EARTH DAY CELEBRATION BHRUGU ARANYA
APRIL 22, 2010
By Parvati

To celebrate the worldwide 40th anniversary of Earth Day, our Bhrugu Aranya community planned a celebration that included tree planting, Yajnya, a mini workshop on Homa herbs & teas, a showing of the straw bale house, a potluck vegetarian dinner, followed by Agnihotra and crystal singing bowl with toning. We sent out emails and letters to everyone in our network, knowing that Thursday was not the best day for working people, and many live at a distance from our farm centre. Still, we wanted to connect with the energy of Earth Day being celebrated around the world, which also coincided with the global Mega Yajnya also scheduled for four hours during the day.

Bhrugu Aranya: A Point of Light Pointing Towards the Light

Here nestled in Southern Poland, about 600 meters high, far enough from Warsaw to be mostly unaffected by the political events in Poland , yet close enough to Krakow to avail ourselves of the cultural offerings there, we continue our march into Spring.

I understand now the greater emphasis on monitoring weather here than in say, Southern California or India. It changes on a dime and grey often being the colour de jour here in winter, the sun is appropriately praised when making an appearance.

Note that I am writing after 7 months here, 6 1/2 of which have been winter and a very short autumn. Read more in 5 1/2 months after which a Spring and Summer, the likes of which travel journals wax poetic, will have manifested.

THE UNIQUENESS AND SPECIALNESS OF BHRUGU ARANYA:
FULL MOON AND NEW MOON

Among the many unique and special activities that grace Bhrugu Aranya, two highlights each month are what takes place on Full Moon and New Moon days.

Though, of course, daily sunrise/sunset Agnihotra fire is the core of the setting up of the healing energy field here, one of the three other fires that are done here is performed 24 hours, non-stop on Full Moon and New Moon days.

The Om Tryambakam Homa (Homa is a Sanskrit word for fire) is done approximately 12 hours before and 12 hours after the exact moments of the Full and No Moon as a team effort by residents here.

It is a truly wonderful time also for guests to come and either just experience the energy and/or also participate if they wish. The mantra is easy to learn and anyone is welcome to attend while the only requirement for participation in making offerings to the fire is that the person already be performing Agnihotra daily.

There are some additional rules that pertain to women coming to Bhrugu Aranya that should be consulted on the website.

The application of Homa Therapy to agriculture is Homa Organic Farming. HOMA Organic Farming is a system of agriculture that may be added to any organic farming practices.

With chemical fertilizers and pesticides it becomes necessary to increase the dosage and strength or alter formulas as years go by. Then a stage comes when nothing grows unless you use them. If you do use them they ruin the soil and subsoil water. The harmful chemicals are ingested into the body when we eat food grown under these conditions. Then a few years later nothing grows at all and land that was once fertile and produced abundant crops has to be abandoned. These are some of the reasons why several communities started thinking in terms of organic farming and biological pest control. This worked for a while but as the pollution content of the atmosphere increased and things got compounded, organic farmers came into terrific difficulties.