11 Day Worldwide Om Tryambakam Homa November/December 2023 Satsang | Volume 51 #5 | New Era 80

11 Day Worldwide Om Tryambakam Homa

Once again, Homa Therapy Teachers Abel Hernandez and Aleta Macan have organized a global program of Om Tryambakam Homa. We encourage everyone who is able, to participate and fill the world with the healing energy of Homa throughout this time.-Ed.

More Back Issues of Satsang Available Online

Ed.

In an effort to preserve Shree Vasant Paranjpe’s teachings, Fivefold Path, Inc. has been working to archive past issues of Satsang and make them available online. Volumes 14-24, from 1986 to 1996,  have now been posted.

Go to https://www.agnihotra.org/category/satsang/ and click on the drop-down menu. The newly added volumes will be found under Early Volumes.

Survey on the Role of Agnihotra in Enhancing Life Satisfaction for Spiritual Harmony and Well-Being

Jagruti Bhatia
Maharashtra, India

This study is being conducted under aegis of the Vishwa Foundation, Shivpuri, Akkalkot, to explore the possible connection between Agnihotra and life satisfaction, a vital element of human thriving in today’s world, where everything from physical to mental pollution has invaded life forms. The study attempts to contextualize the historical origins, ritualistic elements, and cultural settings of the practice of Agnihotra through a comprehensive review of literature. Using empirical research, the study would attempt to explore how Agnihotra might improve mental health and hence enhance life satisfaction.

It is being led by Senior scientists and researchers, namely – Dr Shrikant Kallurkar, Advisor Research, Institute of Vedic Sciences (ISVS), Solapur & Ex Principal Atharva College, Mumbai; Dr Anand Prakash – School of Project Management, NICMAR University, Pune, India; Amit Suratkar-Chief Cordinator, ISVS, Solapur; Jagruti Bhatia – Coordinator Research, ISVS, Solapur & Partner Aarka Consultants (a Healthcare Consultancy firm) & Committee Member, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of Maharashtra.

The 5-item scale of Diener et al. (1985) is being used to measure the global cognitive judgments of one’s life satisfaction with items of fulfilled, superb, content, successful, and fulgent. Participants can indicate how much they agree or disagree with each of the 5 items using a 7-point scale that ranges from ‘7’ meaning ‘strongly agree’ to ‘1’ meaning ‘strongly disagree’.

This is a humble request to all Agnihotris and non-Agnitotris across the world to kindly spare 5 to 7 minutes of your valuable time help the study by filling in the attached e-questionnaire. Your contribution will go a long way in helping us complete this study. Once the study is successfully completed, we will surely be sharing the findings with all relevant stakeholders. Many thanks in advance and truly grateful for your time.

Note: No part of the data will be utilised for any other purpose other than the research mentioned above. Data analysis would be on the collated findings and not on any individual form.

To access the survey, use this link:
https://forms.gle/y8JdxvefM9sUQn5d7

[Satsang thanks everyone who participates in this survey. May it help spread information about Agnihotra.–Ed.]

Forgiveness

Jimena Clarke-Cid Clavero
Cochiguaz, Elqui Valley, Chile

(From “Women In Communion”)
Today I would like to talk about how the practice of Homa Therapy and the Fivefold Path can help us, to a great extent, to find the precise formula to be able to manage in these times of so many trials and hurricanes, both external and internal!

In the context of a circle of women, we can create an exercise that allows each of us to share our own experience with this practice.

The Fivefold Path presents us with five very simple steps to achieve harmony, not only internally, but also to externally harmonize our environment (meaning the atmosphere, the soil, the food we eat, among other things).

Now, how can we apply these steps?

I would like to refer to a practice that we can often include in women’s circles and that is closely intertwined with the practice of gratitude: Forgiveness. This is a delicate subject and sometimes it would seem a bit controversial and almost impossible to carry it out in a concrete way. However, this is where, at least for me, the practice of the Fivefold Path and Homa Therapy can help to complete the realization of this goal.

Forgiveness is a very complicated exercise to carry out and requires a deep understanding, but at the same time we can use tools that we already know and that will be valuable for this practice; among them, of course, Homa Therapy and the Fivefold Path are primordial.

The third step of the Fivefold Path, Tapa, self-discipline, encourages us to practice self-control, which can finally contribute to the formation or modification of our character; this action can provide us with the balance and self-confidence necessary to grow as full and successful women, whatever stage of life we are in.

Once we establish a daily routine which allows us to remain alert, self-control (TAPA) will gently give us the necessary strength to start practicing, inside and outside the circle, other exercises, which in theory should strengthen us and transform our life into a constant walk towards happiness and permanent contentment. This is the goal of the Fivefold Path, isn’t it?

It is within this framework of self-discipline, or Tapa, that I would like to introduce you to the exercise of FORGIVENESS within the circle.

Kathy Hedberg tells us that forgiveness is not forgetting. But it helps to let go of the pain.
Likewise, Forgiving is not justifying negative or inappropriate behavior since it does not mean that you agree with the other person’s way of acting. Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of courage. Forgiveness is not a denial of our pain. On the contrary. Accepting our pain is an indispensable step to forgive and it is also an indispensable step to move on.

So, with the tool of the Tapa practice, and really wanting to free ourselves from anguish, anxiety and pain, in a women’s circle session we can create the right atmosphere to perform this exercise.

We begin by sitting in a circle, where we can see each other’s faces, light our pyramids to perform Agnihotra, if possible, or otherwise the instructor of the session lights a pyramid and performs a Vyahruti Homa. My suggestion is to create a kind of circular altar, with candles, flower petals or whatever the circle deems appropriate for the occasion. We gather again sitting in a circle, on the floor or on chairs, depending on the circumstances, but without shoes from the beginning of the fire. Remember that through the soles of our feet we are able to capture energy; also, being barefoot is a symbol of respect, and to keep pure the place where we do the exercise.

We close our eyes, take a couple of deep breaths and mentally choose what we need to forgive. This can be a person, a group of people, an organization, and another entity from the past or present. Include yourself if there are things you feel guilty about. We take a deep breath and repeat:
I totally forgive you.
I release you and let you go forever and in peace.
Everything that has happened between us has been resolved in peace, love and harmony for all involved.
I wish you well.
This I do with peace in my heart.
I am no longer attached to you or any situation.
I free myself and I free you. We march in peace, on different paths.

Then we open our eyes, and write down on a piece of paper the name of the person, persons (if we know it) or the situation, fold the paper and then one by one we place the paper in a box, basket or other container, which is in the middle of our circle of candles and flower petals, we return to our place and we hold hands and repeat: IDAM NAMA MA three times.

I think it is also important at the end of this exercise to sing or chant any sound that centers us and makes us feel the deep joy produced by the fact that we have forgiven with our heart, with all our being. One suggestion is that while we are chanting, our right hand is on the heart chakra and the left hand on the navel. And to finish we take two or three deep breaths, stand up and smile and clap our hands, for the bravery and courage shown.

And let’s remember the words of Shree Vasant Paranjpe:
“Forgive those who have harassed you or spoken ill of you. Forgive those who speak to you with harsh words without kindness. Forgive those who know not what they do. Be quick to forgive the faults in others. Practice this and eventually you will not even see the faults in [the other person].”

We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

Barry Rathner 
Clinical Psychologist 
Ecovillage Bhrugu Aranya, Poland

The apparent age of disinformation that besets us all goes beyond politicians’ lies and shadings of truth, and beyond artificial intelligence’s ability to make the unreal seem real.

The ‘truth’ is, what we don’t know includes some basic life questions, such as:

How many times has your life been saved or extended through no particular current effort by you?

Has your fate been such that particular negative outcomes were ‘pre-ordained’ and that such outcomes were changed, avoided or ameliorated?

GRACE has been described as a slight—sometimes not so slight—bending of the LAW OF KARMA to create an outcome more favourable than what our karmic debts might have dictated.

At times, the situation is so dramatic as to make it unmistakable that Grace has taken over and become an unseen Hand of God steering us back on to the road after we have veered off into danger. This is not hyperbole; this is the experience that is real and part of the lives of many of those privileged to have come upon and diligently practiced Fivefold Path–the core practice, of course, being daily sunrise/sunset Agnihotra.

At other times, we don’t know what is in play or operative that prevented our fall on the ice that otherwise might have put us in hospital.

Or what about the job interview that was going poorly until by ‘accident’ it came out that both you and the interviewer attended the same university and belonged to the same fraternity?

However, immense care needs to be taken that our personal desires, habits, etc. are not guiding matters such that we are overtaxing the Divine. Our karmic accounts are rather indelible. There is no substitute for the intention to turn our lives over to Higher Power for guidance and consequence.

We recite, ‘idam na mama’ twice when performing Agnihotra. ‘Not my will but Thy will be done.’ Thus, we turn over the results to a Force greater than we. That Force knows what we don’t know.

What exactly is THE GOAL and HOW TO REACH IT?

From Day 1, the battle cry, the mantra, the logo was—and still is: TRAIN THE MIND TO REACT WITH LOVE UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

This isn’t a new concept hot off the presses. The Bible, hardly yesterday’s news—gave a very similar message, just a bit more ‘obscured.’ “Be ye transformed by renewal of the mind.” (Romans 12:2)

Our minds require a certain measure of discipline—preferably Self-discipline (Tapa). Without it, we may be the most powerful of horses, but unbridled, we are at the mercy of the old impressions on our minds (samskaras) and subsequent habits that accompany us to this very moment.

How can I react with love under all circumstances when I am bedeviled by greed, jealously, lust, attachment, pride and anger? It ain’t going to happen. And reacting with love isn’t meant to happen only when convenient, when it is a birthday, when your lottery ticket looks promising or when a rainbow appears. UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!

So, we need devise a plan of self-development (Swadhyaya), to implement the necessary thoughts, feelings and intentions, and put them into action.

For very few, if any, of us, does this come completely naturally, or necessarily easily—at least not after the age of 4. So, behaviours designed to balance our instinctive tendencies are not luxuries. They are crucial to our unfoldment and best be considered to be requirements, not sprinklings of powdered sugar on top of a cake.

We’re talking here of the cake itself, the whole ball of wax, the main dinner course.

“Why go to all this trouble,” your lower self may protest? Why? Because this is indispensable to your own happiness and thus to all sentient beings in the circle of your life.

Should part of you question all, or parts of this, simply try an experiment. Clarify, codify and implement your lives by following the Fivefold Path–Yajnya, Daan, Tapa, Karma and Swadhyaya–and have your own experience. THEN YOU CAN BELIEVE (or not).

And belief is the foundation of what is true and the prelude to trust, faith and confidence. It is also a key to discerning what is truth and what is disinformation.

Continue your journey; if you don’t find it valuable, a 75-year guarantee—no questions asked—is yours for the asking. You will get a full refund. In fact, you may begin again should you wish.

Homa Therapy Experiences

Marisol Ato Flores
Piura, Peru, South America

I came to Homa Therapy through Dr. Marisol, after I first had a psychological consultation with her for my anxiety issues.

The doctor invited me to Homa Therapy and I began to attend the free sessions at CERPS and in other meetings in Piura where Agnihotra is being shared. Since then, I began to feel much better.

I had been afraid to even leave my house. Walking through the door created so much anxiety and fear. In the beginning, when I went to the Homa Therapy sessions I felt this fear, this fear of leaving the house. But, I did what Dr. Marisol advised me: I told myself that, “I am fine, God is with me, nothing is going to happen to me and I am going to Homa Therapy and I am going to be healed.”

So, I started to feel a lot better. Now I go out alone. I sleep well, because I couldn’t sleep, either. I was so afraid to sleep alone. I was also very afraid of being alone in my house. Internally I was so afraid, so terrorized, it seemed that something bad was going to happen to me. But since I started with the healing Homa fires, I could, step by step, leave this fear behind.

Isabel Maza Palacios
Piura, Peru, South America

I heard about Homa Therapy for the first time through my psychologist, Dr. Marisol at the CERPS (Center for Professional and Social Rehabilitation).

More amazing than the physical pain in my spine, which went away with just one Homa Therapy, is that Agnihotra is healing me spiritually. Now, I want to praise God and I want to pray! A long time ago I had walked away from God. It has been extraordinary for I feel from the inside like singing, listening to Christian music, communing with God, reading the Bible.

But the most beautiful thing that has happened to me was with my mother. With my mother, I have had many things that I misunderstood. When we are young, many times we think that what our parents say is wrong. Unfortunately, when they are no longer with us, we understand that it was for our good. My mom passed away two months ago, which caused me great pain. I was with her at this moment and I told her to let go of everything and that she will always be in my heart and that I loved her. She had been and has done the best she could under the circumstances in which we lived. But there was some pain left; I miss my mom and sometimes I feel like crying.

But yesterday, I had a very nice dream with her. I dreamed of a party-like situation and my mother welcomed me very happily. She hugged me and said, “I love you so much, my daughter,” and I hugged her and then I began to cry inconsolably. And that’s how I woke up,  crying, but with joy.

Also, sometimes with my husband, even for not putting the spoon in its place, I would fight with him. Prof. Abel said at CERPS that with Homa Therapy we will fight less with our husband or wife. And it’s true! Now I no longer fight with him. I even tell him not to worry about washing the dishes, that I will take care of that. I have also seen my husband become more willing and open. Today, he even took me to church. Imagine these changes! We live alone and we should truly support and love each other; now we are taking this path.

I feel that the Homa Fires are something great, physically and spiritually. Today, with or without rain, I did not want to miss this Agnihotra encounter.

I thank God for having used you [Homa Therapy Teachers Abel Hernandez and Aleta Macan] as instruments to bring us this Homa Therapy, which transforms our lives.

Sometimes, we can have everything materially, but there is something inside that we lack. Looking for this, on the path we have found the healing fires. Now I feel physically and spiritually very well, very happy, very calm.

From Shree Vasant’s Teachings

I Will Always Act Up To My Power of Discrimination
The power of discrimination is the power to discriminate between right and wrong.

This power of discrimination is granted to each and every one of us on the day we are born in the human frame. It is not dependent on culture or education. Culture and education can only make it finer and more refined; but that power of discrimination is always there. It is this power which differentiates man from all other animal species. Animals go by instinct; man goes beyond instinct by intelligence. Therefore, the supreme aim of human endeavor is Self realization–to find out, “Who am I?” A famous philosopher said, “Man, know thyself.” This is Swadhyaya, Self study. Animals can never come up to man in this regard. Some animals are able to count, to do simple arithmetic; but this is the limit to which an animal can go. Animals have no power of discrimination to discern right from wrong. This power of discrimination allows man to go beyond intelligence and shows the direction of his evolution. If man accentuates his efforts in this direction, it will land him into bliss. We have the power to escalate evolution and to do so we must go through all this.

Very simply, to follow my power of discrimination means that whatever judgment is pronounced by my power of discrimination will be carried out in my actions. If my power of discrimination says that it is wrong to do a certain action, I will not do it, regardless of  my desire to do it. I may feel that I am put to a loss, but ultimately, by not acting up to this power of discrimination I will suffer the consequences of my wrong action one way or another. So, in fact, I am saving my own time and trouble by always doing what I know is right. If my power of discrimination tells me not to indulge in lust and greed, then I will follow this judgment. This is the basis, the key, for any spiritual discipline. Only when I lay stress on this do I start treading the spiritual path. This is so because intellect and action act and react. If I commit a wrong action, my power of discrimination is weakened, my judgment is likely to be faulty, and that will again lead to wrong action. The power of discrimination is an aspect of intellect  and that is how intellect and action act and react.

If you stick to the decision given by your power of discrimination you always perform right action. And by performing right action, your power of discrimination is strengthened. The process is reversed and from a vicious circle you move to a virtuous circle. You set  in motion a circle conducive to right action. What is this vicious circle? It starts with the attitudes of the mind.

For example, I have a desire. Desire is the substratum which is always feeding the attitudes of the mind. That desire gives rise to certain attitudes of the mind. If at that moment the power of discrimination tells me it is wrong to do that act, I should check it then and there. If I do not check it, that attitude becomes a propensity. That means it gains force. When an attitude becomes a propensity, it is more difficult to check. So an attitude becomes a propensity if unchecked. At least, at this moment, I should use my power of discrimination and halt. If I do not do that, it starts troubling my intellect. That is, a signal goes to my intellect which tells the intellect to find means for gratification of my desire. That is how the intellect is dictated to by that propensity. And intellect will always find ways and means to get things done, if not by the right way, by devious methods. Somehow the gratification of desire is obtained, thus weakening the power of discrimination. Then judgment becomes faulty. But, if I check my action at the right time, it is a virtuous action and again, my power of discrimination is strengthened. This is the difference between the vicious circle and the virtuous circle. Thus we see how this is the basis of all endeavor. We are constantly forced to perform either physical or mental action. By using the power of discrimination, proper judgment is pronounced and I do not involve myself in any further bad Karma. The process of putting an iron chain on my feet is stopped. The evil effect of Karma, which one day I will have to reap, is stopped because I am doing the right thing. The Law of Karma, the law of “Reap as you sow,” is inviolable.

But again this is not enough. Even if you go on doing only good actions, that alone is not enough to help you. This is a ticklish point. Even though you are doing good actions, you reap what you sow. That means you will have to reap the good results of your meritorious actions. In the last case, it was an iron chain; in this case, it is a golden chain. But it is still a chain. These good deeds may land you in paradise but they will not bring you into the Kingdom of Heaven that is within you. This is the difference. When the good Karmic account is exhausted you  have to start the journey again in human birth. So why not do it now? Therefore the answer, “You have to do the action without clinging to the fruit thereof.” Since you are unable to judge the value of your actions and, therefore, cannot see the resultant Karma, it is best to think only of the action itself and not the fruit of the action. Thus, if you do not cling to the results of your Karma there is nothing binding on you. This is how we transcend the law of Karma. This is why it is said, “Do everything for the Lord. Everything for the Master.” As Jesus said, “Not my will but THY will be done.”–Luke 22:42

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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