New Vrindaban Bloggers

Yesterday I talked of the dead, today, keeping to the theme, I speak of the dying.

Premavatar is visiting New Vrindaban for the temple presidents/GBC meetings and I was taking him on a tour of the winter barn, more commonly referred to as the Big Barn. Several cows that are unable to make the 5 mile walk to the summer pasturing grounds at Bahulaban stay at the Big Barn for the summer. There we came across one of them dying.

When I first looked at her, I thought she was already gone but upon closer examination saw she was still clinging to life, even moaning very softly a bit.

Premavatar chanted some very clear mahamantras for a while. While he was chanting, she stopped moaning and listened. When he stopped, she again moaned, Perhaps it was my imagination but I thought I heard some gratitude in her vocalization.

I will check on her early this morning and see if she is still in her body. Any devotees wishing to go chant to her, I am sure she would appreciate it. I heard that Brkasanga has been reading Srimad Bhagvatam to her, but mostly she is dying alone.

I don’t know her personally, but she must be close to 20 years old. Balabhadra has the last dairy calves born in New Vrindaban before a moratorium on breeding was instituted in the early 90s, and they are 14-15 years old so she has to be older than that.

Why would we keep cows like her around even if they aren’t giving milk?

“There will be more water for gardening, and it will be moist, and then produce fodder for the animals and food for you. And animal gives you milk.

“That is Vrndavana life. And they are absorbed in this so-called opulence. Krsna has taken birth. They are bringing so many nice, pleasant foodstuff, very well-dressed and ornamented. These are description.

“In the morning we were reading. How they were happy, the inhabitants of Vrndavana with Krsna and living and cows. That I want to introduce.

“At any cost do it and…Don’t bother about big, big buildings. It is not required. Useless waste of time. Produce. Make the whole field green. See that. Then whole economic question solved. Then you eat sumptuous. Eat sumptuously.

“The animal is happy. The animal even does not give milk; let them eat and pass stool and urine. That is welcome. After all, eating, they will pass stool. So that is beneficial, not that simple milk is beneficial. Even the stool is beneficial.

“Therefore I am asking so much here and…, “Farm, farm, farm, farm…” That is not my program — Krsna’s program. Annad bhavanti bhutani [Bg. 3.14].*

“Produce greenness everywhere, everywhere. Vrndavana. It is not this motorcar civilization. If it has taken in his brain, then it is to be understood that he can do this plan. He’ll be able.”

Conversation Pieces — May 27, 1977, Vrndavana

*”All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajïa [sacrifice], and yajïa is born of prescribed duties.”

Soma alerted me to the demise of one of the catfish living in the Swan Boat Lake.

This was a 30″ long catfish. I have seen them 36″ and larger (like 1 meter). When Soma saw it baby snapping turtles were eating away at it, but I missed that nectar. When I went back later it was gone, either eaten completely or removed by some considerate devotee concerned about guests who don’t appreciate morbid things.

“The example given here is that water is a very nice place for a fish, but the fish is never free from anxiety about death, since big fish are always eager to eat the small fish. phalgüni tatra mahatäm: all living entities are eaten by bigger living entities. This is the way of material nature.

“ahastäni sahastänäm
apadäni catuñ-padäm
phalgüni tatra mahatäà
jévo jévasya jévanam

” ‘Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another.’ (SB 1.13.47)

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead has created the material world in such a way that one living entity is food for another. Thus there is a struggle for existence, but although we speak of survival of the fittest, no one can escape death without becoming a devotee of the Lord. Harim vina naiva srtim taranti: one cannot escape the cycle of birth and death without becoming a devotee. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (9.3). Aprapya mam nivartante mrtyu-samsara-vartmani. One who does not attain shelter at the lotus feet of Krsna must certainly wander up and down within the cycle of birth and death.”

SB 9.13.10

Anyway, don’t worry, there are plenty more fish in the lake.

If you were to take a loaf of bread to the chatra by the lake and rip small pieces to drop into the water, you will almost immediately see hundreds of bluegills snapping it up. If you pay attention, you will occasionally see a bass swim up also, and sometimes the catfish come by.

On Sundays at the day old bread place in Wheeling, you can get a bag of about 6-8 loaves of bread for $1. Last Sunday Vidya and I, with the help of a small boy visiting with his parents, fed the whole thing to the fish. It did take that many loaves before they were all satisfied. A cheap and fascinating thing to do.

I had a granola bar that I bought that when I read the ingredients had eggs in it and I tried to feed them that, but they spit it out. Either it was too hard to suck in or they were devotee fish and don’t eat eggs.

“It can’t happen here.” Zappa

Run on rice makes its way to U.S.

“The global run on food that has led to shortages and riots in Egypt, Haiti and other nations has made its way to U.S. shores.

“Concerned about rising prices and limited supplies of staples such as rice and flour, customers across the country have been cleaning out the shelves at big-box retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Sam’s Club and Costco Wholesale Corp. stores…

“This week, Costco said it had seen sales of flour, rice and some cooking oils leap. Some Costco stores already have held customers to just two bags of rice a day, but the chain doesn’t plan to limit sales nationwide.

“By midafternoon Wednesday, the Costco in Alhambra — which had not placed limits on purchases — said it had run out of rice.

“Prices for many foods, including beer, bread, coffee, pizza and rice, are rising rapidly as the nation contends with its worst bout of food inflation since 1990. The cost of groceries is climbing at an annual rate of about 5% this year.

“Retail experts said there was little evidence of “panic” hoarding by the public. It appears that restaurants and smaller retailers have been buying up most of the stock on the expectation that prices will continue to rise.

“Still, shoppers’ actions have taken some stores by surprise.

” ‘It is like a run on the bank. We don’t think there is a shortage, it is just increased shopping by customers who think there is,’ said Richard Galanti, Costco’s chief financial officer. For now, the retailer is allowing managers of stores with short supplies to set their own rules…

“Internationally, shortages of basic commodities — including rice, wheat and some oils — have led to protests and riots in recent months, prompting concern about food security in many poor countries.

“Runs on staples such as rice have consequences for the larger economy by adding to inflation and making it harder for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to ease problems in the financial and housing markets, said Milton Ezrati, an economist at investment firm Lord, Abbett & Co. in Jersey City, N.J…

“Since the fall, large producers such as Vietnam, India and Egypt have banned or limited rice exports to keep a lid on domestic food prices. China, another major producer, has taxed rice exports.

“But there is no dearth of rice in the United States. The Department of Agriculture projects U.S. rice supplies this year will be 8.3 million tons, nearly unchanged for the last seven years. Because Americans consume just 10% to 15% of what people in Asia’s big rice-eating nations eat, there’s plenty for domestic use, said Nathan Childs, a USDA market analyst. Rice consumption in the U.S. is so low that as much as half of the domestic crop is exported.

“Most rice is eaten within 100 miles of where it is grown. Just 8% of world production actually trades internationally, Childs said. So these new export limits and taxes have had an outsize effect on prices, he said…”

(Unabridged article)

See also:

The silent tsunami

Apr 17th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Food prices are causing misery and strife around the world. Radical solutions are needed

(The point I am trying to make by presenting this is that cow protection is essential to varnashram, and city devotees have a responsibility to support cow protection if they drink milk and seriously want to implement VA. This can be done vicariously by supporting existing cow protection programs. In the modern era, it isn’t practical for everyone to be on the farms but the connection still needs to be there for VA to exist.)

Letter from Tamal Krsna Goswami, Secretary to Srila Prabhupada, to Hari Sauri Das, ISKCON Melbourne, August 10th, 1977 (sent from Krsna Balarama Mandir, Vrndavana):

Srila Prabhupada always enjoys hearing from you as you have gained an eternal position at His Divine Grace’s lotus feet. Srila Prabhupada appreciated your opening prayers.

Srila Prabhupada was most enlivened to hear the report of New Govardhana Farm. His Divine Grace in the last month or so has been stressing the importance of these farm projects, and said, “This is the next aspect of Krsna consciousness which I wish to push forward. If I am able to travel again, then I shall visit the farms and make them perfect. On these farms we can demonstrate the full varnasrama system. If these farms become successful then the whole world will be enveloped by Krsna consciousness.

“From your letter I can understand how nice this farm is. I am very happy to see fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, grains, the devotees taking sumptuous prasadam and chanting Hare Krsna. This is the actual meaning of human life. It is a very good farm, from your letter I can understand. Whatever you build, get the building materials locally. If you can manufacture tiles locally, then your house problem is solved. Build up bamboo frame, and on it place tiles. In any event get everything locally. I wish to make a farm tour and then I shall surely visit your farm.”

I suggested to Srila Prabhupada that he was the Farm Acarya, but Srila Prabhupada said, “Krsna is the Farm Acarya. Baladeva is holding a plow, and Krsna is holding the calf. Krsna advised Nanda Maharaja not to perform Indra puja but to worship the land, Govardhana because it was supplying all foodstuffs for the residents of Vrndavana and the cows as well.” So Srila Prabhupada wants you to develop this farm very nicely as
it will be the future program to present to the world as the ideal of Krsna consciousness.

In the cities, we are interested for preaching but we cannot present the ideal varnasrama system, this is only possible at the farms, so they are very important.

Calf in the temple barn.

Skating around at the gourd show in a costume is a great way to meet people. Here I am trying to pick up a new gourdfriend. Good thing Vidya wasn’t watching.

Actually she is a dummy used by the lady in the booth next to us. Her head is made from a gourd and her hair is made of sweet grass braids. Those are hairclips made from gourds on her braids.

We just got back and are catching up so I will post more about Gosh’s Big Trip To Chicago later.

We had been gone from

until

Driving up to the temple after returning home I noticed that most of the forsythias are still not blossomed out. While I have mine on a south slope to encourage early blooming, part of it may be varietal. I don’t know what variety mine are as they are divisions from one that was planted by the house where we put in the greenhouse so we had to move it.

Devotees buy milk from the store and offer it to Krishna, and then take the remnants, somehow feeling that they have transformed it into milk from cows like these:

Unfortunately, in the real world, it doesn’t work like that. When the cow no longer gives enough milk, off she goes. Go watch this video to see what happens to her:

Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band’s “Sugar ‘n Spikes”

Frankly, I don’t get the association of the song with the video, but here are the lyrics from it:

Sugar ‘n spikes ‘n neon lights
‘n walks ‘n lights ‘n chains coughin’ smoke whoopin’ hope
Cardinal sky rush by falls bark in dark
Fall back in dark
Pies steam stale shoes move broom ‘n pale
Moon in uh dime store sale
Sugar ‘n spikes ‘n everything nice ‘n everything nice ‘n crazy
That’s what little worlds are made of lady
I’m paid up in home in ‘m new Friday’s house
There’s no H on my faucet there’s no bed for m’ mouse
My punch ‘n grow mind in diamond back time
Now it’s king for uh day with my lady look fine
Got m’ peakin’ up hat ‘n my caramel mask
Tremelo car got m’ speidel wrist round m’ honey
Goin’ t’ see the navy blue vicar
Paul Peter ‘n misses wray flicker

Anybody could give me a purport , please chime in. However, the process of how cows end up is the same regardless of the meaning of the lyrics.

Still, there is one transitional alternative if you are drinking industrial milk — support cow protection. Here is an old ox still alive years past his normal butchering time:

If you are looking for a cow protection program, consider donating to GEETA and help support this ox and many others. He is real and will appreciate it.

(From Brijabasi Spirit 1981 Vol. II, #2)

Sunny July day, blue sky, pleasant breeze. On a shaded lawn, Srila Prabhupada sat on a large teak-wood asana, relaxed, alternately chanting and answering questions Looking around, he saw a field of golden wheat. “This wheat needs rain?” he inquired. “No, Srila Prabhupada,” I answered, “it only needs sun. When it was growing in the spring, there was no rain for a month.” “Yes,” Srila Prabhupada continued, “without rain, there can be no grain.”

In America, only 2.5% of the people are di­rectly engaged in production of foodstuffs. The schools that Americans attend give little prac­tical instruction on food production. As a result, most Americans are uninformed and generally unaware of what is involved. Thus, when Srila Prabhupada asked about the wheat, I was amaz­ed at his interest!

The wheat was physiologically mature, and we were just waiting for it to dry in order to har­vest it; all it required was sunshine. Immediat­ely I realized what Srila Prabhupada meant. This particular crop was not very good. Not only was Srila Prabhupada recognizing that the crop was wheat, but he knew it was a poor crop. As I was accustomed to dealing with people un­acquainted with agricultural matters, this was surprising. Srila Prabhupada was obviously not an ordinary man.

Actually, I shouldn’t have been surprised. One of the reasons I was originally attracted to the Krishna conscious philosophy was that it was replete with examples found in nature, as opposed to most philosophical systems which are rather dry expositions crouched in technical terms, and tedious logical progressions.

Everywhere in Srila Prabhupada’s books, he elucidates his points with examples drawn from real life, showing not only deep philosophical understanding, but a keen observation of natur­al phenomenon. After all, nature itself is ar­ranged under Krishna’s direction, and certainly anyone who has even a slight appreciation of the complex inter-relationships manifest in nature must be awed by the intelligence required to or­ganize it. Agrarian people are generally theists, while atheism flourishes in the urban environ­ment.

Once, Srila Prabhupada was sitting under­neath a maple tree in the lawn of the grey house, just below the Palace. He was sitting with his back to the tree, facing away from the road, and occasionally a car would pass by or a jet would fly by, far overhead, but most of the sounds were those of nature, and an occasional ex­change between a few disciples and himself.

Slowly, we became aware of a creaking sound gradually approaching.

“Oh, what is this?” said Prabhupada, as he turned around to see.

It was Yudhisthira coming up the road with some yearling oxen, pulling a cart. Prabhupada watched with interest as they approached.

Yudhisthira was leading the oxen with a bat­ter. When he saw Prabhupada he drove close by, stopped his team by shouting a loud “who-aaa!”, and then with a more reverential voice he half-shouted: Jaya Srila Prabhupada! Jaya Gurudeva!

Srila Prabhupada looked at the oxen very ser­iously and asked, “Why don’t they have nose rings?” Yudhisthira blushed. “I didn’t want to hurt them Srila Prabhupada.”

“They should have nose rings. Oxen are con­trolled by the nose. Horses are controlled by the mouth,” Srila Prabhupada said to my amaze­ment.

I was used to thinking of great scholars as hid­den amongst piles of papers and books, but to hear Srila Prabhupada talk even about simple things gave me a great appreciation for him, and convinced me that he could know anything at any time. Srila Prabhupada was an intimate as­sociate of Krishna and Krishna was the control­ler of all material and spiritual worlds; the direct source of intelligence and ability in his devotees.

Another time on a morning walk up at the Vrindaban farm, a sterile cow (due to having shared the womb with a bull brother), came into view. On observing her, Srila Prabhupada in­quired, “How old is this cow?”

Apparently no barn boys were present, so no one answered immediately. Soma dasa, our lo­cal wood craftsman, noticing her milk bag, said, “She must be young, Srila Prabhupada; her milk bag hasn’t bagged up yet.”

“I know that,” said Srila Prabhupada sharply. Actually, she was about four years old and hav­ing never had a calf due to her sterility, her milk bag was undeveloped. A detail unknown to one unfamiliar with cows, but Srila Prabhupada no­ticed immediately that she was an unusually old­er heifer.

One day, after a meeting with Prabhupada, Srila Bhaktipada returned to the farm and told us that Srila Prabhupada had amazed him with an incredible idea. “Srila Prabhupada said we could grow grapes and then make wine in order to store the juice.” “When it came time to use it, he said we should strain off the alcohol, drink the juice and give what was left to the cows.” “This will make the cows very happy.”

At that time no one could understand how this could be done, but just this past year, the re­search of alcohol as an alternative fuel has pro­gressed. I’ve heard of a laboratory procedure to separate alcohol without energy-intensive distil­lation. This procedure is still years from com­mercial feasibility, yet five years ago Srila Prabhupada was speaking of it as an accepted procedure. Certainly the spiritual master is tri­kala-jnana, a knower of past, present, and future.

Certainly the best evidence that Prabhupada understood agriculture is that he encouraged ISKCON to start many farms. In an era where annually thousands of American farms are van­ishing due to the pressures of urbanization, mechanization of larger farms, higher costs of imputs, and low prices; this idea of developing new farms appears to be going against the stream. Such farming operations are unlikely to be an immediate financial asset to ISKCON, yet Srila Prabhupada could see that the industriali­zation of society was making no one happy. Farm life, perhaps lacking in the amenities of great urban concentration, is in the long run the superior lifestyle for society as a whole.

Protection of cows, and self-sufficiency based on the land are the only ways to really stop inflation and balance the budgets. But it is unlikely the politicians of the industrialized countries will be able to implement such pro­grams as self-sufficiency as long as the speeding wheels of high productivity continues to de­mand, and get, the easily available, easily ex­ploitable, non-renewable natural resources. As these natural sources of energy run out, great masses of people are lost in the cities, caught up in “do less for more money” mentalities. The more people depend on mass produced food, trucked hundreds or thousands of miles to their favorite store, the more they forget Krishna along with his plan for simple living and high thinking. As a result, they suffer, slowly smoth­ering in their own toxic and solid wastes.

There is no technological fix for the masses of modern society. Only when there is a return to an agrarian society, with an awareness of Krishna as the supreme controller, can there be a real solution.

Thus, instead of economic woe, we can attain a peaceful standard of existence as stated in Krishna Book, “Meeting of Narada and Vasudeva.”

“It is important to note in this connection how wealthy the inhabitants of Vrindaban were, sim­ply by raising cows. All the cowherd men be­longed to the Vaisya community, and their busi­ness was to protect the cows and cultivate crops. By their dress and ornaments and by their be­havior it appears that although they were in a small village, they still were rich in material pos­sessions. They possessed such an abundance of various kinds of milk products, that they were throwing butter lavishly on each others’ bodies without restriction. Their wealth was in milk, yogurt, clarified butter, and many other milk products. By trading their agricultural pro­ducts, they were rich in various kinds of jewelry, ornaments, and costly dresses. Not only did they possess all these things, but they could give them away in charity, as did Nanda Maharaja.

(The following picture wasn’t in the original article. It shows, left to right, Yudhistra, Devaki, Daivata and the aforementioned team of oxen.)

“Your specific talents are to be engaged under direction of the Spiritual Master. Everything, every talent can be employed in Krishna’s service, and how to do it is known to the Spiritual Master.

“You have the tendency for botany, you can grow nice flowers and fruits for Krishna, that is the utilization of your natural tendency. If you have got specific training in this connection, then after establishing this center in Hamburg you can come to our New Vrindaban and grow things, or you can grow things in Hamburg also. Fruits and flowers can be produced anywhere.”

Letter to: Sivananda — Los Angeles 11 November, 1968

(existing letter in the VedaBase)

the soil splits
above a daffodil
early spring

Only the first daffodils at my house are peeking through the soil but in the warm ground next to Tejo’s house they are up and running. I noticed my honeysuckle vines have started to open their leaves, and I am sure, on closer examination, many things would be breaking dormancy.

I have been caught up in copying the unpublished Srila Prabhupada letters. The current plan is to sort out the ones where New Vrindaban is mentioned and publish them once a week or so on the Brijabasi Spirit.

The next one to go up there is dated March 17th, 1968 wherein SP names the new farm project New Vrindaban. That would make the 17th the 40th anniversary of New Vrindaban if you taking SP’s naming it as the official authorized beginning of the community.

The one thing that strikes me overall about these letters is how dear NV was to SP and how it played an integral part in the development of his vision for preaching in the Western countries. He mentions it over and over in these letters, as well as so many others that are already in the VedaBase.

The popular, or should I say “unpopular”, current perception of New Vrindaban among many people is that it is joined at the hip with Kirtanananda Swami. Thus when they fixate exclusively on KS’s mistakes, SP’s project suffers by association.

I didn’t come to , and sacrifice for, New Vrindaban because it was Kirtanananda Swami’s project — I came to NV because it was SP’s project and I was attracted to his vision for it and for society in general.

I still feel that it is SP’s project and I resent those who live here and feel that the WalMart lifestyle is not only acceptable, but preferable, and for whom the temple is simply a convenient and ego satisfying way to make an industrial society based living.

Even worse than them are those who continue to dedicate their energies to keeping NV so closely associated with the mistakes of KS and work tirelessly to maintain that image of the place. They don’t seem to have noticed that he hasn’t lived here for about 17 years — they seem attached to weeping for the past and unable to acknowledge any possibility of a brighter future.

They are actively damaging SP’s project by ignoring the realities that other devotees had and other realities that could manifest. I hope by spreading these letters so carefully preserved by Hayagriva from SP, including so many about NV, that the winter of KS’s mistakes can pass into the spring of rebranding NV as SP’s project, and we can finally get back to working on his vision.

(Brijabasi Spirit Vol. IV (1977) #4)

Once again the opportunity to be­hold the transcendental forms of Sri Sri Radha Govinda, the worshipable De­ities of New York Yatra, had been be­stowed upon me. Kirtanananda Swami had stopped at the quarries in Canarer, Italy on his way to Bombay recently and there he personally selected the finest marble available for the Palace of our beloved gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada; and now it was waiting to be picked up at a New York dock for the last leg of the journey to New Vrindaban.

The first time I ever saw Krsna was in His form of Sri Sri Radha Govinda, Whose dark eyes captivated me. I had come to the New York temple as a materialist, seeking simply to gratify my tongue on the sumptuous prasada served there. One of the devotees, perceiving my farm background, gave me a pam­phlet describing what was at that time the only farm community in ISKCON, New Vrindaban. A picture of Sri Sri Radha Vrndavana Candra smiled warm­ly to me, and I went for a visit. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and his dedi­cated disciple Kirtanananda Swami, I have been allowed to remain in the do­main of Vrndavana Candra, despite my awkward attempts at service and my re­peated offenses.

Thus, as previously my wayward wanderings had been directed, so my thoughts were turning to that holy dhama, where the melting snows, un­leashed from the icy grip of winter, were fructifying spring’s seeds and nour­ishing the dormant vegetation for an­other year’s manifestation. Due to a dry November last year, the winter grains had barely sprouted when the cold weather set in. Fortunately, the thick snowcover had protected the ten­der sprouts, and now they were green­ing and setting roots.

Apart from the New York temple, the insanity of the city is overwhelm­ing. Everywhere the evidence of man’s exploitive activities are visible. All the buildings, streets and organizations of men’s minds are the dominant feature. Everywhere are people, people, people. Millions of people. It seems like so many people — how can a handful of de­votees make any significant change in the rampant consciousness of eating, sleeping, mating and defending that so obsesses them.

Yet, Krsna is the source and maintainer of all living entities. Actually, in a 20 acre field, there are as many living entities in wheat bodies as there are in human bodies in all of New York City. And what to speak of all the in­sects, or, as sometimes happens in a wet year, all the millions of living en­tities in rust spore bodies on each wheat plant?

Surely, in comparison to the vast numbers of living entities on just this insignificant planet, the human form of life is very rare. If Krsna is maintaining all the living entities, then surely He can make arrangements by which all humans can become eligible to rise above the mundane platform. This is the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Just as the warm spring rains burst the stark skeletal framework of Sri Sri Radha Vrndavana Candra’s fruit trees into cascades of delicate, scented blossoms, so the rain of the spiritual master’s mercy is reviving the higher values of life in our barren, mat­erially contaminated lives. Although the blossoms of a material tree fly like snowflurries before the forceful spring wind, and the fruit is soon transformed back into earth, the beauty of the en­lightened soul is ever-increasing, and the fruit of the process of devotional ser­vice, pure love of Godhead, is eternal.

The miracle of a desolate brown pas­ture metamorphosing into arrayed shades of greens, of grasses and mineral rich foliage–and the eagerness with which our bovine mothers graze on this new growth, miraculously turning it into spring-rich milk-is one of the wonders that merely hints at the glories of Sri Krsna. Yet even this simple enjoyment has degraded into an exchange of green paper currency for a plastic jug con­taining milk, and who knows what hap­pened to it between the cow and the consumer.

Actually, spring in the city is barely perceived, mostly as a decrease in the heating bill. But now I had the chance to realize that another symptom was emerging. The devotees were all turn­ing out in the lobby to go out on Harer Nama Sankirtana. I gladly joined them, knowing that back at New Vrindaban, and all over the world, devotees in di­verse cultures and circumstances were also readying themselves to take the message of Lord Caitanya to the condi­tioned souls.

Anyone hearing the transcendental vibrations of the maha-mantra, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, accompanied by mrdangas and karatalas, and seeing the dancing devotees, are perceiving the end of the wintry grasp of Kali-yuga, and the manifestation of the Golden Age of Lord Caitanya. This is the real coming of spring.

The day after I returned from my big adventure, the weather gave us a break for a day and the high was in the 60s (16 C) so I caught a ride to the temple and then walked home.

I was surprised to see a harmless and beneficial garter snake laying besides the edge of the road as the ground was still frozen and there was snow on the north slopes.

I imagine it chose the spot to warm up in as the left over grit from the salt/grit mix the state road trucks spread after snow falls had accumulated by the side of the road and black absorbs the most heat from the sun.

It looked clean so had obviously just recently crawled out there. It was unmoving as I looked at it but assumed it had become motionless. If it had been in grass, it would have been invisible.

I couldn’t resist touching it with a stick to make it move, but it was either dead, which I doubted from looking at it, or playing possom.

I flipped it over but he never responded at all. Males come out first in the spring and wait for the females so I am assuming it was a he. Despite my urge to verify if he was dead, I resisted and left him alone and continued on my way. I wouldn’t have been comfortable with someone messing with me if I was pretending to be dead so I figured he wouldn’t either.

Vidya used to be really scared of garter snakes, commonly seen in gardens, until she was bitten by one once. The teeth were so small and sharp that she said she didn’t even feel the bite. As they eat slugs (booo hisss slugs suck the voracious b——s) they should be a welcome sight in any garden.

One of the worst predators of garter snakes is cats. City people dump unwanted cats in the country in the sentimental illusion they are setting them free, but the effect on the environment of a feral cat is pretty negative. Not only do they eat beneficial garter snakes, they can also kill between 100-200 songbirds in a year.

Remember that next time you see a stray cat on the side of the road.

“Srila Prabhupada: We are not talking of religion! You don’t know religion. We are talking of machines. An animal has no religion. Later we can talk of that. Now talk of machines. Religion is far away from you. And even if you could manufacture one living machine, these machines are now being created in such numbers that you are trying to stop their creation by abortion. So, so many are already being produced by nature. If you can create one, what will be your credit?

“Adi-Kesava Swami: They will say, “We will make a better machine than God has made.”
Srila Prabhupada: Oh. You cannot capture a garter snake, and now you are saying you will catch a cobra.

“Adi-Kesava Swami: “Well, you can’t make a brain either.”

“Srila Prabhupada: We don’t say that we have a great brain. We are a servant. Our Master will show the brain. But you are a godless rascal. You have the onus of proof on you.”

On “Brainwashing”

“True sanctity does not consist in trying to live without creatures. It consists in using the goods of life in order to do the will of God. It consists in using God’s creation in such a way that everything we touch and see and use and love gives new glory to God. To be a saint means to pass through the world gathering fruits for heaven from every tree and reaping God’s glory in every field.

“The saint is one who is in contact with God in every possible way, in every possible direction. He is united to God by the depths of his own being. He sees and touches God in everything and everyone around him. Everywhere he goes, the world rings and resounds (though silently) with the deep harmonies of God’s glory.”

Thomas Merton. Seasons of Celebration. (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1950): 137

“Spiritual life is full of knowledge and bliss, and is above death and ignorance. The spiritual man sees the Supreme Lord everywhere and in every living being. Because he loves Krishna, he sees Him everywhere. Every living being is situated in Krishna and Krishna is in every living being. The spiritual man does not see cows or men or women or fools; he only sees the Supreme Lord.

“A man in Krishna-consciousness does not walk around in a fog but does his work well, and with the touch of an expert. When one enters Krishna-consciousness he becomes a poet and writes hymns to God. A man of true learning is one who sees every woman except his own wife as his mother and treats her accordingly. He sees other peoples’ property as garbage, and he has unlimited compassion for all living creatures.”

Notes transcribed by Woomapati Das Brahmachary (Wallace Sheffey) From lectures given Sept. 5th and 17th, 1966.

We left Manahttan, New York City, around 5 in the afternoon and headed out I-80 across New Jersey. Being on the other end of the time zone from New Vrindaban, the sun set noticeably earlier and by the time we crossed the Delaware river into Pennsylvania and drove the 5 miles to Lakshmi Cow Sanctuary it was dark when we arrived. The trip took two hours.

Dr. Shankar Sastri came out to meet us and led us into an old brick farmhouse that had several additions built on. I could get into a lot of details, but let me summarize by saying it wasn’t what I expected.

He was a college professor teaching engineering for 25 years, and then an acting Dean of the college. I had figured I was going to end up at some suburban style house in a gentleman farmer horse barnlike place with cows instead of horses. Wrong.

The ambiance was 1970s New Vrindaban with satellite internet. If you ever feel some nostalgia for the old days, or feel like you missed out, then go visit the Lakshmi Cow Sanctuary.

While it isn’t exactly the same, it is more similar than different as far as living conditions and pioneering spirit is concerned. Lots of mud, some interesting characters, a building project in progress where guests can meet and do retreats or whatever and, of course, cows.

Fat, spoiled cows who aren’t the least bit shy around humans, except the miniature Rajastani zebu cow, whose full grown size back is about my waist height. Notice him in the background of the photo.

The ox with the question mark on his face is called Vedanta. He is the son of a cow donated by Swami Dayananda who says that the most important question is “Who am I?” so it was most appropriate that the calf was born with a question mark.

It isn’t an ISKCON project, but Dr. Sastri’s college was near the Brooklyn temple and he took prasadam there for 20 years. One of his friends jokes that now Krishna has put him to work. I believe that cow protection transcends institutions and philosophies thus this project is worth supporting.

After he retired he felt a calling to protect cows so he sold his home, bought a small farm, and plunged in. He freely admits he had no idea what he was getting into, and knows he could still use a lot of help, but said that even though his material situation is now not as comfortable as it once was, he is happy. Caring for cows brings him great joy.

There are currently two volunteers staying at the farm helping with chores and the construction. Anyone who wants to help out and feels a little adventurous can contact him through his website.

Dr. Sastri has a good heart and is sincerely trying to serve the cows with enthusiasm. I couldn’t help but be impressed. I was also enlivened as sometimes it seems that in ISKCON, cow protection is not considered very important, so it was nice to see that the future of cow protection is not limited to what ISKCON can accomplish.

We left the farm and headed out across Pennsylvania. We had a stop near Bedford to make a delivery to a customer of Ranaka’s. Ranaka wholesales frozen faux meats and there is a health food store there and some 7th Day Adventists (Christians with a vegetarian lifestyle).

The guy we met is a market gardener so we had a good conversation that I was reluctant to end, comparing notes and finding out that mostly he wholesales to a growers co-op that then markets into the cities. I had always hoped for something like that in New Vrindaban but no one has ever come forth competent enough to manifest it.

We arrived home while it was still light. I enjoyed the trip and felt it was fulfilling, but I confess I prefer being at home, so was glad to be back.

(by Madhava Gosh first published in the Brijabasi Spirit May,1979 Vol. VI, #5)

White…….Sterile………Lightbright
Red………..Potent………Disdread

White patterned with red
Creepers nurtured when read.

Krsna’s loving hand seen in all
Saving us after our fall.

Books his message will bring.
Guru’s light illuminating the spring.

White and red,
Krsna is blue. He loves you,
Does your country?

At one time, a great amount of time ago, a powerful demon, Hiranyakasipu, became so greedy for gold that he mined the earth planet so extensively that her natural balance was upset, causing her to fall into the ocean at the bottom of the universe.

This ocean is a dirty place, collecting the debris of the planets floating in the sky, so in order to rescue her, Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, incarnated as a boar to retrieve her, boars being accustomed to wallowing in such places. This event is elaborated in the Srimad Bhagavatam and is celebrated yearly by the Vaisnava devotees of our sampradaya on Madha-Dvadasi. in the month of February.

Maha Dvadasi in New Vrindaban this year found us deep in accumulations of snow, with temperatures plummeting to 0°F and below daily. Winter was in full display, the variegatedness of summer’s full vegetative cloak smoothed into sheets of whiteness that stretched from stark treeline to forest.

Even the hustle and bustle of communal life at Bahulaban succumbed to the shroud of frequent snowfalls and the entire compound was blanketed, embroidered by paths trodden hard by the feet of devotees moving from bathhouse to temple to prasadam room to work places and schools; paths dark with ashes, remnants of the trees that burned to cook the foodstuffs offered to Vrndavana Candra and now serving again, this time turning paths unslippery.

Looking across Hare Krsna Ridge road to the triangular cleared hillside opposite the smooth whiteness was broken only by the ripples in the creekside garden. The dirt had been tossed up the previous fall by Daivata using a three bottom moldboard plow with the forward bottom removed. He had plowed one way, then turned around and gone back in his same tracks, creating a raised bed.

Come Spring, this thick mound of topsoil would dry out faster and become warmer earlier than a flat piece of ground moving sooner the earliest germination dates, but now that was only a mental image, planned but unplantable.

After some months of this frozen scenery, I sometimes feel despair of the Spring’s ever arriving, but just as Maha Dvadasi celebrated the appearance of Lord Varaha who saved the earth from a seemingly hopeless position. Krsna also did an amazing thing here. Undeterred by the inimical environment, He started planting. As the moon approached full, one day the sun beamed away, unhindered by the clouds.

The snow blindingly, dazzlingly reflected the light and as 1 walked to the prasadam hall, I noticed seeds, red, fuzzy sumac seeds, broadcast in profusion. Suspended more than a foot from the ground, their redness absorbing the solar energy reflected by the snow, they were patiently melting their way towards the fertile earth.

The next day, the snow fell again, hiding everything but the following day once more the sun shone and once more red seeds were scattered, just as in this dark age of Kali-yuga, when men’s hearts are frozen, Prabhupada’s books are being distributed everywhere, so that as the thaw of Lord Caitanya’s Golden Age comes, the creeper of devotional service can take root in everyone’s heart.

Past the sumac grove, through the boot room and into the prasadam hall, I saw Kirtanananda Maharaja’s vyasasana surrounded by the assembled devotees, waiting for the noon Bhagavad-gita class to begin. Glancing opposite, I could see the greenhouse annex where Tulasi stays. Here, another planting was occurring. In the shelter of the most worshipable plant-like devotee, the seeds for next summer’s flower and vegetable offerings were germinating, harbingers of the thaw to come, an enclave of kinetic plant energy in the midst of thousands of acres of potential plant energy outside.

So even in this most materialistic era, the message of love of God has been kept alive by the chain of disciplic succession coming down from Krsna Himself, and what now appears to be a tiny group of neophytes taking shelter of the present manifestation of the unbroken chain of spiritual masters is actually a preview of what the whole world can be.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada, who is gardening in the tradition of Lord Caitanya. All glories to Kirtanananda Maharaja who has appreciated Srila Prabhupada and is building the Palace to reveal his glories to the entire world. All glories to the residents of New Vrindaban, who are assisting Kirtanananda Maharaja in his great endeavor, and all glories to all the devotees who are spreading Lord Chaitanya’s message everywhere, giving everyone the opportunity to enter Vrindaban which is unbounded by geographical limitations.