On June 6, 1969, in New Vrindaban, Srila Prabhupada spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.10:
na yad vacas citra-padam harer yaso
jagat-pavitram pragrnita karhicit
tad vayasam tirtham usanti manasa
na yatra hamsa niramanty usik-ksayah
âThose words which do not describe the glories of the Lord, who alone can sanctify the atmosphere of the whole universe, are considered by saintly persons to be like unto a place of pilgrimage for crows. Since the all-perfect persons are inhabitants of the transcendental abode, they do not derive any pleasure there.â
Srila Prabhupada explained, âNarada . . . says that this is vayasam tirtham. Vayasam tirtham. Vayasam means crows. And the crowsâtheir place of pleasure . . . Have you seen crows? In India we have got many crows. In India the crows take pleasure in all nasty things. Youâll find they take pleasure in a place where all nasty things are thrown, garbage. Theyâll pick out the garbage, find out whether there is mucus, where there is pus. Just like fliesâtheyâll sit down on the stool. Maksikam bhramara icchanti. And the bees, they will try to take honey. Even in the animals youâll see. The honey . . . The bees will never come to the stool, and the ordinary flies, they never go to collect honey.
âSimilarly, there are divisions in the birds, divisions in the beasts, divisions in human society. So you cannot expect that ordinary persons will come to Krishna consciousness. You see? Because they have been trained to become flies, they will taste stool. You see? The modern education is to teach people to become fliesâonly stool.
âNot hereâKrishna consciousness. Make it a honeycomb. Those who are seeking after honey will find, âHere is something.â You see? Donât make it a stool society. You see? Make it a honey society. At least give a chance to those who are seeking after honey, so they will come. You see? Donât cheat people.â
Hare Krishna.
Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami
Hare Krishna.
Being a Bee Protector/Keeper for over 40 years I understand exactly how a Bee colony operates and all the really detailed rules the Bees follow very strictly. One of the points we can say is that Bees have been really exploited to the max by humans. But without Bees and other pollinators our diets are finished. They are so important to the natural symbiotic agricultural system that exists in our world created by Krishna.
So if we really want to make Iskcon a " Honey" society I think we all need to get to grips with Bees and protect them with as much veracity that we can, as we should be with Cows. If we dont protect Cows and Bees then how do we have Society??? How to we have food? Without Bees we lose 40% of the food we depend on to put into our mouths including every type of Diet in the world. All diets depend on Bees but this is where exploitation has taken place. Bees are exploited commercially to produce all sorts of Nuts and Fruits globally. We are ALL implicated in the exploitation of Bees, and also our Farming techniques kill Bees in their millions each year, it is a very sad and tearful scenario of full exploitation for the Bees to be used in Pollination for all sorts of Foods that we ALL eat.
If we want to use the Bee analogies then we have got to change the way we Farm so we can look after our Bees as I have done for over 40 years, so it is an ethical caring system for the Bees to live in, unthreatened by Mankind. Humans have a lot to answer for in their exploitation and abuse of Bees.