Govardhan Eco Village

RURAL PROJECTS PREACHING TOUR REPORT

August/Sept-2014

Sixth 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.

Govardhan Eco-village – Showcasing traditional models to Modern society

We began our month long sojourn of visiting and understanding the various farm communities and models across the country with the famous Govardhan Eco-village situated in WADA district in Maharashtra about 2 hours drive from Mumbai. Our first experience, not knowing how to reach the place in itself a mercy of Lord Krsna, as we were literally near a crossroad, contemplating on how to reach, as we did not properly know the directions nor the exact location, a speeding van suddenly screeched to a halt and we saw devotees, dressed in saffron, who saw two stranded Brahmacaris and
showed mercy on us and when we approached them like a hungry man approaches food, we found that they were devotees from chowpatty temple on a visit to WADA farm. We just thanked the Lord with all our hearts and one devotee seriously told us that ‘Lord Krsna personally sent you this vehicle.

We reached the famed farm and devotees immediately gathered around us like ants around honey and we were made to feel very welcome in a very short time. Because of cold weather, both of us got fever and resident devotees very kindly took care of us and within a short time, we were on our feet and met the senior devotee, who is managing the farm, Sanat kumar prabhu, who is a veteran of sorts, as he has been serving there from the beginning. We had detailed discussions with him ranging from education to cow protection and agriculture, as especially agriculture is his speciality. This farm is unique of its kind, in the sense that it shows to Modern world and the modern people, as to how a village life looks like and since modern man is used to modern amenities, he will get those amenities in a traditional environment, so that the experience can bring about a change in a gradual manner.

The farm has its beautiful temple of Radha-van bihari, gorgeous life-sized deities, where they have Mangala arati at 4:15am, they have a ‘Gurukul’, with about 20 children, who regularly attend Mangala arati and other festivities by performing ‘Sankirtana’. We began exploring the farm, beginning with the kitchen. We were shown how most of the oil requirements of the farm was done through ‘cold’ pressed process. There are clearly demarcated Brahmacari and Grhastha quarters and close to 5 guest houses, which was built with traditional technologies such as CSEB, compressed earthen blocks and with modern amenities such as classrooms and conference halls for the visiting guests, who could have their seminars and other gatherings in a natural environment. They have a big ‘clientele’ list, who regularly make WADA their preferred destination for such meetings.

Varieties of plants and flowers have been planted in a planned manner and they are a source of delight for children, who can engage in a treasure hunt across the farm. We came across a group of 100 such children from Mumbai and they had a fun game, wherein they had to collect some specimen varieties from the field and they came with all their leaves and did not leave us till we answered their questions. We were astonished that most of the kids did not know how a ‘banana’ leaf looked like. City kids living in concrete jungles need exactly this kind of an experience and exposure to get back on earth.

We next visited their ‘Water treatment’ plant and this was a delight. Acquired at a cost of 10 lakhs, this makes usage of water in critical times very relevant. All the water that is collected from the bathrooms are separated into two streams, those which are used while bathing and those which are coming from Toilets are collected separately and waste is separated from the water, which is then purified and sent to the plants and trees via a piping system. Thus water is not wasted and sewage is used as manure. A big garden with huge ‘Pappaya’ fruits were testimony to the power of manure.

We, then visited their ‘Goshala’ with about 60 ‘Gir’ cows and they were very well cared for by the devotees. They all looked healthy and happy and opportunity is given to visitors to do some ‘Go-seva’ by brushing and grooming the cows, who very eagerly come and show their necks and backs to
be nicely scratched. The Goshala has separate wards for the sick and the old cows as well with good space for them to move. The farm also has some donkeys, goats, dogs, in separate enclosures, as an answer to those visitors, who might questions, as to why only a cow should be given protection and not others.

One of the most important activities done in the farm is training devotees for taking up upcoming responsibilities in temples by giving them full day Srimad-Bhagavatam classes and there are about 40 devotees, who are on the verge of becoming Brahmacaris (Celibates) and undergoing all these studies in a ‘Sattvic’ environment is a definite plus for making the minds calm and relaxed. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the farm and look forward to longer future visits to Govardhan Eco Village.

Written by Arjuna Krsna das

IDVM Co-Director for Department of Education
For inquiries: Arjuna.Krsna.BRS@pamho.net