I am a hindu by birth. But I am not attached to the religious aspect of hinduism. However there are certain cultural practices which makes my life better. I do follow those practices and I never give them a miss. Examples are Ganesh Chaturdhi, Deepavali, visit temples to recharge or re-align by own energy, etc.
Recently I have been studying about the Homam that is performed in almost all important hindu rituals. Found some myths and facts about it and also the scientific analysis of its benefits, which I shall share in this article.
Homam/Homa/Yagnam is a sacred fire ceremony performed by Hindu pundits in temples, homes and working places by involving a sacred fire. Various forms of the Divine gods and Demi-gods are invoked in a sacred fire according to the guidelines in the Vedic scriptures.
A Homa has a purifying effect not only on the performer but also on the environment. Offering environmental-friendly goods to fire and chanting of mantras re-energizes one’s chakras, producing a re-vitalized and invigorating effect for one’s the body as well as mind that leads to further success by swapping negative energies such as anger, rashness & irrational thinking with positive ones like calmness, tranquility and controlled attitudes.
There are two basic energy systems in the physical world: heat and sound. In performing yagna, these two energies, namely, the heat from yagna’s fire and the sound of the chanting of the Gayatri and other Vedic Mantras, are blended together to achieve the desired physical, psychological and spiritual benefits.
Agriculture
Agnihotra farming methods of growing plants in pure and healthy atmosphere and balancing the ecological cycles by performing agnihotra (yagna) in the middle of the farm and using the yagna-ash as a fertilizer. Several experiments have been conducted in the East European countries on the use of yagna ash in soil treatment. These, too, have shown positive effects and potential applications in Agriculture.
Proven Medicinal Benefits
1. Yagna renews the brain cells, revitalizes the skin, purifies the blood and prevents growth of pathogenic bacteria. Agnihotra is basically a healing process.
2. Homa/Yagna destroys harmful bacteria in the environment. Experiments have also shown that a patient suffering from typhoid disease can get rid of this bane by exposing his/her self to the smoke of Homa/Yagna for just half-an-hour.
3. According to Dr. Hafkine, the smoke produced by burning the mixture of ghee and sugar kills the germs of certain diseases; inhaling it from some distance induces secretion from certain glands related to the windpipe that fill our heart and mind with relaxation.
Does Homa produce oxygen?
There are articles going around in the internet that Homa produces huge quantity of oxygen, which is totally wrong. As any other fire, Homa also produces carbon dioxide. Currently carbon dioxide is very much in the focus because of its contribution to the greenhouse effect. But we should be aware that the increase of greenhouse gases is only one aspect of atmospheric pollution. Alas, nowadays not much attention is paid to all the other aspects mentioned above. Also, carbon dioxide itself is not at all poisonous. On the contrary, it is necessary for plant metabolism. Plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen; humans breathe out carbon dioxide and breathe in oxygen. So carbon dioxide plays an essential role in the cycle of life on this planet.
When we perform Agnihotra immediately an aura energy field is created around all plants in the vicinity. This speeds up the rate of photosynthesis; thus more carbon dioxide is absorbed by plants and oxygen released. The net result will be that Agnihotra actually reduces carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
In farming projects around the world, it has been shown that Agnihotra and Homa Therapy rejuvenated the plant life on farms and plantations, thereby increasing oxygen and helping to purify the atmosphere. Some plants have the ability to remove, degrade, or render harmless various hazardous materials present in the soil or groundwater. (This process is known as phytoremediation.) By supporting the plant kingdom, Agnihotra and Homa Therapy can help purify land and water contaminated by heavy metals and other pollutants.
Qualitatively this has been shown by increased growth of plants. Please see the many reports on the effects of Homa Therapy in agriculture (where in addition to Agnihotra the resonance technique is used and also Om Tryambakam fires are performed every day).
Quantitatively it would be interesting to measure exactly how much the plant metabolism and especially the photosynthesis are sped up in Agnihotra atmosphere so that we could exactly tell how much more carbon dioxide we remove from the atmosphere than the fires actually produce. But this quantitative analysis has not been done yet.
Does Homa cause rain?
The answer to this question always involves debate in it. The artificial rain caused by the modern science is done by pouring the silver iodide or dry ice through the aeroplane. As a result of this only the rain fall occurs.
The scientific research of homa effect on rain is still in progress. However, I believe the rain due to the homam is because of the similar effect of the modern day artificial rain.
