![\"Dharmakala](\"http:\/\/www.brijabasispirit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Dharmakala-RVC-Temple-Kitchen-Cooking-Biscuits-1984.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDharmakala Cooking Biscuits in RVC Temple devotee kitchen \u2013 1984.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
By Madhava Smullen<\/i><\/p>\n
Dharmakala Dasi\u2019s destiny seemed set from the start \u2013 she grew up with the smell of fresh baked bread and cookies lingering throughout her home.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents had eight kids, so we didn\u2019t really go out to eat \u2013 my mother just cooked constantly to feed us all,\u201d she says. \u201cSo being around it all the time, I started cooking myself when I was a little kid. I baked my first brownies at the age of seven.\u201d<\/p>\n
But with all that good old-fashioned home cooking, Dharmakala never tasted anything quite like the Sunday Feast at the Hare Krishna temple in Ocean City, Maryland, in 1972 \u2013 \u201cIt was totally out of this world,\u201d she says. And it was this that would lead to her cooking for Lord Krishna, and becoming synonymous with New Vrindaban\u2019s celebrated history of prasadam baking.<\/p>\n
First, though, she joined ISKCON in Ocean City, then moved to New York, where she was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1973. There, she began baking \u201cPrabhupada cookies\u201d and offered her first cake to the Lord, a huge multi-layered whipped mango affair for Radhastami.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nSrila Prabhupada outside the Henry Street Temple 1973 \u2013 Dharmakala offering obeisances on left.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In July 1974, Dharmakala decided to move to New Vrindaban, West Virginia, where she received second initiation the following year, and thereafter began cooking daily for the Deities for approximately the next fifteen years.<\/p>\n
New Vrindaban, a remote, austere rural community, couldn\u2019t have been more different from New York City. Dharmakala prepared the legendary 4pm offering of fried curd, milk sweets, cookies, cheesecake, and more using a wood oven and wood stove that had to be constantly stoked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything electric at all at the Bahulaban kitchen \u2013 everything had to be done by hand,\u201d she says. \u201cThe curd used in the cheesecake had to be kneaded out by hand to smooth it, as there were no blenders.\u201d<\/p>\n
The upside to the simple life was that all the dairy products were made from the milk of the sacred village\u2019s protected cows, which was thick with cream. It was this cream that was separated from the milk and used in Dharmakala\u2019s much coveted maha-prasadam condensed milk, or kheer, which was often served with peaches, strawberries and bananas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe feasts and Deity offerings in Bahulaban back then were so outrageously opulent you wouldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d Dharmakala says.<\/p>\n
Until 1989 \u2013 during which the kitchen moved from Bahulaban to Radha Vrindabanchandra\u2019s current temple \u2013 Dharmakala cooked full-time for the Deities and devotees.<\/p>\n
As well as the 4pm offering, she also made popcorn, cereal, breadsticks and other snacks for the devotees in the afternoon, and cooked chapatis over gas flames on a large griddle for lunch.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNew Vrindaban\u2019s 6th Annual Janmastami celebration. Group photo taken at the Bahulaban Barn in 1975 (Dharmakala pictured).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cTogether our team would do a thousand chapatis a day,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
But over the years, Dharmakala became most famous for her baking.<\/p>\n
In the mornings, she often baked bread for the devotees. On Sunday feasts and festivals, she would make orange cake, date nut bars, or apple and rhubarb strawberry crisp for 800 people, sending huge trays to locations all over the community.<\/p>\n
And nothing was ever half-baked \u2013 if you\u2019ll pardon the pun \u2013 with Dharmakala.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever I did, I would do to the best of my ability,\u201d she says. \u201cFor instance, instead of just making normal sugar cookies for the 4pm offering, I\u2019d make coconut walnut squares or sandwich cookies. That would be two Prabhupada cookies with a filling of fresh strawberry jam and an icing glaze on top.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dharmakala worked very hard, often spending eleven-hour days from 10am to nearly 9pm in the kitchen, with no days off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember being eight-and-a-half months pregnant with my daughter Dinataruni one Thanksgiving, and baking as many pumpkins as I could for pumpkin pie well into the night, because we didn\u2019t have any canned pumpkin,\u201d she says. \u201cThe next morning, I went in, made the crusts, and finished up ten trays of pie with fresh whipped cream on top. All while I was about to pop!\u201d<\/p>\n
But for Dharmakala, the memories are good, full of the kind of loving exchanges between godbrothers and godsisters that Srila Pabhupada formed ISKCON to facilitate.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPrabhupada 1973 NY Henry Street Temple \u2013 Dharmakala lower right corner<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cKuladri\u2019s wife Kutila taught me how to make milk sweets; Prabhupada\u2019s servant Nanda Kumar oversaw the kitchen; and Hari-Kirtana, Vraja Kumari and Gita from Canada were my chapati crew,\u201d she says. \u201cEverybody was working together, and it was such good teamwork and camaraderie. It was devotional service for us, and we just wanted to make a nice lunch for Krishna. You just had that intention that it was going to turn out great, and it always did.\u201d<\/p>\n
After 1989, Dharmakala stopped serving full-time at the temple kitchen, but continued to make cakes for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations held in New Vrindaban, a service she offers to this day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI make chocolate, carob, and vanilla cakes, carrot cakes, and more,\u201d she says. \u201cWhatever people want. I always use organic, non-GMO ingredients. I use organic flour, demerrara sugar or Sucanat, and for vegan cakes, I make my own soymilk from organic soybeans.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1995, Dharmakala started her own company, \u201cWorld\u2019s Best Cookie,\u201d selling to health food stores and coffee shops along the East Coast. Her products include raisin, chocolate-chip, carob-chip, and pumpkin-spice oatmeal cookies, along with wheat-free raisin and chocholate-chip options, and an energy cookie.<\/p>\n