S S K B K Narada Bulletin May 2009 *Hebri/Udupi* Karnataka* India* Hare Krishna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and his Varnasrama Mission! H I G H L I G H T S v Varnasrama Ministry gets the nod from ISKCON RGB v Gobar-Gas plant installed. v Rama navami celebrated at SSKBK with great fervor v Farmers getting ready for the rains v Devotees undergo Various trainings at SSKBK v Varieties of vegetables and fruits harvested v Varnasrama Research Team inaugurated at Bellary by HH Bhakti Raghava Maharaj. v Visiting Devotees
GOSEVA ******************************************************* N E W S I N D E T A I L ******************************************************* Païca-gavya, the five products received from the cow, namely milk, yogurt, ghee, cow-dung and cow-urine, are required in all ritualistic ceremonies performed according to the Vedic directions. Cow urine and cow dung are uncontaminated, and since even the urine and dung of a cow are important, we can just imagine how important this animal is for human civilization. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa, directly advocates go-rakñya, the protection of cows. Civilized men who follow the system of varëäçrama, especially those of the vaiçya class, who engage in agriculture and trade, must give protection to the cows. Unfortunately, because people in Kali-yuga are mandäù, all bad, and sumanda-matayaù, misled by false conceptions of life, they are killing cows in the thousands. Therefore they are unfortunate in spiritual consciousness, and nature disturbs them in so many ways, especially through incurable diseases like cancer and through frequent wars and among nations. As long as human society continues to allow cows to be regularly killed in slaughterhouses, there cannot be any question of peace and prosperity (SB 8.8.11 purport) Gobar gas plant complete Keeping up with the plan to implement Village technology at SSKBK and also to be able to teach others of its use in Varnasrama College, devotees decided to implement Gobar Gas Unit. Devotees worked hard to dig the pit for constructing the Gobar Gas plant. Government provides subsidy for implementing such technology and we utilized the same. A Government appointed mason guided us with the construction. The whole unit was completed in just 3 days. Gobar-Gas is used as a fuel and can be used for many purposes. In the beginning we intend to use it for making Cow-Urine based medicines specially Go- Ark. Go-Ark when made using earthen pots need a constant flame and hence Gobar gas will be useful. Gobar Gas is used for the same purpose at Mayapur Goshall also.
Underground Gobar Gas plant. AGRICULTURE It should be noted that a gåhastha (householder) must not make his livelihood by begging from anyone. Every householder of the higher castes should engage himself in his own occupational duty as a brähmaëa, kñatriya or vaiçya, but he should not engage in the service of others, for this is the duty of a çüdra. One should simply accept whatever he earns by his own profession. The engagements of a brähmaëa are yajana, yäjana, paöhana, päöhana, däna and pratigraha. A brähmaëa should be a worshiper of Viñëu, and he should also instruct others how to worship Him. A kñatriya can become a landholder and earn his livelihood by levying taxes or collecting rent from tenants. A vaiçya can accept agriculture or general trade as an occupational duty. [CC Adi 10.50 purport] For the first time sugarcane was planted at SSKBK. We planted in a very small area of 10 cents by the devotees. The best variety of indigenous breed of sugarcane was obtained from Siddapur village in North Karnataka, India. Sugarcane is a yearly crop and we would get harvest at the end of the year. We still could not acquire the Traditional Jaggery Unit, due to the Sugercane harvesting season going on. the owners where reluctant to sell at this time. We are trying hard to get the
same. Jaggery is a good source of Iron in food, and especially important to vegetarians. It will also help us to become self sufficient in Agriculture by producing our own Jiva-amrita, an excellent fertilizer. Sugarcane plantation Summers are the season of Mangoes in India. Mangoes were harvested in plenty, much more than the devotees could eat. We prepared Mango pickles so that it can be stored for longer time. We also tried other ways of preserving like making dry mangoes (by drying ripened mangoes in the sunlight). We will also try mango powder from dried mangoes. Kokam fruits whose juice gives relief from the hot summer were also harvested. As soon as few showers came and made the land conducive for preparing the fields, we ploughed the fields with the help of our bulls Bala and Krishna. Devotees are getting ready for the coming rainy season. FESTIVALS The authorized äcäryas, who know the science perfectly, install such temples of the Lord under regulative principles just to offer facilities to the common man, but persons who
are less intelligent, without being conversant with the science, mistake this great attempt to be idol worship and poke their nose into that to which they have no access. Therefore, the ladies or men who observe festivals in the temples of the Lord just to have a look at the transcendental form are a thousand times more glorious than those who are nonbelievers in the transcendental form of the Lord.[ SB 1.11.24 purport ] Ram Navami festival for glorification of the appearance of Lord Ramachandra, was celebrated with pomp at SSKBK. Big feast was arranged with items like Panakam etc. The Villagers came to take part in the celebrations. At Mangalore Jagannath Rath Yatra festival was celebrated. Devotees from SSKBK attended the festival. HH Bhanu Swami Maharaja graced the occasion. DEVOTEE TRAINING In the system of varëäçrama-dharma, which is the beginning of actual human life, small boys after five years of age are sent to become brahmacäré at the guru s äçrama, where these things are systematically taught to boys, be they king s sons or sons of ordinary citizens. The training was compulsory not only to create good citizens of the state, but also to prepare the boy s future life for spiritual realization. The irresponsible life of sense enjoyment was unknown to the children of the followers of the varëäçrama system. The boy was even injected with spiritual acumen before being placed by the father in the womb of the mother. Both the father and the mother were responsible for the boy s success in being liberated from the material bondage. That is the process of successful family planning. It is to beget children for complete perfection. Without being self-controlled, without being disciplined and without being fully obedient, no one can become successful in following the instructions of the spiritual master, and without doing so, no one is able to go back to Godhead. [SB 1.5.24 purport] HG Bharat Chandra Dasa attended training on 'Village Administration' at Hyderabad. It was a Unique training with insights on the governance issues like the legislative system, the judiciary and the revenue system in the villages including topics such as property rights, etc. We plan to introduce such trainings as part of Varnasrama College specially to train future kshatriyas. HG Giriraj Dasa is continuing his training on making cloth. A local village teacher comes to our farm to impart the training at our Handloom unit. We are now able to make our own towels.
VARNASRAMA RESEARCH TEAM Varnasrama Research team was inaugurated in Bellary by HH Bhakti Raghava Swami Maharaja. Bellary is town in the east of Karnataka, India. The main occupation of people being mining of iron ore - another dangerous occupation where poor people risk their rare human lives in the name of so called advancement of civilization. Bellary devotees gave a very warm welcome to Maharaja. His Holiness conducted seminars explaining the concepts of simple living high thinking as in Varnasrama system. HG Krishna Chandra Prabhu will be guide the Bellary VRT team till they are able to conduct the affairs by them selves. Varnasrama Ministry gets nod in the RGB Meetings. VISITING DEVOTEES Bhakta Jignesh, Kishore, Madan, Shobhraj, Praful and Akshay came to visit from Manipal University. Members of Ramachandrapura Math came to take part in the festivals. We had visitors from Siddapur, Perdoor and Hebri villages. HG Sridhari Prabhu from Mysore, HG Hyagriva Prabhu with some devotees from Vrndavan and Bhakta Premanand from Mangalore also visited us. VARNASRAMA READING Srimad Bhagavatam 5.19.19 PURPORT Because there is no institution to teach people how to become brähmaëas, kñatriyas, vaiçyas and çüdras or brahmacärés, gåhasthas, vänaprasthas and sannyäsés, these demons want a classless society. This is resulting in chaotic conditions. In the name of secular government, unqualified people are taking the supreme governmental posts. No one is being trained to act according to the principles of varëäçrama-dharma, and thus people are becoming increasingly degraded and are heading in the direction of animal life. The real aim of life is liberation, but unfortunately the opportunity for liberation is being denied to people in general, and therefore their human lives are being spoiled. The Kåñëa consciousness movement, however, is being propagated all over the world to reestablish the varëäçrama-dharma system and thus save human society from gliding down to hellish life.
Fresh Jackfruit prasadam grown by devotees at SSKBK Assistant Editor: His Grace Parasurama Dasa Prepared by: His Grace Raya Ramananda Dasa and His Grace Bharat Chandra Dasa Please visit the following websites for more information on varnasrama developments: www.varnasrama.org & www.sahyadriksetra.org