Seven effective steps to practise yogic farming
Scientific research in India appears to be breaking new ground. We come to know of this through pronouncements made by central government ministers from time to time. The latest was made by Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh on September 13, in which he advocated "yogic farming" to overcome problems like lower productivity and its impact on farmers.
Since the announcement came from the agriculture minister, I decided to check out if the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) - India's oldest research council - had done some research on this emerging new field of yogic farming. I was curious to know some basics - Is yoga to be done by farmers or seeds? The ICAR website was down (last checked at 12.15pm on September 16). Perhaps it may have crashed due to sudden traffic volume. Farmers may be trying to find out about the latest breakthrough.
A few more enquiries revealed that the minister was sharing his vision about the future of Indian agriculture at a function organised by Brahma Kumaris Vishwa Vidyalaya (entrance of whose offices bear an eerie insignia - "Gateway to the Heaven"). As per media accounts, at this meeting the minister declared his unequivocal support to the concept of "yogic farming" being practiced by Brahma Kumaris since 2008. Later he elaborated his ideas in the quotes he gave to the Indian Express.
Publications of rural development wing of the Prajapita Brahmakumari Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya on "perpetual yogic agriculture" (which may be contending to become official textbooks in agriculture universities in future) are a treatise to read. The basic idea is that farmers can "change the nature through attitude (vritti)". Consider this piece of philosophy (which assumes all farmers are Brahmins):
"You Brahmin souls are the purshottam (best of the human) souls. Nature is the maidservant of such purshottam souls. At present, you not only transform the souls but also transform the nature. The more powerful your vibrations become, the more satoprathan the nature becomes. This is how the nature and the attitudes of human souls will be changed. Change the human souls through attitude and nature through vibrations. This is why the attitude of agents of change should always be powerful not common." [From publications titled Perpetual Yogic Agriculture (Shashwat Yogic Kheti) A Novel Step towards a New Era]
How do you translate this philosophical vision into practical farming? Here are the vital steps as suggested in handbook published by Brahma Kumaris:
1) Giving saakash (help through vibration) to the crop in the morning from 4 to 4.45am at amritvela and by practicing karma yoga throughout the day while farming.
2) Before sowing any seed, give sakaash to that seed, Baba's powers are entering to the seed and cover the seed with the power of purity, then sow it in sweet remembrance of Baba into the land. Before casting any type of organic manure into the land, call Bapdada to the corporeal world or you go to subtle world and make it powerful and cast it into the land.
3) If you want to sprinkle any resistance, medicine or tonic, first you experiment this method then spray it. While spraying feel that I am spraying along with Bapdada directly from vatan (sweet home, paramdham).
4) Take water in a vessel and keep your finger in it. Now practice "I am knowledgeful soul. The rays of the sun of knowledge are coming to me and reaching into the water through the medium of finger". Get concentration in this single thought for minimum ten minutes. Then sprinkle that water on the crop - it benefits more.
5) When the soul sits in sweet remembrance of the ocean of purity being pure, our pure vibrations kill all the impure insects (virus, fungus, etc) which are born in the land or vegetation due to pollution. These pure vibrations create a special type of energy in vegetation to face any virus or disease which attacks on it. This energy doesn't allow to increase such virus or disease. Remaining in a pure form, keep your finger in water and remember the ocean of purity for ten minutes with concentration. Then if we pour that water on the land or sprinkle it on the crop, the disease will be controlled.
6) Keeping your hand on the fertiliser, think that through the hands of me, the soul, the vibrations of purity and supreme powers are melting in the fertiliser. While spilling on the crop, feel that supreme powers are also falling on the crop and all insects are running out. Crop is also becoming healthy and powerful.
7) Take 10-15kg cow dung of a pure local breed, 5-10l of cow urine, 2kg black jaggery or 4l of sugarcane juice, 2kg powder of any pulse, 1kg jiv soil (soil from the borders of the farm or from dam-site) and 200l of water. Keep all the above-mentioned materials in a barrel for two-seven days under shadow. Everyday churn the mixture with a wooden stick twice. Then use it on the land. In one acre land, sprinkle its small amount by mixing it with water or if the land is wet, pour it using a bucket and sprinkle on the land with a neem branch. The above-mentioned method is called "jivamrit". Do this experiment with an interval of ten-fifteen days or every time while watering the field. [There are one dozen such experiments suggested to improve productivity.]
While more and more farmers are taking to organic or chemical-free farming for various reasons, the Brahma Kumaris are claiming that they have combined organic farming with meditation and yoga. It is this combo which has been endorsed by the agriculture minister. So, the next time you are buying grocery, look for a "yogically grown" stamp on a bag of rice or wheat. Perhaps there can be nothing more pure than this.