Living on $2 a Day

After reading my article “Becoming Wealthy on $2 a Day” in Back to Godhead Magazine, my good friend Prabhupada Das wrote to me saying that I was throwing down the challenge that the benchmark for simple living should be at $2 a day. He then asked when Gitagrad will reach that target of spending.


I posted the content of the BTG article on this blog almost a year ago, but if you want to see the BTG article, which has lots of photos from Gitagrad, follow this link.

Here’s my reply:

Well actually we are already at that goal, albeit prematurely, because we could sure use more income at the present. We take in about 600 hrn. (Hrivna, the Ukrainian currency) per month from selling paneer at the Sunday feast. This pays for some vegetables, grains and spices for the week, for phone expense (which we reduce by all using the same carrier, for which calls are free), and other miscellaneous items. One of our Partners-for-Life, Bhakta Jenya, takes care of the electricity bill each month. The other big need right now is firewood, but the men scavenge that from the nearby forests.

We reduce our food bill by purchasing no processed foods, and of course by eating what has been grown in our garden. Despite the fact that we lost most of the crops, we still produced quite a bit, and are now harvesting cabbages, beets, pumpkins, sunflower seeds, and green tomatoes. Right now, aside from food, we have very few expenses. 600 hrn. is about $75, for 5 people, for the month, which is about 50¢ a day, each, so we are way below the Millennium Development Goal target. For 5 people, at $2 a day, for 30 days = $300 for a month. It would be nice to have such income to develop our community. If we had more we would undoubtedly increase the standard of our Deity worship. And increased income would go to capital expenditure in the form of buildings, tools, greenhouses, animals, etc. So as long as we are below budget we can take this credit to offset other expenses, as they come up later, such as seeds, tools, etc.

How do we get to such a low level of expenditure? For one thing we eat quite simply. We have some dairy but not much. Only several times a week do we use butter, and once in a week or two will we will have paneer ourselves. The only person taking milk on a daily basis is Sakhi Vrinda, the 5 year-old daughter of Ekanatha Bhakti and Rasamanjari. And the only sweets we have is halavah, about once in a week. Typically we have kasha (grain cereal of some sort) for breakfast, and kitari or soup, gretchka (buckwheat) or rice, and a subji of cabbage or potatoes or both. For salads there is cabbage salad, or potato salad, or beet salad. And because we have a paneer business, for drinks we typically have sweetened whey, or else apple compote from our trees, or water.

I believe that not having a refrigerator also keeps the food bill lower, because we simply bypass the entire dairy section of the store. In the winter months we can keep things cold on the porch. Dairy is fresh the day we use it from the cows next door. We make our own sour cream and butter as by products of the paneer business.

(Speaking of dairy, of our cow Kartika turns out to have reproductive problems. We have been trying to get her in a family way unsuccessfully for almost a year. The vet said that she was raised for slaughter which means that they fed her a diet high in grains and this somehow affects the development of the reproductive organs. He said there is a 50-50 chance she could conceive if given vitamin therapy, so we are giving her vitamin injections once a week. If that fails then we will purchase another cow this spring).

In our Gitagrad Charter, which is the written ideology of our community, I explain that those who come to live here must bring sufficient clothing for 3 years. They should not expect that we have funds to buy clothing. So the members either bring what they need, acquire it by donation, or by some other exchange. For example, the devotee who does the paneer trade is also an astrologer. Typically, as this is a brahminical activity, he does not charge any set fee for consultations, but accepts donations. Recently because he needed winter shoes he did astrological readings for several days to acquire the necessary funds. We do not include such income and expense in the community budget, since it is a private expenditure. But such purchases are rare. Our members will also purchase from the used clothing store to keep spending at a minimum.

Unusual for a yatra, the Kharkov yatra has three dentists who are devotees, and who joyously donate our tooth care. Another devotee in Lithuania who is an optometrist provides my eye care and contact lenses as a donation. When devotees come to visit they often make a donation of supplies.

Not having a motor vehicle keeps our expenses way down. Gasoline is expensive at US $1/liter. Another thing that keeps expenses down is not having a store in our village. Thus there is no running off to the store to get some item that we may have run out of. Instead we just do without. The closest store in the nearest larger village about 10 km away, and the bus only makes that trip 3 times a day, so a visit to town for anything means a half-day adventure. Therefore we don’t have many of those. One trip to the store on the way back from the Sunday Feast is typically all the shopping we do. We spend time instead of money to go around, by taking busses. Also, sometimes visitors come by car and we arrange for them to bring the heavier or bulkier things that are difficult to transport by bus.

At this point we have no funds set aside for health care, and fortunately everybody is mostly healthy. In the past I have contributed money for health care for my translator Jaya Mangala and his wife. Medicines are also less expensive here than Europe or America, and typically packaged in small amounts to be affordable.

I should point out that we target the $2 a day threshold for ongoing maintenance, not for development or infrastructure. Infrastructure has so far come from gifts from our Partners-for-Life, such as the houses we live in, the wood saws that we use (a table saw recently purchased for sawing firewood ($80) was donated), the well pump, etc. We need more housing though. There are more devotees who want to join us here but we have no housing for them. Next year we would like to raise $30,000 to build 3 houses, and repair the existing ones. We also need to build a craft building for a weaving loom, clay products, etc. And of course as the community grows will need to build a temple.

While we are talking about reaching the Millennium Development Goals, we should mention water. The EU has mandated that in just several years they are going to impose heavy fines for Europeans using more than 60 gallons of water each, per day. Where are we at there? In my house here are two large water containers that we fill every other day. One holds 80 liters, the other 50, which is the equivalent of 34 US gallons. For my bath I use a 12 liter bucket, twice a day. That’s 24 liters, with the rest of it being used for cooking for the community of 6, washing dishes, and cleaning the floors, etc. Everybody here bathes with a bucket since there is no running water, so for 6 people that is 144 liters per day for bathing, which is 38 gallons. All the cooking is done in my house, so other water use is minimal, except for Kartika who consumes about 20-30 liters a day. So that comes to about 85 gallons every two days for 6 people and a cow. Of course all of this water comes directly from the earth, costing nothing either for delivery or for discharge.

Now, one may say that if we factored in all of the donations we receive that this would bring our daily expenses above $2. Possibly it would. But that is not how we do our accounting. Sri Krishna, Who is the owner of everything arranges the care for His devotees. He has many ways at his disposal for dealing with that. We consider donations as gifts from Him, and we happily reciprocate by worshipping Him with love every day.

It seems we can give a good example to the EU how to live in a sustainable way, and be happy in Krishna Consciousness. Living simply by reducing the unnecessary demands of the body reduces stress and demands on time. It is pleasing, satisfying, and easier to be Krishna conscious because there are less artificial demands on the body, mind and ego.

We're Not the Only Ones Using Dirt to Clean!


Some time back I wrote how we are using soil to clean in the kitchen. Well it turns out that lots of other folks are using dirt to clean things too--in this case--water!

Thirst Relief International is building bio sand filters and teaching households how to use and maintain them, greatly improving the cleanliness of drinking water and all but eliminating diseases caused by contaminated water. Bio sand filters are built with the help of an iron mold. Concrete forms the base of the filter and its center is filled with layers of differently-sized, crushed rock. Two layers of gravel and then fine-grained sand create three levels through which water is poured over the course of three weeks. Slowly on the very top forms what is called a biolayer. Once that final layer has formed, the filter removes 99 percent of the bacteria in water that passes through it and is ready to use.

The drinking water slowly filters through the layers of naturally formed bacteria and sand at a rate of about 1 liter per minute and comes out clean and ready for consumption from a pipe that’s connected through the concrete from the bottom to the side top outlet of the filter. If properly maintained a biosand filter can be used for up to 12 months without the need for much maintenance.

This story is from the Worldwatch blog. Read the entire article here.

We're Back!

A summer of non-stop travel – four and a half months on the road to promote  our book “Spiritual Economics” in five cities in America, five cities in India, France, Lithuania and Ukraine. Overall some 800 copies of the book ended up in the hands of readers. While traveling I spoke at the Festival of Inspiration at New Vrindavana, at 9 ISKCON temples, three festivals, two universities, one business school, at one press conference, and at the offices of Times of India. I also made a presentation of the book to a group of professors at Hyderabad University.

There have been some events here at Gitagrad—mainly the summer heat (similar but not as long as the heat in Moscow) destroyed the crops. Everyone in the village has been complaining what a bad year it was. Hot and dry. So next year we will have drip irrigation in place, and hopefully be able to avoid these problems.

We completed the purchase of Ekanath Bhakti’s house, and the winterizing process is going on now—adding more straw, clay and styrofoam insulation to the walls.

Our Kartika still has not given birth. After repeated failures with artificial insemination (with Holstein bull semen so that we could get a Holstein calf) the boys just took her to visit the local “Brown cow” bull next door. The outcome is still uncertain. She is quite restless these days. The locals think the cows didn’t get enough to eat this summer and are cantankerous as a result. The neighbors cow broke her chain and ate everything left in their garden – pumpkins, carrots, beet root – all of it! Kartika insists on walking down near the road to eat only one type of grass growing there. Startled by a car, she nearly ran me over.

Our men have begun marketing paneer (curd cheese) in town on the weekends, brining in about 600 hrivna a month ($80), which is enough to pay for the food and electricity. If Kartika would begin giving some milk it would triple the income. A vet is scheduled to come for a visit this weekend.

The boys got a table saw for cutting wood for the winter. A very crude version of what we know in America, but it’s the version that everyone here knows – the Soviet model. It has no pulley guard, no fence, and no guides. I have recommended some immediate improvements to make sure that it is a safer instrument. It’s not easy to get to the hospital from here.

I wrote a few articles that could have gone here, but I put them on the spiritual-econ blog instead. One is particularly pertinent – Revolt of the Elites. In this article I discuss the necessity of qualified men participating in village communities. My experience is that very few of them are willing to give up their lucrative positions or businesses in order to help build self-sufficient communities. That has to change.

The other one is about the destructive influence of money on a self-sufficient community. This is an important lesson for everyone who is trying to build such communities to understand. Check them out here.

Now that I am ‘home’ I hope to write much more frequently. There is a long list that I have collected over the last months that I want to comment on. This winter I will likely be leaving Ukraine to write in solitude. Where? Maybe Russia. Maybe Poland. Maybe even America. Let’s see what happens.

I’ll pop some photos in here tomorrow if the connection is strong enought. There is a new post below – a piece about the cows in my life now. Hope you enjoy it!

Dd

Cows, Cows, Cows

Cows are Cool!

“Cows are Cool – Love ‘em!” That’s the title of a charming book by Dr. Sahadeva Das, the president of ISKCON’s Secunderbad temple, in India. His book offers a series of anecdotes from around the world about the intelligence, compassion, devotion and even heroism of cows, and it surely warms the heart. Cows are intelligent and compassionate, and if given the chance they Most city dwellers have no idea that cows are domestic animals who appreciate and reciprocate the kindness and love of humans. As a former city dweller I also had little exposure to cows prior to moving to the village several years ago, but that has changed. There are now some really cool cows in my life, and it is a rich and rewarding experience. Here at our Gitagrad community near Kharkov, Ukraine, I regularly visit with our heifer, Kartika (who seems to be determined to remain as such—she is having difficulty getting in a family way). Since I’ve been back from traveling this past summer I’ve spent more time with her, and gotten to know her better. A few days back I went to the pasture to visit her while chanting japa, stroking her throat and scratching behind her ears. She loves it. Then I patted her sides and hugged her while talking to her, and she surely enjoyed the attention.

There were several of the neighbor’s cows nearby so after visiting with Kartika I went to make acquaintances with them. They were a bit stand-offish as cows typically are to strangers. Cows want to make friends sl-o-w-ly. You have to approach them cautiously, even shyly, otherwise they frighten. Then hold your hand out for them to smell. As I did that I noticed that Kartika was standing there staring at me, giving me what could only be called the ‘evil-eye’—she was jealous! And that was confirmed when I went back over to her and she gave me the cold shoulder, standing ten feet away and not even glancing at me. Wow, isn’t that just like a woman?!

At the end of the day I returned to bring her home. The other cows were also on their way home, and as they were leaving Kartika was mooing as if to say “I want to go too!”  After her anchor post was free she happily began to trot in the direction of home. But she has her own mind about how she wants to get there. The first stop was an apricot tree near the road. She stopped there to gobble up as many fallen apricots as she could get, obviously enjoying herself. The problem is that the seed pits are not so good for her stomach so I tried to dissuade her by pulling on her rope. Nope. That wasn’t going to work. Next I took a switch and hit her lightly on the hind quarters. She responded by moving ahead of me, and then quickly doubling back around to the apricots, kicking up both of her hind feet as she did so. I took it to mean “take a hike—I’ll do what I want.” So I conceded the point, and picking up the available fruits, removed the pits and hand fed her to her continued delight. Time to go now? No. 

Just at that time Ekanatha Bhakti, the devotee who is her regular caregiver came along. He told me that she usually takes her sweet time to go home. So we talked and dawdled as we waited on Kartika to sample all of the greenery on the way back to her house (barn). It’s rather small, just big enough for the family cow, and a small stove to warm the place on very cold nights. In Ukraine the typical village house does not have facility for more animals, typically because one cow sufficiently provides milk for the entire family. Why then have more? But if Kartika does get pregnant it might be difficult for her to get through the door! Ekanatha has plans for a new barn, which will also include room for a few oxen, but we’ll have to wait on donations for that.

The Cows of Lithuania

This year I visited Lithuania in the spring and again in the summer, and on each occasion spent some time with cows at New Gaudadesha, a member of our Gitagrad Family of Communities, located in the National Park and Recreation Area at Ignalinus. Our devotees there are preparing themselves for serious self-sufficient living. Two of the men, Petras and Bhakta Narada have made a serious commitment to self-sufficiency and toward that end a serious commitment to cows. This year they obtained calves of an indigenous breed—a heifer named Padma (which means Lotus), who will be under Narada’s care, and two bulls, Kana and Balai (affectionate names of Krishna and Balarama), that Petras will train to plow the field. Petras is seriously into growing grain with the help of the soon to be oxen.

The leader of New Gaudadesha community, Krishna Katha, also has an old ox, Nandi, who is massive: almost six feet tall at the shoulder and nine feet long. Huge as he is, he is very gentle, and he likes to work. Krishna Katha and others are planning a community that will function according to the gift-economy of Spiritual Economics (as do all of our Gitagrad communities). The natural beauty of the area attracts thousands of visitors each year from all over Europe. Krishna Katha’s wants to attract the visitors by having a bakery and wholesome natural prasadam restaurant that operates on a gift basis similar to the Karma Kitchen in Berkeley, California, the Seva Cafe in Pune, India, and more than two dozen others around the world. These restaurants are run by activists who want to make the world a better place. There are no prices on their menus. At the Karma Kitchen, instead of bringing a bill after your meal they give you a note that says: “Your meal has already been generously paid for by guests who came before you. If you like, you may leave a gift to pay for the meals of those who come after you. Have a nice day! 

The attractive feature of the Krishna Katha’s café will be the natural manner in which all of the food there is grown and prepared. They will show their customers how the bread, baked goods and food has been grown and cooked in the most natural and wholesome way—from the plowing of the field with the oxen, planting and harvesting of the grains and vegetables, milk products from protected cows, all of which are then cooked to wholesome goodness over a wood fire, and then made transcendentally better by being offered to the Supreme Lord with love. They plan to take their guests on tours of the Krishna Village and teach them how this simple and natural life can be the solution to not only our economic problems, but is also the attainment of the modern holy grail—sustainability.

The Cows of Nikolaiv

Bhakta Oleg, also affectionately known as Bhakta Nanda, has made it his goal to save as many Ukrainian cows as possible. Oleg is the leader of the community near Nikolaiv, in southern Ukraine close to the Black Sea. Beginning just three years ago, Oleg already has a herd of more than twenty cows, mostly of the local breed—the generic “Brown Cow.” Some were saved from the slaughterhouse, and others were given to him by devotees who had tired of caring for them. Their village was home to a dairy operation during the Soviet era, and therefore there is a very large pasture is available for the animals. It’s southern location also mean shorter winters with lower requirements for feed during the winter months. When asked how he will care for so many animals Oleg replies cheerfully and confidently “Krishna is the maintainer of all living beings. I am just His helper!”

Dr. Sahadeva Dasa has written two other books about cows, “Cow and Humanity - Made for Each Other,” another heartwarming book that examines the relationship between cows and humans, and a sober book meant to make us think about how we are living: “To Kill Cow Means to End Human Civilization.” In it he examines the relationship between cows and human beings, explaining how a happy and prosperous human society is dependent on a supportive relationship with cows and bulls. All three of these books can be read on his website. Or, what the heck, read it right here!

To Kill Cow Means to End Human Civilization

Cows are cool. I hope that one day you will be able to have a warm relationship with a loving bovine. Moooo!

Gitagrad Sponsorship

GITAGRAD

DAIVA-VARNASHRAMA

COMMUNITIES

SPONSORSHIP

PRODUCE ONLY WHAT YOU NEED • USE ONLY WHAT YOU PRODUCE

ISKCON DAIVA VARNASHRAMA

PROMOTING RURAL DEVELOPMENT

for the

GITAGRAD COMMUNITIES OF EASTERN EUROPE

International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)

Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Gitagrad: A Temple the Size of a Village

    The plan of Gitagrad is to create an ISKCON temple the size of a village. Why?

• So that devotees of all ages can engage cent-per-cent in the loving devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna.
• In order to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desire to create a transcendental culture that “paves the way home, Back to Godhead” for future generations
• So that devotees can live a simple, natural way of life according to Sri Krishna’s instructions in the Bhagavad-gita
• In order to demonstrate to the world how to solve the material problems of life by depending on the land and cow, and solve the spiritual problem by transcendental devotional service
• In order to demonstrate to the world that the environmental problems, the social problems, the political problems, and the hunger problems can be solved quickly and easily by living a natural way of life as given by Sri Krishna
• To demonstrate how simple living can save time and provide the necessary peace to cultivate Krishna Consciousness
• To create a suitable environment for establishing the daiva-varnashrama culture so necessary and desired by our acharyas.

Gitagrad for Establishing the Entire Krishna Culture

At Gitagrad all activity will be done on the account of, or rather for, the pleasure of Sri Krishna. There is no necessity of money in the Lord’s service and thus within the village the members will do their activity on the basis of devotional service not measured in terms of money.  And on the basis of devotional service the Krishna culture must be established:

This civilization will not endure. If there is no culture, simply by money you cannot maintain a standard of civilization. That is not possible. Now the American leaders they are thinking, “Let us have money, then every-thing...“ Of course, by money you are covering all the defects of the social culture. But this will not endure. Day will come and everything will be exposed. Therefore culture required. 14June 76 Detroit

The culture on which Srila Prabhupada organized his temples is that of devotional service, and the village of Gitagrad will be similarly organized. Gitagrad should not be thought of as simply a farm. The proper concept is a village with all aspects of culture: music, drama, the fine arts and performing arts. Everything will be there. And of course, there will be devotional schools so essential to training future generations.

A very important part of the Krishna Culture is protection of the cows and the brahmanas. Our scheme is to create small personal goshalas where individual families will keep and care for cows and oxen. This personal bond is important to the cow and the culture. At Gitagrad we will also forgo the use of motorized machines and instead use the bull as the primary source of power.

The Village Provides the Natural Economic Foundation

    Srila Prabhupada so many times explained that the economic problem should be solved with the land and cow, allowing people to live simply and independently saving time for spiritual life. Agriculture is the actual basis of economic development: one seed planted returns hundreds or even thousands, as well as fruits and flowers necessary for healthy living. Especially our needs for food, clothing and shelter can be directly supplied from the earth. This is in harmony with the instructions of Isopanisad, and this completely sustainable lifestyle immediately solves many environmental problems that were the focus of all the countries of the world at the Copenhagen Summit in December 2009.

    The plan of Gitagrad is to follow the prescription of Srila Prabhupada exactly as he has laid out for Gita-nagari.

Gitagrad – Located Outside of Kharkov, Ukraine

Ukraine is an ideal country for establishing the Krishna Culture. There is still an intact village culture in the country although it is dying. The village that we have selected for the setting of Gitagrad is typical. Where there were once 500 houses there now stand less than 100. This means that there is plenty of room for expansion. Livable houses can purchased for $2,000, although they lack adequate heating and have no plumbing or gas for cooking. Empty land plots of one acre can be had for as little as $600. Ukrainian residents registered in the village are also given an additional 2 hectares (5 acres) of agricultural land by the village council. Fruit trees are abundant, especially apples, cherries, and pears. There is common pasture land for the village cows, extremely rich soil, sufficient rain, and sweet ground water. The setting is as good as one could expect. Indeed, we searched through more than 40 villages to find this one, finding it approximately 40 miles outside the large city of Kharkov, one of the educational centers of the country.

Getting There From Here

We have an excellent place to begin the development of Gitagrad. As the saying goes: “The good news is this is a ‘ground-floor’ opportunity. The bad news is we are standing in the dirt.” That is, we have room to build and build we must. Our plan is to construct low-cost housing from local materials, mostly straw and clay. Clay is available for making bricks and tiles, and the surrounding fields are producing mostly wheat. Used windows can be had very cheaply. The necessary raw materials are easily available. With the help of some modern construction methods however low-cost quality homes can be built. We estimate approximately $7,000 for land and house, a place that will free a family from fruitive work and unwanted materialistic association for their entire life times! We foresee that this village will again house 500 families, but families of Vaishnavas who will create and teach the wonderful culture of Krishna Consciousness.

Besides housing the infrastructure for self-sufficient living is required: oxen and cows, the necessary draft equipment for agriculture, deep wells for irrigation, greenhouses, wood and metalworking tools and shops, presses for making oil and fruit juices, and of course, the temple and school buildings.

How will we get there from here? It will take dedicated devotees who give years of sacrifice to build the community. There are many willing devotees—Ukraine has large numbers of devotees in every city. The congregation in Kharkov is more than 300, and in Kiev several thousand. What is lacking is funding. Ukraine is not a wealthy country. A typical wage is a mere $200 a month and many prices are escalating rapidly. It is not unusual for Ukrainians to leave to work elsewhere to send money home. This is not a practical solution for building a village community that functions on a subsistence economy, however. Therefore the idea of Partners-for-Life, Daiva-varnashrama Sponsors.

Why the Daiva-varnashrama Culture Requires Sponsors

On the cover page we quote one of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions for village communities: produce only what you need, use only what you produce. Immediately the question arises: How can you do that unless you can produce ALL of your necessities? The answer, of course, is that it is impossible. Or let us say impossible to do immediately. Given the circumstances of society in the early 21^st century, the land, housing, infrastructure, knowledge, tools, animals, and almost everything else needed for simple self-sufficient living, can only be acquired with money. But immediately upon embarking on the quest to obtain the funds by one’s own endeavor the many advantages of simple living are lost. In other words, the goal of the endeavor is immediately spoiled in the attempt to get there. A different approach is therefore required.

Srila Prabhupada gave the entire scheme in a lengthy article he wrote in 1956 for his Back to Godhead magazine. Entitled “Conceptions of Gita-nagari,” the essay describes the village where the Bhagavad-gita is lived on a daily basis. This essay is the foundation of our Gitagrad project. Our desire is to do exactly as Srila Prabhupada explains therein. There Srila Prabhupada explains how the necessary funds should be acquired:

“With the help of the Srimatas, arrangement must be made to provide a fund for the expenses of the Gita-nagari. By the Grace of God, those born in the family of the Srimatas are sufficiently favored by Laxmi Devi. As such, the Srimatas can make use of their wealth in the service of the  Internal Potency of Godhead.”

The answer is that if the many devotees of Sri Krishna cooperate together and use the resources He has given them—including physical energy, intelligence, talents and wealth—then the village can be built without violating its very purpose. Hence, we call all of those who would give their support to building the transcendental culture our Partners-for-Life. Partners who not only sustain life, but partners for all of the life—indeed, all of eternity—as they will all share equally in the result.

Those who live simple lives of devotional service on the land, those who come to participate in planting, harvesting, building, etc., as far as their time allows, those who speak and write about the transcendental life and recruit other participants, and those who provide financial support all share equally in the result of pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and share in the result of going Back to Godhead.

Not everyone will come to live in the village. It is not required, nor is it necessary. But what is necessary is that we recognize the fact that our acharyas wanted that the daiva-varnashrama Krishna Culture be established, that it is necessary for our devotees to have a place to live free from the unwanted influences of modern life, and that it is needed to show the entire world out of the darkness of oblivion. Understanding the necessity we are thus motivated to do our part to make it a reality.

    Srila Prabhupada’s instructions for Gita-nagari are that all activity must be done for the pleasure and on the account of Sri Sri Partha-Sarathi, Sri Krishna. All of the inhabitants live there without the concept of private property, without any idea of personal gain, only to render service to the Supreme Lord.

     In the first two years we aim to become food independent, and by the fifth year, to become clothing independent. Once the infrastructure is established we  can reduce the cash requirement dramatically by providing for ourselves.

Partners-for-Life Make the World Better by 1%

Our Partners-for-Life daiva-varnashrama support program is similar to Srila Prabhupada’s Life Membership program. The difference is that our Partners-for-Life may either give $1,111 initially or  a very small amount on a regular basis. On a regular basis we ask our Partners to contribute a mere 1% of their income, an amount so small it will not be missed. We will reciprocate the kindness of our Partners with regular reports of our progress, and gifts of natural products and maha prasadam.

Below are many of the items needed to build the Gitagrad daiva-varnashrama community. As one of our Partners-for-Life you may wish to choose to donate toward a particular item, or sponsor it entirely.

Housing	US $
Existing house (if available)	3,500-7,000
Improvements
Bathroom, kitchen & heating	2,500
Barn repairs	500
New Construction (Straw & Clay)	6-8,000
Furnishings	500
Deity Worship
Temple Building & kitchen	20,000
Deity Worship: Dheep, Dhoop, Naivedyam	500/month
Temple Deities (purchase)	20,000
Cow Protection
Barn (6 cows/oxen)	2,500
Hay barn	1,000
Veterinary care	600/yr.
Cow purchase & transport	3,000
Infrastructure
Bore well & pump	5,000
Clay workshop & kiln	6,000
Woodworking shop	4,000
Metalworking shop	9,000
Communications Center	10,000
Library	2,500
Sawmill	Future
Agriculture
Roto-tiller	600
Greenhouse	300
Fruit trees	150
Perennial flowers	100
Tools and storage	2,000
Grain storage	600
Transportation
Horse & Wagon	2,000
Maxivan (LP gas)	13,000
Small fuel-efficient car for errands	5,000
Fuel & insurance	5,000/yr
Maintenance fund	1,500/yr
Self-sufficiency technologies
Biogas generators for energy independence (serves 8 houses)	10,000
Ox driven oil crushing	2,500
Ox driven water pumping	2,500
Ox driven wagons, plows, rakes, etc.	2,500
Sweep-powered Generator (PTO)	2,000
Gurukula (future project)
School building	25,000
Room for 25 additional students	5,000
Kitchen & Cafeteria	10,000
Devotee Maintenance Fund
Personal items/shoes/clothing (used)	200/each/yr.
Health care fund	25/each/mo.
Needed Items not yet home produced	300/mo.

The BIG challenge of simple living:

How can one engage in self-sufficient living and simultaneously pay for the necessary
infrastructure of simple living?

It’s impossible without the cooperation of those who realize the value of Krishna consciousness and the
need to establish the transcendental culture

But very possible with our
Partners-for-Life 

By becoming one of our Partners You Can

Make the world better by

1%

Partners-for-Life Give Just 1%:

1% for 1 year, or

1% for 1 month, or

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Village Life Means Thinking Ahead

Ryabuhino was just thawing out and beginning to bud when I left. Planting season was just a few weeks away. How I wanted to be there to plant a garden, and to tend it as the baby shoots came up searching for the sun. But, alas, not this year...again. It was time to be off for Lithuania, then America, then India, before finally returning to what will be mature plants bearing fruit. That part will be good—plucking the fruits and preserving them for next winter.

    We went over the garden plan in some detail prior to my departure. The big unknown was: who are we planting for? Who is going to be with us next winter that we should count in the volume of food?

Unlike city life, living with nature forces us to think ahead. In the city whenever you need food you simply go to the store and buy it. The planning required is no more than the distance between the wallet and the refrigerator and pantry. See what’s in the pantry, see what’s in the wallet, and plan accordingly. It’s hardly ever more than two weeks in advance.

    But the village life is different. There we have to think waaaay ahead—for preserving, for harvesting, for cultivation, and for planting. We start with the end in mind: how many mouths must we feed next April and May, before the new plants are up? There are almost eight months of food storage that must be planned for—from October to May. There are still some fresh foods from the garden even in October if it is planned carefully, but the need will be there for what has been set aside. The Broccoli family will be giving foods into late October and even November: broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts are plants that like the cold. Cabbage is also there, but we will be having enough cabbage later—all winter long in fact. Other plants can be extended into the cold months using cold frames mulch covering.

    So planning means looking at how many people will be fed and what are the food requirements of each—how many quarts of tomatoes, beans, pickles, squash, jams, etc. will be required? How much eggplant, tomato, zucchini, apple, pear, etc. need to be dried and stored? How many kilos of potatoes, beets, carrots, cabbage, turnips, wheat, buckwheat, etc. need to be put away in the cold cellar? All of this needs to be thought of while there is still snow on the ground. What to speak of human requirements, we also need to think of Kartika and her expected calf—they are going to need lots of corn and other grains, and about 20 kilos of hay each day for 4 months (Dec-Mar), which means that 60 kilos of grass need to be cut each day for four months.

    Now that we know what we need we have to plan for the manpower requirements to meet those needs. Do we have enough able-bodied people to do the work? In modern society technology and machines allow a few men to do the work of many. But at Ryabuhino our high technology consists of nothing more than a wheelbarrow, and a bicycle. Well, ok, we have a chain saw too, but that doesn’t do the work of planting and harvesting. Without machines the help of many is required. In former years all the people of the village would participate in planting and harvesting—from the age of 6 or 8 to 60 or even 80. That collective effort to produce what would be consumed collectively gave a sense of community that a trip to the grocery store can’t come close to reproducing. Where are those people going to come from? Well, we have some volunteers that come on weekends and when they have time. They do this because they recognize the need for developing a sustainable model for living on the earth, and are willing to do their part to make it a reality. We shall see by September whether they were enough.

    I wish that I could have been one of them, but my work takes place on another level—global these days. With the fresh printing of “Spiritual Economics” the books have to go out and the message carried far and wide. The message of Gitagrad has to go out to attract supporters that will contribute what we do not want to grow in the field—money (because it spoils the natural relationships). So I took off for other parts of the world hoping that when I return I will be greeted with a cornucopia of plenty, and rolling up my sleeves, begin to prepare the bounty for next winter’s meals.

    This lifestyle reminds us every day of how dependent we are on the Lord’s mercy. If He sends sufficient rain we will be able to eat next winter, if not, then we are going to be in want. Modern man wants to eliminate this dependency with the use of pumps and pipes to distribute the water that should be delivered by nature. That has, of course, continued to feed the world that would long ago have perished as a result of their wanton ways (rain comes from sacrifice—no sacrifice, no rain. No rain, no food. No food, no life). But we prefer to do things the old-fashioned way of depending on God. Doing so over a period of time conditions us to seek His shelter and mercy, to place ourselves in His care, and beseech His protection. We are under His care anyway, but living the way that He has given us helps to remind us of that fact, and so helps us to cultivate more than the garden, but a proper relationship with Him. Thus the village life gives us more than simplicity—it gives us a relationship with God that can never be experienced by those living an artificial way of life in the city. 

Who Says It's Hard to Grow Your Own Food?

This family is doing it -- in suburbia! You can too with very little trouble. Indeed, it can even be a relaxing hobby that gives a bit of exercise :-)

A Winter’s Day

It’s been bright and sunny for the past week. Nice to see the sun after several weeks of continuous gray skies. But along with the sun comes lower temperatures. Without the roof of clouds to reflect radiating heat back to the earth it escapes into the atmosphere resulting in seriously cold weather. Outside, it has been -10 to -15^oC (which it is right now), and this weekend it is predicted to go as low as -30C. Brrr. That’s cold.  

Inside is much better, although we find that this old house has need of improvement to make living actually comfortable. Indoor temperatures typically range from about 10-13^o on the floor and 15-20^o at waist level, depending on how recently the oven was charged with wood, or if cooking is in progress. In all cases it is sweater weather indoors, and my bald head also likes a cap!

Of course we must bear in mind that this house is typical of those build 50 years ago. They did well with what they had, but much better materials and know-how are available now. We are not eager to purchase a solution to the problem as much as to determine how to make the house more comfortable with what we can do ourselves. The easiest thing to do is to make the doors and windows tighter fitting and reduce the influx of cold air. This can be done with our existing tools, and will be a job for the fair weather months. Another thing that can make a big, big difference is to retrofit the oven box with a heat exchanger for a hot water radiant heating system, distributing the heat around the house. But for this we will have to spend some money.

You may ask: if our goal is simple living why should we spend money? If it was good enough for people a hundred years ago isn’t it good enough for us now?

Surely people made do with this typical arrangement because they had no other choice – this was all they had. But today, when there is a choice, a large number of those people are voting with their feet, going to the cities to live in hi-rise buildings, putting up with other inconveniences in order to have housing that is at least comfortable temperature-wise. This is why we see the villages dwindling to almost nothing. Ryabuino once housed more than 500 families, but today less than 10% of them remain.

Bottom line is that people, and our devotees included, are not going to undergo artificial austerities to live the simple life. And that is certainly not unreasonable. In the Bhagavad-gita Sri Krishna says nothing about such austerities. Instead He recommends austerities of the body as worship of the Supreme Lord, the brahmanas, and the spiritual master, cleanliness, simplicity, celibacy and nonviolence. Having to wear one’s coat inside the house during the winter months is not on the list.

Even better than retrofitting the existing old houses is to build new thermally-efficient housing, and that is in the works. Over the next few months we are going to plan summer construction with maximum use of local and recycled materials and minimal use of processed materials. We are looking at a variety of building methods including clay and straw, cob construction, rammed earth, and straw bale. We would like to have radiant floors if we can produce the tiles ourselves, and we hope to build a kiln for that purpose. There is plenty of clay locally so all we really need is a trained man to take up the task.

For cooking there are two ideas getting the most consideration right now. One is a biogas plant connected with the barn, but with just one cow that is not likely to deliver the needed amount. The other choice is wood gas. This is a simple technology developed over a century ago, and used extensively for internal combustion engines during WW2. The process carbonizes wood or other combustible materials producing a mixture of flammable gasses such as carbon monoxide and methane. It can be bottled under pressure, or used in situ to fuel a furnace or even an automobile.

Although somewhat austere, living here under such conditions is a great teacher. Knowing what mother nature has in store will certainly help us to have a comfortable time next winter when we hunker down for increased hearing and chanting—the prime reasons for living the simple life.