Guest guest Posted May 13, 2001 Report Share Posted May 13, 2001 > By the middle or end of November I may be going to Hyderabad. There we > have got 600 acres of land to develop a farm project. We have got one very > nice temple in Hyderabad City. As we are doing in Mayapur and many other > places, I want to develop self-sufficient centers with cloth and food > production by the devotees locally and save time as much as possible to > devote themselves to chant Hare Krishna. > > >>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Syama Sundarji -- Vrindaban 15 November, > 1976 Dandavad. Prabhupada kijaya! This quotation is typical of the many places Srila Prabhupada correlates self-sufficiency with the ability to "save time as much as possible to devote themselves to chant Hare Krishna". However, my observation is that the simple, self-sufficent, lifestyle requires a lot of physical work - much more than the standard 40 hour work week which modern society has achieved. Even if you consider the extra commuting time (which in any case could be used for chanting Hare Krishna, if one uses public transportation) it seems to me that modern technology is capable of enabling more leisure time for spiritual life than the kind of life it seems Srila Prabhupada is describing when he speaks of "self-sufficient centers". 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. Your servant, Pancaratna das Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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