What is Gitagrad?

Background Information

What is Gitograd?
    Gitograd is an eco-spiritual community with a special purpose: to develop and teach a new culture based on the timeless wisdom and universal spiritual values of the Vedas, the scriptures of ancient India. Formerly an entire civilization was based on this knowledge, one that far, far outlived any of the Western cultures. Remnants of that culture still exist at many places on the planet, but they are being destroyed by the influences of the modern age. The clue is there how to use the best parts of the past and apply them to create a wonderful culture and a wonderful future. The theme of Gitograd is therefore “Back to the Future.”

    Gitograd is a compound word that comes from Gita, a reference to the world-renowned scripture, the Bhagavad-gita; and grad, which is a Russian expression for place. We choose this term because Gitograd is located in Ukraine, near the city of Kharkov. Gitograd therefore is the place where we will live according to the principles of the Bhagavad-gita. This way of life has been designated for us by the creator of this world, and is free from most of the problems of modern society. Actually, these problems are a direct result of the lack of God-consciousness. Therefore by making God the central focus of all activity the economic problems, the environmental problems, the social problems, and the political problems are simply not created. It is the purpose of the Gitograd community to demonstrate this fact and thus lead the world into a wonderful new era of a happy life for all living beings.

What is the Bhagavad-gita?
    The Bhagavad-gita is accepted all over the world as one of the foremost texts of spiritual wisdom, and is revered by more than a billion people as the direct words of God. According to ancient traditions the Gita was spoken by the Supreme Lord Himself some 5,000 years ago. This history is recorded in the great epic of Mahabharata, as well as other Puranas, such as the Bhagavat Purana. In the Gita Lord Krishna explains to His friend Arjuna the basic elements of spiritual wisdom: how we, the soul, lives in the body, how the body is influenced by the material energies of this world, how the soul transmigrates from one body to another, the nature of this material world, the actions of karma on our future destiny, the nature of God Himself and the influences of time. Most importantly, Sri Krishna explains how the soul can enter into a loving relationship with Him, and as a result, be liberated from this world of birth and death to attain life in the Kingdom of God.

What is the difference between Vedic culture and modern culture?
The main differences are found in the very foundations of the two cultures.
    In modern culture the foundational principles include: the opportunity to own an unlimited amount of private property, the idea that we can become happy through varieties of sense gratification; in some spheres the concept that we are the body and that there is no soul; and an economic system based on cash and credit, and transactions that can yield unlimited gain.
    Vedic culture however, is based on the concept that Krishna, or God, is the proprietor of everything and as such we have no valid claims to proprietorship over anything. He is also the supreme enjoyer of all, and all living beings, including ourselves, will find our highest expression of happiness by engaging ourselves in His loving service. In Vedic culture the economy is direct – each group of people produces the majority of their necessities locally without the need for money and the instability inherent that comes with it.

Gitograd offers a natural way of living
    Following the principle that we can find our happiness in loving service to the Supreme Lord, the inhabitants of Gitograd engage themselves in devotional service. Happy and satisfied with their devotional activities and using their time for spiritual pursuits, they work only as is necessary for a simple life. Work thereby finds its proper place and limits, and not consuming the majority of waking hours. Life’s simple necessities of food, shelter and clothing, are produced without great difficulty directly from the land, and the inhabitants of Gitograd are thus engaged. Money needs are kept to a bare minimum, and are satisfied by offering of goods produced by the community to our Partners (see Partners-for-Life) and to the general public.

Gitograd uses and encourages ecologically friendly practices
    Living our philosophy we understand that everything needed for a healthy and happy life is given by the Supreme Lord. As stated in the Isopanisad, this world is already perfect and complete. There is no need to attempt to improve upon it in order to squeeze profit from the land, animals, or people. We therefore follow sustainable organic farming practices and apply no-till gardening and farming methods. We favor subsistence living and do not produce for the market economy, thus limiting our efforts to only what is necessary.

Gitograd residents aim to produce almost all of their needs locally
    There is a push in modern society to privatize everything and to charge people for the very necessities of life. We consider this to be an atheistic approach to life. God offers all that we need, such as clean air, clean water and healthy, nourishing and tasty food without asking for anything in return. We don’t have to purchase produce from the earth. The earth yields her bounty joyfully if she is treated with respect, as does the cow, who provides us with healthy, delicious milk. At Gitograd we also want to produce our own electricity locally with natures own ecologically friendly and completely sustainable power source – the bull. The bull provides valuable dung for fertilizer and with his strong muscles can produce all the power requirements of the community. We also plan to produce our own clothing using hand-looms and our own locally-grown fibers. The housing in the community is built with traditional methods using clay and straw as the main components, providing a warm and secure home from local materials. We hold building workshops almost every year and invite people to come to learn how to build such attractive structures and live a more natural way of life.
The community plans to develop their cottage industry as membership grows, producing clay and glass products, wooden products, furniture, clothing, food and herbal remedies, and so on. But there are a number of items that we cannot produce such as nails and screw, various tools, eyeglasses, and so on. For these there is a need for cash that typically comes from donations to the project.

Gitograd residents want a healthy and sustainable way of life
    Our residents are all committed vegetarians who have consciously rejected animal flesh as food. Their dietary needs are all supplied locally from the earth and cow. In North America (and many other place in the world) food travels some 2,000 miles before landing on the plate. Not for us, though. Instead of using a ton of steel powered by gasoline and oil that travels around the world to go to a store and use money to pay a clerk for food grown, processed and packaged by exploited workers, we simply walk 10-20 yards to our yard, or padval (Russian word for root cellar where our grains, cabbages and root vegetables are kept) to get what we need. Our food-related carbon footprint is ZERO! (Almost, because we do purchase some store-bought goods at this time). It is a totally sustainable way of living. Very healthy, and very delicious!