Agnihotra—Solution to Pollution
Ed.
On February 3, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio, a derailed Norfolk Southern train spilled toxic chemicals, which led to a controlled burn of the substances. State and federal officials assert that they haven’t found dangerous levels of chemicals in the air or municipal water, but citizens are worried. The chemicals released are known to cause a wide range of ailments, including skin irritation, breathing difficulty, eye irritation, headaches, vomiting and tissue corrosion. Some residents have experienced such symptoms, and worry about long-term effects. Concerns have spread well beyond Ohio, as hazardous waste from the cleanup is being transported to other states for disposal.
Again and again we see environmental disasters in the news. The East Palestine, Ohio tragedy is yet another reason to practice Agnihotra Ayurvedic healing fire, to purify the atmosphere and help undo the effects of pollution of the air, water and soil. Shree Vasant Paranjpe, who taught us Agnihotra in 1973, warned decades ago that catastrophes such as this would happen.
A growing body of scientific research is showing that Agnihotra neutralizes pollutants and purifies water resources. Dr. Ulrich Berk writes:
Chemical air pollution refers to chemical compounds detrimental to our health. Modern technology has brought a lot of such compounds into our homes, many of them potentially harmful for humans. A series of experiments was conducted recently at Vikram University, Ujjain, M.P., and at North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, India. They tested the chemical compounds SOx and NOx which are produced by any form of combustion, and the levels are getting alarmingly high–especially in cities, because of all the cars with combustion engines. Also these experiments measured physical pollution, i.e. particle pollution. See the results:
Ambient Air Quality Report
(Values are in µg/m3)
Sampling Period: – 30 min
| Date | Time | SOx | NOx | RSPM | SPM | |
| 28/03/2016 | 5:15 to 5:45 | Before Homa | 7.9 | 27.3 | 105 | 69 |
| 28/03/2016 | 6:30 to 7:00 | During Homa | 6.2 | 23.7 | 75 | 63 |
| 28/03/2016 | 7:00 to 7:30 | After Homa | 8.3 | 29.1 | 152 | 83 |
| 29/03/2016 | 10:30 to 11:00 | After 15 hrs of Homa | 5.6 | 21.9 | 56 | 47 |
SOx: Sulfur Oxides
NOx: Oxides of Nitrogen
RSPM: Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (particle size equal or less than 10 micrometres – these small particles can go deep into our respiratory system).
SPM: Suspended Particulate Matter (particles floating in the air)
The sampling was done with a high-volume air sampler which sucks in the air and then presses it through a filter. Particles are stuck in the filter, depending on the filter specifications.
Although the values go up a little bit after Agnihotra (which is to be expected, as fire creates some level of SOx, NOx, as well as some smoke, which means particles), after some time all values go down well below the levels we had before Agnihotra. This means that Agnihotra purifies our air also from these chemical and physical pollutants. The experiments were done both at sunrise and at sunset in order to rule out any effects of normal variations between day and night.1
More technical information on research on Agnihotra is available upon request.
Initial studies also indicate that Agnihotra improves the body’s capacity to deal with stress situations, and is likely to help remove pollutants from the body.
The December 2-3,1984 Bhopal chemical disaster at the Union Carbide plant in Madhya Pradesh, India killed over 3,700 people and injured over half a million; two families living about a mile from the most affected area emerged unharmed. They had been performing Agnihotra for some years. At the time of the Bhopal tragedy most of the Indian newspapers highlighted the wonderful curative effects of Agnihotra. A news report excerpt from ‘The Hindu’ – Sunday, April 7, 1985 published from Chennai is as follows:
On the night of December 2-3 1984 S.L. Kushwaha (45) a teacher woke up at 1.30 on hearing his wife Triveni (36) vomiting. Soon he and his children also began coughing, feeling chest pain, burning in the eyes and suffocation. Looking out of their home they saw people fleeing in panic. One of them told Kushwaha of the gas leak in the Union Carbide Factory about a mile away. They decided to join the crowd and run when Triveni suggested “Why not start doing Agnihotra?” They did, and within 20 minutes the symptoms of MIC [methyl isocyanate] gas poisoning went away.
M.L. Rathore (33), with his wife, four children, mother and brother lives near the Bhopal Railway station, where dozens of people died of MIC poisoning. Rathore who had started doing Agnihotra five years ago, began doing the Homa, and continued with the “Tryambakam Homa.”
These are but two examples of Agnihotra coming to the rescue of the gas stricken people of Bhopal. Efforts are on to find out how many of the Agnihotris were benefited by the homa in Bhopal.
The positive effects of Agnihotra benefited lots of gas affected people and among them the experience of the Prajapati family stands out as the most outstanding one. Shri O.N. Prajapati’s wife was severely affected and was in a very critical condition. Shri Prajapati himself suffered severe irritation and redness of the eyes. His two sons were also badly affected. In such circumstances he started performance of Agnihotra.
Favourable result was inevitable. He himself got cured in a week’s time. His wife, however, took months to get fully cured. One of his sons, who was 13 years old, was diagnosed to be suffering from TB (Tuberculosis). Shri Prajapati having himself experienced the astonishing curing power of Agnihotra did not opt for treatment of his son under any other prevalent pathy’s but preferred Agnihotra chikitsa (treatment). His son was completely cured due to the positive effects of Agnihotra atmosphere, Mahamrityunjay Yagnya [Om Tryambakam Homa] and regular use of Agnihotra ash as medicine. The most astonishing thing is that Shri Prajapati’s youngest daughter, who was born one year after the gas tragedy, is the healthiest among his five children.
Contamination of nearby waterways is another concern in the wake of the East Palestine chemical spill. Agnihotra and Agnihotra ash have been shown to have a purifying effect on these as well. Dr. Ulrich Berk writes:
Scientific experiments also show that Agnihotra and Agnihotra Ash purify water. We are advised to add Agnihotra Ash to our drinking water, and many of us are doing so regularly. Why is that recommended? The reason is: Agnihotra Ash removes pathogenic bacteria from water. This has been tested a number of times. One impressive experiment was done by Dr. John Matlander of Cuenca, Ecuador.
Dr John Matlander:
“The experiment involved a gallon of infected water that I had for several weeks. Before using it, I requested a doctor to analyze it with a potent microscope. He told me that the water was cultivating fungi, staphylococcus and streptococci. Before throwing it away, I put some of this water in a 200 ml glass and added two teaspoons of Agnihotra ash. I mixed it well and left it for 3 days.
“Then I returned it to the doctor and asked for further investigation with the microscope and he said, ‘Completely pure water.’ So I told him that this was the same water he had analyzed 3 days ago and the doctor thought that this was impossible, completely impossible. But it happened this way; the Agnihotra ash had made this water completely pure.”
That means: Agnihotra purifies water.
But even if we do not add Agnihotra Ash to water but just keep water in some bottle next to the Agnihotra fire, the water gets purified. This was shown by Dr. John Matlander in an additional experiment.
There was a 77% reduction in the number of colonies containing Klebsiella and Enterobacterium S.P. and an 81% reduction in Escherichia Coli.
Similar experiments done in Maheshwar Homa Therapy Goshala, Madhya Pradesh, India confirmed this result: Just keeping water in some container next to the Agnihotra fire purifies water. This leads to the hypothesis that not only Agnihotra Ash, but also the fumes of Agnihotra have the potency to purify water. But what happens if the water bottles are closed so that neither ash nor fumes of Agnihotra get into contact with the water examined? The water still got purified! Parameters measured were COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), DO (Dissolved Oxygen), pH, total hardness, and count of coliform bacteria.
Quite an astonishing result, as in this experiment– different from those mentioned before – there was no contact with Agnihotra Ash or with Agnihotra fumes. Therefore, the effect cannot be explained by some sort of chemical reaction.
It seems there is some kind of energy field around the Agnihotra fire which brings about this effect of water purification.
We have seen that Agnihotra Ash, Agnihotra fumes, and even just proximity to Agnihotra fire are helping to purify water. All these experiments were done using small quantities of water. The water was kept in bottles of 200 ml up to 1 litre.
But what about larger bodies of water?
Pollution of rivers, lakes, and oceans is a big environmental concern. But of course that is a big challenge to achieve some improvement. Still, some initial results could be obtained.
The following photos show one part of the Narmada River, Madhya Pradesh, India, before and after Agnihotra Ash had been added. Within three days a big improvement could be seen:
This shows that it is a very good habit to regularly add some of your Agnihotra Ash to water bodies in your vicinity. If you have your own well, then best to do so regularly.
But not only the Agnihotra ash helps – also the healing atmosphere of Agnihotra (and other Homa fires) helps to purify water. Below see the results of monitoring the water quality of the Narmada River in Central India. Water samples were taken at Omkareshwar upstream from the Homa Therapy Goshala (which is situated next to the banks of the Narmada River), adjacent to our Homa Therapy Goshala and further downstream at Barwani. In all the different parameters, the water next to this Homa Therapy Goshala was best – and it was the only place where the water was fulfilling the standards set by the World Health Organization. This initial result shows that Homa places do have an effect on larger water bodies such as a big river.2
Satsang would encourage those living in the areas affected by the East Palestine disaster to practice Agnihotra and put Agnihotra ash into the waterways. Also, Agnihotra ash can be used to make home remedies. Agnihotra ash is available free, upon request, but there is a special effect from using Agnihora ash from an Agnihotra one has performed oneself. Shree Vasant taught,
“It is true that Agnihotra atmosphere heals and a special system is set up in ancient tradition whereby the person who performs Agnihotra, when they ingest the ash from the Agnihotra they performed, the Agnihotra ash becomes especially healing, as does the Agnihotra.
“Another reason why everyone should make their own Agnihotra pyramid fire.”
Agnihotra is always taught free. Visit agnihotra.org for more information, or contact info@agnihotra.org. We are always at your service to teach Agnihotra.
1, 2 Berk, U. (2020). Impact of Homa Organic Farming in mitigating Soil, Water, and Other Environmental Crises. International Journal of Plant and Environment, 6(1): 56-67.