Navami - Kesava Masa, Gaurabda 528
Hare Krishna! Welcome to Volume 1, Issue 2 of the IDVM Newsletter.
Hare Krishna! Welcome to Volume 1, Issue 2 of the IDVM Newsletter.
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In this Issue:
- Srila Prabhupada Speaks...
- IDVM Logo Released
- "Tour de Farms": Pathmeda Farm on the Radar
- Applying Varnasrama - Govardhana
- Importance of Cow Protection
- Living Wisdom - Duties in Varnasrama
- Traditional Food- Edible Oil
- The Need for Biodiversity in Cow Protection
- Cities for Preaching; Villages for Staying
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Srila Prabhupada Speaks...
Purport, SB 5.19.10
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IDVM Logo Released
- By HG Rama Lakshman Das
ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama
Ministry (INDIA) launched its official logo and a monthly newsletter "Make
Vrindavana Villages" on the auspicious occasion of Gopasthami (31 October
2014). The release was made simultaneously in Mayapur and Vrindavan at 10:00 in
the morning soon after go-puja.
HH Lokanath Swami Maharaja, HH Gopala Krishna Goswami Maharaja, HH Bhakti
Visramba Madhava Maharaja, and several senior devotees besides hundreds of
devotee audience were present to mark the launching event in the ISKCON Vrindavan
goshala.
HG Syamasundar Prabhu,
assisted by HG Damodar Dulal prabhu, visited the Mayapur Goshala
to oversee its operation standards. There he interacted with its managers
and guided them the ways to improve the standards of feeding, of cleaning, and
of general health care of cows and of new born calves. They also took the
opportunity to discuss different issues connected with cow protection in India.
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"Tour de Farms": Report on Pathmeda Farm
- By HG Arjuna Krsna Das
- By HG Arjuna Krsna Das
HG Ram Lakshman prabhu (Director of IDVM
Secretariat, Sri Mayapur Dham) and HG Arjuna Krsna prabhu (Co-Director of Education,
IDVM) undertook an extensive tour to various ISKCON rural projects in India.
Their travels took them to Pathmeda on the border of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
For further reading, please visit the link below to read the second in a series of seven articles November2014: Pathmeda Project
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Applying Varnasrama - Govardhana
- By HG Hari Kirtan Das
A month ago we (IDVM village preaching team) visited a remote village named Dhegapudi in Andhra Pradesh. While in a discussion describing Nanda Maharaj’s cows in Vrindavan the local devotee Janajivan prabhu referred to an old villager, Mr. Rangaiah in the village who still maintains about more than 100 cows, bulls and calves. Having heard about him, we eagerly went to meet this person.
Mr. Rangaiah was in his late seventies, stout with thick moustache and beard. Surprisingly, he still had completely dark hair with stray streaks of gray hair. It was naturally black, not dyed! His residence was a small house with three rooms. A few years ago, he had put concrete slab, otherwise for generations there had been baked Mud-tiled roof.
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| Mr. Rangaiah's son herds Indigenous Cows in Dhegapudi village, Andhra Pradesh |
We could only appreciate his wonderful services
to mother cow. Our appreciation made his and his wife’s eyes well up with
tears. Only later we came to know that almost everyone in the village had been
discouraging and speaking ill about them for keeping so many cows, as many
times they entered their fields and ate their crops. We realized later that our
few words of appreciation proved a great encouragement to them. We interacted
with other villagers also about cows. They knew the importance of cows, but
they reasoned that it is not practical as free grazing grounds are no longer
available for cows. It was an astounding fact that even villages have shortage
of grazing fields!
Later while assessing the situation in a
discussion with the ex–sarpanch (Village Head), who happened to be a relative
of Janajivan prabhu, some facts that got revealed were:
• It’s a rule that every village should have a
government forest land for grazing and other purposes. But nowadays these
lands, though officially allotted for forest, are leased to farmers for
cultivation illegally. The cows are thus losing their natural pasturing
grounds.
• Farmers out of greed are cultivating two crops
and sometimes even three crops in a year. This leaves no scope for the cows to
graze freely for at least a few months in a year.
• Cash crops like tobacco, cotton, etc., hardly
give the cows an opportunity to graze.
• Further, the usage of machinery for harvesting
has reduced the hay stock for cows, especially in the dry seasons.
So, what could be the solution for this problem?
Properly analyzed, cow protection at large is possible only if somehow or the other
enough grazing land is made available.
In concluding words, Mr. Rangaiah spoke that he
is determined to keep the cows till his last breath and leave the future of the
cows to the Supreme Lord. He has two sons, the younger one is in college and is
not at all interested in cows and agriculture and the elder son is mentally challenged.
Mr. Rangaiah however feels that it is the elder son who is the only intelligent
person in the village because he loves cows and cows love him as he takes them
for grazing every day. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Krishna in Bauma
Vrindavan (Vrindavan manifested on the earth) lila took pleasure in personally
taking the cows for grazing, especially to Govardhan cows’ favorite grazing
spot. Thus, we can pray that Govardhanji manifests in every village, giving
pleasure to Krishna’s cows by supplying succulent and nourishing grass to her:
Govardhana
dharaadhara
Gokula
trana karaka
Vishnu
bahu krtocchraye
Gavaam koti prado bhava [cf. Padma Purana]
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Importance of Cow Protection
HG Sri Krishna Purusottama Das recently gave a
detailed lecture on “Importance of Cow Protection” at ISKCON Silicon Valley,
Mountain View, CA.
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Living Wisdom: Duties in Varnasrama Dharma
- By HG Venu Gopal Das
Conducting sacrifice (yajna), study and charity, as explained by the Vedic literatures, are the common duties for the Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaisya.
ijyadhyayanadanani yathasastram sanatanau |
brahmanaksatriyavaisyanam samanyo dharma ucyate || (kaamandakeeya neeti sara 3.18)
The Brahmana’s occupational duties involve conducting sacrifices on behalf of others, teaching, and accepting alms from pious people.
yajanadhyapane suddhe visuddhacca pratigrahau |
vattitrayamidam proktamunibhir jyeshthhvarninah || (kaamandakeeya neeti sara 3.19)
The Kshatriya lives by wielding the weapons and offers protection to other living entities.
sastrenajivanam rajyo bhutanam cabhiraksanam |
pasupalyam krishih panyam vaisyasyajivanam smatam|| (kaamandakeeya neeti sara 3.20)
The Vaisyas derive their subsistence from cow protection, agriculture, and trading.
The duty of a Shudra is to serve the twice-borns. Priority goes from Brahmana to Kshatriya and then to Vaisya. He can earn his livelihood by practicing fine arts, singing, dancing, acting, etc.:
sudrasya dharmam susrunam dvijanamanupurvasam |
suddha ca vattistatseva karucarakarma ca || (kaamandakeeya neeti sara 3.21)
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Edible Oil?
- By HG Rama Sharana Das 
We think the refined oil which we are using for cooking is edible oil, is that so? Let us get into its process of making.
Oil refining is a process where crude oil i.e., the natural oil from vegetables, sunflower seed, etc., is refined to remove any substances that may contribute odd flavour, odour, undesirable colour, or simply for standardization. Standardization is required because if 100 million tons is sold in its natural way, every bottle will be different in colour and clarity, resulting in chaos at the supermarket.
Step 1: “Washing” of oil using water, salts and acids in order to remove waxes, phosphates and other impurities.
Step 2: Oil undergoes a neutralization process. Alkali (i.e. soap) is mixed
with oil and heated upto 1800 F. A separator then removes the soap from the oil.
Step 3: The oil is subjected to “physical” refinement process of vacuum steam distillation to remove the odour compounds.
Step 4: The oil is then subjected to cooling. By
doing this, some fats crystallize and are removed by filtration.
Step 5: The oil is then bleached to further remove the impurities. Oil is bleached by heating it to 1300 F and mixing it with clay. The mixture is held for several minutes and then the hot oil is filtered from the clay and cooled.
Step 6: Hydrogenation process is completed by pumping pressurized hydrogen into an agitating tank filled with oil. This must be done in the presence of a catalyst metal, such as nickel. Hydrogenation is done at 4000 F and pressure of 60 psi.
Do we want to eat the end result of this rigorous procedure? It has already been the cause of much illness. Our continuation to eat this is to ask for irreversible damage to health.
For example, nickel which is used as a hydrogenating catalyst for hardening of vegetable oils, has adverse effect on respiratory system, liver, skin, metabolism; interaction with DNA/RNA. It also crosses the placental barrier to result in carcinogenic action.
Popular edible oil brands were collected randomly from the local market. They bore different batch numbers and were subjected to testing/screening for the presence of heavy metals.
Bottom line
Refining is accomplished with the addition of
sodium hydroxide with temperature around 4500 F. The refined oil is not considered
edible without further processing, such as filtration, deodorization, and bleaching.
The process of refining oils is equivalent to
the refining of whole wheat and whole sugar into white ones. Refined oils find
their way into the human food chain and become the raw material for every cell
in your body. Countless diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney
disease, allergies, emphysema, stomach ulcers, premature aging, impotence,
hypoglycaemia and arthritis exist because chemically synthesized substances
disrupt the bio-chemistry of hundreds of billions of microscopic living cells
which make up the body.
Then what is the
Alternative? - Traditional Ghani Technology
Producing oil in Ghani does not produce any heat.
Its nutrition value and storage quality are high along with the distinct flavor,
which is an important attribute of all natural oils. Mustard, coconut,
groundnut and safflower oils are the best when produced after mild ghani crushing.
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The need for Biodiversity in Cow Protection- By Dr. Sree Kumar
We often come across the problem of tick infestation in cow farming. We try various methods to kill the ticks, like external application of repellants (organic or inorganic). This is however not a holistic method because it adversely impacts the environment.
We should know what lead to its infestation. It is because the weakest link in the life cycle of the tick is not interfered by its predator (i.e. birds). In a natural situation, we can see birds like egrets, wild fowl etc. associating with cows and eating the adult ticks; thus breaking the egg laying process in the life cycle of the ticks. But when we domesticate the cows, these birds do not come near the cows because of the presence of human beings. Thus, adding to the increase in the ticks in the shed.
To replace the natural birds we should think of keeping birds like poultry to
live with cows in harmony leading to biodiversity in the farm. These birds will
eat the ticks. Thus, we can see this biodiversity control the ticks.
Please see what is told in Vedas (Atharva Veda
3-14-5) about biodiversity of life in goshala:
¨गोशाला में भिन्न भिन्न जीव-जंतु आवश्यक है ||
शिवो वो गोष्ठो भवतु शारि शाकेव पुष्यत।
इहैवोत प्र जायध्वं मया व: संसृजामासि ।। [अथर्व 3-14-15]
संसृजामासि--we provide for
you, शिवो वो गोष्ठो-- this shelter to be blessed with, शारिकाशैव-- different birds (like egrets) parrots and animals living
together in this cow house may provide us with, रायस्पोषेण बहुला-- plentiful
bounties, सदेम-- sustainable , रुप-- welfare, जीवा जीवन्ती-- for all the life here to be also, पुष्यत--healthy on feeds, प्रजायध्वं--and to have large progeny.
(Biodiversity chain of nature)
Please see the study conducted to establish the efficacy of biodiversity Predation of livestock ticks by chickens as a tick-control method in a resource-poor urban environment.
Dreyer K1, Fourie LJ, Kok DJ.
Abstract
The possible use of chickens as predators of
livestock ticks was studied. Chickens were allowed to scavenge for 3 hours
among tick-infested cattle in a typical township backyard during the milking
period. Boophilus decoloratus, Hyalomma marginatum rufipes, Rhipicephalus
evertsi evertsi and Otobius megnini were recovered from the crops and gizzards
at necropsy. The numbers of ticks ingested ranged from 0-128, with an average
of 28.81 (+/- 8.42) per chicken. This study has confirmed that chickens are
natural predators of livestock ticks and that chickens can be used as part of
an integrated tick control plan in urban cattle-management systems in
resource-poor communities in South Africa.
PMID:
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Cities for Preaching; Villages for Staying- By HG Srinatha Das
“We are lucky if we even go
out of city occasionally to know and to see that there are still some land and
cows. We have undeveloped consciousness of what land means, of its importance
and of the fact that land is actually a personality, Bhumi. We call her mother
earth; what does it mean? And also the Srimad
Bhagavatam says that
land is one of our mothers, and so are the cows. By not moving in this
direction, by not understanding its importance, its emergency- I have mentioned
it a few times already, what we do not realize is that the cities are meant to
be primarily for devotees who will preach to other people that actually we do
not belong to the city. This may seem like a somewhat shocking or drastic
statement to make, but Srila Prabhupada has very clearly said that the cities
are going to crumble, to fall apart. And he gave the reason: the main reason
(he pointed to the cities of America and Europe) why cities will be destroyed
(that they are being destroyed and will ultimately crumble), is because of this
one most unforgivable sinful activity of allowing the slaughtering of cows.”
- cf. RP Bhakti Raghava Swami, Make
Vrindavana Villages, Ch. "Varnasrama Shift", Pg. 35.
“The realization I clearly get in reading
various passages from Srila Prabhupada’s books is that our living basis as
devotees should not in fact be the cities. Our homes and the future of our
children should not be in the cities. We should only go or commute to our
cities to do our business; otherwise we shouldn’t be there. If one is living in
the city and is not preaching, he is in the wrong place. He shouldn’t be there.
We are in the cities because the majority of people are there and that is where
we can preach to people, but again Srila Prabhupada very clearly mentions that
our preaching will be ineffective if we don’t have a model to show to people.
So who is working or creating models? In the few farming communities that we
have, we have to get away from the idea of just doing farming. What we need to
do is to actually establish villages or, like in India, Indonesia and in Asian
countries where there is still the presence of villages, somehow save the
existing villages from becoming deserted (which is the trend right now). We, as
devotees, have to either save villages by having families become devotees in
existing villages or we have to start from scratch.” - cf. RP Bhakti
Raghava Swami, Make Vrindavana Villages, Ch. "Varnasrama Shift", Pg.
36-37.
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