Agnihotra is a Science
Agnihotra is a fire prepared in a small copper pyramid tuned to the basic biorhythm of nature: sunrise/ sunset. Find out what Scientist, farmers and people from South America to Australia find so remarkable about this Ancient Science from Ayurveda. Agnihotra teachers are available in almost every country in the world. Its never too late to help the environment and by practice of Agnihotra you are doing just that!
Agnihotra is the conjunction of three disciplines:
- Performance at the exact time of sunrise and sunset
- Burning highly medicinal substances easily available (dried cow dung, ghee, that is, clarified butter and a few grains of brown rice) in a copper pyramid of prescribed size
- Chanting a short and simple mantra at that exact time
If we prepare the fire in a copper pyramid of fixed size and shape, utter Agnihotra mantras and put the rice mixed with ghee into the fire in the prescribed copper pyramid, then it affects the atmosphere beneficially. Prana is purified. PRANA is that life energy which pulsates through us and connects us with the cosmos.
Vedas give several definitions of sunrise and sunset. They state that of those, only one particular definition, which does not take into account refraction, is to be used to nourish the vegetable kingdom in an area, eliminate sickness in that area, calm the mind and fill it with love.
Thus, the timing for performance of Agnihotra is to be exact based on when the first ray of the sun comes to the place where you are located. In modern times, this is determined by a small pocket GPS (Global Position System), which can connect you to more than five U.S. satellites in less than sixty seconds. You wait for one more minute and you can get the exact location where you are, in relation to the whole planet Earth, i.e., the GPS gives you latitude and longitude of that particular place where you are located, in degrees, minutes and seconds. We feed this data to a computer program developed in Germany, based on the ancient definition of sunrise/sunset cited below. The German software gives you a timetable with the exact time of sunrise and sunset for your location, hour, minute and second, for 365 days of the year. The program is called “Sun, 365”. You have to practice this small pyramid fire called Agnihotra at the exact time given in the timetable to get the effect we are describing. If you do not do it at the exact time, it is not Agnihotra.
A plant, an ameba, an insect, a wild animal, etc., know to the second, the exact time of sunrise and sunset according to that particular definition. Only us, human beings, our pets and the life forms controlled by us, are not aware of these exact natural timings due to our life styles, separated from the basic biorhythms of nature.
The person who wants to practice this pyramid fire does not have to own GPS nor computer. We Homa Therapy Volunteers carry with us GPS, lap top computer and portable printer. The timetable for each location is given free to anyone interested in practicing this healing pyramid fire process. Timetables for Agnihotra can also be obtained from any of our web pages cited below. If anyone is interested in learning how to make Agnihotra Timetables, the volunteers will teach everything for free. It is all very simple.
The definition of sunrise and sunset given by Vedas to practice Agnihotra, relates to half disc of sun on horizon not counting refraction or visibility. This definition was the one used in Germany to develop the software. For example, if you are at the beach and you see half of the disk of the sun in the horizon at sunset, you cannot do Agnihotra according to what you are seeing, because the sun has already set. What you are seeing is the refraction. Therefore you have to do Agnihotra process according to the mathematical calculation done in Germany and not what you are seeing with your eyes.
According to Ancient Vedic Science, sunrise is described as follows:
“At sunrise the many fires, electricities, ethers and more subtle energies emanating from the sun extend all the way to the Earth and produce a flood effect at those coordinates where the sun is said to rise. It is awesome. The flood enlivens and purifies everything in its path, destroying what is impure in its wake. This torrent of life sustaining energies causes all life to rejoice. At sunrise that music can be heard. The morning Agnihotra Mantra is the essence of that music. It is the quintessential sound of that flood. At sunset the flood recedes.”
Shree Vasant Paranjpe, HOMA THERAPY OUR LAST CHANCE, op.cit. Fivefold Path Publications, 1st Indian Edition 2005.
In addition to other effects, at certain intervals bursts of energy emanate from the Agnihotra copper pyramid depending on the phase of the moon, the position of the moon and the position of the earth in relation to the sun. These bursts of energy thrust nutrients and fragrance through the solar range having a profound impact on the mind.
