By Dr. Ulrich Berk from Germany

Since more than a decade now a dramatic decline of bee population has been noticed
worldwide. Now we learn that a similar decline can be found regarding all insects.
Recently an alarming study was published by scientists from Germany, Great Britain, and
the Netherlands. Insects were captured in nature reserves throughout Germany and
counted. This long-term study found that within 25 years there was a reduction of 75%!
Hans de Kroon, at Radboud University in the Netherlands who led this research
commented:
“The fact that the number of flying insects is decreasing at such a high rate in such a large
area is an alarming discovery.”
Prof Dave Goulson of Sussex University, UK, also part of the team conducting this study,
added: “Insects make up about two-thirds of all life on Earth [but] there has been some
kind of horrific decline,” “We appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most
forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon. If we lose the
insects then everything is going to collapse.”
(More details you find e.g. here)

The reasons for this dramatic reduction of insects are not clear yet as that was not part of
the study. Important reasons seem to be
– the increasing use of pesticides in agriculture
– monoculture is practiced on large areas
– there is a reduction of hedges, bushes, and forest rims around agricultural fields
– even light pollution may play a role as it interferes with the normal rhythms of diurnal
and nocturnal insects
– Herbicides like glyphosate kill all plants except those which are genetically modified
to resist this substance. Total loss of plant biodiversity on areas where such herbicides
are used.

What is biodiversity?
Although this recently documented reduction of insects itself shows a dramatic loss of
biodiverstiy (which one of the scientists involved in the study considers as „ecological
Armageddon“) this is just one aspect of the loss of biodiversity which we face. So let us
have a more general look: What is biodiversity – and why is it essentially necessary for the
planet?

Biodiversity is the shortened form of “biological diversity.” It refers to all the variety of
life that can be found on Earth (plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms) as well as to
the communities that they form and the habitats in which they live.
There were several conferences organized by United Nations on Biological Diversity
starting in 1989. In June 1992 during United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development held in Rio de Janeiro (the Rio “Earth Summit”) a Convention on Biological
Diversity was passed later on signed by many countries. This Convention defines
biodiversity as “the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter
alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of
which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of
ecosystems.” (https://www.thegef.org/topics/biodiversity)

Why is biodiversity important for us humans?
Monoculture seems to be a result of a thought pattern which reduces Nature to just
supplying food, water, timber, and fibre for humans. E.g. on huge areas corn or cotton is
grown – any other plant will be seen as unwanted weed and tried to eliminate. Same with
insects etc.
But Nature does not work that way. In Nature, there is no monoculture. Always there is a
great variety of plants, microbes, insects, and other animals which interact and coexist in
harmony.
Science is just at the beginning to analyse and understand this multi-layered system of
interactions and interdependencies.

Even when we comparing Nature to a complicated machine (of course Nature is much
more than that) it is clear that interfering in one place may have repercussions at many
other places (which we may not always foresee). Following model is from
www.panda.org:
„Our planet is simply amazing.
Viewed by someone not from our world, it could be seen as one big, finely tuned and
ultimately incredible machine.
Lots of cogs, pullies and wheels (animals, plants and environments) working together.
Depending on each other in so many ways. Creating a green, blue healthy world that you,
us, everyone depends on.
For food, fuel, medicine and other essentials that we simply cannot live without.
Sure this machine can take some knocks and bruises.
It can bounce back.
Stretch. Adapt. Mend.
It is part of what makes it so marvelous.
But we’re beginning to pull and stretch it further than it has ever been stretched before.
We’re entering unknown territory where some of the extinctions we are causing may have
deep and profound effects on how we live our lives.
In the grand time scale of our planet, these effects may be currently seen as the equivalent
of storm clouds gathering on the horizon.
But rest assured, the storm is coming.
Unless we learn to start loving and caring for what our planet already gives us.“
(http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity)

How does Homa Organic Farming help to calm down this „storm on the horizon“, to bring
Nature back to Harmony, to restore biodiversity?
Reports from farmers and scientific studies give some answers.
Let us start with an observation Rita and Thomas Hirt made on their Homa Farm in
Rippistal, Switzerland. When they started the farm one big problem was that the meadows
were widely covered with a tall growing weed, the broadleaf dock (Rumex obtusifolius). A
few of these plants are o.k., they can even be used as medicine. But as these meadows are
used for cows who graze there in summer and hay is made for winter, it was a problem
that large areas were covered by broadleaf dock, making these areas useless.
All neighbouring farmers had the same problem – but they used herbicides to control the
broadleaf dock. Not possible on a Homa Farm – and as we have seen this may solve one
problem, but create more other problems as it brings Nature more away from Harmony.
Interesting what happened after some time of performing the Homa fires and spraying
Agnihotra Ash water: Green dock beetles (gastroidea viridula) arrived in large number
and controlled the broadleaf dock.

These beetles were not found on the meadows of neighbouring farms. This is an example
how on a Homa Farm biodiversity is restored and automatically beneficial insects arrived.
This also reminds on the experience which Abhay Mutalik Desai had on his farm where
woolly aphid was controlled by two natural predators – Micromus igorotus and Dipha
aphidivora (see the article on pests and diseases).

At Palampur Agricultural University (in Himachal Pradesh, India) some groundbreaking
studies on Homa Farming were done. The studies were on yield and quality of medicinal
plants as well as on soil health. Results were very positive (see the article “Soil and
Agriculture 2”). In addition to that following observations on various aspects of
environment (land & biodiversity) were made:
• Spread of White clover (trifolium repens) (Legumes) & Kikyun (pennisetum
clandestinum) grasses (Soil binder) increased in farm.
• Weeds problem a little bit suppressed .
• Frequency of occurrence of Brahmi (centella asiatica) increased naturally in farm.
• Birds diversity and their frequency of visit has been increased
• Friendly insects occurrence has been enhanced.
• Robust health of plants, animals and microbes.

“Earlier experiments had shown significant effects of Agnihotra ash treatment on the
structure of algal/macrophyte/invertebrate communities in aquatic microcosms. Then, to
assess Agnihotra effects on survival and growth of Rana temporaria tadpoles, freshly
hatched ones were placed in water containers with algae, macrophytes and decaying plant
debris, with addition of Agnihotra or non-ritual ashes of the same substrate against
control tanks, placed each in triplicates at an Agnihotra and an organic farms in Southern
Poland.
Agnihotra ash treatment significantly increased growth of tadpoles by 17-32% and
reduced their mortality. With non-agnihotra ash the mortality was even higher than in
controls. Also, significant differences in final yield of diatoms, filamentous algae, plants
and in decomposition of plant debris were found. Agnihotra atmosphere may be
responsible for faster development and emergence of frogs. This is consistent with
observations of Agnihotra farmers who claim their crops ripe earlier and more
simultaneously than in conventional neighbours’ farms.
Although the mechanisms of Agnihotra effects on biota are not fully known, some
explanations are proposed. Further studies are needed on more endangered species, and
on treatment of chytridiomycosis, as Agnihotra ash is often considered an effective remedy
against fungal diseases. As many Agnihotra farms are located in or near global
biodiversity hotspots, they may contribute to conservation of endangered amphibian
populations living there.”

Recently biodiversity along the river Narmada in India was studied systematically under
the guidance of Dr. Shailendra Sharma, Principal, AIMS College in Damnod, Madhya
Pradesh. One study was about the bottom fauna of the river – analyzing the number of
various types of invertebrates in the mud from the riverbed.
For biological analysis the mud samples stored in bottles were immediately transferred to
the enamel trays for sorting and separation of individual organisms from the debris. The
bigger animals were picked up by forceps and were counted separately as number/m2.
The small animals were isolated by centrifugation, sieving and floatation.

Near the Homa Therapy place there is a very significant increase of all different types of
invertebrates – from plus 42% to plus 300%!

A second study examined the number of different butterflies at three stations along the
Narmada River. 32 different species of butterflies were counted at these three places. One
of these places was the Homa Therapy Centre near Maheshwar – and here an average
increase of 68% was observed!
Really astonishing is that in all the different species, the number at this Homa place was
highest.

One observation many people have made who came to Homa Farms or other Homa
Therapy places the first time: The number of different varieties of birds astonishes them.
But that has not yet been scientifically studied – will be good if some ornithologists look
into that matter!

Were we to highlight major problems facing our planet and all of its inhabitants, certainly air pollution would rank high on the list. As Agnihotra and Homa Therapy can easily be done by individuals and families, the solution to protect ourselves and our families is at hand. For a scientific rationale, an interesting article written by Dr. Ulrich Berk from Germany about how Agnihotra purifies the atmosphere follows:

The main statement of Homa Therapy is: Agnihotra heals the atmosphere – and the healed atmosphere heals the environment, plants, animals, and humans.

How can we understand that statement in terms of modern science? And then, as a second step, see whether modern scientific research can either confirm or refute such statements?

We will cover all these aspects of Agnihotra – effects on our environment (air, soil, and water resources), plant life including agriculture and horticulture, animal health and animal breeding, and human health in this and following articles.

Let us now begin with the effect of Agnihotra in purifying our air. We can distinguish three forms of air pollution: biological, chemical, and physical air pollution. Actually, there is one more form of pollution of our atmosphere – that is thought pollution. Although this perhaps is the worst form (as it leads to the other forms of pollution), we will deal with that aspect later on as a scientific examination is a bit more complicated.

Biological air pollution is the presence of pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Will this contamination be reduced by performing Agnihotra? Several studies have confirmed this assumption. The first of such studies was done in the eighties of last century at one Warsaw university, Poland. It showed that the bacterial count went down, starting right after Agnihotra. After 12 hours less than 10% of the original bacterial count was remaining. That would have been the time for next Agnihotra.

Alas we do not have a photo documentation of this early experiment. But we do have photos and data from replications – one was done at Fergusson College (one of the leading colleges in Pune, India) a few years back. The difference between before and after Agnihotra is obvious – although the “after” measurement was taken only half an hour after Agnihotra.

 

It will be interesting to see the effect after 12 hours, and even more interesting to see what happens if we perform Agnihotra regularly for one week or for one month.

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 SO_x and NO_x 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

 

 

 

 

SO_x: Sulfur Oxides

NO_x: 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 SO_x, NO_x, as well as some smoke means particles), after some time all values go down well below the levels we had before Agnihotra, means 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.

Next step will be to do this experiment for one week, performing Agnihotra regularly morning and evening.

In the next article we will discuss how Agnihotra purifies water resources. A lot of interesting results!

Okay, our attention has been focused on air and water pollution so far. Now let us look at how Agnihotra/Homa Therapy aids the soil- the substance on which the vast majority of our nourishment depends. 

By Dr. Ulrich Berk (Germany)

Earlier we had discussed how Agnihotra purifies our atmosphere and the water resources. Now let us have a look into the effect of Agnihotra on soil. Mostly people are not aware of how important soil is – although it is obvious that our lives depend on the thin layer of topsoil as we all feed on plants (even non-veg people do indirectly), and most plants need soil for growing.

Conventional chemical farming has led to a degradation of our soil on large scale. With Homa Farming techniques this degradation can be reversed and healthy, productive soil will be restored, on which healthy plants will thrive.

When you perform Agnihotra and the other techniques of Homa Organic Farming, following are the effects on the soil:

• Aeration is increased.
• Moisture holding capacity is increased.
• Both acidity and alcalinity are controlled.
• Salinity is removed.
• Beneficial microbes prosper.
• Earthworms multiply at a higher rate.

Some of these results have just been confirmed by observations. E.g. it was found that in Tapovan, a Homa Farm in India (the only place we know of where continuous Tryambakam Yajnya is going on for many years), in a very dry summer you had to dig half a meter deep to find moisture in the soil. On neighbouring lands you had to dig one meter deep!

Regarding other points scientific studies are available. One was done on one farm with highly alkaline soil, pH was 9.86. The land was divided into three plots. One was cultivated conventionally with agrochemicals; second plot was cultivated organically, using vermicompost; and the third one was cultivated organically with vermicompost and Agnihotra Ash. After only one season – approximately three months – you see that conventional farming did not change the pH, organic farming brought the pH a little bit down, but Homa Organic Farming nearly brought the pH back to nearly normal – IN JUST THREE MONTHS!

Interesting is that on the other hand with highly acidic soil, Homa Organic Farming brings the pH up as we have seen in Bhrugu Aranya, a Homa Farm in Southern Poland. Before Jarek and Parvati started farming there a government agricultural engineer came and tested the soil. The result was discouraging: pH was 4.4, and the agricultural engineer told that nothing will grow on this soil unless you add a lot of lime to it. For that, money was not available but still all kinds of vegetables were growing on this land just because of the Homa Atmosphere and adding of Agnihotra Ash. Some time later the pH was measured again and it had come up to 7.2. That means that Agnihotra Ash does not just push the pH in one direction – it brings Nature back to harmony.

Very important for soil health and soil fertility are biological properties. We have seen that earthworms thrive in Homa atmosphere. Earthworms are actually an indicator for healthy soil. But also different kinds of microbes are essential, e.g. phosphorus solubilizing bacteria.

All plants need phosphorus. However, regardless of how much phosphate is added to the soil, only the water soluble portion can be utilized by the plant. One study done long time ago by Dr. Tung Ming Lai, Denver, Colorado, USA, showed that water solubility of phosphorus in soil increased if Agnihotra Ash was added:

The question arises how this effect comes about. It is known that certain bacteria can help in turning non water soluble phosphorus into water soluble phosphorus, and the hypothesis was that Agnihotra Ash supports these bacteria. A recent study done in Ratnagiri, South India (a place famous for the Alfonso mangoes) confirmed this hypothesis: By adding Agnihotra Ash the count of phosphate solubilisers increased 1000 fold.

Another kind of useful bacteria in soil are nitrogen fixer. Their count increased 100 fold. This explains why in Homa Farming it is not necessary to add chemical fertilizers. The following graphics shows the comparison of useful bacteria with and without Agnihotra Ash (using different media to cultivate those bacteria for measuring):

The researchers summarized their findings saying that “addition of Agnihotra ash to the soil positively increases the number of effective organisms while suppressing the fungal growth. 
In all the samples, the ratio of positive to negative microorganisms is 100:0. i.e the soil contains 100 % positive or effective microorganisms upon treatment with Agnihotra ash.”

Really a powerful substance, this Agnihotra Ash!

Fukushima has dramatically demonstrated that no longer is nuclear radiation poisoning a hypothetical threat to the health of all living beings.
Chernobyl and some other nuclear accidents should have been enough warnings. But now, Fukushima makes it urgent that any and all means to survive be tried.
The article below contains very interesting information on the effects of Agnihotra and Agnihotra ash on problems caused by nuclear radiation.

 

When Agnihotra is performed, the Agnihotra smoke gathers particles of harmful radiation in the atmosphere and, on a very subtle level, neutralizes their radioactive effect. Nothing is destroyed, merely changed. (Vasant V. Paranjpe, Homa Therapy – Our Last Chance, p.21)

By Dr. Ulrich Berk (Germany)

Till now we have covered beneficial effects of Agnihotra and Agnihotra Ash on air, soil, and water resources. But there is one more environmental threat affects all these areas and is especially dangerous as we do not detect it with our senses: This is radioactivity. Radioactivity became a problem on large scale during the second world war when the world saw the fatal destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After that there were several accidents in nuclear plants (not all of them known to public), the worst were those in Tchernobyl and in Fukushima. But there also was radioactive contamination by use of depleted uranium in bombs in different wars around the globe. Radioactive pollution has thus become a worldwide problem, now the West Coast of U.S. is affected by winds and the waters of the Pacific Ocean bringing radioactive substances from the Fukushima catastrophe.

For biological, physical, and chemical pollution there are ways to degrade harmful substances. But if some substance is radioactive, you can heat it, you can try all kinds of chemical treatments, you can hammer on it or put high pressure – radioactivity is not affected by any of these measures. This is why normally radioactive substances have to be stored away for many generations, some substances even for thousands of years (depending on the half life of the isotopes contained).

In short you can say that radioactive radiation is one of the biggest environmental threats nowadays, and modern science does not have a solution for that. On this background it is really astonishing to see what Agnihotra and Homa Therapy could achieve.

First observation

The first observation was made on a Homa Farm in Austria after the Chernobyl catastrophe. 

Karin Heschl, owner of that farm, writes:

“I had a farm in Kirchberg an der Raab, Styria, Austria in 1986 when the Chernobyl accident happened.

I was practising the principles of Homa Organic Farming including sunrise/sunset Agnihotra, four hours daily Om Tryambakam Homa and twenty-four hours Homa on Full Moon and New Moon day.

Immediately after the Chernobyl accident the Austrian Government issued instructions that samples of all milk and fodder in our area should be tested for radioactivity.

Scientists were shocked to find that milk and fodder on my farm had normal radioactivity while all the surrounding farms had much higher radioactivity.”

Agnihotra Ash protects us

After that observation scientists from Eastern Europe were conducting experiments on the effect of Agnihotra and Agnihotra Ash on radioactivity. The leading physicist of that group, Miro Haber, stated the following as a résumé of this research:

“In physiological terms the body constantly exchanges all its elements (not cells). There are only some exceptions, like the lenses of the eyes and some parts of the nervous system. The mechanism of this exchange of elements in the body is not exactly known. For this exchange the body constantly needs elements like calcium, copper, iron etc. As long as these elements are not radioactive the body functions normally. Our body can deal well with the natural radioactivity which has been existing since millions of years on this planet. However, since the Chernobyl accident we are dealing with a much increased manmade radioactivity. Many radioactive elements like Caesium, Iodine, Ferric etc. have fallen onto this earth. The half-life period of these isotopes is rather high for some of them. They went from the air into the earth, from there into our food – salads vegetables, fruits. Through our food we absorb radioactive elements. This is because our body cannot distinguish whether an element is radioactive or not, and thus it absorbs the element without selection. Once a radioactive element is stored in the body it radiates all the time (like a lighthouse) and destroys the cells in its surroundings. The body reacts with an infection (with luck the radioactive element is thereby thrown out of the body) or it reacts with a tumor, with cancer.

How can we avoid the absorption of radioactive elements into our body? The answer is simple – we have to give the body each element in a natural (non-radioactive) form. Once the body is saturated with these elements, any radioactive versions of these elements thereafter are not absorbed by the body any longer. It very quickly gets rid of them. The newly absorbed non-radioactive elements will by and by replace the radioactive substances which we had absorbed in earlier time  and which our body had stored.

Now where do we get these non-radioactive elements from in order to protect our body? The experiment that was conducted some time ago has shown that the Agnihotra ash (which at the time was produced by about 40 participants according to special directions of Mister Haber) was not radioactive, even though the ingredients were radioactive.

How this mechanism of changing radioactive elements into non-radioactive elements works we do not yet understand. It cannot be explained neither by modern chemistry nor by physics. But the result has been tested several times with always the same outcome: The Agnihotra ash just had natural radioactivity.

Also the Agnihotra ash contains all the 92 natural chemical elements. In this way the body’s total requirement can be covered.

Therefore it is suggested to everybody to eat say a teaspoon of Agnihotra ash before every meal. Most important is in the morning. An easier way would be to make tablets from the ash which can easily be taken (as people are used to take tablets).“

Agnihotra Ash neutralizes radioactivity in food

After the Fukushima catastrophe, an experiment was done in the Physics Institute of Academy of Science, Kiev, Ukraine (formerly part of Soviet Union).

Japanese rice from Fukushima area contaminated with radioactive isotopes Cs-137 and Cs-134 (the radioactivity was about 200 Bq/kg) was taken in a quantity of 50 grams and mixed with a water solution of Agnihotra ash – one spoon in one litre of water.

Spectrometric measurements of the mix of water, Agnihotra ash and radioactive rice were conducted in a device “Food Light” which allows to measure levels of radioactivity in short time.

The measurement of the background radioactivity was at the level of 8 Bq [Becquerel]. The measurements of a sample (the mix, which included 50 grams of radioactive rice) showed that initially during the first and the second day the radioactivity was at the same level, 200 Bq/kg.

Then during the next days, third and fourth, the radioactive level of the sample went down to about 160 Bq/kg.

Then the measurement of the sample was not done for about 10 days. After that the measurement again was performed – on 14th and 15th days.

These last two days the background radiation was 3 Bq.  The measurements on 14th and 15th days showed that the sample did not have any radioactivity; the level of radioactivity was the same as the background, 3 Bq/kg.

Result: Agnihotra Ash water completely neutralized radioactivity of the rice in the sample studied in two weeks.

Conclusion

It is advisable to take Agnihotra Ash at least three times per day, preferably before the meals. Also good to soak food like vegetables and fruits in Agnihotra Ash water overnight before eating.

We are planning for Homa Organic Farm project close to the wrecked reactors near Fukushima, Japan, and see how these ancient techniques can help to neutralize radioactivity in soil, water, and atmosphere and bring Nature back to harmony.

 

By Dr. Ulrich Berk (Germany)

Earlier we have covered beneficial effects of Agnihotra and Agnihotra Ash on air, soil, and water resources, as well as on radioactive radiation. As environmental pollution naturally also affects plants as it affects us humans, it can be expected that both Agnihotra and Agnihotra Ash have beneficial effects on the growth and health of plants as well as their resistance against pests.

The easiest way to experiment about that is by examining the germination of seeds, both in Agnihotra atmosphere and using Agnihotra ash.

Quite a number of such experiments have been done, some of them already quite some time ago.

Germination of rice seeds were part of two Ph.D. theses done at the Vivekananda University in Bangalore in the first years of this millenium. Rice seeds were put in petri dishes on top of a filter paper which was soaked in water. Agnihotra was performed, and  root length, shoot length, fresh weight, and dry weight were measured and compared with control. There were three controls: One without any disciplines of Agnihotra, one with just the mantras, one with Agnihotra fire but without mantras and offerings. Result was that Agnihotra lead to a significant increase of root length, shoot length, and fresh weight compared to control. Also it was obvious that the effect of Agnihotra is more than the added effects of mantras and the fire alone.

Interesting that one study specifically examined whether it makes a difference whether a male person or a female person utters the mantras. No surprise that there was no difference – which hopefully helps to remove one prejudice still prevalent in some countries.

The authors attribute the positive effects of Agnihotra on seed germination to the Agnihotra fumes. This seems to be a premature assumption – in experiments on water purification we could show that water gets purified even when the water bottles are closed (and no fumes get into touch with the water). That means there must be some energy field around Agnihotra which leads to this effect. About this Energy Field of Agnihotra we will talk in a later issue of this newsletter.

The effect of performing Agnihotra in a room where seeds are kept was subject of these two studies just mentioned. Other studies examined the effect of Agnihotra Ash on the germination of seeds. One quite comprehensive study was done a couple of years ago in Fergusson College, Pune, India. Again the seeds were kept on some filter paper in petri dishes. Watering was done with:

1. a) tap water,
2. b) control ash water (1 gm control ash + 100 ml water) and
3. c) Agnihotra ash water (1 gm Agnihotra ash + 100 ml water)

(Control ash is the ash you get by burning the same ingredients as used for Agnihotra – but without the disciplines of Agnihotra: No mantras, not done at sunrise or sunset, and the vessel – although made from copper – does not have the pyramid shape of our Agnihotra pyramid.)

Seeds of vigna aconitifolia (mat bean) and vigna unguiculata (cow pea) were taken as experimental material. Seeds were allowed to germinate and germination was observed every 24 hrs.

The results show clearly that control ash improves rate of germination as compared with plain water, but Agnihotra ash does so much more:

After getting this encouraging first result, more experiments were done, trying to figure out whether all the different disciplines of Agnihotra are really necessary to get the full effect. For that, variations of the different parameters were used:

1. Time: sunrise time, sunset time and any time other than sunrise and sunset
2. Mantra: with mantra (sunrise and sunset) and without mantra
3. Rice: brown rice (unpolished) and white rice (polished)
4. Ghee: cow ghee and buffalo ghee
5. Vessel: Agnihotra copper pyramid and steel pot of same size and shape

Fires were done with altogether 48 different combinations of these parameters, and the resulting ashes were used for germination of mung beans, providing same environmental conditions. After two weeks plant growth was measured by considering shoot and root length and put in some graph:

The peaks are there when all the disciplines of Agnihotra were properly followed. You can clearly see – if you make any change, the results are worse than performing Agnihotra properly.

Means we really have to be exact in our practice of Agnihotra!

Germination of seeds has also been done adding Agnihotra ash / control ash / plain water after the seeds were put into soil (and not just kept on filter paper on petri dishes). Results also clearly showed that Agnihotra ash gives better germination (root lenght, shoot length, total weight) than control ash . Control ash gave better results than plain water which is not surprising as any ash contains certain nutrients. Surprising though is the difference between Agnihotra ash and control ash – as these two ashes do not show a significant difference in chemical analysis! This will be topic of  further discussion.

As sprouting experiments are relatively easy to do, some have been done on school level also. Some time ago by Boumika Patil (Amalner, India) did this for some contest in the field of environmental studies, and her project won the first prize! See her photo.

Also you  can try similar experiments at home. Will be quite interesting to see yourself! And please send photos of your results.