Partners-for-Life

Partners-for-Life
People Partnering Talents and Resources to Insure a Healthy and Sustainable Future
The world and the people who live on it are in trouble. Every day more than one billion people wake up not knowing where their next meal is going to come from. Every day the industrialized nations of the earth dump more than 2 million tons of pollutants into the air, water and land. Every day both of these statistics are getting worse, and nobody except Srila Prabhupada has offered a genuine and permanent solution to these problems. And Srila Prabhupada’s solution is wonderful, because it is not just the solution to these environmental disasters and human despair, but simultaneously it is the answer to many more of the world’s problems. The solution lies in raising consciousness and working together to establish a significant alternative to today’s consume and dispose culture. That alternative is established in the Gitagrad communities. The Gitagrad communities seek to demonstrate the solution to modern man’s ills based on a new vision for living. This vision is found in the ancient Vedic scriptures that prescribe a way of life that is in harmony with the other aspects
of creation. It provides a place for every living entity based on the premise that the material creation of the Lord is perfect and complete, as enjoined in the Sri Isopanisad. It directs people to a God-centered life that allows all of humankind to find their proper place in the creation without conflict or enmity between God and man, man and animal, or man and nature.
Partners–for–Life is a collection of people who feel the need of establishing Gitagrad communities. The Partners are from all over the world, from all walks of life, from all social and cultural strata of society. They are people who can see the severe problems in modern society and want to help change the way the world works. They feel the need for replacing the atheistic, nihilistic and materialistic culture, with a theistic, hope-filled, and spiritual one. Partners–for–Life offers opportunities for everyone to participate according to their own desires and abilities.
The Gift Economy of Spiritual Economics
One of the most significant factors in living according to the precepts of Bhagavad-gita is the way in which we practice our economic activity. Lord Krishna very specifically instructs us to do our work in the spirit of devotion and give the results to others. Not to sell; not to exchange by barter, but to freely give. Giving of oneself to others creates a joy that is unobtainable in any other way. Giving is the natural function of the soul. Gift economies were formerly found all over the world in sattvic cultures. It was done before and it can be
done again. Gifting creates a Spiritual Economy that functions for the benefit of all people, and can serve the needs of all people. It is an economy of joy and love. It is an economy which encourages responsibility to the earth, one which eliminates the need or even the desirability of exploitation of others, one which removes the motive for competition, crime, greed, avarice and corruption, one which promotes self-respect and freedom, one which encourages responsibility rather than irresponsible acts, and which demonstrates that we do in fact live in a world of plenty rather than a world of scarcity. The full explanation of Spiritual Economics as a spiritual process and positive alternative to modern predatory economics of tamo-guna is presented in volume two of "Spiritual Economics." Please visit www.spiritual-econ.com for more information about these books.
In practice Spiritual Economics uses no cash or credit, and no conception of “mine.” Spiritual Economics recognizes the Lord’s instructions in the Vedic Scriptures that everything in this world is created and therefore owned by the Lord, and that nothing is ours to claim as our own. We come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing—everything belongs to the creator—the Lord Himself. As the sons and daughters of the Lord we are all entitled to our quota, a sufficient amount to maintain a simple and healthy life. If we follow this simple guideline there will be enough for every person’s need. As Gandhi put it: the Lord provides enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed. The results of our work are meant for others, and should be given freely to others. In turn they reciprocate and we accept what we need as their gifts. Thus there is
a network of inter-dependence created where we sustain each other through our energies and the gifts of God.
The participants in daiva-varnashrama communities are working to establish this Spiritual Economics gift economy to demonstrate how, by living in accordance with the directions of the Lord all mankind can live peacefully and happily. To establish such an economy it is essential that its members produce their life’s necessities directly as possible from the land and cow, giving up their consumer status. The consumer culture is finally being recognized in mainstream organizations as the key element destroying the environment. The only way to stop being a consumer is to start being a producer, which is the object of our Gitagrad communities. The participants there do not work for cash income to buy what they need, but produce their needs directly as far as possible. This method of living generates a number of challenges, the first and foremost being: if one is engaged in a subsistence economy, how can they earn the necessary funds found for those things that they cannot produce? Especially given the limited infrastructure at the beginning? How will the participants get
many of the things they need in a world where literally everything can only obtained with money? One cannot work for subsistence and for money at the same time.
The problem is solved by people working together to partner their energies and resources to fill the gap. Not everyone who understands the desirability and necessity of Spiritual Economics and the gifting culture will opt out of the cash economy and move to a village. But, understanding the need for establishing the alternative gifting economy they can contribute as they are motivated—with their time and energy, their words, and/or their money. They may make gifts of money, or they may send practical gifts of building materials or other items needed to establish the infrastructure of the community. All of these are needed to achieve the happy, eternally sustainable way of life.
There are three categories of Partners–for–Life: Supporting Partners, Participating Partners, and Practicing Partners.
Supporting Partners
The Supporting Partners participate with their energy in the form of money or their words promoting the establishment of Gitagrad communities. They may offer services in promotion, public relations, and spread the concept of the gifteconomy as the most practical solution to today’s seemingly insoluble economic problems. Supporting partners play a crucial role by providing cash donations greatly needed to establish the self-sufficient infrastructure of the Gitagrad communities.
We encourage small contributions of only 1% so as not to create a burden for the Supporting Partners. 1% of a year’s income, or of a month’s income, or even of a week’s income, will be welcomed and appreciated. All contributions of resources from Supporting Partners will be reciprocated by the Practicing Partners in kind. The Working Partners will gift to the Supporting Partners items which they produce—foodstuffs, woodwork, textiles, and so on. Though they are not producing for the market, they are producing, and will reciprocate as they can with those who have generously assisted them.
Participating Partners
Participating Partners are those who offer their time and energy in lieu of money. This can be done from cities around the world by promoting Spiritual Economics, the gift economy and the Gitagrad communities, and increasing the number of Partners. Or those who live near a Gitagrad community can visit on weekends to lend a hand in planting and harvesting, or in building needed infrastructure.
They may also visit for weekend spiritual retreats that are held several times a year. They can get a taste of simple living while gifting their time and energy, working to establish the community that offers hope for the future.
Practicing Partners
There are many in the world who strongly desire to help establish this vision of a spiritual culture to guide society, and you may be one of them. These people may be seniors who have already given many years of their lives to creating solutions, but still want to do more. And there are many young people who see though the illusions of modern society and its allurements, and are looking for a genuinely alternative way to live. Wherever they come from, those who are willing to give their life’s energy to establishing Gitagrad communities are the Practicing Partners. These people are making a commitment to live a life in which they demonstrate that by living simply and depending on the land and cow, life’s demands are minimized making time available for spiritual practices and pursuits. Thus by their practical example they show others how to live a happy life of devotional service.
Whatever your situation, we invite you to join us.

Creating a cultural alternative is an immense task and it requires the skills, talents and help of many, many people. We invite you to be one of them, and we hope that you will soon visit our Gitagrad community to see firsthand the practice of spiritual economics and daiva-varnashrama in action.

You can make your donation in one of two ways:
1. To our Paypal account: gitagrad@gmail.com. Setting up a Paypal account is simple and takes just several minutes, and they allow you to send money to anyone with an email address. Paypal accounts are very convenient for all online transactions as they do not require you to divulge your credit card or bank information. To set up a paypal account follow this link.

2. By bank transfer. Please contact us at the above email address for account details