Guest guest Posted November 15, 1999 Report Share Posted November 15, 1999 Haribol Hare Krisna Dasi I read this posting with great interest and concern. Where in the world do you live that the government will accept taxes in kind? Thirty years ago in Guatemala rural farmers were given a date and location along with their tax bill. If they had no cash to pay taxes they had to show up with machetes or hoes and build roads or repair trails or clear the brush next to the road or what ever. I don't know of any countries doing that now! In most countries we must pay cash taxes! While it would be ideal to pay in kind it just doesn't happen in most countries. Your excellent explanation of Prabhupada concept of Varnasrama just doesn't exist in the real world. I have to sell my crops to support my self and my farm. I also have a full time business as plumbing contractor. The farm could support easily fifty to a hundred people with food. The fact is that can hardly pay its taxes and make a profit. That is reality! In the USA Big Agra Biz is wiping us out. Three hundred family farms a week go bankrupt. Less than three percent of the population of the USA are family farmers, and that number is dropping every day. The family farms are for all intents and purposes are a thing of the past, In this country. I have no one who will take over my farm after I am to old to farm, no one in my family wants to work that hard for so little. Farming is a labor of love. Farmers are very close to God, of course, you pray for rain, for sun ...but not to much, for a cool summer and for a short winter with lots of rain/snow. You Pray the cotton weevils won't get your crop. You pray for a good crop, for less pests and pray that the wind wont blow the farmers next doors pesticides into your fields. You pray for the health of your earthworms. ( I take a shoe box full of them into the annual blessing of the animals by the Catholics). Farmers pray all the time. Some time it helps ... sometimes well it doesn't. Then some land developer comes into your area, offers every body a fist full of money for their farm and they sell out. I hang on, because I love to farm. Then the taxes start to skyrocket. My neighbors complain of the dust when I plow. They have neighborhood meetings about the smell of the manure I put on my land they grip about my "eyesore" house lowering the property value of their trendy Styrofoam and chicken wire "country Villas and ranches"! The county steps in and inspects to find something to fine me for or place an additional tax on me. Oh, would that there were such places, where the king gave the land for free, to the farmers who paid in kind when crops were good and was forgiven the taxes when crops were not so good. In the real world we sweat blood to pay our taxes, we give up the opera and the shows, friends and quick medical attention. We live isolated lives of desperation, We have jobs in town to pay for the bad crops. Our lives are filled with hope and prayers and tomato worms and grackles (a kind of bird) that can wipe out a peach crop in a day. Some times people will come out and spend several days or even a week. When they leave they tell me about what a wonderful life I live and they envy me. No of course they didn't help me! Oh well yes, They did pick some green beans and a few squashes. They were aghast that I didn't have a smoke house full of slow curing hams and a chicken coop full of egg laying contented hens. They said I should have at least one cow just for looks if nothing else. If I got tired of the cow. I could sell it to the slaughter house. Were amazed that it is forty-five minutes to the nearest food store. and longer for entertainment like movies or museums or restaurants. The real world I fear is still a long way away from Prabhupada dream Varnasrama. Perhaps when the cites are destroyed we can start over! Carol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 16, 1999 Report Share Posted November 16, 1999 > > > On one hand we must maintain our recognition of the truth: Capitalism > contains many elements which if unchecked will undermine the establishment > of varnasrama. Prabhupada has discussed some of these detrimental aspects > of capitalism. Let us differentiate between capitalism and financial capitalism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 16, 1999 Report Share Posted November 16, 1999 > Sure one will always find classes of people but isn,t there not much more > to life than that. Will the idea of "you have to divide" indeed succed > although it doesnt capture many people,s imagination, including that of > many devotees? > > Is there a need to hang on to that which may have lost its relevance to > time place and circumstances and the present age? Harsi prabhu, I am sorry to be compelled to say the follwing: You seem to be facing serious problems these days understanding and digesting what Srila Prabhupada has said on various matters including varnasrama and its related issues. While, due to various reasons, I see less use of writing on how Srila Prabhupada was *PERFECT* in his explanation of varnasrama, gurukula, rights/duties of men/women, etc. I nonetheless, do want to say that seeing something that Srila Prabhupada said as irrelevant to time, place and circumstances is just like nondevotees not believing in reincarnation, law of karma or even in the existance of God. It is simply becasue either they don't understand the philosophy or they don't want to accept it being envious of higher authority, i.e. the Supreme Lord Who they have to surrender to. Just because we cannot understand a thing doesn't mean it's wrong. I have no intention of putting you down here suggesting you don't understand Srila Prabhupada becasue of this and that. What all I want to request you is to please read sincerely *all* that SP has said on certain issues before making any critical comment on its validity. It will save you. Since I haven't read the whole Folio I don't claim to understand all what SP said on Varnasrama but whatever I have read and heard from SP makes *perfect* sense to me. In fact I have seen it *pratically* working from my very childhood. I pray to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada to continue showering mercy upon me and help me not offend devotees so that I can see things from a right perspective. Hare Krishna! ys, bb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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