Parnashavari in the Garden
Early in our growing season we 
realized that we had a big problem. The Marici Fellowship Garden is a peaceful place where all creatures are welcome. But some seemed to take more advantage of that then others. We ran into a serious slug, and tiny beetle infestation. We were desperate: slugs had gone through all our Bok Choy (8 plants total) and devoured our spinach practically overnight! We never even saw our lettuce starts, they were gulped up as soon as they popped their tiny seed heads out of the soil.
Tomato plants that we grew from seeds in our home, under lights, and then in cloches, and finally planted in the garden were suddenly covered in tiny black beetles, making the leaves look like someone was poking tiny holes all over them. We researched and found out that at that stage of beetle infestation the crop was unlikely to survive.
We desperately reached out to H.E. Avikrita Rinpoche for help.
He knew exactly what to do. We were promptly given a special version of Parnasavari’s* Mantra to recite while sitting near the ground and ringing a bell. We began immediately. Not even 5 minutes after reciting the prayer for the first time, a large brown slug (we named Bruce) and another smaller buddy was seen leaving the tomato house!
We recited the Mantra each time we went to the Garden, After about a week or so the beetles had also left the scene! We were, and are still amazed! It has been months now since and the garden is thriving, Thank You Parnashavari!
*Parnashavari - You can find the original version of the prayer that the Mantra was based on here https://www.sakya.org/2020/02/prayer-for-the-coronavirus-outbreak/
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