Missing pieces...

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Dear Vaisnavas,

There have been many descriptions on this com of rural situations and the

problems

that they're having. I have what you might call a hypothesis that the

problems will not

really be solvable in any sort of satisfactory sense, unless we look at the

WHOLE of

what Srila Prabhupada was saying. Its like in maths you can't ignore any

part of the

equation.

For instance, the problem of overbreeding. What sort of economy leads to

such a

situation?If the economy is strictly self-sufficient, producing only what is

necessary for

consumption, then only one or two cows milking, are required for a whole

community,

or a few more if the community is really big, but then each cow can milk for

about 4

years, so even in a fairly big community, one bred per year is sufficient.

At such a rate,

the herd expands to a certain size, for up to 20 years, it has gained a

maximum of 20

cows, and then they start to die as they live for 20 years maximum. Then you

have

birth and death rates equalling, and a stable herd number plus milk supply.

But we only

followed SOME of SP's directions- like the ones not to kill the cows- and

left out

other ones, like not producing food for excess or trade but only for one's

needs- and in

doing so we left out part of the equation for practicality. The result is,

we have a mess.

 

Similarly, we did not, on many farms, do as S.P. advised -work the bullocks

for

plowing and transport, or fully utilize the dung for cooking and fertilizer.

So expensive

types of transport, and tractors, and artificial fertilizer and electricity,

were used- all

requiring money. Then with so much financial burden on ourselves, where is

the

possibility to find spare bucks to give the now-useless animals the medical

attention

they require? So then you have gross neglect, and the type of report HK dasi

compiled,

in other words, not Krsna stories of blissful cows but horror stories.

 

Here's another one: it was brought up that ox-workers have not enough time

for

sadhana. Srila Prabhupada described that the vaisyas worked only 3 months of

the

year, and he said that live off the land to save time for chanting. If

ox-workers have

insufficient time for chanting, could it be that they are growing more than

they actually

require for self-sufficiency- that is one possibility. Another possibility

is that in

varnasrama, the vaisyas would have sudras assisting with much of the work,

in return

for food and shelter. So on our own farms, on each vaisya's block of land,

he could

construct some simple cottages for sudra devotees to live in. There are

cities full of

sudras and when they become interested in Krsna consciousness, they are

expected to

somehow jump to the brahmana platform straight away and preach. The result

is that

many fall away. Ramesvara Maharaja told Srila Prabhupada, that many people

when

they become interested in K.C., are encouraged to join the temple, but it is

found that

they cannot come up to the temple standard and many of them become

discouraged

and go away. So, he asked,

"Should we encourage them to stay devotees at home?"

Srila Prabhupada replied

"No, let them come to the farm"

Again, Ramesvara repeated his idea, and again Srila Prabhupada said,

"No, ...farm".

So here we have Srila Prabhupada solving a city and a farm problem by the

same

solution- new people having trouble?- farm.That problem is ongoing in our

society,

and yet our vaisyas are in need of assistants. Sometimes, like here in

Australia, they get

karmi backpackers to help in return for food and accomodation, but that is

problematic

as many smoke, take drugs, etc. So much nicer to have new devotees to

help...does

this all make sense?

We're talking about putting Srila Prabhupada back in the centre, and that's

a nice

sentiment, but we're missing out on the practical benefits if we don't take

all his

instructions seriously. There'll be missing pieces in the puzzle and we

won't get the full

picture. You know what I mean?

Hope it makes sense, ys, niscala

 

____

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