page 3 - Ziraat: a turning point in agriculture
7. Good seed is more precious than pearls
In modern agriculture the farmer is on his/her way to lose completely any influence on seed. International companies take over the ownership through patents on genetic engineered seeds, hybrid seeds, seeds in general. In Europe the right of the farmer to grow seed for his own sowing is in danger. The seeds he/she can buy are manipulated. At a very fast speed the thousands of varieties worldwide of different food plants are getting lost. Each one of them is the result of ages of selection and interplay between farmers and nature. Mankind doesn´t realize what heritage we lose in this way. Murshid was warning us, as this development was in its very beginning. The manipulation of seed as is the practice of big companies operating on a world scale is part of an invasion of human science in the last realm still virgin. After conquering the areas of earth, water, fire and air now commercial science is attacking the world of ether. Into this unseen world the plant retires after a cycle of growth to replenish its resources and to reconnect with the eternal patterns which are meant for it. There the experiences of the past cycle are stored and the planning of a new cycle is taken up. Murshid describes these processes in “The soul, whence and wither”. We don´t know what happens to the soul of the plant, when science changes its pattern of being. For sure we risk to damage the basis of our life on earth. In Ziraat Agriculture respect for the great mysteries of birth and death and the worlds unseen is reinstalled.
8. "An experienced farmer can make greater riches by his sowing than a money-lender by the interest he gets on his money"
It is astonishing, how clear in 1927 was Murshid´s vision of things to come! Today the greatest wealth is accumulated by those that make money with money, so called capitalists. In 1929, shortly after Murshids death the first worldwide crash at the stock exchanges took place. In our days economics as dominated by the bankers is shaking on its fundaments. But still capitalism is predominant globally.
Ziraat envisions a culture with a new paradigm in which the type of richness will be a different one. The experienced farmer will take over the place of the broker and the banker. Surely a 180° change in the meaning of the word „interest“! It is a picture in which man is working in tune with the whole and not just in his own interest.
9. "Fertile soil is more valuable than gold"
Again the announcement of a turnaround of values. Whereas today in a breathtaking speed land is being sacrificed for industrial development, realization is breaking through that good soil is something invaluable. Enlarging our cities we move away the so called dirt before building activities can start. Murshid is telling us, that this “dirt” is more valuable than anything else. What is this fertile soil? What do we know about it? As a matter of fact very few. During the 20th century the science of the soil lost its importance. Modern agriculture can grow tomatoes on glass fiber. But studying the works of Murshid one can make an amazing discovery. What is the miracle of living soil in which mineral, vegetable and animal life are unified and any food mankind desires is growing? It is on a planetary level the same as in the human being the miracle of a living heart. “The heart may be likened to soil” says Murshid. The Sufi Message teaches the awakening of the heart. “The heart is just like a fertile soil or a barren desert, it shows love or lack of love, productive faculty or destructiveness”. Man is playing an essential role in the life on earth. If he turns inside and develops willingness to let the soil of his heart be cultivated he will be able to realize the position of soil in the interplay of the nature kingdoms. It is cultivation of the heart which leads to fertility of the soil. When our heart is ready we will find the heart of our beloved planet earth in this thin layer of precious soil.
10. "What fertilizes the soil? Cultivation"
Soil fertility is the result of human caretaking. This statement of Murshid is identical to the messages of the founding fathers of organic agriculture in the beginning of the 20th century. They were all pointing to the necessity of a living soil for the growth of healthy crops. The productivity of agricultural soils is dependent on the attitude of the farmer. The more he is willing to protect and nourish his soils, the better his soils will be able to nourish him.
Do we realize, what a revolution this means? We think that we have to take care of the plants to secure the harvest. But in Ziraat agriculture the soil takes care of the plants and the farmer takes care of the soil. The ability of a soil to bring forth plant life depends on its ability to hold water. A Ziraat Farmer does everything possible to maintain and improve the capability of his land to store water. A desert is not able to contain water. Only land with a good percentage of the mysterious humus is able to do this. And again here farmer and farm are one in Ziraat agriculture. They need each other and reflect each other: just as water nourishes the land, so does love make fertile the heart.
11. Ziraat agriculture tunes in to the rhythms of moon, sun and planets
As a master of classical Indian music Murshid knew about the different character of varying moments during the day. To each moment belongs a different raga. The quality of the sunlight at dawn is different from the one at midday. In a similar way differs the quality of the rising moon from the waning. To do the right thing in the right moment will be a source of power in new agriculture. The Ziraat farmer can profit from recognition of the different energy at different times of day, week, month and year. The application of this principle in agriculture has seen some results since Murshid´s announcement of Ziraat. Scientist like Maria Thun showed how the interplay between the moon and the planets influences plant life.
12. The "Song of Return"
The Ziraat Vision is for me a great reservoir of hope. In its compactness it contains a tremendous power. It is like a seed in which the future of mankind is guaranteed. When we let this seed sprout inside us, we participate in the development of a next step in human life on earth. In Murshids words: “Thou changest my flesh into fertile soil; Thou turnest my blood into streams of water; Thou kneadest my clay, I know, to make a new universe.”
The Ziraat Vision gives me the security, that after the period of the decline of dharma in which we momentarily live, there will be a new period, in which mankind “does not want the joy experienced by this individual self only; it desires joy from all around.” Out of this new type of desire will be born a new type of agriculture in which the joy of minerals, plants, animals and fellow humans will be the norm. It is the vision of a paradise which is not somewhere else in some kind of heaven or spiritual realm, but which is possible on earth!