Hari Aum.
Recently, I was reading about the Agnihotra ritual that has now become a worldwide phenomenon. It is said that this ritual is good for the environment, harmonises the cosmic energies, nourishes and honours the devas and is a form of worship of the Supreme Being. I therefore decided to give it a try and did this ritual yesterday. It was a nice experience and I will be doing it again (possibly 1-2 times a week- can't do it daily due to other commitments, including japa, kirtan, work, family etc).
Agnihotra is an ancient ritual (a mini-homam in a sense). In the Srimad Bhagavatam, the sage Shuka describes Krishna's daily routine- how He would get up at brahma-muhurtha (before sunrise), meditate on the Gayatri mantra, and do various spiritual rituals, including the Agnihotra.
So, how does one do the agnihotra ritual?
It's actually very simple.
In a nutshell, it involves offering a pinch of rice and ghee into the sacred fire at the precise moments of sunrise and sunset along with the utterance of two easy sets of mantras.
The sunrise mantras are:
Suryaya svaha, Suryaya idam na mama. Prajapataye svaha, Prajapataye idam na mama.
The sunset mantras are:
Agnaye svaha, Agnaye idam na mama. Prajapataye svaha, Prajapataye idam na mama.
(The rice-ghee mixture is offered into the fire with one's right hand when the word 'svaha' is uttered).
Surya is the demi-god of the Sun, Agni is the demi-god of fire, and Prajapati is that creative aspect of God which generates this world. Essentially, we are honouring these three important aspects of God with this ritual.
To perform the Agnihotra, one needs the following:
1. A havan kund made of copper (I use a little palm-sized one for this mini-homam)
2. A pinch of unpolished/brown rice (unbroken grains)
3. Ghee (from cow's milk)
4. Dried cow dung cakes (as fuel for the fire)- wood is not used here (unlike in other homams) (I bought some biscuit-sized cow dung cakes from Amazon)
5. Matchbox- to light the fire
6. A plate to mix the rice and ghee
7. An accurate clock that shows the exact time to the second (I use the 'time and date' website on mobile phone- see link below)
8. The exact sunrise and sunset time in your area based on the Vedic calculation (see link below)
This website provides a software that can be used to calculate the sunrise and sunset timing for your location based on the Vedic method. It also describes how to perform the ceremony (there are many more websites describing the method of doing the ceremony).
https://www.homatherapie.de/en/agnihotra-timings.html
The following YouTube videos nicely demonstrates how to perform this ceremony:
In Hindi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUM-vsc_B5A
In English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRnsOD2zPO8
The 'time and date' website below can be used to see the exact time (to the second) in your local area:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
It was a wonderful experience yesterday evening doing the agnihotra. I sat outdoors in the garden under a sky that had turned a flaming pink-orange colour due to the setting sun. I felt connected to Nature sitting on a mat on the ground with the wide sky above amidst plants and birds. It's a different experience from doing it indoors (though this also fine as long as it does not set off the fire alarm!).
The agnihotra ash is regarded as having medicinal and healing properties. Some people make ointments out of it, some take it internally (eat it) and others use it as fertiliser for the their plants. I placed the ash from the Agnihotra in the soil of my Tulasi plants at home. I am happy to use it as fertiliser.
However, I am not comfortable with eating ash unless there is solid scientific research that firstly shows this is not harmful, and secondly shows that this is safe and beneficial. I would advise readers to use their common sense here (as my Guru Sivananda advises in all spiritual matters).
Do not eat anything unless you are absolutely sure that it is safe to eat as this could have a serious negative impact on your health. There is a lot of pseudoscience masquerading as science these days that claims to 'prove' spiritual truths. This exploits gullible people who believe everything they read and can cause serious harm. Doing a spiritual practice due to faith is one thing. Doing it because of pseudoscience is another.
One should use common sense always. Chanting of mantras is generally safe. There is increasing medical research that proves that meditation, including mantra chanting, calms the nervous system, reduces blood pressure and treats depression and anxiety (aside from the spiritual benefits). There is no clear medical evidence currently that eating agnihotra ash is safe for the body and I would strongly advise against it therefore (unless in the future, research clearly demonstrates that this is safe).
I have faith that agnihotra is good for the environment, world peace and for spiritual progress and so I do this practice. I am not sure about the 'science' that claims that the agnihotra ash is good for the body and so I do not eat the ash. It's perfectly possible that the ash is good for plants though and hence I am happy to give this to them as fertiliser.
Hope you enjoy the Agnihotra ceremony. May God and Guru bless us all.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
Recently, I was reading about the Agnihotra ritual that has now become a worldwide phenomenon. It is said that this ritual is good for the environment, harmonises the cosmic energies, nourishes and honours the devas and is a form of worship of the Supreme Being. I therefore decided to give it a try and did this ritual yesterday. It was a nice experience and I will be doing it again (possibly 1-2 times a week- can't do it daily due to other commitments, including japa, kirtan, work, family etc).
Agnihotra is an ancient ritual (a mini-homam in a sense). In the Srimad Bhagavatam, the sage Shuka describes Krishna's daily routine- how He would get up at brahma-muhurtha (before sunrise), meditate on the Gayatri mantra, and do various spiritual rituals, including the Agnihotra.
So, how does one do the agnihotra ritual?
It's actually very simple.
In a nutshell, it involves offering a pinch of rice and ghee into the sacred fire at the precise moments of sunrise and sunset along with the utterance of two easy sets of mantras.
The sunrise mantras are:
Suryaya svaha, Suryaya idam na mama. Prajapataye svaha, Prajapataye idam na mama.
The sunset mantras are:
Agnaye svaha, Agnaye idam na mama. Prajapataye svaha, Prajapataye idam na mama.
(The rice-ghee mixture is offered into the fire with one's right hand when the word 'svaha' is uttered).
Surya is the demi-god of the Sun, Agni is the demi-god of fire, and Prajapati is that creative aspect of God which generates this world. Essentially, we are honouring these three important aspects of God with this ritual.
To perform the Agnihotra, one needs the following:
1. A havan kund made of copper (I use a little palm-sized one for this mini-homam)
2. A pinch of unpolished/brown rice (unbroken grains)
3. Ghee (from cow's milk)
4. Dried cow dung cakes (as fuel for the fire)- wood is not used here (unlike in other homams) (I bought some biscuit-sized cow dung cakes from Amazon)
5. Matchbox- to light the fire
6. A plate to mix the rice and ghee
7. An accurate clock that shows the exact time to the second (I use the 'time and date' website on mobile phone- see link below)
8. The exact sunrise and sunset time in your area based on the Vedic calculation (see link below)
This website provides a software that can be used to calculate the sunrise and sunset timing for your location based on the Vedic method. It also describes how to perform the ceremony (there are many more websites describing the method of doing the ceremony).
https://www.homatherapie.de/en/agnihotra-timings.html
The following YouTube videos nicely demonstrates how to perform this ceremony:
In Hindi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUM-vsc_B5A
In English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRnsOD2zPO8
The 'time and date' website below can be used to see the exact time (to the second) in your local area:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
It was a wonderful experience yesterday evening doing the agnihotra. I sat outdoors in the garden under a sky that had turned a flaming pink-orange colour due to the setting sun. I felt connected to Nature sitting on a mat on the ground with the wide sky above amidst plants and birds. It's a different experience from doing it indoors (though this also fine as long as it does not set off the fire alarm!).
The agnihotra ash is regarded as having medicinal and healing properties. Some people make ointments out of it, some take it internally (eat it) and others use it as fertiliser for the their plants. I placed the ash from the Agnihotra in the soil of my Tulasi plants at home. I am happy to use it as fertiliser.
However, I am not comfortable with eating ash unless there is solid scientific research that firstly shows this is not harmful, and secondly shows that this is safe and beneficial. I would advise readers to use their common sense here (as my Guru Sivananda advises in all spiritual matters).
Do not eat anything unless you are absolutely sure that it is safe to eat as this could have a serious negative impact on your health. There is a lot of pseudoscience masquerading as science these days that claims to 'prove' spiritual truths. This exploits gullible people who believe everything they read and can cause serious harm. Doing a spiritual practice due to faith is one thing. Doing it because of pseudoscience is another.
One should use common sense always. Chanting of mantras is generally safe. There is increasing medical research that proves that meditation, including mantra chanting, calms the nervous system, reduces blood pressure and treats depression and anxiety (aside from the spiritual benefits). There is no clear medical evidence currently that eating agnihotra ash is safe for the body and I would strongly advise against it therefore (unless in the future, research clearly demonstrates that this is safe).
I have faith that agnihotra is good for the environment, world peace and for spiritual progress and so I do this practice. I am not sure about the 'science' that claims that the agnihotra ash is good for the body and so I do not eat the ash. It's perfectly possible that the ash is good for plants though and hence I am happy to give this to them as fertiliser.
Hope you enjoy the Agnihotra ceremony. May God and Guru bless us all.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
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