Why not varnasrama?

[Guest guest]

> Are there any somewhat ideal varnasrama examples anywhere in ISKCON?

 

There are a few essential ingredients which have been missing.

 

The gurukula system of education is one. We have not done well in that area.

One reason may be that when it was started, so I have been told, the best

devotees were pressured to go on book distribution and those that were

failures anywhere else were sent to the farms and schools. Schools did not

make money to fuel the zonal acaryas (irresponsible princes?) ever growing

hunger for 'big projects'. We all make mistakes and after all, those

"acaryas" had at most 10 years devotional experience when they became "all

seeing" gurus.

 

Prabhupada spoke of thickening the milk, stopping the expansion of ISKCON

and concentrating on making our devotees strong and independantly

thoughtfull. Pradyumna prabhu (panditji) was one such indpendantly

thoughtful person who fell foul of the wrath of the acaryas. Prabhupada

said:

 

"Now we have got so many students and so many temples but I am fearful that

if we expand too much in this way that we shall become weakened and

gradually the whole thing will become lost...So let us concentrate on

training our devotees very thoroughly in the knowledge of Krishna

Consciousness from our books, from tapes, by discussing always, and in so

many ways instruct them in the right propositions."Letter to Hansadutta '72

 

This never happened. Instead once Prabhupada left us, the zonal acaryas

continued ramping up the expansion, even instituting 'sikha points' to

measure the amount of new recruits made in ever increasing competition. I

was at the manor from '76 to '79 and remember how they 'blooped' almost as

fast as they joined.

 

If we look at the examples of cases where Prabhupada instructed his

disciples to implement certain begginings of his varnasrama plan, we find

that some disciples agreed to fulfill Prabhupadas desires. To date they are

yet unfulfilled.

 

The Amish have noticed that if a child is not brought up working on the

land, he wont take to it when he is an adult. There is something about mud

rain and wind that is difficult to surrender to when you have grown up in a

warm dry environment in your childhood. Therefore one prerequisite for

varnasrama is appropriate education for our kids.

 

In traditional societies, the varna training is done in a family

environment. A carpenters son works with his carpenter father in the yard,

and becomes competent not only as a carpenter, but also he matures in his

dealings with all other levels of society as he interacts with them along

with his father. It has been shown that schooling systems wherein children

only associate with children their own age create immature adults.

 

Shopkeeper kids (vaisyas) also learn on the job with their families. You can

find 9 year old kids in india as sharp as any salesman in the world. Vaisya

farm kids learn on the farm. Ksatriya kids learn with other ksatriyas.

Independant brahmanas thrive in villages where the grihastas recognise their

importance, and support them with generous donations. Those brahmanas teach

freely.

 

Prabhupada described that we should give land to devotees and train them to

work that land. The varnasrama system allows that such land remains with the

family that utilises it as long as it is fully utilised. This has never been

done.

 

If we spent as much energy getting people situated on land training them,

and thus providing an honourable livlihood, as we did force them out to do

books we may have the beginnings of a varnasama society now.

 

When Srila Prabhupada wrote his essay on Gita Nagari back in the late 40's

or early 50's, he described how a 'Gita Nagari' village would need to be

heavily subsidised by pious 'suchis and srimates'. He recognised that to

make daivi varnasrama happen in the current world scene it needs to be

fostered by pious people who recognise the need.

 

If our leaders were to recognise what it takes to foster the gradual

development of varnasrama, I beleive, as Srila Prabhupada stated, that we

can do it. It would of course take many years, and I agree fully, lets do

the research. But once it is done, and it need not take that long, who will

subsidise it? True daivi varnasrama self sufficciency takes many villages.

 

Your servant

Samba das