Omprakash & Nehha Bhatnagar,
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
 
 SOMETHING IN US SHIFTED WITH FIRST AGNIHOTRA
 
Nehha: "Omprakash and I went to the hills of Uttarkhand, India to visit our family friend- Atul Bakshi or Gogi uncle as he is called by us. There, we experienced a most profound calming effect-of course the hills where a factor as was the beauty of the place- but there was something more. We could not place a finger on what that

was, till we experienced the first Agnihotra Homa that evening. The fragrance of the burning cow dung, the gathering of a few of us around the copper vessel, the silence that followed- something in us shifted and life as we know, would never be the same again.
 
Next day and the next and the next- Agnihotra was carried out to the rhythm of sunrise and sunset, and it was as if our circadian rhythm was coming into more balance. We were never really late risers or late sleepers, however, this Homa gave a more final touch to the way days were meant to be spent, with the rays of the sun rising and setting. Since then, to now, we have tried to not miss a day of at least once a day Agnihotra Homa, and it has been a wonderful practice along with Ashtanga Yoga that has helped spiritualize our relationship further with each other, and with the world around us.
 
One thing I can say for sure is that I notice a change in the reduction of frequency of negative thoughts that rise in my brain. Being a Psychotherapist and Counsellor, I am always on the lookout for holistic ways to help clients heal for sustained results- and I think I wanted to practice first on myself to see the changes, before sharing it with others.
 
     This month we had the privilege of spending two days at Om Shree Dham in the presence of Homa Therapists, Lee and Frits. They helped us understand the nuances of the Homa Therapy process and I also had the chance to light my own Agnihotra Fire. It added deeper dimensions to our practice and Omprakash and I got even more convinced that living on the land is the only answer to the future of this world, which is definitely hurting with human misdeeds.
 
     Three years ago we had purchased a few acres of land in rural India and we were planning to transition on it from our life here in Australia. Now, the process has definitely been accelerated after meeting Frits and Lee!
 
     We can’t wait to practice Homa Agriculture. I am also going to introduce this practice in the not-for-profit I run, called Sarvam Shakti, holistic education for marginalized female students. I will try to ensure that the beneficiaries sit around the evening Agnihotra Homa at the southern India Centre.
 
   I am grateful to Gogi uncle for introducing his practice so passionately to us and for Lee and Frits to give us a firsthand glimpse into a Homa lifestyle of so many decades. My Pranams to Shree Vasant Paranjape and his family and of course his revered Guru, Shree Gajanan Maharaj for this extraordinary vision.
 
   Editor: We invite you to watch this lovely private interview that Nehha recorded with Lee and Frits for her program “Sacred”: “Shree Vasant Paranjpe: The Magic of Agnihotra and Homa Therapy”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2sQbotgu6M  

MY  EXPERIENCE  APPLYING
AGNIHOTRA  ASH

 Agricultural Engineer Joel Jaramillo Correa, Piura, Peru, South America
 
In January of this year, I learned about Agnihotra and began practicing it.
I have a piece of land that I have been cultivating for 6 years. I have always used agrochemicals, but since March I have stopped applying synthetic products.
The land is located in Cieneguillo Sur, Piura. It is a very difficult valley to produce chemical-free crops due to the high presence of pests and sandy soils with little or no organic matter.

Image 01:
Seedlings purchased at the nursery on March 14 this year.

Image 02:
May 17, beginning of flowering (which usually takes 4 to 5 months)

Image 03:
August 6, papayas are with full fruits (which usually takes 6 to 7 months)

NEARLY 50 MILLION PEOPLE
SIGN UP CALL FOR CLEAN AIR ACTION FOR BETTER HEALTH
 
March 17, 2025

In an unprecedented show of unity, more than 47 million health professionals, patients, advocates, representatives from civil society organizations, and individuals worldwide have signed a resounding call for urgent action to reduce air pollution and to protect people's

health from its devastating impacts. Around 7 million people die from air pollution each year, mainly from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
To find out more on this subject, please enter: https://www.who.int/news/item/17-03-2025-nearly-50-million-people-sign-up-call-for-clean-air-action-for-better-health

“Efficiency in action is Yoga. Whether the work is small or big, with every event a unit of time is consumed. That means a chunk of your life is bitten off. Do you want this to be spent efficiently or wasted? With one-pointed attention you are more likely to bring efficiency.”
 
-Master Shree Vasant-

The regular practice of Yoga not only affects the concentration, flexibility, and well-being of the body, but also our thoughts and attitudes toward daily situations.
With our body we have been

 given an amazing instrument, which can be our ally on the path towards the Divine Light.

Health and well-being through the joy of experiencing the body playfully, overcoming limits, and opening up mind and heart...
 

“If you are using time efficiently
you will accomplish more and worry less.”
 

- Master Shree Vasant -

“We have little time left, for the planet is headed for destruction. It is vital now that we conserve energy in other areas and devote all our time to the work. Family life is very important. Spreading the message of love throughout the planet is the work. How to combine the two so that nothing is lacking is the question. However, spreading the message is the important task of the hour.”
 
- Master Shree Vasant -

Photo above and left: On the night of our trip to Ecuador, we received a beautiful and surprising farewell at Marisol Carrión's Vegetarian Restaurant ‘Matheos’ from the Agnihotris of the Homa family of Piura.

This was a massive practice of Agnihotra with a beautiful meditation, sublime classical music played by Marisol, and a homemade snack, all accompanied by the pure love from noble hearts with beautiful wishes for a successful trip to spread Homa Therapy. Thank you, thank you, dear family.

“Nothing is so important to allow it to make you angry. Under no such conditions we should get angry. People are too quick to anger.
No one person is to blame but when you know how important time is it is your responsibility to use it properly. Remove your anger and your pride.
It is so simple. Keep quiet.
Then that impulse to anger
 falls away.”
 
- Master Shree Vasant -

“REJOICE IN THE LOVE
 THAT LIES BETWEEN YOU AND SHARE THAT LOVE WITH ALL WHOM YOU MEET."
 
- Master Shree Vasant -

“Your only weapon is Love. With whatever you have to fight
 you have only this single weapon,
 which is the strongest weapon.
This is the way."
 
- Master Shree Vasant -

    We shared the sacred Agnihotra fire and afterwards the people said they felt uplifted and that a sense of love and compassion was there emulating from the fire, spreading to everyone. We shared the sacred healing ash together as a group and it was a profound experience for all involved, children and adults and animals alike (people brought their dogs).
 
    Some people came back to me after and said they could feel a powerful light presence there surrounding us. This brought me much joy because I feel exactly the same light presence when I preform Agnihotra. I have come to realise through practicing Agnihotra/ Homa Therapy for over one year now, that this light presence are light beings with no gender and have always been there. Agnihotra just allows one to be more receptacle to that which is already there and is very much like a beacon of light enabling the light that we all have within us to grow and strengthen.
 
   I have been shown and guided again and again that true transformation begins only from within. By uniting (oneself) the elements, balancing the forces of nature, mind, body and spirt and turning inward to the “well” of wisdom, the human being can and will awaken the hidden light within.
 
    That which vibrates lower must and will rise higher. Yet there is no higher or lower only one ⿡
This inner journey can and will leads oneself to harmony with the cosmos and a deeper connection with the divine.
 
        "As above so below, As within so without".
 
                   Warmest Blessings, OM SHREE OM."

Manuela Szcypior (photo left) wrote from Burgenland, Austria about the first photo above capturing the flames of her Agnihotra fire:
"Two Arabic-speaking friends said that the flames appear in the Arabic character for the word 'Allah'."

“This is best time for intense Swadhyaya.
Help each other with love and support.
See each other’s purpose, stumbling blocks, strengths and weaknesses and the gifts you have to give to the people.”
 
- Master Shree Vasant -

 
EXPERIENCE.” May I suggest that we add FAITH, DEVOTION and/or INTUITION to our arsenals.
What and why? Because “Faith is to believe in what we do not see, and the reward is to see what we believe.” So said Saint Augustine.

An ‘investment’ of sorts is a first—or very early—ingredient here. Eggless egg salad is possible (using tofu), but faithless living places too great a burden on us, our environment, our angels, our God.

And this is way beyond ‘positive spinning, gaslighting or denial. This gets to the essence of it all, the undeniable truths of our existence. And, furthermore, THE ESSENCE IS THE SAME, IDENTICAL FOR ALL OF US. There are not different models, colors, brands or whatever for my neighbor or me. THE ESSENCE IS THE SAME.

“Love thy neighbor as thyself,” made no distinctions.

“Others…what others? Indeed, and in truth, we are all One.
To love all, to serve all, is to live in God’s Temple. And that is a very, very good neighborhood or barrio to populate. Trust me. Or better yet, TRUST YOURSELF!


Shree Vasant Paranjpe wrote, 'A healed atmosphere heals the mind. A healed mind heals the body. A healed Earth heals humanity.'
References to MIND are not incidental or coincidental. Agnihotra is the core of our MIND TRAINING PROGRAM, the goal of which is to TRAIN THE MIND TO REACT WITH LOVE UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

HOMA Psychotherapy has proven to be a potent weapon in combating clinical depression and addictions of all kinds.
Today’s world cries out for antidotes to the confusion, stress, anxiety, and fear that beset so many of us—especially our youth.

Instead of pursuing temporary fixes—many doomed to failure from the outset—Homa Psychotherapy, a program which employs Agnihotra as its central tenet and practice, has demonstrated a potential that belies its simplicity, and is available to all for the price of what a cup of coffee cost 45 years ago.

 
Nature reminds us that everything has its time. No seed germinates before it has spent its time underground. No flower blooms without having felt the patient embrace of winter. Life itself is sustained by cycles: sowing, waiting, growing, harvesting... and in each phase there is a lesson that cannot be rushed without losing its essence.
 
The ancient and sacred Homa Fire, called AGNIHOTRA, is one of the great teachers of our times. Those of us who practice it know that there are no shortcuts in the process:
 
• Prepare the space.
• Arrange the elements.
• Light the flame.
• Chant the Mantra.
• Watch and sustain the flames with attention and respect.
• Let it consume everything it needs to consume.
 
At each sunrise and sunset, the fire shows us that transformation is a journey that requires time, presence, and dedication.
It is not enough to light the spark, it must be sustained, nourished, and honored.
 
From the first flame to the last ember, everything happens in perfect sequence. Fire lives its own moments: spark, flame, ember, ash. Each stage has meaning. Each stage teaches something.
 
And in that journey, fire gives us a profound message:
“Don't force it. Allow for what needs to be burned to burn. Allow for the time to do its work.”
 

 
In a world that idolizes the immediate, we often struggle with processes:

We want quick results. We want to skip the silence. We want to escape the waiting. But fire brings us back to the truth: everything burns at the right moment; everything is being purified at the right time.
 
When we place the offering into the fire, they do not burn instantly. First, they crackle, then they burn, then they are consumed, and finally they turn into ash. The same thing happens in our inner lives:
 
• First, we place our intention.
• Then we feel resistance.
• Next, we surrender to the process.
• And finally, we are reborn lighter, freer, more authentic.
 
As Javier López says:
“Nature does not rush. It does not look for shortcuts. Everything happens in its own time. The bud does not question the time of waiting, because it knows that every moment prepares it for blooming.”
 
The Homa fire is a living reminder of that truth. It teaches us to trust in the time of transformation, to honor the pause as part of the movement, and to understand that there is no light without shadow, no rebirth without combustion.
 
True alchemy is not about forcing, but about surrendering to the fire and letting it do its work within us, so that the densest turns into light, and the human finally remembers its divine essence.
 
May the Fire purify us and return us to the Truth we truly are!

 
Master Vasant, in his writings, lectures, and example, constantly reminded us that “The purpose of human life is to manifest the Light within; that we must learn to react with Love to all the circumstances we face, and that the Fivefold Path is the program to train our minds to advance toward that goal.”
 
In the previous article, we saw how, after seeing the sunrise, when the Sun, with its majesty and grandeur, dispels the shadows of the night, and after practicing Agnihotra, our minds are charged with the good energies and information brought to us by Prana, and we are ready to face a new day.
 
On this new day, we can advance (or regress) in the transcendental purpose that the Eternal Teachings remind us of. By observing and practicing the principles or precepts of the Fivefold Path, which guide our thinking, speaking, and acting, we can advance toward the goal of renewing our way of reacting to what we will experience in the new day.
 
Just as a new day is born and the darkness begins to dissipate, we too can visualize the birth of a new life of fulfillment and harmony that overcomes the life of suffering that the "crocodiles" (pride, passions, envy, attachment, anger, greed) want to impose on us.
 
Agnihotra is specifically designed to help us understand who we truly are and helps us establish intimate contact with our own identity. The practice of Agnihotra is a great help for those who are cultivating a connection with the light within, and it is also helpful for those around us.

  
Master Vasant reminded us that we must always be in an “attitude of service” to assist those who may need it. Each of the needs of those around us is a new opportunity to advance in remembering who we really are, why we are here, to learn something new, and to balance the energetic imbalances generated by our previous unconscious actions.
 
Agnihotra and the other Yajnyas give us the energy and clarity to assess each situation and react with love. It fills us with energy to help, assist, welcome, and offer good humor, good disposition, hope, optimism, and empathy.
 
The principles of  DAAN, TAPA and KARMA serve as guides for facing the situations we face at every moment.
 
Just as we saw that the time of BrahmaMuhurta is the best time to create ourselves, every opportunity for service is also so, and we must always be attentive and grateful because life offers us that opportunity to advance in our own growth.
 
The tender seedling of the capacity to give love must be protected and nurtured with actions until it grows into a robust tree.
 
The happiness that comes from selfless service, and is not followed by unhappiness, brings us closer to recognizing who we truly are and what true Bliss consists of.

It's about ADVANCING TOWARDS BEING WHO WE REALLY ARE AND DEFEATING THE IMPOSTOR WHO WANTS TO TAKE OVER OUR OPPORTUNITIES TO BE.