Celebrating Our Volunteers!
Aindavi Devi Dasi: Most visitors to New Govardhana remark what a vibrant and beautiful place it is. They are impressed with the many happy, engaged visitors from Krishna Village dotted all over the farm. Well, quite frankly, so are we!
Krishna Villagers enter New Govardhana often just wanting a break from the rat race, some spiritual nourishment in a safe, sattvic, vegetarian environment and often end up with so much more. Others specifically come as volunteers to help with our organic farming.
Others specifically come as volunteers to help with our organic farming, while some are serious spiritual seekers.
But all of them, once they realize that there is a temple and Hare Krishna community here, are curious about what Hare Krishnas do and how they live.
New Govardhana resident Vasustrestha dasa explains, “It is important to share our way of life with them, hence we eat together. You also see many of the volunteers heartily taking up a variety of services – often with infectious sweetness, humility and gusto.
Visitors to the Village constitute a community who participate in a basic program of yoga, service, kirtana and spiritual discussion. Often the transformation is such that some of them request a deeper spiritual experience. Once that happens, they can move into two living facilities, the ‘Bhakti Pad’ (for men) and the ‘Krishna Pad’ (for women), which are transitional ashramas where residents focus more dedicatedly on their spiritual interests and receive mentoring from devotees.
The Hare Krishna community recognizes how special these volunteers are. They are pleasant, helpful, and sincere, adding a dimension without which we would be so much poorer. Where would we be without them?