Category: Aptoryam

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Somayag 2017 – the Garden

Photos:  – Aaron Kidd and Bharat working in the Goshala garden, where everything grows healthy and abundant and in less time than usual.

Aaron Kidd from Australia shares:      "We planted a larger vegetable garden 3 months prior to the Somayag.
The cherry tomatoes self-plant if they are in a happy environment, where they feel good.      Here they come every year without necessity to plant them. We have a great variety of vegetables and herbs like coriander, which is inter-planted with small eggplants, then Indian gilka (silk squash), bitter gourd, beet roots, a bigger eggplant variety, tomatoes, capsicum, spinach, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, various varieties of salad greens, carrots, onions, garlic, beans, celery, cucumbers and some Asian vegetables too, then amaranth, parsley, basil, fenugreek, etc.
        Cauliflower is usually very susceptible to pests and actually difficult to grow organically. We had a great result this year, not only had we big heads of 3 kilos (without the outside leaves), but is has also grown very quickly. It took about 2 and a half month from the time the seedlings were planted.
        It is an amazing garden, everything is so healthy, no pests, no diseases, everything is balanced and with great taste and flavor. We see a great result and it is a good advertising for Homa gardening."

Photo below: Karina Ohme from Chile harvesting a cauliflower for the kitchen.
 The other photos show the abundance in the Maheshwar Goshala garden.

Aaron Kidd continued:
       "We are picking a full bucket of tomatoes every day, sometimes every 2nd day and that since 2 and a half month. And you can see tomatoes are everywhere in all different stages. It is a lot of tomatoes for a fairly small patch of land. That is another great result.
       We are happy that everyone attending the Somayag can eat organically grown Homa vegetables. Instrumental for this have been Bharat, the Tapovan gardener, and Prashant from the Goshala. They have done a lot and deserve all the credit. But it is also a result of 7 years of gardening, the Homa composting, vermiculture, the Homa farming methods of using Agnihtora ash and spraying Homa Biosol, which is showing its results in a rich, nutritious soil.
All these things have helped and we are harvesting the fruits thereof."

Photos on this page: Crops in  Maheshwar Goshala and vermicompost beds. Below: Prashant with his son Sumit who, along with Bharat, is in charge of the Homa garden.
         The future of food on our planet is in our hands! Healthy nutritious food leads to good physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing. The practice of Homa Therapy leads us to a state of love towards every living being.

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Somayag 2017 – Preparations

Dr. Ulrich Berk and Achal Apte preparing the Kundas for the Somayag; the "Tapovan and Maheshwar boys" as they are affectionately called. Under the guidance of Sanjay Patil, Anne Godfrey, Aaron Kidd, Prem Jogi and Sarvajit, they made Maheshwar shine.    They renovated, painted, modeled, reconstructed, improved, renewed, washed, cleaned, … the buildings and land. They turned into electricians, plumbers, builders, painters, landscapers, farmers, etc.
              If we talk about service, they are the teachers.

Goshala (cow refuge);
With a smile they brought buckets of hot water for showers, heated in big pots on firewood,  to the rooms long before dawn!
       Please receive everyone’s Gratitude, Love and Respect!

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Aptoryam Somayag 2017 – Daily Schedule

Somayag is a complex ritual, involving a team of 16 Rutviks (priests). Each has his own responsibilities and will chant from one of the four Vedas. Together, all four Vedas will be represented. A number of different processes and tasks are often going on simultaneously. Following is a brief description together with the approximate timings. (Timings are given in IST – Indian Standard Time – which is 5.5 hours ahead of GMT).

6th February

4pm to 6pm

Fire is first generated in the Tretagni Agnihotra altars (3 altars of the Yajaman). Fire is generated by traditional friction method using two-man block and spindle technique. It is known as Agni Mantan.

7th February

9.30am to 1.00pm

Opening ceremony.
Energetic clearing of the Somayag shala.
Team of priests is gathered.
Fire is transferred from Tretagni altars to the Somayag altars.

5.00pm to 7.30pm

Consecration (Diksha).

8th February

7.00am to 1.00pm

Somavalli herb is ‘purchased.’
Soma is welcomed with an Ishti (type of fire ceremony).
Rutviks (priests) pledge to complete the Somayag harmoniously.
Implements for Pravargya are consecrated.
First Pravargya
(In Pravargya a mixture of cow’s milk and goat’s milk is offered onto a specially prepared pot of boiling cow’s ghee. This produces a flame up to 30 feet high).

4.30pm to 7.30pm

Pravargya.
Soma is freshened by each priest in turn.
Pravargya

9th February

9.00am to 12.00pm

Pravargya
Quiet Mantras.
Soma is freshened.

4.30pm to 7.30pm

Pravargya.
Soma is freshened.

Somavalli

10th February

7.00am to 1.30pm

Pravargyas continue.

5.00pm to 9.00pm

Procession to Mahavedi.
Pravargyas continue.

11th February

6.00am to 1.00pm

Offering of Soma into the Uttarvedi.
Everyone has the opportunity to help crush the juice from the Soma.

5.00pm to 1.00am

Offering of Soma into the Uttarvedi.

12th February

4.00am to 7.00am

Rutviks chant, without break, 1,000 Mantras.

9.30am to 12.30pm

Rutviks make offerings to atone for any mistakes they may have made in carrying out their duties in the Somayag.
Final offerings are made.

1.00pm to 2.30pm

Procession down to the river.
Various implements used in the Somayag are thrown into the river.
Everyone takes bath in river.

Yajaman douses participants with water from the Narmada.

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Somayag 2017 Preparation Starts

Dear Fellow International Agnihotris and Friends of Somayag,

Today in Maheshwar Goshala the Somayag Committee have come together to organize the calender for all preparation work required before the beginning of this most auspicious Somayag, the last of the seven Maha Somayags which were inspired by our beloved Shree Vasant.

Many of you have participated in previous Somayags. For the next three months, we have organized a program of work to be carried out in preparation for this great occasion.
Our wish is that despite limitations on the numbers of local and international visitors who can be accommodated here in the Goshala itself, everyone should be able to experience this auspicious and blessed culmination of the preceding six Mahayajynas which have already been completed on this sacred land.
We are requesting help in raising the necessary funds to cover the main costs involved both in preparations and also those costs involved in actually organizing and carrying out such an event so all are happy. Costs include repairs, painting, upgrading certain facilities, replanting the organic food garden, and completing all the details which need attention to ensure comfort and ease during your time spent here.
Any amount will be helpful and funds are required as soon as possible so the work can begin.

If you can assist please follow the relevant link below. (Monies raised in USA can be sent direct to Fivefold Path, Inc., USA.)
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Invitation to Somayag 2017

Dear friends,
We are pleased to announce that the last and final Somayag in the series of seven Somayags inspired by Shree Vasant Paranjpe, will be held at the Homa Therapy Goshala, Maheshwar, India February 7-12, 2017.

For the past ten years, a small group of people from various countries has kept this vision of conducting a series of seven Maha Somayags on the banks of the River Narmada in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh State, for the healing of our planet.
To date six of these Somayags have been completed successfully.

The beneficial effects of each of these Somayags last for several decades. The atmosphere becomes medicinal, nutritious and disease free.

Somayags yield great benefits to the psyche. They are, of course, part of the Science of Yajnya, of which daily sunrise/sunset Agnihotra is the core practice for the common person.

This is an opportunity for all of us to come together again for a cause mightier than all of us together, an opportunity to contribute ourselves to a Higher Goal; no matter how small our individual efforts may be. By coming together in a united effort, we can achieve more than the sum of our parts.

Supporting and attending, if possible, such a Somayag helps us realize that it is the journey together which gives us great joy and enhanced meaning to our lives. In those moments together we understand and learn more about life.
This 7th Somayag is known as Aptoryam. This Somayag is to help all our families and all living beings in good health as well as to purify our environment and thus help all the planet to regain good health again.

On a more subtle level Aptoryam Somayag is for purification and strengthening our sense organs – and as it is the sense organs through which we perceive the World, if these sense organs are pure and strong, we will be able to achieve Equanimity of Mind and Ultimate Peace. So this particular Somayag will help to unite all humanity.

Let us come together and celebrate this time with each other in Unity and Harmony.