{"id":113508,"date":"2025-01-06T11:16:34","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T10:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=113508"},"modified":"2025-01-06T11:17:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T10:17:46","slug":"113508","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=113508","title":{"rendered":"A Farm in France"},"content":{"rendered":" \"ISKCON <\/a> <\/p>\n

by Dharmadhyaksa dasa<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n

If air and noise pollution, commuting, traffic jams, inflation, crime, overcrowding, and speed mania make you hunger for a saner lifestyle, then you\u2019re not alone. Already, a growing number of concerned citizens (including intellectuals and scientists) are asking serious questions about where modern society is going. <\/p>\n

\"Woman <\/a> In the thought-provoking book Small Is Beautiful<\/em> (which government officials around the world are reading carefully), E.F. Schumacher airs some of this new movement\u2019s views. As he sees it, today\u2019s society is based on \u201cgreed and envy.\u201d Thus, cities and nations have developed an almost exclusive eye for material (mostly economic) gain and have tragically neglected humanity\u2019s personal and spiritual needs. In other words, money\u2014not mankind\u2014matters. The remedy, Schumacher says, is to return to a simpler, smaller-scale, and more spiritual lifestyle. <\/p>\n

In 1965, before these ideas were popular, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada traveled from India to the West and appealed for \u201csimple living and high thinking\u201d\u2014the motto of the ancient Vedic culture. In general, people responded sympathetically, and many wanted to learn about the Vedic cultural experience, more than five thousand years of natural, spiritual living. <\/p>\n

\"New <\/a> William Ehrlichman was one of the studious ones. While earning his Bachelor of Science degree at the State University of New York (Buffalo), he took a course in Krishna consciousness and read some of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s English renderings of the Vedic literature. Before long, Ehrlichman asked Srila Prabhupada for formal initiation. He received the Sanskrit name Bhagavan dasa, which means \u201cone who serves the all-opulent Supreme Lord,\u201d and his clear-sightedness and devotion quickly earned him a role of leadership in the Krishna consciousness movement. <\/p>\n

In 1973, after Bhagavan dasa had successfully managed the Krishna consciousness center in Detroit for several years, Srila Prabhupada asked him to go to France and help the Paris center. By 1975 he was directing a thriving community of more than one hundred fifty people. <\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess brought its problems,\u201d Bhagavan dasa says. \u201cPeople felt attracted to the Vedic lifestyle, but the big-city atmosphere made things difficult. Of course, we\u2019d been educating people with Prabhupada\u2019s books. But still, I was feeling that the time had come to demonstrate the practicality of Krishna consciousness by setting up a model Vedic community.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Devarata <\/a>
\u201cSimple living\u201d: free of overmechanized clutter and clatter, community members work in a happy mood. With his horse and wooden cart, Devarata brings a load of freshly cut straw to the cowshed. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Haribolinanda <\/a>
In the fifty-meter-long greenhouse he and the others made last winter, Haribolinanda waters new plants and flowers. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After months of searching, Bhagavan dasa found an ideal location in the Loire Valley\u2014two hundred acres of gently rolling hills, with forests, fields, a large chateau, and five other buildings. The owner, a World War II resistance hero now engaged in philanthropic work, sympathized with the Krishna community\u2019s goals. So he sold the property for a low down-payment and financed the rest at excellent terms. <\/p>\n

\"Bhavasindhu-pota <\/a>
A simple power saw comes in handy when Bhavasindhu-pota constructs new farm buildings. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The farm project\u2019s name is New Mayapur (after the birthsite of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who five hundred years ago revived Krishna consciousness for the modern age). The project\u2019s thirty-three-year-old coordinator, Visnuma dasa, graduated from Middlebury College, in Vermont, and taught school in Ontario, Canada. He says, \u201cNew Mayapur has had instant appeal, both for our members and for our guests. In big cities, when we talk about spiritual life it\u2019s hard for people to get more than an intellectual grasp of it. But here the atmosphere is so peaceful and alive that spiritual living comes naturally. At a place like this, people can feel themselves becoming spiritually transformed.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no special qualifications for living at New Mayapur,\u201d says Bhagavan dasa. \u201cAnybody with any kind of skill is welcome. And anybody can work the fields and provide his family with a good, wholesome life. Most people are looking for a really peaceful community, so it\u2019s important for us to supply what they want.\u201d He adds, \u201cPeople are tired of struggling for the privilege of living in a pressure cooker. We see smaller, spiritual communities as the trend of the future, and we want to accommodate anyone who feels interested in this kind of living.\u201d <\/p>\n

Farming<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n

\"Harvest <\/a>
Harvest time is heartening: the community has been cultivating fruit, vegetables, flowers, and devotion to Lord Krishna. Here are one bunch of chick-peas and one pailful of tomatoes out of thousands. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Srila Prabhupada, who inspired the New Mayapur project, has written, \u201cHuman energy should be utilized in developing the finer senses for spiritual understanding, in which lies the solution of life. Fruits, flowers, beautiful gardens, parks, reservoirs of water with ducks and swans playing in the midst of lotus flowers, and cows giving sufficient milk and butter are essential for developing the finer tissues of the human body.\u201d <\/p>\n

New Mayapur\u2019s chief gardener and farmer, twenty-seven-year-old Haribolananda dasa, is in charge of actualizing this Vedic vision on the fields of France. \u201cI come from an English industrial town, Sheffield,\u201d he says. \u201cI left school quite young, when I was fifteen, and immediately I got a job growing tomatoes in a nursery for two years. After that I worked as a landscape gardener for two and a half more years. Then, I just dropped out into the youth culture. Eventually, I ran into the Krishna devotees in Amsterdam. They had a rare feeling about them, like pioneers. That aroused my curiosity, and I soon discovered that they were<\/em> pioneers. They were bringing forward a higher consciousness, and at the same time they had their feet on the ground. So I joined them.\u201d <\/p>\n

Although ordinarily it takes several years to switch a farm over to organic methods, Haribolananda got some good results from his first organic crop. \u201cWe worked a lot of manure and compost into the soil,\u201d he says, \u201cand we\u2019ve been getting yields, for instance in the tomato patch, that would have required almost a ton of chemical fertilizers. And everyone says that our tomatoes taste better than the chemical ones.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Devotee <\/a> Tomatoes aren\u2019t the only thing Haribolananda cultivates. \u201cWe also raise cucumbers, bell peppers, broccoli, green peas, green beans, lima beans, lettuce, corn, carrots, squash, pumpkins, potatoes, spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and melons. <\/p>\n

\u201cKrishna [God] and Krishna\u2019s creations are abundant, you know? People today feel out of touch with God and nature, so they don\u2019t realize the bounty that\u2019s theirs just for the asking (and a little planting and hoeing). If people all over the world raised gardens like this, they\u2019d have no food shortages, and the out-of-doors work would make everyone a lot healthier.\u201d <\/p>\n

As Srila Prabhupada has said, flower gardens are conducive to physical and mental health. So the devotees have dedicated a full two acres to three thousand carnation plants and five hundred rose bushes, as well as marigolds, chrysanthemums, African gladiolas, and zinnias. Along with some other women, Bhagavan dasa\u2019s wife Krishna-bhamini-devi dasi likes to gather flowers and string garlands. \u201cFlowers give the temple a festive feeling,\u201d she says. \u201cYou naturally think of Krishna.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"The <\/a>
The children like to help out by shelling peas and picking blackberries. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Haribolananda has added even more variety to what was already a sizable tree population. \u201cThere were walnut, chestnut, hazelnut, and cherry trees here when we arrived,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve planted a hundred fifty new fruit trees\u2014apple, pear, peach, nectarine, red currant, and black currant. The land is also teeming with sixty or seventy kinds of medicinal herbs\u2014peppermints, pines, rosemary, comfrey, and on and on. And everywhere you go there are plenty of wild blackberries. We\u2019ve picked a two-and-a-half-months\u2019 supply for making jams, chutneys, and pies. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnly four people, including my wife and me, work the fields full-time. Of course, sometimes other devotees give a little help\u2014maybe an hour of weeding or hoeing or whatever else needs doing.\u201d Haribolananda feels that farming in Krishna consciousness has made his life ecstatic. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always enjoyed raising plants, but the satisfaction is a thousand times better when you do it to please Krishna. If you farm out of a spiritual motive, the harvest is a lot more than you can imagine. It\u2019s devotion for Krishna. There\u2019s pure love involved.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Children<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n

\"When <\/a>
When the weather\u2019s warm, Jyotirmayl takes school out into nature. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New Mayapur\u2019s forty children have a mellowing effect on the whole community. \u201cWe\u2019re sure they\u2019ll grow up to be strong, saintly people,\u201d says Bhagavan dasa, \u201cSo everyone really tries to keep their environment peaceful and full of devotion to Krishna. These children are so bright and pure, and, fortunately for us, they\u2019re always around.\u201d The French public appreciates the Krishna community\u2019s efforts to raise their children in a natural, uplifting setting rather than in the cities. \u201cPeople see that the children here are healthy and happy,\u201d says Bhagavan dasa. \u201cIt\u2019s something they want for their own children.\u201d <\/p>\n

French-born Jyotirmayi-devi dasi studied ethnology at the Sorbonne, in Paris. Also, she helped to translate Srila Prabhupada\u2019s Bhagavad-gita As It Is<\/em> into a popular French edition, and she now heads the unique school system at New Mayapur. She says, \u201cWe follow the traditional Vedic method of education, including subjects like history, geography, reading, writing, and math. The children really like the idea of self-discipline and higher wisdom. The God-centered feeling of Vedic culture is as natural to them as breathing. <\/p>\n

\u201cMore and more, parents and students are feeling cheated by the modern educational system,\u201d says Jyotirmayi, \u201cbecause it fails to develop a child\u2019s character and sense of purpose in life. When you emphasize these things from the very beginning, the child is a lot happier. Many people underestimate children\u2019s potential. Children have minds that are yearning for meaning; that\u2019s why they\u2019re always asking questions. They want to do something meaningful with their lives, and the longer you wait to guide them, the harder it is for them to mature. And, of course, if the child is left without guidance, he usually develops in an unruly ,way and makes headaches for himself and society.\u201d <\/p>\n

In Jyotirmayi\u2019s view, the students develop their spiritual qualities not so much from theoretical learning as from the living example of their teachers (inside and outside<\/em> the classroom). \u201cThe students and teachers have a very warm, personal relationship. The teachers care not just for the children\u2019s academic progress but also for their spiritual development. So the children feel a real sense of security.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"New <\/a> A special forest is reserved for the children to play in and, as cottages are built, to live in. Jyotirmayi\u2019s face brightens whenever she discusses the forest and her plans for it. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful piece of land with tall trees,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re clearing out the old trees so we can plant lots of forest flowers. We\u2019ll have our own garden, and the children will help the teachers to grow all the fruits and vegetables that the school needs. It\u2019ll be like a heaven-on-earth for the children. They\u2019ll live naturally, just like in Vedic times.\u201d Right now the children go to the forest for gathering wood, learning arts and crafts, gardening, eating their meals, and romping around. Jyotirmayi adds, \u201cWe like to get together and put on plays about the childhood pastimes of Krishna. That way we think about Him and remember Him.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"ISKCON <\/a> Jyotirmayi measures the school\u2019s success by \u201chow happy the children are with their teachers and with themselves. Because the people who teach have a sense of spiritual vision, the children spontaneously share in it. This is the real Krishna conscious way to teach and live.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cultural Life<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n

As E. F. Schumacher points out in a recent issue of East-West Journal,<\/em> \u201cCongestion makes city life intolerable, and the emptiness\u2014the mental starvation\u2014makes rural life intolerable.\u201d Fortunately, New Mayapur transcends these two extremes and combines the best of both worlds. Sophisticated yet simple, this Vedic community is proving in the West what has long been known in the East: intellectual and spiritual interests flourish when nourished by the peace and energy of nature. <\/p>\n

\"ISKCON's <\/a>
Whether the devotees are making clothes in the sewing room or making plans in temple coordinator Visvambhara\u2019s office (above), there\u2019s a feeling of love and trust. Visvambhara notes, \u201cEven if you don\u2019t know someone-if you know his father, you feel like walking over to the person and saying, \u2018Hello. You\u2019re the son of Mr. Jones-I can see him in you.\u2019 So when you\u2019re Krishna conscious you feel good about everybody, because you can see Krishna in everybody.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The <\/a>
\u201cHigh thinking\u201d: chanting and dancing and feasting and philosophy inspire everything community members do. The devotees find chanting the Hare Krishna mantra especially enlightening. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New Mayapur serves as the French headquarters of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT). Formerly, the Vedic classics were known only to the cream of French society (Victor Hugo, Romain Rolland, and Andre Malraux, for instance). Now the devotees are translating Srila Prabhupada\u2019s acclaimed English renderings into deluxe French editions and distributing them throughout the French-speaking world. <\/p>\n

French scholars have lavished praise upon both Srila Prabhupada and the BBT for the translations of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is<\/em> and the Srimad-Bhagavatam,<\/em> among other works. Dr. Olivier Lacombe of the Sorbonne praises what he terms their \u201cauthenticity.\u201d Dr. Francois Chenique of the Institute of Political Studies, Paris, says that La Bhagavad-gita tell qu\u2019elle est<\/em> offers his countrymen \u201ctheir first contact with the true India, the ancient India, the eternal India.\u201d Paul Lesourd, writer and honorary professor at the Catholic University of Paris, vows that if the Gita\u2019s<\/em> message \u201cwere wider spread and more respected, it would transform the world in which we live into a better, more fraternal place.\u201d <\/p>\n

The devotees make a thorough study of the Vedic culture (through formal classes, informal discussions, and tests) and that\u2019s what distinguishes New Mayapur from a host of other back-to-the-land projects. Visnuma says, \u201cSpiritual life, developing a relationship with the supreme person, is what gives New Mayapur so much harmony and joy. We not only till the land; we also till our minds to come up with ideas that\u2019ll please Krishna. That\u2019s the real source of our happiness.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Philosophy <\/a>
Says Bhagavan dasa (shown giving a class), \u201cToday\u2019s society may be \u2018civilized,\u2019 but do we know who we really are, why we\u2019re here, or what happens to us when we leave? Even the animals know the science of caring for the body. The Vedic culture stresses what only a human being can know-the science of caring for the soul.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New Mayapur also acts as a melting pot. People from more than twenty countries\u2014including France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam\u2014live there. \u201cSo many individuals from so many backgrounds are working together happily and communicating with ease. Krishna consciousness is universal,\u201d Bhagavan dasa says. New Mayapur\u2019s everyday scenes of international cooperation bear out Paul Lesourd\u2019s statement that the Bhagavad-gita As It Is<\/em> offers a key to world peace. <\/p>\n

\"Sunday <\/a> New Mayapur\u2019s ambitious social experiment offers us much hope. In a time when the world\u2019s secular institutions are hard-pressed to meet even the minimal needs of civilized living\u2014clean water and air, decent schools, parks, and so forth\u2014New Mayapur\u2019s achievements are notable. Organic farming, horticultural innovations, ecological planning, natural medicine, book publishing, spiritual education, community cultural life, personal fulfillment-all spring from the community\u2019s God consciousness. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe environmental crisis,\u201d one ecologist has noted, \u201cis an outward manifestation of a crisis of mind and spirit.\u201d So we can understand why New Mayapur has no crisis: the Vedic culture has always given first priority to spiritual development. Bhagavan dasa says, \u201cWe\u2019ve had no losses by doing that\u2014only gains, in every way.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Fire <\/a>
On special occasions, the community celebrates by dedicating everything, including the fruit of the earth, to the Supreme Lord. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"ISKCONby Dharmadhyaksa dasa If air and noise pollution, commuting, traffic jams, inflation, crime, overcrowding, and speed mania make you hunger for a saner lifestyle, then you\u2019re not alone. Already, a growing number of concerned citizens (including intellectuals and scientists) are asking serious questions about where modern society is going. In the thought-provoking book Small Is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113508"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113530,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113508\/revisions\/113530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}