From vision to action plan - limiting limitng factors.

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

I have compiled below a few comments from Syam, Panca,

sambha Norma Hkdd, and myself, for a bit of fun, and

to make a point or two. Then a few comments.

 

“We are meant to demonstrate an alternative farming

system that protects cows and works oxen and gives its

workers a reality wage or living. 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 aren’t many takers

for this right now, so it will be a long time before

we start to see it happening.”

 

“It seams to me that the general mass of devotees are

not prepared to abandon the luxuries of modern living

no matter how idealistic the simple living model is

made. Wouldn't it be great if ISKCON could put its

resources in place to support Srila Prabhupada's goals

of cow protection and self-sufficient farm

communities?”

..

“One point is that we are adherents to a unique

farming and dietary situation. Somehow we can make

money by any means and there is no noise, but if we

suggest to make money by cow protection methods there

is a decry of deviation practically. Harking on in a

reactive way about present farming and social systems

is useless. Talking about the ideal is useless unless

a plan is in place that takes us there. But this plan

needs a dose of slap-in-your-face reality.”

 

“You really hit the nail on the head with that one!

Nicely summed up.”

 

“But, our leaders have no such vision. If funds are

raised, rather than invest them in training devotees

in the arts of self-sufficiency, they generally prefer

to build a spiritual Disneyland like New Vrndavana and

Bombay."

 

"If we can not make the living we want from ox power

and cow protection then how on earth is any devotee

going to do it? If we are not cultivating by oxen then

it is most probable we are contributing to the demise

of the ox. A point in passing. I have not talked of

milk production as we all know that unless the oxen

are sorted out there is no sustainable milk

production.”

 

 

OK, fun over, here’s to the serious issues:

 

I think Pancarantna’s mail set fire to some kindling

that could lead to a fire, and as far as I am

concerned that is what is needed. The thing is we are

modifying the vision thing that Prabhupada set. Now,

again, I think this is good, because that’s where the

reality is at. Prabhupada, as any business, had a

vision, a mission statement and action plans with

clearly defined goals. We seem to be modifying the

latter, which is a painful process, but it is real.

Prabhupada modified temples to accommodate women –

time, place, and circumstance. We too find ourselves

in this situation; the circumstance in today’s world

demands a more pro-active stance that could mean using

different strategies to achieve the vision’s goals.

 

What strikes me so much about so many comments on this

forum is how much our limiting factors leave the goals

removed from our grasp. There are so many reasons why

not to do something, because it would mean

surrendering this value or that value. So the end

result is non-activity – the exact opposite of

Krishna’s words in the Gita.

 

Why must we rely on ISKCON leaders for us to be

totally, unlimitedly pro-active?

 

Why must we “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”?

 

Why must we “make money by any means and there is no

noise, but if we suggest to make money by cow

protection methods there is a decry of deviation

practically?”

 

Why must we say that “if we are not cuiltivating by

oxen then it is most probable we are contributing to

the demise of the ox, to know that unless the oxen are

sorted out there is no sustainable milk production?”

 

Why must we treat profit as the devil, when it could

be our best friend down the roar to a post-industrial

peasant social economy?

 

Why must we believe things that are not necessarily

the truth in today’s exact situation?

 

I have really split from ISKCON orthodoxy. In some

ways it is good, in others bad. But, what I do know

that in my eyes none of the above questions are

essentially true.

 

The vision for me is – Protection Farms – for the

profitable lifetime protection of farm animals.

 

The mission statement is to galvanize support to

research and enact the vision within the next 5 years.

 

 

The action plan is to get ISKCON, the Veg Socs, animal

rights movements behind a logical, scientific movement

based on the real-life practice of farm animal

protection, and enact upon it.

 

For me, the leaders are not ISKCON gurus but the very

members here on this conference and elsewhere who are

prepared to break old patterns and paradigms and

become pioneers to colonise the niche field of

protected farm animals.

 

For me, it is not necessary to forget the rest of the

world but to completely work within it utilising its

resources to meet the vision.

 

For me, to make a profit from cow protection is not

deviant behaviour but the essential law of material

life that profit creates, loss destroys.

 

For me, the fact that we are not cultivating by oxen

does not necessarily mean the demise of the oxen

within this system but a temporary research-based

stage as the milk cow leader leads and the oxen follow

once momentum brings in a profitable ox/crop system.

In ecology the pioneers (cow’s milk)are often

overtaken by secondary colonisers (oxen's crops) in

the process of succession. There is no need to wait

for the ox system to be fully ready if the milk system

is already ready, the oxen can take the lead further

down the alphabet soup, as ABC becomes DEF on the way

to XYZ.

 

For me, action and words leading to action to protect

farm animals are active prayers of devotion, in full

knowlege or not. Myself I find the more I am engaged

in this the more I feel in devotional activity - this

is my expression of religion (dharma).

 

Well, these are my thoughts – what are yours?

Really I would love to know.

 

Your friend,

 

Mark Chatburn

 

 

 

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