By the Team of Eco Valley Foundation
The Eco Valley Foundation is going to organize the following Seminar on The Pillars of Sustainability next year between 22nd and 30th June, 2013 in Krishna Valley, Somogyvámos, Hungary.
Krishna Valley was started in 1993 on 150 hectares of barren land and pastures. Since then this has been increased to 270 hectares, where residents have constructed 53 buildings for residential purposes, a central cultural building, etc. Arable lands and vegetable fields have been established and around 300 000 trees planted establishing a botanic garden and a few forests. The community has attracted a lot of attention as a very ideal attempt to establish an ecologically and socially self-sustaining community that can be a model for similar communities all around the world. In the seminar the team of the Eco Valley Foundation and attendees will focus on social, economic, and environmental factors necessary for establishing and developing small communities and will have an in-depth insight into and analysis of the essential elements of sustainable and self-sufficient community criteria.
The course is officially recognized by the European Commision and can be found in the Comenius – Grundtvig Database with the reference number “HU-2013-126-001“. You may read the full description of the seminar in the database.
A Grundtvig grant (in the category of Visits and exchanges) is available for the course and the deadline for application in most of the countries is 16th January, 2013. For this information please check out the National Agency in charge of Lifelong Learning Programme in your own country. For the contact addresses of different National Agencies go to the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/national_en.htm
For further information regarding the course and grants please contact George Kirs at kirsgyu@gmail.com.
Looking forward to meeting you in the seminar.
Team of Eco Valley Foundation
Hare Krsna. In the elaborate detailed schedule i could not find anything related to Iskcon and the Iskcon criteria for the definition of self-sustainability and how the Iskcon ethic of cow protection would work in the symbiotic relationship of the community in the economic solutions. There did not seem to be an integrated approach but rather isolated workshops. If Krsna valley is to represent the Iskcon ethic in self-sufficienty then it must represent the Iskcon standard.
Another worrying factor of the highlighted workshops was the use of the word “financial” which only relates to the use of paper money rather than wealth as defined in S.Bhagavatam.
If we read Srila Prabhupada’s definitions from the compilation book “Shikshamrta” there are overall definitions and detailed definitions that as Iskcon devotees is our mandate to follow. is krsna valley an Iskcon project by ownership or is it just an affiliated project.???
Depending on the answer to that question the response will be different.
But for me i found serious definitional shortcomings in the itinery as set out in the links provided.
This subject of Cow protection and symbiosis on cows and land appears to be following arbritary rules and roads in the Iskcon world and for me i find that worrying and disappointing. If we cant follow Srila Prabhupada’s mandates , His standards and goals then what are we trying to exemplify.??????
If we are to have projects such as ones in Hungary as krsna valley then what strategy are they following and why?
The idea from studying Srila Prabhupada’s Books is “Simple living-High thinking” its not that we are trying to introduce western styled economic solutions or practices into rural farm based projects. all we are trying to accomplish is mode of goodness lifestyles based on cow protection and land dependance. Its that simple,why do we need hugely expensive workshops to desribe our goals, its simple living not complicated living. We dont even need to get into “financial” models at all thats just a western conceptualised economic understanding in the lower modes of nature. How can that be compatibile to Cow protection in the mode of goodness? No thats the wrong answer we have to change our lifestyles to suit the mode of goodness and forget about western types of financial and economic solutions, they are not our soluitions, they will just create more problems!! y.s. dusyanta dasa.