RURAL PROJECTS PREACHING TOUR REPORT
August/Sept-2014
NILACHAL DHAM RURAL PROJECT
First in a series of 7 articles covering ISKCON Rural Projects
Introduction
Both Rama Laksman prabhu, Director for IDVM Secretariat located in Sri Mayapur along with Arjuna Krsna prabhu, Co-Director for IDVM Department of Education undertook an extensive tour to various ISKCON rural projects in India.
Their travels took them to Nilachal Dham, a new project under ISKCON Juhu temple close to Mumbai in Maharashtra, Nandagram Farm in Gujarat, Pathmeda on the border of Rajasthan and Gujarat, Panchavati in Tamil Nadu, close to Salem, Venu Madhuri in Maharashtra, Govardhan Eco Village in Maharashtra, a project run under the ISKCON Chowpatty temple and last to Gokul Dham near Belgaum in Northern Karnataka.
Nilachal Dham â Dedicated to the service of Sri Sri Radha Rasabihariji
Lord Jagannath : Presiding Deity of Nilachal Dham
A story of sheer courage in the face of death threats, vandalism, stone-throwing tribals and communists, walking more than 10 kms everyday to
meet anyone and everyone who could help him in his quest to serve Sri Sri Radha-Rasbihariji. He is Damodar dulal prabhu, who has been going strong against all odds, as he fondly recalls that Srila Prabhupada had actually mentioned that this farm in Thalasseri should take care of the requirements of the deities, Sri Sri Radha-Rasbihariji in Juhu, Mumbai.
The two of us undertook a monthâs journey going around some of the farm communities around India, a long cherished desire of HH. Bhakti Raghava Swami Maharaj and thus we began our journey by travelling to Thalasery, which is about 70 Kms away from Mumbai city and midway found Damodar dulal prabhu, who was actually on his way to Pune to pick up his mother, as she also lives in the farm along with him and seeing us, he just cancelled his trip and came back with us to the farm and we were really amazed to see his utmost concern to his guests, in terms of hospitality and inspite of our remonstrations, asking him to continue his journey, he just wouldnât hear of it. As we were led to the humble âBrahmacariâ quarters, we were spellbound to hear him recount his earlier struggles to set up the farm amidst stone-throwing, life-threatening calls from the communists and we were wonderstruck as we felt nothing but awe for a devotee, who has seriously dedicated his life to the mission of his spiritual master. We also heard from him that Radhanath Maharaj has made âentry into villageâ, as his buzzword for this yearâs yatra.
Damodar Dulal prabhu loves working with children, as he was taking charge of the âGurukulâ in WADA farm and he says Krsna, suddenly threw him into this farm, which he took charge in all earnestness, struggling against all odds and going strong in his endeavours. He is such an inspiring example and he very much appreciated our intent of visiting and uniting all farm communities and said that we should meet once every quarter and should become the perfect example of co-operation amongst our âVarnashramaâ communities. He was shocked, when he learnt that there were hardly 12 farm communities across India and he requested all senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada and other senior Sannyasis to focus on farm communities in terms of manpower, as so much could be done, if we have this aspect taken care of.
He is growing amazing varieties of medicinal rice and 1000âs of almost extinct herbal plants and he has so much excess of vegetables and turmeric and is sad, when he hears some devotees commenting as to why Juhu temple should spend on such a farm, when we can just buy the same vegetables across the street. They have 32 villages around the Thalassery area and last year they had 6000 villagers visiting for âJanmastamiâ, without them spending a single paisa on invitation and this year they are expecting 10,000 villagers. Wherever he goes, he is welcomed like a celebrity. We visited their wonderful Goshala with 80 Gir cows and it was such a marvel that one devotee could do so much for the cows many of their cows are from High way to happy home or Slaughter house to shelter home, where the cows are cared properly. Thanks to Prabhu, I got an opportunity to milk a mother cow and I was amazed by the size of the teats of the udders of the Gir cows.
Everything is super-sized. I milked 2 cows and i thought that I did a pretty good job, however, I took 15 minutes too long, as the âGirâ mother cow had not only finished her feed, she tried to kick even though both her feet were tied, a normal practice while milking the cows, as demonstrated by Lord Krsna, during His milking of the cows and shook her head âdisapprovinglyâ, as though saying, âWhoâs this neophyte, you brought, whoâs taking so much time?â and to make her point, when Damodar Dulal prabhu took over to milk, she sprayed him with straws. We all broke into laughter and marvelled how they are so expressive and perceptive.
Damodar Dulal prabhu is a natural Ksatriya and with his 20 people strong community, they have been doing wonders quietly without using their bragging rights, which they could have at every opportunity. We went to the other land of 25 acres, where they have 50 herd of cows saved from the slaughter houses and this especially gave a lot of sense of achievement to him. These cows, however are local breed, not the Gir cows and are very aggressive and also some of them canât trust humans, after the ordeal that they went through, which was natural. That place was also developed very beautifully.
We started our exploration of the Land with some natural coconut water and ended it with a hot lemon grass, ginger juice, which gave satisfaction to the soul. They cultivated nearly 2000 kgs of tomatoes last year and they have such a plentiful supply of chickoos, which lasts 9 months in a year that they have pioneered the art of making chickoo chips. I couldnât have believed for a moment that we could have chips made of chickoos and apparently it is selling well for them. His mother is involved in making more such items, which he gave as a sample to us, which included some turmeric powder, which prabhu said that you liked it very much along with some amla candy.
Their aim of supplying to the Sri Sri Radha-Rasa-Bihari Deities at the ISKCON Juhu temple are going full steam ahead and we can easily declare to all naysayers that Thalaseri farm is close to becoming a fully self-sustaining farm community. Their expenses are Rs. 6 Lakhs per month and they are already earning Rs. 5 Lakhs per month, of which Goshala products alone comes to Rs. 2 Lakhs. They are also supplying milk and ghee and vegetables to Juhu and Mira road temple. Radha-Rasbihari temple itself requires 5Kgs of Ghee every day, as they cook in âGheeâ for the deities and Brahmacaris. With the hundreds of varieties of exotic herbal plants and medicinal plants, the sky is the limit for him, as he intends to get into deeply into benefits of these almost âextinctâ plants. There is also scarcity of water in Thalaseri, which he has augmented for now by building a huge reservoir of water. Of course, his farm is not free from the use of electricity and technology. I saw a big tractor clearing the field, which would make a âVarnashramiteâ queasy, but he reasons out that with no resources and limited manpower, if he had to do all these by hand, it would have taken at least a decade. He has shown in 3 years a lot of results and initial periods land cultivation, he had had to depend on the tractors. Damodar Dulal prabhu took us to the hall, which he has constructed above the Goshala for conferences, meetings, retreats and this place would be ideal for âGurukulaâ and other such farm community visits, as it has all the amenities and a wonderful scenic beauty all the way. We could have Bhakti Shastri, Bhakti Vaibhav studies, which would just be out of the world experience for the devotees. After initial days of welcome with stones from the tribals living in that area, he has done a lot for them by inviting doctors from Bhaktivedanta Hospital to come and conduct free âeye campsâ and as a result the villagers felt gratitude and are increasingly coming around to helping him, he jokingly says, âNow they donât throw the stones so hard!â
The devotees working in the farm are all as inspiring, as their leader in terms of taking the path of hard struggles and how they came out victorious against all odds. A devotee, who is Bhakti Vikas Swami Maharajâs disciple just took the order of his Guru very seriously about working in a farm community and he gave up everything on his order and is taking care of the cows in the second farm at Thalasseri. Cows are the first thing on the mind of Damodar Dulal prabhu and he personally goes to the âGoshalaâ every morning. Prabhu was mentioning that we should just focus on cows and their proper upkeep and they will take care of us. We shook our heads in agreement and resolved for that to happen.
We also had a close encounter with a huge serpent that was nicely resting amidst tall grass and it was the pure mercy of the Lord, otherwise, there definitely would have been a ânastyâ incident. Damodar Dulal prabhu just was moving the grass with his foot and just about to set the next foot, when we saw something, which looked like a âRusselâs viperâ one of the deadliest of poisonous snakes and shouted immediately, âSri Krsna Caitanyaâ and the creature slowly slithered away and he said it was nice that we did not run away, as he had seen many others who were not exactly used to seeing snakes even occasionally, what to speak of on a daily basis. He then remarked, âOne positive thing about this experience is that we remembered the Lordâs nameâ and this is how it seemed that he had been able to overcome insurmountable obstacles.
In order to build confidence in the local villagers, he built a simple thatched cottage for himself without electricity and other basic amenities.
When asked, he said that it wouldnât send the right signal to those who are living on the land with not even bare necessities and he was having
everything at his fingertips. As Srila Prabhupada often said, âFirst Acara, then Pracara.â We left Thalaseri farm, âNilachal Dhamâ after a wonderful 3 day visit, which saw the hospitality of Damodar Dulal prabhu touching its zenith.
Written by Arjuna Krsna das IDVM
Co-Director for Department of Education
For inquiries: Arjuna.Krsna.BRS@pamho.net