Radha Vinode Das: Impressions of a long time visitor
I just concluded a three-week pilgrimage to Mayapur and have strong impressions to share: some inspiring, others disturbing.
In a country known for inefficiency I was amazed at how quickly the magnificent TOVP is coming up. It seems that the predicted opening in 2016 is a distinct possibility heralding in a new phase in the spread of love of God.
I was moved by the depth of devotion shared during the kirtan mela where a delightful menu of great kirtan masters guided the eager and faithful Vaishnavas into the ambrosial flavors of Krsna’s names. The ISKCON Bhakti creeper is alive and maturing. All praises to the organizers of these events!
Unfortunately, not all is bright. There is trouble in paradise.
I was dismayed, or more accurately, disgusted, by the greed-saturated mood which seems dominant in the real estate market in Mayapur. During my brief visit I saw many posters slickly advertising apartments for sale. These posters gave lofty promises of getting your blessed corner in the Divine land of Gauranga, complete with reliable construction, high quality fixtures, Ganga breezes, and vastu layout in a family friendly environment. It sounded great! Which devotee wouldn’t want such a place in Mayapur?
I didn’t have to seek out the apartment sellers. They came to me. As a visiting westerner I was an obvious client, or in this case, potential victim, for their product. Three separate devotee salesmen approached me pitching me to purchase a flat in Mayapur. No problem there. I’m in the market, and would love to have a quiet, simple place for pilgrimages and my retirement.
But what was advertised on the posters and what I was shown had no resemblance. Truth be told, I was shocked to see what has sprung up in the rapidly developing area North of the ISKCON property. During my visit I heard it described variously as “urban sprawl”, “concrete jungle”, “slum”, “New Calcutta”, and the “South Bronx of Mayapur.” Depressingly, none of these descriptions was far off. As a long time visitor to Mayapur my heart sunk and I felt a distinct pang of anger that this verdant, spiritual land which was prophesied to be a divine city and example to the world had been overrun by profit mongers looking to turn a quick buck off our spiritual homeland.
Instead of a divine city full of inspiring habitats there was:
– A chokingly tight cluster and congestion of unharmonious buildings
– Obvious and widespread use of cheap building materials
– Unsafe construction practices (There was one six story building which was leaning dramatically!)
– Garbage piles spread throughout the area with no arrangement for disposal!
– Wastewater spilling into unpaved, uneven roads;
– A total absence of any trees or gardens!
– A lack of natural light
– No trace of any breeze
– Devotee children playing in the dirt of construction sites meters away from garbage piles
– A lack of security (There have been several reported cases of theft)
I was flabbergasted. This place was an embarrassment; A shocking tribute to the guiles of Maya; An area unsuitable for Vaisnavas to reside, not to speak of showing an example to the world.
And the blight is spreading!
It was inconceivable to me that devotees who pride themselves on “having and living the truth” could have contributed to such a wretched development. Even more painful that they did this in their most revered holy place. The construction in this area was certainly not directed by an attitude of service to Guru and Krsna. On the contrary, it seemed to be the lust conceived child of Kali’s agents, lobha (greed) and ajnana (ignorance).
It was obvious that the schemes of Kali had captured the minds of these devotee developers and driven them to ignore their natural devotion to Prabhupada, and his desire for a spiritual city. Thirst for ill-gotten profit had overcome them. They were using their private plots to stuff their pockets in complete disregard of the Dham’s sanctity and the health, happiness and safety of their devotee clients.
This story is still being written.
During my visit a growing outcry from concerned devotees has inspired the GBC to pass new standards for responsible and balanced construction practices in the area. Unfortunately, the GBC resolutions are not legally binding on the private landholders and some devotee landowners have publicly scoffed at the directives of their seniors and Gurus. They have vowed to extract as much profit from their plot as possible in defiance of any GBC resolutions, devotee appeals, or higher principles!
What can you and I do?
One of the fundamentals of economics is that any industry survives and thrives only when it has customers! Without clients the industry either collapses or adapts to meet their needs. You and I have the power to encourage responsible construction practices and discourage reckless ones. We have the power to prevent Mayapur from getting paved over by a handful of misguided souls.
Here are two things we can do:
1) Don’t buy an apartment from a landlord who is:
– Unconcerned for the sacredness and beauty of the Dham.
– Indifferent to the plan of Srila Prabhupada for an exemplary Vedic city.
– Compromising the safety, happiness and health of the devotees.
Here are some things you can look for when buying an apartment in Mayapur:
a) Is there sufficient space left outside the building for a garden? The GBC resolution apparently calls for a minimum of 50% of any given plot to be left open. That means a building can cover 50% of any plot, and 50% should be left vacant for a garden, trees or open space.
b) Is there and will there be sufficient space between this building and its’ neighboring buildings to allow for air circulation and natural light?
c) Is the apartment in a relatively quiet area?
d) Are the residents and landlord in this building contributing to the maintenance (ie..Garbage disposal) of the neighborhood
e) Is there a security guard?
f) Has a qualified engineer certified the structure of the building?
g) Is the land owner/developer contributing or planning to contribute for the infrastructure of the neighborhood (roads, street lights etc…)
h) Is the septic arrangement sufficient for the size and number of residents of the building?
i) Is the apartment above flood level? Is there sufficient electrical power to run home appliances?
Who among us would want to support a landlord/owner who has no concern for these things?
A landlord who is indifferent to the desires of their Guru and the previous Acharyas?
Who builds cheaply or even dangerously to increase their personal profit?
Who paves over the holy Dham leaving no room for any trees?
Who deceptively sells a low quality product to unsuspecting Vaisnavas?
Who among us would want our friends to be duped into purchasing such a place?
The Good News
While many devotee/developers have been seduced by quick and ill gained profit others have maintained their principles.
There are compounds and apartments being built by both private developers and ISKCON which are offering reliable accommodation complete with a high standard of construction, proper maintenance arrangements, security guard, garden area for children and proper layout.
If you are thinking of purchasing an apartment in Mayapur take your time, check your options and invest your hard earned money wisely. With a little bit of patience and some discrimination you can get your dream home in the land of the Golden Avatar.
Support the responsible developers, boycott the blind profiteers, and encourage future developers to respect the Dham.
2) Please share this message with your friends and other devotees. The more this is publicized, the greater encouragement there will be for devotee landholders to create a beautiful Mayapur.
Mayapur is the sacred home of all Gaudiya Vaisnavas. Let’s all do our little part to preserve its sanctity and turn it over to the next generation as a nice spiritual city as requested by Srila Prabhupada.
Once again:
1) Don’t buy from irresponsible developers.
2) Share this message with your friends
Mayapur’s future is at your fingertips.
Let’s make sure that every developer in Mayapur knows this simple fact:
If they build without respect for the Dham; Without regard for Srila Prabhupada’s desire for a glorious spiritual city; Without concern for the safety and well being of the devotees;
Their apartments will not be purchased!
Help give Prabhupada and our descendants the spiritual city they deserve. In 40 years we don’t want to see a shabbily constructed concrete jungle covering Mayapur and think “we could have, should have, would have”.We can do something now. Keep Mayapur beautiful before it’s too late.
Spread the word. Sri Dham Mayapur’s future depends on just a little effort.
Your servant,
Radha Vinode Das
Very much saddened to read this update. But thank you Radha Vinode Das prahbu for your alerting us all. Together perhaps we can minimize the damage already done in such shoddy constructions, thanks to your practical steps.
Perhaps the GBC or such authority in the Holy Dham can have a small department to inspect such residences and issue an official stamp of approval detailing the qualifications met for any future construction (like a city authority will for a private residence)?
Please continue to share and highlight to all devotees in our society.
Hare Krishna!
I do not know if you will appreciate this, but in 1971 I went to Vrindaban with one other bhakta to occupy a small room given to Srila Prabhupad at Brahma Ghat. There was no Krishna Balaram Temple yet manifested, although we visited and knew of Srila Prabhupad’s rooms at the Radha Damodar Temple. At that time, Vrindaban seemed very primitive compared with the changes that have occurred over the ensuing decades. Before returning to Vrindaban in 1996, I had been away from India for 20 years. In those 20 years, tremendous growth had taken place around the Raman Reti area where the Krishna Balaram Temple resides. When coming up to the temple in the taxi, I could not believe that there were building up and down the street, and schools and hospital and other ashrams that had developed out and around the Krishna Balaram Temple. It was so very different. Gurudas and I and others used to walk around the fine white sands of Raman Reti and frequently see the peacocks walking about, calling, and dancing with their feathers out. It is very different today. What can one say or do? And, there are a good deal of “real estate” deals that take place in Vrindaban today and through the years.
Note that the people of Vrindaban and Mayapur are generally a very poor people. When they see the relatively great wealth that the Westerners (and even the wealthy Indians) bring into their towns, they see an opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Thus, the idealistic wish for suddha-sattva in the dhama may be a dream if you hope to see it externally. The world around us is changing and there may be little that one can do. Imagine how difficult is was for Srila Prabhupad to initiate the Sankirtan Movement in the West, in the Bowery section of New York City in 1965. That down and out Bowery is now a refuge for yuppies and wealthy young professionals who have bought up the real estate and created a different sort of environment.
My home town of Miami Beach at its south end used to be a haven for elderly Jewish people from the Northeast part of the US. In the 1970s and later, the old hotels in South Beach on Collins Avenue were bought, renovated, and became the current South Beach mecca for young people looking to enjoy sex, drugs, and the “skin” culture. What can one do? I place these examples out there to temper the despair that one might have about change. Pusta Krishna das
In connection with renovating the new ISKCON temple in Mountain View, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, it was a little discouraging to find out how expensive everything was because of seemingly unnecessary zoning laws (yes, we should have wheelchair accessible bathrooms, but the City wanted *every* bathroom to be big enough to turn a wheelchair around in, and they want the *altar* to be wheelchair accessible, and exit signs have to be posted in braille, and so on.)
Nevertheless, there is certainly a place for thoughtful urban planning, making sure that sewage can be properly treated (without polluting rivers) and sattvic parks and scenic places for japa walks and an optimal mix of low-income, middle income and high-income housing is available.
Land use planning can be overly bureaucratized and even can be prone to corruption, but it is an absolute necessity. A lot of intelligent professional people including architects and engineers and even urban historians have drawn on vast amounts of knowledge and creativity to make modern cities more functional and better places to live.
It may seem incongruous that such techniques would be necessary in the most merciful of all holy dhamas, but it should be part of the way devotees express their service to the dhama, to do what they can to make sure that as the population grows and developers try to make a buck, everything is done in a careful, thoughtful way, to not inconvenience the natives of the region, and to make the city that will be growing there a peaceful, healthy, safe and wholesome place to visit and to live, for everyone.
So yes, architects and urban planners and politicians and ecologists and sociologists all have roles to play, in the dhama like everywhere else. The difference is that what they do for service to the holy dhama is more directly transcendental, being so specifically connected to spreading Lord Caitanya’s movement.
Practically every bureaucratic endeavor in India requires a bribe. If we could learn effectively, there would never be any more wars!!! The nature of our world is that it is inhabited by both godly and ungodly people, both holy people and demons, side by side. What Akruranath Prabhu proposes is highly thought-provoking. Wouldn’t it be wonderful is highly trained planners could formulate planned neighborhoods, cities, and the like. Keep in mind that there might be some, even many in Mayapur who might resent the overwhelming wealth and land holdings of ISKCON. It is a two-way street, so be careful what you wish for.
Still, I believe that the Supreme Lord, as the ultimate controller, can make manifest His plans as He likes, even within the Dhama. In Sri Vrindaban Dhama, Srila Prabhupad used to say that there were 5000 temples for Krishna. Some of those were very, very old and in disrepair. Not all were clean, active places of worship. Remember that Krishna’s mind is inconceivable. Recall the Shalagram Shila that liked to swing in the scale of his merchant devotee rather that be worshipped formally by the brahmana. Some tolerance is necessary. Sri Krishna says that whatever great men do, and whatever standards they set, the whole world pursues. Hence, best is to set a nice example.
But, wouldn’t it be nice…so our devotee communities can try to provide such examples as Akruranath wishes for. Any bhakta urban planners or architects out there?
Pusta Krishna das
It dawns on me that back in the 1970s when we were hearing about Srila Prabhupada’s plans for developing Mayapur (and Surabhi Prabhu was at least one architect they were working with, if I recall correctly), Srila Prabhupada laid out his vision for the whole city, with different quarters for different kinds of workers to live and to work (four varnas, places for industry, commerce, learning, administration).
I do not recall all the details. I just remember that Srila Prabhuipada himself proposed a kind of urban plan.
We know that some big cities sprung up haphazardly, but from time to time they were renovated according to plans. Paris was renovated during the Second Empire, and broad boulevards were built (which required tearing down whole neighborhoods). Washington, D.C. was laid out by L’Enfant. Chandigarh was planned by Corbusier, etc.
There must be architects out there who would be interested in planning a modern city and significant place of pilgrimage for Vaisnavas of the world. When I was in college (30 years ago) I had friends who were studying architecture and who were fascinated by modern, green techniques of urban design.
Of course I am just talking and not doing the hard work involved in locating these people, but I am sure they are out there. They have to be. Many architects can be motivated by their own vision and desire to see it implemented (and be recognized) and not only by commercial considerations of who is paying the most.
Agreed, everyone has their own interests and as cities develop, someone’s ox will be gored and someone else will see an opportunity to make money, and a lot of politics will be involved. I imagine in India it may be a nightmare, and even in San Jose, California the condemnation of “blighted” property and redevelopment of potentially valuable downtown real estate is fraught with politics and influence. Even among the ISKCON devotees there may be sharp differences of opinion.
All civilized societies have their politicians, their bureaucrats, their capitalists, their journalists, the cops, the farmers, the doctors, the homeless…wherever you go. There must also be some architects and urban planners interested in the challenges and rewards of designing aspects of the development of Sridhama Mayapur.
I know the GBC used to have some kind of Mayapur Community Development Committee. Maybe Praghosa or someone could report to us on what kind of urban planning is actually going on.