covered everything with a thick coat of ghee. There was no time to wait at this point. I had to get started. I walked over to where my childern were playing and invited them to join us, if they wanted. Then I walked back, sat down, sent a little prayer for help in starting the fire, lit the match and started the fire. The wind didn't stop, but, to my surprise, the fire caught imediately and never went out. This was no small miracle, believe me!  I knew instantly that my Master, Shree was there. I could feel His Presence and that really helped me to calm down and just be observant. I hadn't said the Agnihotra mantras yet; I was hoping the principal would arrive in time. As I was counting down to the last minute we heard his car, then footsteps, then, he was sitting down next to me in the circle we had created around the fire.

It seemed as if only a second or so after the principal sat down it was time to sing the mantras and put the offerings of rice and ghee into the fire. Then I slowly sang a chant called the Seven Verses. Because of the way we were sitting in the alcove the chants bounced off the walls and seemed to practically echo throughout the campus. I looked up at the changing sky while I was singing.  The clouds turned pink and then a dark purple.

The fire was burning with vigorous intensity. The wind was whipping it from one side of the pyramid to the other. It was burning with such intensity I knew it would not go out until it was ready. I closed my eyes and felt that place inside of me that is calm, clear and unaffected. I stayed in that place until suddenly, with a gust of wind, the fire was out and the smoke was pouring out of the pyramid with the same intensity that the fire had burned. We all waited quietly until the smoke had burned out. No one said anything for a few moments until my friend who had driven us there started smiling and announced to us all, "That was auspicious!"  

Without my asking, each person, one by one began to speak about what their experience had been during the fire meditation. My husband told us he had seen a beautiful healing rain coming down on the whole campus that turned into all the colors of the rainbow. The principal explained that five Hawaiian protective spirits had showed themselves to him and that he knew they
were actually with us, not just in his mind.   Very auspicious indeed! We all felt a great, dark cloud had been lifted and we were experiencing a lighthearted happiness and a deep peace around us as well as in us.  

It was getting dark, so we walked together to the easternmost part of the campus, right beneath two large mountains. They towered above us in the darkness. We found a young tree and stopped there to experience the Hawaian blessing that the principal had agreed to perform.   

First we all faced East because that is where the sun comes from. The principal began to chant a Hawaiian prayer asking the cooperation of the Hawaian Gods and the ancestors.

A friend standing at the mouth of the cave

Makua Valley

After offering each gift the principal took each gift and laid it at the bottom of the small tree. My daughters followed every move he made, not wanting to miss anything. I watched all this with great happiness in my heart.  Then the principal said a final prayer thanking all the ancestors, Gods, and protective spirits.

Then it really was dark. Slowly, we walked back towards the parking area where are cars were waiting for us. No one wanted to leave. Everyone wanted to keep talking, keep communicating. We decided to all go to dinner together so we could finish sharing what we had in our hearts.

After this experience, I knew that I had turned a big corner in my life. I knew this marked a begining--a begining of me sharing the Sacred Fire I had come to love in my own, personal way, with others, and with the land that I was coming to love so dearly.

Homa Healings

BEATRIZ VÉLEZ ISA

Street 18 Nº 1059
Marsella
Colombia

• Insomnia

• Stress

• Back pain

• Bad Temper

I am 45 years old. I suffered from insomnia. I took sleeping pills for seven years and since I started taking the Agnihotra ash I sleep very well and feel very well, very calm, very relaxed. Before, I was a person completely stressed out. Currently I have stopped taking any type of medicines and even the back pain I had has disappeared.

I was a nervous person. Now I am recovered, thanks to the Homa Therapy medicine and to the practice of the Agnihotra fire.

Luis Alfonso, my husband, was a little reluctant about all of this. He spoke with the doctor and after seeing the results with me,

he is now also taking Agnihotra ash. We see Alfonso is very different now; he is more cheerful.

LIDIA ATO and her son

Piura, Peru

• Frustration

• Anxiety

• Smoking habit

• Allergies

• Arthritis

I have been doing the Homa Therapy for about 2 years and I feel very well. Before that, I used to suffer from arthritis, was feeling frustrated and anxious and I also smoked. I smoked for 10 years. With Agnihotra I changed the smoke of the cigarettes with the smoke of the Homa Therapy.

My ten year old son suffered since birth from allergies. Now he takes the Agnihotra ash whenever he feels some discomfort and he gets well. Before he took all type of medicines, but none of them seemed to help. Thanks to the Homa Therapy everything is different and better in our lives.

Medical Centre "The Good Shepherd"
Church Santiago Apostol
June 5, 2003

La Efe
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Telephone: 09 934 2108

• Kidney Stones

• Nephritic Colic

• Arthritis

• Gastritis

• Tumors

• Spots in the face

• Wrinkles

The same has been true with some cases of arthritis, gastritis, tumors and stains on the face. We prepare the Agnihotra ash cream and we apply it. Many women who are poor tell me, "Doctor, even the wrinkles are disappearing." I ask them, "Is it true that it is rejuvenating your face? " They said, "Yes, Doctor it is rejuvenating".

Really, I am surprised with the Homa Therapy. This is my testimony and I will report to you the clinical histories of all the cases that we have had.

Homa Farming Reports

Carob with HOMA THERAPY

• Permanent productive cycle. Flowering, fruition and harvest continue even out of season. (The production is usually in the months of January and February.)

• Fruits having reached their physiologic maturity are large and well-formed.

• Sugar content is very high and fruits are tasty.

• The trees are free of plagues and diseases.

• In spite of the summer heat, the carob trees are lush green. (The plants have a pale, yellowish foliage during the summer time.)

Observations: Engineers Luis Tafur and Jorge Hildalgo Valdiviezo,
Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Peru, Promotion of Fruit Cultivation.

Rice with HOMA THERAPY

Rice plantation, variety "CAPIRONA" one month after planting:

• Completely free of plagues and diseases
with lots and green foliage

•This rice was planted on extremely poisoned soil, due to the aerial fumigations with strong chemicals to eradicate coca plants.

•Production:2,700 kg per hectare in 3 months.

With conventional agriculture, nothing grows in this soil.

Observations:

Ing. Jose A. Muñoz Cardenas, Jefe zonal Leoncio Prado - Padre Abad
Ministry of the Presidency of the Republic of Peru

Letters to Satsang

Greetings. I want to share some of the outcomes from the Baltimore group's meeting last night.

We will incorporate as a Maryland nonprofit under the name Lifestream, Inc. By way of background, Lifestream was the name of the corporation that established and ran the Baltimore Fire Temple (Powhattan). The corporation was dissolved in the 80's, so the name is now available to us.

We are moving ahead on a fundraiser for Saturday Dec 27th at 7:30 pm. - $10. It is a Kirtan (spiritual music, singing and dance) lead by Wynne Paris and Rameesh. They are out of northern Virginia and are gaining popularity in Baltimore for their Kirtan.

Our Yajnya Shala is nearly complete. It is so beautiful. The community contributed generously.

The daily Yajnya is done--a minimum 4 hours, but most days we get in 6 to 8 hours. We have completed 3 24-hour moon Yajnyas with the next one set to begin tonight at 12. People are being cooperative and helpful. It's really quite amazing.... Om Shree.

The women continue to meet each Thursday at 6:30; the farming committee make their weekly journeys in search of property (which
we don't know how we will buy, but, the search continues). We successfully purchased a tiller jointly, with six families contributing and sharing. Rudra classes follow Sharanagati on Sundays and more folks are learning. The meeting closed with viewing the video of singing when Shree was here with us.

That's the update. Love, Love, Love,

Noni Faruq

All of you have a very wonderful New Year 2004. God bless you and the work you do.

The first of the current month and year we inaugurated the first Homa center in Bolivia (Cochabamba). It means so much for us and a lot of happiness we wanted to share with you.

We have also included a new section on Homa Therapy on our web site. As all words are already said by Shree Vasant, we thought its not necessary to change what is already done.

Best regards,

Nat. Jenny Karina Griselt

General Manager, El Punto Natural

website: www.elpuntonatural.com
mailto: elpuntonatural@bigfoot.com

telephone number: (00591 4) 431 5595

Cochabamba, Bolivia

FIVEFOLD PATH for happy living:

1. Perform AGNIHOTRA for purification of the atmosphere which leads to automatic purification of mind.

2. Practice DAAN (sharing of assets in a spirit of humility to reduce attachment to worldly possessions).

3. Practice TAPA (becoming better managers of our energy expenditure by training the body and mind to react to all circumstances in life with Total Love).

4. Perform KARMA (every action for self purification only and thus no expectations which bind us to the material world).

5. 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.

Editor:

Lisa Powers

Publisher:

Fivefold Path Inc.

Parama Dham

(House of Almighty Father)

Rt. 8, Box 369, Madison, VA 22727 USA

Published seven times yearly.

Please direct all Satsang correspondence to the Editor.

Opinions expressed by contributors are not

necessarily those of Satsang.

Reproduction by permission only.

ISSN 0735-1321

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