Make Vrindavana Villages - Volume I, Issue 3

Dasami - Narayana Masa, Gaurabda 528

Hare Krishna! Welcome to Volume 1, Issue 3 of the IDVM Newsletter. 

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In this Issue:

• Srila Prabhupada Speaks...
• IDVM VTC at Mayapur
• "Tour de Farms": Panchavati Farm and Venu Madhuri Farm on the Radar
• Tirtha Yatra
• Traditional Food - Black Pepper
• Working against Nature
• Villages - Perfect place to Execute Varnasrama in its Fullness

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Srila Prabhupada Speaks...

 "Lord Krsna, the Supreme personality of Godhead, is the prime protector of brahminical culture and the cow. Without knowing and respecting these, one cannot realize the science of God, and without this knowledge, any welfare activities or humanitarian propaganda cannot be successful."

Purport, SB 4.21.38

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IDVM VTC at Mayapur

           - By HG Rama Lakshman Das

IDVM -India in association with Mayapur Institute will organise Varnasrama Training Course (VTC).

ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama Ministry- India, keeping its spirit of promoting rural development in India, announced the commencement of new Varnasrama courses of Dharma Shastri and of Organic farming.  This is an exciting opportunity for devotees to gain an insight into the said subjects besides many more related issues.

Organic Farming Course Feb 2014

This course will be held yearly by the ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama Ministry in Mayapur and will be offered free to all.

The aim of this course is to educate and emphasise the importance of Varnasrama and Vedic principles in organic farming in modern society. 

The Course in Organic farming will be given by Sanat Kumar Prabhu and Kalakantha prabhu which will include:

1.  Urban gardening

2.  Seeds study

3.  Pest management

4.  Why organic farming?

The Course in Dharma Shastri will be given by His Holiness R.P. Bhakti Raghava Swami (IDVM National Minister) and will include:

1.  Introduction

2.  ISKCON four waves

3.  Sanatan Dharma

4.  Daiva Varnarama Dharma

Dharma Shastri Course Feb 2014

These informative and important courses will interestingly presented using videos, power point displays and lectures by experts on various given subject matters.

These outlined courses are set to run for 6 days with Organic farming beginning on the 9^th of February up until the 14^th of February 2015, while Dharma Shastri will run from the 16^th of February till the 21^st of February. 

ISKCON recognizes a dire need for such training in today’s modern world and urges all the devotees to attend.

For more details on these courses please visit our website: www.iskconvarnasrama.com or just drop into the ministry office: Room no. 137, Chakra building, Mayapur, India to speak with its friendly staff.
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"Tour de Farms": Report on Panchavati Farm and Venu Madhuri Farm
                                                                              - 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 Panchvati Farm and Venu Madhuri Farm.

Devotees at Panchavati Farm

For further reading, please visit the link below to read the third and fourth in a series of seven articles November2014: Panchavati and Venu Madhuri Farm.
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 Tirtha Yatra

                       - By HG Hari Kirtan Das

Pilgrimage is one of the important activities (Mathura vasa) in the bhakti process. People, especially in India, from bygone ages even up to the present time, give great importance to pilgrimage. But ‘kali’ has got the pilgrimage also in its grips, thus killing the essence of the tirtha yatra.

During British rule, native Indians were against laying down of railway tracks at the expense of agricultural land. They did not show much interest for this mode of transport, since everything was available locally and only seldom they travelled far. It seems that the British government had a hard time convincing the farmers to part with their land and in most cases, landowners conceded to the allurement, that it would make pilgrimage easier!

There was a hidden motive to increase British favoured trading activity.  This increased greed; forcing people to move from one place to another. This destroyed the peaceful and simple localised lifestyle making life very complicated. 

Walking was the only means to reach

Recently, I along with a group of fifty devotees visited Tirumala Tirupathi kshetra on tirtha yatra. Before visiting the abode, we discussed for about eight hours, the significance of the kshetra, about Lord Srinivasa and His devotees who had served the Lord in the past.

Traditionally devotees used to come to temples with kirtans and bhajans

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswathi Thakur explains, “One should take darshan with ears first and only then can one take darshan with eyes or otherwise attempting to directly see the Lord is simply an “eye exercise””.

By Lord Venkateshwara’s grace, we had good darshan (in fact twice) of the beautiful transcendental deity form, each time getting darshan within a short time span of one and half hours within the general queue, which is very unusual (possibly due to following of acharya’s instructions).

We observed that lakhs of pilgrims, take the trouble of standing in queue for long hours, but after taking darshan the whole mood shifts to discussing how to gratify one’s senses. People enmasse go to big and small restaurants in spite of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD),the local temple management board providing free prasadam meals, throughout the day to everyone.

Another distraction was shopping complex selling items like dolls, sarees, dress material and household appliances, each having nothing do with spirituality.     
      

Even while standing in queue people are absorbed in prajalpa (spiritually unfitting talk) thus polluting the punya tirtha and transforming them into vayasa tirtha (places where crows assemble and are simply cawing making disturbing noise).

Modern times tirthas are ending up as picnic spots

In general the human form is meant for tapasya as Lord Rshabadev explains tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam …. (Srimad Bhagvatam 5.5.1) in a tirtha.  The holy places earlier were filled with renunciants and other spiritually inclined people. But gradually the holy places have unfortunately transformed into week-end or picnic spots with a bit of spiritual coating.

The cause of this degradation is obvious- people in general have no higher spiritual goals in life due to complicated lifestyle. Therefore, the principle of simple living and high thinking is the only remedy to fight the fast decaying spiritual culture.

A few significant traits of people in kali mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam are: manda sumanda matayo manda bhagya… in the context of pilgrimage many are lazy (manda) even to desire to visit a tirtha kshetra; and among those interested, a few are misguided (sumanda matayo) to visit other so-called concocted tirthas and finally those who are fortunate to visit the tirthas are inept (manda bhagya) in not being able to take full advantage of tirthas. 

Srimad Bhagavatam explains that the actual purpose of visiting tirthas is actually to associate with holy men and to hear from them the transcendental subject matter describing the glories of the name, form, pastimes, etc., of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In fact simply associating with advanced devotees is in itself is as good as visiting tirthas, Tirthi kurvanthi tirthani (Srimad Bhagvatam 1.13.10).

Therefore, Srila Prabhupada created tirthas in every nook and cranny of the world, in the form of ISKCON centres, giving opportunity to associate with sadhus.

Epilogue:

Skanda purana explains:

kim tasya bahubhir tirthaih 

kim tasya bahubhir vrataih/ 

yo nityam dhyayate devam

narayanamananyadhih//

“What is the need for a person who meditates on Lord Narayana with unalloyed devotion, visit tirthas or perform big vratas? “

Without considering the above principles, tirthas will be considered no more than a reservoir of water located at a distance (dure vary ayanam tirtham) as predicted in the Srimad Bhagavatam 12.2.6.

// Om tat sat //
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Black Pepper 

             - By HG Rama Sharana Das

“Foods dear to those in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one's existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome, and pleasing to the heart.”  Bhagavad-gita 17.8

Traditionally, Black Pepper is used in Indian cooking and when used in moderation, it has many health benefits.  Pepper is classified as a “sattvic” ingredient, or one in the mode of goodness. Pepper also finds its place in Ayurvedic medicines. 

a. Good for the stomach

Pepper increases the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, thereby facilitating digestion. Proper digestion is essential in the avoidance of diarrhoea, constipation and colitis.

b. Weight loss

The outer layer of the pepper corn assists in breaking down fatty cells. Therefore, pepper in food preparations is a good way to help one shed weight naturally. 

c. Skin health

Pepper can also aid in the cure of Vitiligo, a skin disease that causes depigmentation of some areas of skin, turning the affected skin white. According to the research done in London, the piperine content of pepper stimulates the skin to produce pigment.

d. Respiratory relief

Ayurveda adds pepper in the preparation of tonics for cold and cough, to provide relief from sinusitis and nasal congestion. Its expectorant property aids in the break-up of mucus and phlegm depositions within the respiratory tract. Its natural irritant quality helps expel loosened material through the act of sneezing and/or coughing, thus helping one to heal from infection.

e. Antibacterial quality

Antibacterial property found in black pepper helps fight against infectious insect bites among other possible infections. Pepper in diet helps keep the arteries clean, acting in a way similar to fibre, scraping excess cholesterol from the arteries walls and reducing atherosclerosis, a condition responsible for heart attack.

f. Peptic ulcers

A number of studies have shown black pepper to have beneficial effect on gastric mucosal damage and peptic ulcers, due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. 

g. Other benefits

Ayurveda also considers black pepper helpful in preventing ear-ache and gangrene. It proves beneficial in treating hernia, hoarseness, tooth decay and its associated pain. Since ancient times, pepper has also been administered to treat vision problems.

This extensive list of healing properties associated with Black pepper firmly fix its position in our kitchen. 

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Working against Nature
                                    - By Dr. Sree Kumar

Stall Feeding

The following photograph illustrates, just what can happen when an ecosystem is broken into unrelated pieces.

These animals are 

• feeding without normal movement on land,

• eating for¬age isolated from soil.

When cattle feed in this manner, without free movement, their manure has nowhere to go. Soil life-forms and worms etc. that process cow manure to render many beneficial functions are prevented from doing so.  The collected dung is stocked in manure lagoons/ holding tanks where the cows are stall-fed, breaking the natural biological cycle and thus impeding the soils nutrients from reaching the right place.

Soils that are thus deprived, lose vital developments that are present in a balanced ecosystem, like

1.stable storage of carbon from photo¬synthesis,

2.scrubbing of methane from the atmosphere by methanotrophic bacteria,

3.feeding a uni¬verse of inter-related soil biota essential for a healthy grassland ecosystem, and

4.nourishing the new growth of grass to begin the cycle anew.

Vast planned grazing lands have no need for manure lagoons or holding tanks however.

All manure goes from the ruminant to the ground. In a healthy soil, it is rapidly attacked by dung beetles, earthworms and other soil biota. 

The dung is thereby naturally taken to various depths in the soil, transforming it into soil organic carbon that can be stable for hundreds of thousands of years.

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Villages- Perfect place to Execute Varnasrama in its Fullness:
                                                        - By HG Srinatha Das
   
We as devotees need to understand the scope of Varnasrama. We speak of Varnasrama very often, but do we grasp the scope and depth of what Varnasrama, actually means?  I haven’t met that many devotees who truly understand what Srila Prabhupada actually meant.

Therefore Varnasrama college is intimately connected with Varnasrama development and Varnasrama  communities, because there are so many things we have to learn, there are so many skills we have to develop. We have to learn about the different varnas and the different asramas. Factually speaking, in order for Varnasrama to take place in its fullness, it has to happen in the country; it has to happen in the rural areas. It is not possible to have Vaisyas in the middle of Calcutta! ( Cities) You might have some cows in the middle of Calcutta just wandering around ( and all over India you have that) but Vaisyas means in the country. And in the Varnasrama set up, actually the majority of people are in the category of Vaisyas and sudras.
                                          
 - cf. HH RP Bhakti Raghava Swami, Make Vrindavana Villages, Ch. "Varnasrama Shift", Pg. 37.

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