Big Houses or Self-sufficiency
BY: SATYAHIT DASA
May 15, ALACHUA, FLORIDA (SUN) — Whatever famous persons do, common men follow. Take your pick. The leaders of the Hare Krsna devotees, following the mass ideal of obtaining nice large, modern, expensive homes, have the rest of the devotees following suit much to the detriment of the simple living high thinking, self-sufficient principles given us by Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to develop self-sufficient farm communities where working for Krsna, chanting, dancing, and dependence on Krsna's mercy was prevalent instead of the focus of all church members donating to the church and living separately in expensive homes alone with family members. Neither are we proposing that we all sleep on the same floor. There are happy in-between situations that Krsna conscious friends may take up in the endeavour for self-sufficiency. Personally, methinks the writing has been on the wall for decades.
Apparently some temples spend 1000's of dollars weekly on flowers for the Deities, which are shipped from Columbia. For a couple thousand dollars, a permanent 1st class greenhouse may be established for growing flowers, vegetables, herbs, and all sorts of Krsna's gifts to us. Then devotees would be employed in care taking the greenhouses, the agricultural department. Thus money is given to devotees instead of airlines and shipping companies to send us flowers from Columbia. I know devotees without employment that would easily fit into this type of community self-sufficient project but alas, our leader's minds are elsewhere.
At the recent New Vrindaban Festival of Inspiration Presidents meetings, the topic of self-sufficiency and farming was so low on the interest list of topics to be only discussed that it was entirely omitted. This would please Srila Prabhupada! Srila Prabhupada wanted us to be self-sufficient so that we would not have to depend on the general society for our foods to be offered to Krsna. If general society suffers calamity, so will the devotees who are dependant on the supermarkets. Srila Prabhupada wanted us to show by example how simple living and high thinking may be performed.
If the leaders focus on self-sufficiency the general devotee's will follow, and with this focus Krsna will show us how to do everything needed. It will become simple. Brazil has a 100% self-sufficient Hare Krishna farm community, so why not others? They sell dried bananas for income. Others can continue jobs for income but focus on the self-sufficient farm communities of devotees.
Easier said than done, perhaps, since all attempts in North America have failed. The focus must change voluntarily or it will be changed by force. Srila Prabhupada said the automobile industry would come to an end. Unthinkable? The calamity of such a scenario is disaster, as foods are shipped on an average 4,000 miles.
So to start, the 1000's of dollars spent on shipping flowers can be used to start greenhouses for the same purpose, but without cost of shipments coming from 1000's of miles away, thus saving costs on shipping by air and truck. The added packaging expense may also be eliminated by shipping short distances ourselves and using reusable boxes. Presently plastic bags and cardboard boxes are daily thrown in the dumpster. Mind boggling waste on a global scale, and we simply join in. We must think of reducing gasoline fuel costs and cardboard box costs. Not only these cardboard boxes we are paying for, but huge forests have already been wasted so that we may throw cardboard boxes in the dumpster and or burn them, as we do at New Vrindaban. Some even throw wood pallets into the dumpsters as if this cut lumber is beneath us, is not 1st class. Wow we have gone so far in our arrogance.
Srila Prabhupada said that most books were a waste of paper which is made of wood, what to speak of simply throwing wood directly into the garbage. North American modern society has come a long way in its arrogance towards Mother Nature. Srila Prabhupada once explained that even one grain of rice is important and picked it off the floor. Daily we throw in the garbage tin cans, glass bottles, newspapers, and boxes while in poor countries starving people pick through garbage heaps for sustenance. How long before we wake up to our complacency towards waste and self-sufficiency?
It appears that as Hare Krsnas we are thinking we are above all these mundane considerations, but Srila Prabhupada's instructions on self-sufficiency are anything but mundane. They are direct instructions to us and for us to implement by hook or crook, as He would say.
Apparently "Make Vrindaban" is 1,400 pages in 3 volumes of Srila Prabhupada speaking on self-sufficiency to us. It is high time that all unengaged devotees be engaged
and the leaders must help to make this happen. If anyone made us do more it was Srila Prabhupada, so we should locate all His instructions on self-sufficiency and implement them.
Gardening should be a major course for all ages of students. Gardening along with the vast types of arts involved in food, herb and flower production. We take such pride in cooking for Krsna, why not in growing for Krsna? One devotee asked Srila Prabhupada if offering apple cider (non alcoholic) to Krsna is ok, and Srila Prabhupada said that due to uncaring factory-type production lines it is not 1st class and we should produce it ourselves. Why not can, jar and bottle our own home grown food stuffs? There are all sorts of liquids, veggies, fruits, etc. and also these items are sellable in the marketplace. Simply the focus must change or we shall go along with whatever befalls this modern society.
Even a Wren & Simpy cartoon book declared 10 years ago that modern society as we know it will become completely changed. Now if even Wren & Simpy said this, then certainly all intelligent readers should realize the urgency and the benefits of working together in Krsna's service in these ways. That's called thinking out of the box, isn't it! Srila Prabhupada taught us how to think outside the box, so why we are behaving inside the box with all our separate homes mentality instead of instituting various types of community living mentality. As Srila Prabhupada would say, "where's the difficulty?"
Also it is lots more fun working together than separately, isn't it? Now we just need the leaders to put their thinking caps on in these directions and we will please Srila Prabhupada moreso.
Hare Krsna
