Le Cow Quote Du Jour # 90

[Guest guest]

> Of course, there are myriad other advantages of a simpler, less technology

> centered life. However, it is hard for me to understand how this sort of

> life provides more leisure time to be used for chanting Hare Krishna.

>

> I am interested to know how others understand Srila Prabhupada's

> statement here.

 

To me when he speaks like this he is describing similar sentiments to

Fukuoka, and some of the permaculture people

 

Many self sufficieny people are on their own. Prabhupada speaks of self

sufficient villages, where the pressure is not on one family but is spread

out. Also he speaks of using only what you produce, so the range of

foodstuffs would be very limited, simple living. Many of the 'go it alone'

self sufficient types add on a lot of extras such as brewing beer, eggs,

meat etc, which adds to the load.

 

Fukuokas logo is a man sleeping under a tree, and he very much endorses the

idea that natural farming means much less work. He points out that in Japan

in days gone by the farmer had time to write Haiku, which is not something a

harried farmer of today would even consider.

 

Some people say it is all fantasy, and that natural farming is all very

well, but harvesting is a nightmare. But often these people are thinking in

terms of mass harvests for the market. If however you only have to harvest

for the days meal, the labour is not a problem. There is no weeding because

weeds are not seen as a problem rather they are a soil protector. It is an

art though to make it all work, it is something you have to spend many years

of dedication to make it work. That is what prabhupada wanted us to do, but

as we have not done it yet, it all seems a bit too mysterious.

 

Most of the criticisms I have heard of permaculture are from people who see

farming as a comercial endeavour. Prabhupada says that if it is done for

profit it will be a failure, meaning that one will have to work so hard that

he will not have time for Krsna Consciousness.

 

Other people such as John Jeavons have also demonstrated that using the

right formulas you can grow far more food on a small patch than most

commercial people do. His trick is growing a crop of grains with the veggies

which provides a lot of carbon for mulch and compost. And of course in most

quotes prabhupada is very strong on grain growing as the mainstay.

 

Very few people practice this kind of farming, so there are very few

examples to see.

 

We are going to try to do this here in New Vrajamandala eventualy (which is

where I decided to move to). But I dont think we will have any results for

quite some time. Fukuoka took 20 years to develop his 'no till' system, and

get the results he does. It is not something that you can duplicate easily

from place to place, it all depends very much on the local soil climate etc.

 

So if we were to simply start to work with the land, and forget everything

else and make it our soul concern, which is the only way we could make it

work, forget that the outside world exists, except for preaching to the

folks that come from there.

 

There arent many takers for this right now, so it will be a long time before

we start to see it happening.

 

Anyway this is the theory. We still have to make it work, so it is a bit

hollow, and maybe will not be a satisfactory answer.

 

Your servant

Samba das

[Guest guest]

> Also he speaks of using only what you produce, so the range of

> foodstuffs would be very limited, simple living.

 

Which until the alledged "leaders" of ISKCON, the sannyasis, start living

simply, how do you expect the vaisyas to be more austere than the swamis?