Gokul Dham

RURAL PROJECTS PREACHING TOUR REPORT

August/Sept-2014

Seventh 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.

Gokuldham – Simple living at its grassroots

If anyone wants to really experience ‘Simple living and high thinking’, then Gokuldham is a must to experience a life of bliss through austerity. We can also come to realize how much modern living has spoilt us by learning to live in a place, which has absolute bare necessities in terms of modern expectation, but has everything one needs to live. There are about 10 Brahmacaris and 4 Grhasthas, who live like Brahmacaris, as there are no facilities for Grhasthas as yet. All of them have been serving in the farm for a very long time. Madhava prabhu, a disciple of HH Bhakti Raghava Swami Maharaj has been the longest serving devotee in Gokuldham, which was a vision of HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami Maharaja and it is a sprawling 450 acres of land, which has both forest area and land on which the residents are engaged in farming and cow protection.

No Mobiles, No electricity, No Toilets with water, No tap facilities, No tractors and living with nature are pretty daunting standards for most who are used to such facilities, but one can factually realize how life still goes on even without such artificially induced necessities, without which modern man can’t think of living. Yet, with depleting resources such as oil, which has its hand in every product that we use today, it is only a reminder that one day when oil dries out, only those who have learnt to live a natural life can actually not only survive but thrive in such crises. Another wonderful welcome feature of such a life is that one will not become diseased, when you are forced to walk a mile for anything and everything, you are forced to keep yourself physically fit and that is something which is imperative over here at Gokuldham.

Sarveshvar prabhu, the temple commander, came from Pune and has been serving right from the beginning and as is the hallmark of all the devotees in the farm, is very humble and helpful in every way. He took us around the farm and showed us the various aspects that they are busy working on. As they have scarcity of water, they have bull-driven technology, which pumps water from below and they have drums, which collects and screens the water from other contaminants. For a very long time they had few bathrooms and washrooms and that is changing with quite a lot of facilities being provided for the residents and visiting guests.

They have about 40 cows and a bold decision was taken by Madhava prabhu to move the cows, deeper in to the forested areas, so that they would have enough grass for feeding and some devotees have also moved in along with the cows to their news Goshala, by constructing a traditional house with naturally available materials. They have perfected the art of making cement like binding agents without a trace of cement, using lime, sand and other herbs. As we were visiting their Brahmacari quarters, which was being renewed, they showed us how even paint can be made naturally and this was quite amazing.

Varieties of vegetables are being cultivated, so that the farm can at least be self-sufficient in terms of providing for its residents needs. ‘Sadhana’ standards are strict and all the residents regularly attend ‘Mangala arati’, which starts at 5am. The devotees, however, get up earlier by 2:30am, so that they can complete their chanting before long and begin their daily duties in the farm. One of the devotees with whom we were conversing mentioned very philosophically that he was sure that he would not go back to Godhead in this life and hence he wanted to ensure that he came back and gets attracted to living a simple life and continue from where he left off. This was a very poignant comment and indeed a very sobering thought for all devotees to ponder upon.

The farm gets visitors regularly and they are given detailed talks and information by devotees about alternative living and many have come back after being inspired with various aspects such as Cow protection or natural building materials etc. Also, recently they have built a facility, which can store 10 lakh cubic feet of water, which especially can be collected during the four months of heavy rainy season, so that the facility can be used for growing crops and other grains.

The devotees also have been advised to practice some yoga postures for making their body and minds fit. We especially experienced that the devotees living in such austere and very simple surrounding have profound thoughts and realizations and we were wonderstruck by their simple explanations about leading a peaceful life, while speaking to visitors, who hail from cities. They use fire wood for cooking and inspite of very austere facilities, they do have facilities for hot water for both drinking and taking bath.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Gokuldham and look forward to bringing more such happenings in the future.

Written by Arjuna Krsna das

IDVM Co-Director for Department of Education

For inquiries: Arjuna.Krsna.BRS@pamho.net