Rebecca Somerville explores an ancient practice with a message that resonates more loudly every day - heal nature and she will heal us.

"This was my situation, similar to that or any peasant from the High Huallaga region, a situation of total despair... I first wanted to try the effectiveness of Homa therapy on the panama evil [a stronger fungus than black sigatoka] which was making my 10 hectares of plantains disappear. All agronomists, agricultural specialists et cetera kept telling me that that particular sickness has no solution because the fungus lives in the soil of cultivation. I thought if many experts tell me that nothing can be done what can I, a simple peasant who lives off his land, do?"1.

The Peruvian farmer had accepted an offer to trial the effects of an ancient Vedic practice known as Homa therapy, to save his crops. This study was one of many carried out by the Peruvian government and its scientific bodies in collaboration with a volunteer group of Homa therapists from the US. The farmer's testimonial, describing the success of Homa therapy in reviving his condemned crops, can be found at www.terapiahoma.com alongside scientific reports endorsed by the Peruvian government and examples from numerous local people and medical practitioners who claim that this ancient Indian practice, that restores balance to the environment, has improved the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of those who inhabit it.

The farmer continues...."First they installed the Homa resonance point, and once I was trained, I began to practise the basic fires of Homa therapy. After only a week I began to observe that my plantain trees began to develop very green, healthy leaves. I continued to practise the Homa fires, especially agnihotra, which is the fire performed at sunrise and sunset, plus the application of agnihotra ash water as a solution to all my plants. After four months of application of Homa therapy, all pathogens disappeared and a total rejuvenation occurred in all crops, with a subsequent increase in all products - with bigger fruits of more weight and size, better taste, colour and texture. The vegetative cycle was shortened in each of the plants by 40 per cent."

Super science
These are extraordinary claims, made even harder to fathom when you begin to bend your mind around what Homa therapy is and how it is performed. It is described by Lee Ringma, cofounder of Om Shree Dham Homa Therapy Teaching Centre in the Hunter Valley, as a "super science" - one that is yet to be understood by modern science (except for the obvious and measurable results that the therapy yields) because it is so far ahead of its time; one that produces positive benefits with no negative side effects for the practitioner and the surrounding environment; one that works at a highly subtle and sensitive level and relies on precision timing and execution to be fully effective.

Homa is the body of knowledge handed down from Vedic times that specialises in fire and resonance to benefit the environment and an area's "mindset". It thus acts as a communication tool between the physical world of matter and the spiritual dimension. Like many aspects of yoga and Ayurveda, it is one of the many 'revealed' sciences of that period - meaning that someone in a state of deep meditation intuitively discovered it and then tested it to confirm its relevance and usefulness to humanity.

Agnihotra is a specific Homa practice that connects with the principle lifeforce (prana). This practice is precisely designed to harvest lifeforce from the sun at dawn and dusk when it is most abundant and accessible which has a harmonising effect (with a vertical reach of up to 12 kilometres into the atmosphere and a horizontal reach of up to two thirds of a kilometre) into the surrounding environment.

The good news is that everyone can learn to perform it to enhance health and the energy in their homes and communities.

Vedic practices in the modern world
Agnihotra is performed at sunrise and sunset because at these times, there is said to be a 30 second window of opportunity to draw in the sun's prana. Vedic knowledge understands that not only heat and light and the measurable electromagnetic spectrum emanate from the sun, but also lifeforce. Before applying scientific theory to this idea, which would argue that the sun's energy is light years away and can't be instantly summoned to earth, it is useful to question the context of our thinking. As beings who are preoccupied with life at a physical level, we often misinterpret (or miss completely) all of the activity that is occurring at the more extreme and subtle levels of life. Even with the aid of electron microscopes, Hubble telescopes, machines that measure gamma rays, microwaves, beta and theta waves et cetera we are still only measuring physical phenomena - for example, we can't explain how a clairvoyant can read another's thoughts, or how our bad moods or negative thoughts directly impact ourselves and our environment.

We know that physically, the sun's light is practically ancient by the time it reaches us but what about the energies that work on more subtle levels (like prana), free of the burden of physical matter? We can accept the anecdotal evidence of thousands of people worldwide, that agnihotra works, but to understand how it works we will either have to cultivate our own sensitivity through meditation or wait for science to catch up. According to Lee Ringma among many others, our earth is vulnerable now and we don't have time to wait for answers that are acceptable to the rational Western mind. Meanwhile, we might have to have to entertain the possibility that our ancestors weren't simply waving sticks at the sky in a na•ve attempt to appease the Gods when they performed their various rituals, but might have actually figured out a way to work with the laws of nature and "supernature" to keep the cycles of life in balance.

Agnihotra
Our ancestors, however, believed in correspondences - as above, so below - why? Many cultures and spiritual groups, including the Hermeticists, Hindus, Kabbalists, Buddhists, American Indians, shamans of all cultures, and indigenous groups all recognised that correspondences exist to connect on a level of reality with another. To access the spiritual realm, you have to work with its counterpart in the physical realm.

Universal elements are related - for example, fire (agni) is the central theme of the sun, metabolic energy that digests food and transforms matter, heat, light, physical fire, mental energy and all things that contain a large component of fire element such as ghee, copper and a triangular or pyramidal structure (pyramid - from 'pyr' meaning fire in the middle). The sun symbolises consciousness, the sun's energy illumines the moon and gives life to our planet, just as our inner consciousness illumines the mind and gives life to our body.

According to yoga, Ayurveda and other Indian wisdom traditions, the day has varying biorhythms that are suited to different activities. We recognise some of them - for example that absorption takes place at night. In Ayurveda, this idea is fine-tuned - absorption takes place during a specific (vata) period from about 2am-6am. Vata is seen as the physical correspondence of prana, its more refined counterpart. Agnihotra is probably performed at dawn and dusk because these are peak times when absorption of prana is most opportune.

The agnihotra fire is built inside a copper vessel with an inverted pyramid is used to attract the prana. An inverted pyramid or triangle represents the feminine principle that is receptive. The use of specific sound vibrations (mantra) that have an affinity with the sun and with the time of day, serve to focus the energy of the vessel and amplify it. The fire must be prepared so that it is burning at an optimal level right at the time of sunrise or sunset (the 30 second window), at which time the mantra and offerings of rice and ghee are performed. When the timing is right, tremendous amounts of energy are said to gather around the agnihotra copper pyramid - a "magnetic-type" field, like a protective atmosphere, is created.

The residue ash from these fires is collected and dissolved in water to apply to crops and to drink for its health benefits. It can be used on crops in lieu of fertilisers and pesticides with remarkable results - producing plants with greater yields, more robust constitutions, sweeter tasting produce, more abundant growth and improved reproductive cycles.

Because humans are inextricably linked with their environment (physicists would argue there is little to differentiate the two), a healthy environment benefits those who live in it.

Doctors' Tales
Dr Luis Vera from Guayaquil, Ecuador is an epidemiologist who also works with psychology and alternative medicines. He has been testing the effects of agnihotra in treating infections, insomnia, psoriasis and life-threatening illness in some of his patients. The site www.terapiahoma.com quotes him as saying, "We are using Homa therapy in high risk patients with problems of contagious infections and degenerative pathology. We have had some cases of patients who suffered from insomnia for long periods of time and the results of applying agnihotra ash has been spectacular. "A diabetic patient's foot was saved using agnihotra ash. "We applied agnihotra ash to the lesion, caused by the lack of circulation and irrigation of the tissue... Applying the agnihotra ash, the toe began to be irrigated correctly and the patient is recovered from his problems now."

Dr Walter Vasquez Duarte, medical surgeon specialising in gynaecology and obstetrics, Lima Peru noted similar results." I have 20 years of experience as a graduated medical doctor. My first impression was to practice Homa therapy at home. I had been practising for one and a half months. I invited a number of colleagues to my house and the Homa experience had a big impact. Then we did the Homa therapy sessions during four weeks, in total more or less eight sessions in the Clinic Pablo Bermudeza, where I work. The testimonials of the people who attended were eloquent. 99.9 per cent of the patients improved their capacity to sleep. Those who suffered from insomnia slept sometimes too much. Their state of mind and mood had improved, their gastritis had disappeared, their backaches had disappeared. In fact, everyone manifested an improvement in their quality of life, as well as in spirit, vitality and their capacity of attention. Little by little healings which didn't have an apparent explanation could be observed."

Most of us have trouble believing in things we can't understand until, that is, we see them for ourselves.

Lee and Frits Ringma run Homa therapy workshops by donation through the Homa Therapy Association of Australia.

References:
The opening quote from the Peruvian farmer was signed by the chief of Leoncio Prado-Padre Adad area, Special Project High Huallaga, Department of the Presidency of Peru.