Leo Tolstoy's Wisdom

Since I have been living in the Russian-speaking countries I have naturally taken an interest in the history and culture of Russia. One of the authors who I have read a great deal of is Tolstoy. He was a great man. Although born of aristocratic parents he had difficulty dealing with his peasants as others did. He wanted to educate them, much to their own bewilderment. He wanted to treat them well, as he would treat his own children, the way a proper ksatriya would, and he even went and lived among them. He had read the Bhagavad-gita and to some degree he had understood the concept of creating a proper culture based on principles the principles of varna, and had some desire to try to establish the same. Late in life he became a renunciate and left his home, traveling about, as a sort of sannyasi. He has written many wonderful things, one of which is this article, that all young people, and all women in particular would benefit from reading, and hopefully by doing so realize their power, and act within their true power to give us a better world, and brighter future. I offer it here on the Gitagrad blog because of the contribution these ideas make to the creation of a wholesome society.

An Appeal to Women by Lev Tolstoy

As stated in the Bible, a law was given to the man and the woman-to the man, the law of labor; to the woman, the law of bearing children. Although we, with our science, avons change tout ca, [have changed all this], the law for the man, as for woman, remains as unalterable as the liver in its place, and departure from it is equally punished with inevitable death. The only difference lies in this, that departure from the law, in the case of the man, is punished so immediately in the future, that it may be designated as present punishment; but departure from the law, in the case of the woman, receives its chastisement in a more distant future.

The general departure of all men from the law exterminates people immediately; the departure from it of all women annihilates it in the succeeding generation. But the evasion by some men and some women does not exterminate the human race, and only deprives those who evade it of the rational nature of man. The departure of men from this law began long ago, among those classes who were in a position to subject others, and, constantly spreading, it has continued down to our own times; and in our own day it has reached folly, the ideal consisting in evasion of the law,–the ideal expressed by Prince Blokhin, and shared in by Renan and by the whole cultivated world: “Machines will work, and people will be bundles of nerves devoted to enjoyment.”

There was hardly any departure from the law in the part of women, it was expressed only in prostitution, and in the refusal to bear children–in private cases. The women belonging to the wealthy classes fulfilled their law, while the men did not comply with theirs; and therefore the women became stronger, and continued to rule, and must rule, over men who have evaded the law, and who have, therefore, lost their senses. It is generally stated that woman (the woman of Paris in particular is childless) has become so bewitching, through making use of all the means of civilization, that she has gained the upper hand over man by this fascination of hers.

This [statement] is not only unjust, but precisely the reverse of the truth. It is not the childless woman who has conquered man, but the mother, that woman who has fulfilled her law, while the man has not fulfilled his. That woman who deliberately remains childless, and who entrances man with her shoulders and her locks, is not the woman who rules over men, but the one who has been corrupted by man, who has descended to his level—to the level of the vicious man,–who has evaded the law equally with himself, and who has lost, in company with him, every rational idea of life.

From this error springs that remarkable piece of stupidity which is called the rights of women. The formula of these rights of women is as follows: “Here! you man,” says the woman, “you have departed from your law of real labor, and you want us to bear the burden of our real labor. No, if this is to be so, we understand, as well as you do, how to perform those semblances of labor which you exercise in banks, ministries, universities, and academies; we desire, like yourselves, under the pretext of the division of labor, to make use of the labor of others, and to live for the gratification of our caprices alone.” They say this, and prove by their action that they understand no worse, if not better, than men, how to exercise this semblance of labor.

This so-called woman question has come up, and could only come up, among men who have departed from the law of actual labor. All that is required is, to return to that, and this question cannot exist. Woman, having her own inevitable task, will never demand the right to share the toil of men in the mines and in the fields. She could only demand to share in the fictitious labors of the men of the wealthy classes.

The woman of our circle has been, and still is, stronger than the man, not by virtue of her fascinations, not through her cleverness in performing the same pharisaical semblance of work as man, but because she has not stepped out from under the law that she should undergo that real labor, with danger to her life, with exertion to the last degree, from which the man of the wealthy classes has excused herself.

But, within my memory, a departure from this law on the part of woman, that is to say, her fall, has begun; and, within my memory, it has become more and more the case. Woman, having lost the law, has acquired the belief that her strength lies in the witchery of her charms, or in her skill in pharisaical pretences at intellectual work. And both things are bad for the children. And, within my memory, women of the wealthy classes have come to refuse to bear children. And so mothers who hold the power in their hands let it escape them, in order to make way for the dissolute women, and to put themselves on a level with them. The evil is already wide-spread, and is extending farther and farther every day; and soon it will lay hold on all the women of the wealthy classes, and then they will compare themselves with men: and in company with them, they will lose the rational meaning of life.

But there is still time.

If women would but comprehend their destiny, their power, and use it for the salvation of their husbands, brothers, and children—for the salvation of all men!

Listen, women of the wealthy classes who are mothers: the salvation of the men of our world from the evils from which they are suffering, lies in your hands.

Not those women who are occupied with their dainty figures, with their bustles, their hair-dressing, and their attraction for men, and who bear children against their will, with despair, and hand them over to nurses; nor those who attend various courses of lectures, and discourse of psychometric centres and differentiation, and who also endeavor to escape bearing children, in order that it may not interfere with their folly which they call culture: but those women and mothers, who, possessing the power to refuse to bear children, consciously and in a straightforward way submit to this eternal, unchangeable law, knowing that the burden and the difficulty of such submission is their appointed lot in life—these are the women and mothers of our wealthy classes, in whose hands, more than in those of anyone else, lies the salvation of the men of our sphere in society from the miseries that oppress them.

Ye women and mothers who deliberately submit yourselves to the law of God, you alone in our wretched, deformed circle, which has lost the semblance of humanity, you alone know the whole of the real meaning of life, according to the law of God; and you alone, by your example, can demonstrate to people that happiness in life, in submission to the will of God, of which they are depriving themselves.

You alone know those raptures and those joys which invade the whole being, that bliss which is appointed for the man who does not depart from the law of God. You know the happiness of love for your husbands—a happiness which does not come to an end, which does not break off short, like all other forms of happiness, and which constitutes the beginning of a new happiness—of love for your child.

You alone, when you are simple and obedient to the will of God, know not that farcical pretence of labor which the men of our circle call work, and know that the labor imposed by God on men, and know its true rewards, the bliss which it confers. You know this, when, after the raptures of love, you await with emotion, fear, and terror that torturing state of pregnancy which renders you ailing for nine months, which brings you to the verge of death, and to intolerable suffering and pain. You know the conditions of true labor, when, with joy, you await the approach and the increase of the most terrible torture, after which to you alone comes the bliss which you well know.

You know this, when, immediately after this torture, without respite, without a break, you undertake another series of toils and sufferings—nursing—in which process you at one and the same time deny yourselves, and subdue to your feelings the very strongest human need, that of sleep, which, as the proverb says, is dearer than father or mother; and for months and years you never get a single sound, unbroken might’s rest, and sometimes, nay, often, you do not sleep at all for a period of several nights in succession, but with failing arms you walk alone, punishing the sick child who is breaking your heart. And when you do all this, applauded by no one, and expecting no praises for it from any one, nor any reward—when you do this, not as an heroic deed, but like the laborer in the Gospel when he came from the field, considering that you have done only that which was your duty, then you know what the false, pretentious labor of men performed for glory really is, and that true labor is fulfilling the will of God, whose command you feel in your heart.

You know that if you are a true mother it makes no difference that no one has seen your toil, that no one has praised you for it, but that it has only been looked upon as what must needs be so, and that even those for whom you have labored not only do not thank you, but often torture and reproach you. And with the next child you do the same: again you suffer, again you undergo the fearful, invisible labor; and again you expect no reward from any one, and yet you feel the sane satisfaction.

If you are like this, you will not say after two children, or after twenty, that you have done enough, just as the laboring man fifty years of age will not say that he has worked enough, while he still continues to eat and to sleep, and while his muscles still demand work; if you are like this, you will not cast the task of nursing and care-taking upon some other mother, just as a laboring man will not give another man the work which he has begun, and almost completed, to finish: because into this work you will throw your life. And therefore the more there is of this work, the fuller and the happier is your life.

And when you are like this, for the good fortune of men, you will apply that law of fulfilling God’s will, by which you guide your life, to the lives of your husband, of your children, and of those most nearly connected with you.

If you are like this, and know from your own experience, that only self-sacrificing, unseen, unrewarded labor, accompanied with danger to life and to the extreme bounds of endurance, for the lives of others, is the appointed lot of man, which affords him satisfaction, then you will announce these demands to others; you will urge your husband to the same toil; and you will measure and value the dignity of men acceding to this toil; and for this toil you will also prepare your children.

Only that mother who looks upon children as a disagreeable accident, and upon love, the comforts of life, costume, and society, as the object of life, will rear her children in such a manner that they shall have as much enjoyment as possible out of life, and that they shall make the greatest possible use of it; only she will feed them luxuriously, deck them out, amuse them artificially; only she will teach them, not that which will fit them for self-sacrificing masculine or feminine labor with danger of their lives, and to the last limits of endurance, but that which will deliver them from this labor.

Only such a woman, who has lost the meaning of her life, will sympathize with that delusive and false male labor, by means of which her husband, having rid himself of the obligations of a man, is enabled to enjoy, in her company, the work of others. Only such a woman will choose a similar man for the husband of her daughter, and will estimate men, not by what they are personally, but by that which is connected with them—position, money, or their ability to take advantage of the labor of others.

But the true mother, who actually knows the will of God, will fit her children to fulfil it also. For such a mother, to see her child overfed, enervated, decked out, will mean suffering; for all this, as she well knows, will render difficult for him the fulfilment of the law of God in which she has instructed him. Such a mother will teach, not that which will enable her son and her daughter to rid themselves of labor, but that which will help them to endure the toils of life.

She will have no need to inquire what she shall teach her children, for what she shall prepare them. Such a woman will not only not encourage her husband to false and delusive labor, which has but one object, that of using the labors of others; but she will bear herself with disgust and horror towards such an employment, which serves as a double temptation to her children. Such a woman will not choose a husband for her daughter on account of the whiteness of his hands and the refinement of manner; but, well aware that labor and deceit will exist always and everywhere, she will, beginning with her husband, respect and value in men, and will require from them, real labor, with expenditure and risk of life, and she will despise that deceptive labor which has for its object the ridding one’s self of all true toil.

Such a mother, who brings forth children and nurses them, and will herself, rather than any other, feed her offspring and prepare their food, and sew, and wash, and teach her children, and sleep and talk with them, because in this she grounds the business of her life,–only such a mother will not seek for her children external guaranties in the form of her husband’s money, and the children’s diplomas; but she will rear them to that same capacity for the self-sacrificing fulfillment of the will of God which she is conscious of herself possessing—a capacity for enduring toil with expenditure and risk of life—because she knows that in this lies the sole guaranty, and the only well-being in life. Such a mother will not ask other people what she ought to do; she will know everything, and will fear nothing.

If there can exist any doubt for the man and for the childless woman, as to the path in which the fulfillment of the will of God lies, this path is firmly and clearly defined for the woman who is a mother; and if she has complied with it in submissiveness and in simplicity of spirit, she, standing on that loftiest height of bliss which the human being is permitted to attain, will become a guiding-star for all men who are seeking good. Only the mother can calmly say before her death, to Him who sent her into this world, and to Him whom she has served by bearing and rearing children more dear than herself—only she can say calmly, having served Him who has imposed this service upon her: “Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.” And this is the highest perfection, towards which, as towards the highest bliss, men are striving.

Such are the women, who, having fulfilled their destiny, reign over powerful men; such are the women who prepare the new generations of people, and fix public opinion: and, therefore, in the hands of these women lies the highest power of saving men from the prevailing and threatening evils of our times. Yes, ye women and mothers, in your hands, more than in those of all others, lies the salvation of the world!

Slaves or Freemen –
Which are We?

The beautiful story of the Personality of Godhead, also called the Srimad Bhagavatam tells us (1.17.34):

“In all sacrificial ceremonies, although sometimes a demigod is worshiped, the Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead is worshiped because He is the Supersoul of everyone, and exists both inside and outside like the air. Thus it is He only who awards all welfare to the worshiper.”

And His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the author, comments:

“It is sometimes seen that demigods like Indra and Chandra are worshiped and offered sacrificial awards, yet the rewards of all such sacrifices are awarded to the worshiper by the Supreme Lord, and it is the Lord only who can offer all welfare to the worshiper. The demigods, although worshiped, cannot do anything without the sanction of the Lord because the Lord is the Supersoul of everyone, both moving and non-moving.

In Bhagavad-gita (9.23) the Lord Himself confirms this:

‘Whatever a man may sacrifice to other gods, O Arjuna, is really meant for Me alone, but it is offered without true understanding.’

“The fact is that the Supreme Lord is one without a second. There is no God other than the Lord Himself. Thus the Supreme Lord is eternally transcendental to the material creation. But there are many who worship the demigods like the sun, the moon and Indra, who are only material representatives of the Supreme Lord. These demigods are indirect, qualitative representations of the Supreme Lord. A learned scholar or devotee, however, knows who is who. Therefore he directly worships the Supreme Lord and is not diverted by the material, qualitative representations.”

I have been speaking on this verse recently explaining that although all worship is actually meant for the Supreme Lord, in this age worship has been diverted to other, lesser “gods.” The gods I refer to here are not actually gods, although they fancy themselves as such. They would like to be the Supreme Lord and may even think themselves supreme. To that end they have created a system whereby everyone gives them service and energy, which is in effect, worship.

How do they do this? Through the money system.

They print and control the money, and through that system, by owning the corporations, they have become the de facto owners of this world. When people work they create a profit for the owners of the corporation. When people buy products they create profits for the owners of capital. Thus in effect, everyone who has a job and uses that job to get money with which to buy products is giving their service and energy to the owners of the corporations, to the little “gods” of this world.

Rather than worshiping and depending on the Supreme Lord, we are now, subtly and even overtly, worshipping and depending on these little gods who control the money. Indeed, by controlling the money and requiring everyone to get money simply to survive they have in fact made slaves of all the people of the world.

In my lecture, that you can download from here if you want to listen to it, I state that the better way to live would be to live directly on the land, use agriculture as the economic system for one’s maintenance, and depending on the Supreme Lord for rain, worship him by one’s labor and consciousness. Indeed, that in and of itself be a revolution of consciousness.

Others have recognized that the people of this world are enslaved. Here is a very intriguing video that explains quite succinctly how we are indeed all enslaved. It is meant to help us see what we cannot see due to our cultural conditioning. Wake up. Wake up and give your service and energy to the real God by living freely on the land and following His system of economic development—agriculture!

Capitalism, Communism and Cowism -
A New Economics

by Dr. Sahadeva Dasa

He's done it again -- written a great, short but comprehensive and compelling book about the failure of major global economics and the hope of natural economics, or Cowism. Sahadeva, who is also president of the ISKCON Secunderbad temple, has 5 other books about cows and cowism that we reported several years ago, and all of his books are available online for a free read at Scribd.com:

• Capitalism Communism and Cowism - A New Economics for the 21st Century

• Cows Are Cool - Love 'Em!

• Cow and Humanity - Made for Each Other

•  To Kill Cow Means to End Human Civilization

• Lets Be Friends - A Curious, Calm Cow

• Noble Cow - Munching Grass, Looking Curious And Just Hanging Around

  In addition to these he has written a book on the failure of the oil civilization for which he was awarded an honorary Ph.D.:

  Oil-Final Countdown to a Global Crisis & Its Solutions - Part1(The Problem)

  Last month an Indian national conference on ”Cow Based Agriculture, Health and Environment” was organized by the Gujarat Government. A first of its kind, it was held at Anand University and was attended by senior ministers, government officials, top scientists, religious leaders, university vice-chancellors, environmentalists, doctors, and cow protection activists (report here).
  
  
  In the inaugural address, Dr Vallabh Bhai Katiria, a senior politician and chairman of Goseva Ayog, read out Srila Prabhupada’s statement from Srimad Bhagavatam 3.2.29 :
  
  
  “Human society needs only sufficient grain and sufficient cows to solve its economic problems. All other things but these two are artificial necessities created by man to kill his valuable life at the human level and waste his time in things which are not needed.”
  
  
  Then he went on to read the complete preface of the book “Capitalism Communism And Cowism – A New Economics For The 21st Century” and reaffirmed the Gujarat Government’s commitment to the vision specified therein.

  The fact is that this planet didn't evolve by chance as so many atheistic people would have us believe, but was created with intention and purpose by the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna. And it comes with an instruction manual called The Vedas. Every species of life in this world has its own economy that serves their purposes without stress or struggle--except man. Misled by materialistic leaders whose conceptions of life hinge on how much they think they can own, the world is headed toward an abyss, and the edge is fast approaching. All of this stress, suffering and trouble needn't be, and if we could hear the cosmic alarm clock ringing we would wake up and smell the reality. The simple life and agriculture such as we write about here has been the natural economic system from day one. We are admonished by the Sri Isopanisad that there is no alternative to this way for man--no successful alternative that is, and we are now being shown how true that is.

  Cowism and Spiritual Economics are the way of the future, simply because the ways of the past, based on the modes of passion and ignorance, rajas and tamo-guna, naturally lead to collapse and destruction. 

  Please check out Sahadeva's books, and if you haven't yet, read our own Spiritual Economics.

Gitagrad Varnashrama
Festival 2012

Although the weekend began wet and windy the weather subsided and a delightful time was had by all. In previous years the festival was held at Magdalenavka Retreat center in cold January so as not to interfere with spring planting. This year we decided to hold it after the planting was done and Bhakta Oleg agreed to be the host at New Vraja Bhumi, the Gitagrad village at Bezvodnaya, near Nikolaiv in southern Ukraine.

Attendance was from 50-60 participants, nearly half of which were women, in contrast to earlier years when the ladies numbers were much smaller. Many of the participants this year were "village hopefuls", that is, they are interested in village living but haven't gotten there just yet. 

Given the venue, the discussions were much more practical and hands-on than before, with such seminars as building with saman (clay/straw), straw bale construction, making efficient wood stoves, raising, training and working with bulls, care of cows, agriculture, bee keeping, soap making, natural cosmetics, conservation of foods, Varnashrama culture, additional upcoming Ukrainian village projects near Odessa, and more. 

The festival was held in two adjacent villages--Bezvodnaya, where we had the use of the Cultural Center for indoor activities, and Mikailovka where the cows are kept. On Sunday afternoon everyone went out to meet and brush the cows, pet the calves, and to try a hand at milking. Then we all had as much fresh, raw, un-pasturized, un-homogenized straight-from-the-cow milk as we wanted! Yum! (pity that people in America are being harassed by the govmint for drinking such wholesome milk).

I have put a number of photos of the festival on Flikr for you to browse, and many, many more should be online soon. Additionally, today I had my debut into video-making putting the various clips I took of our fun with the cows. There's about two hours of work for every minute of video -- ugh, the learning curve! -- so I hope that you will enjoy it!  


 

The British Plan to Destroy India

When the British invaded India the two most astonishing things to them were the Indian Gurukul (educational) system and the Indian agriculture system. The then Governor of British India, Robert Clive, made extensive research on the agriculture system in India with idea of creating dependence on the industrial houses established by the British. The outcome of the research was as follows:

Cows were the basis of Indian agriculture and agriculture. Indian agriculture could not be executed without the help of cow. To break the back of Indian agriculture cows had to be eliminated.

He estimated that the number of cows in Bengal at that time outnumbered the number of men. Similar was the situation in the rest of India.

As a part of the Master Plan to destabilize the India, cow slaughter was initiated. The first slaughterhouse in India was started in 1760, with a capacity to kill 30,000 (Thirty thousand only) per day, at least ten million cows were eliminated in a years time. Once the cows were slaughtered there was no manure and no cow urine insecticide. Robert Clive started a number of slaughter houses before he left India.

In order to understand the results of Indian agriculture without animal slaughterhouses consider this: In 1740 in the Arcot District of Tamil Nadu, 5400 kilograms of rice was harvested from one acre of land using simple manure and pesticides like cow urine and cow dung. 

As a result of the 350 slaughterhouses which worked day and night, by 1910 India was practically bereft of cattle. India had to approach England’s doorstep for industrial manure. Thus industrial manure like urea and phosphate made way to India.Before British left India there was extensive use of industrial manure (chemical fertilizer).

Questioned about the unnecessary killing of animals, Gandhi (the original) answered that the day India attains independence, all the slaughterhouses in India would be closed. In 1929 Nehru in a public meeting stated that if he were to become the prime minister of India, the first thing he would do is to stop all the slaughterhouses. However, nothing was done. The tragedy of the situation is since 1947 the number has increased from 350 to 36,000(thirty six thousand) slaughterhouses. Today, the highly mechanized slaughterhouses at Al-kabir and Devanar of Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra have the capacity to slaughter 10,000(ten thousand) cows at a time. 

Today there is less than 1 cow for every 20 people in India, tractors are ubiquitous, and farmers are committing suicide by the tens-of-thousands due to impossible debt. It appears that the British have been very successful in subduing India.

Pig Blood Safer than Fresh Milk?

Translation

Barbara H. Peterson

from Farm Wars

First they came for the farmers and their customers who barter in fresh, unpasteurized milk for their families, saying that it is unhealthy. Well folks, this is about to get much, much stranger. Now they are coming for the calves…

We are living in an upside-down world in which good is bad and bad is good. This is no more evident than in the fact that good, wholesome, fresh milk is said to be dangerous, while pasteurized milk with all of the beneficial qualities eradicated, is touted as healthy. This couldn’t be further from the truth. But now, this travesty is being taken one step further. Evidently, drinking fresh milk straight from the mom is supposed to be unhealthy for calves because it is unpasteurized.

Biosecurity. Calves are especially vulnerable to disease. Diseases such as Johne’s, Bovine Viral Diarrhea, Bovine Leukosis Virus, pasteurella, salmonella, E. coli and mycoplasma can be transmitted from cow to calf through unpastuerized milk. Biosecurity and disease prevention issues contribute greatly to the popularity and use of milk replacers. Merrick’s not only purchases pasteurized milk ingredients for making milk replacers, but we also include pasteurization as a key step in our manufacturing process.
http://www.merricks.com/tech_milkreplacerguide.htm

So, instead of allowing calves to suckle naturally, Merricks recommends its milk replacer as an economical and safer alternative. However, it just so happens that Merricks uses pig blood to produce its pasteurized calf milk replacer.  Yes, you heard that right – pig blood plasma is being fed to most of our dairy calves, as Merricks is a leading supplier of dairy products for the feed industry.

How long will it be before allowing animals to suckle from their mothers naturally will be outlawed, and lab-created concoctions the only “approved” feeding solution? Think about it – unpasteurized milk not healthy for the animal babies that consume it naturally from their mothers, pig blood good. Just how twisted has our society become that we accept this? As for the calves? Why, let them eat pig blood. After all, that is the “healthy” alternative.

©2012 Barbara H. Peterson see also: http://www.merricks.com/tech_milkreplacerguide.htm

From Dd --- The actual fact is that the greedy dairy industry wants ALL of the milk to sell, and give as little as possible to the calf. To them the cow is just a milk machine and when she can no longer produce she is thrown slaughtered and eaten. Replacing half of mother's milk with pigs blood gives them more milk to sell. Endless greed...it's so disgusting.This is the "economics of ignorance" -- unlimited tamo-guna.

Kana and Balai Make the Bigtime!

Bhakta Petras and his two bullocks, Kana and Balai were featured on the evening news last week throughout Lithuania. Petras is becoming somewhat famous as the man who works with bulls, a very rare breed (of man) these days, but a very important man to show the way to the future when we run out of oil. 

Many people have heard of Peak Oil—the time when half of the petroleum reserves on the planet are consumed and the production begins to diminish. M. King Hubbert created the model of peak oil in 1956 to accurately predict that United States’ oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970.

The concept of Peak Oil has generated a great deal of controversy—some like Michael Rupert claim that is very real, and something that we must get ready for and NOW! Others say it is a hoax by the major oil companies to blame price increases on. So real in fact that the United States is going to make sure they have enough to fuel their lifestyle by doing risky deep-drilling in the Gulf of Mexico despite the threats to the environment, and by conquering the oil reserves of the planet (that sure helps to explain their policies in the Middle East). 

Other people, tell us to get prepared. Like Sahadeva Dasa who has written a great book on the subject “Oil: Final Countdown to a Global Crisis, and It’s Solutions.” It’s a free read online here.

And peak oil has generated an entire movement of 'preppers' called the Transition Towns movement, who have taken the reasonable approach to begin to prepare for a future without oil before its all gone! (Duh! More intelligent than the govmint it seems). Let's hope that we really do have another twenty years to get all of our ducks in a row. Interestingly, I have heard (but not confirmed) that some of the Transition people had intensely analyzed the situation and have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to maintain life in the cities without oil, and that they only way to survive is to begin rebuilding villages! (told ya so! :-p) That’s awareness should be spread, but it seems that they have other crazy ideas like Agenda 21!

 

If we are not going to have oil what will be the source for power? .....Yes, bullocks! But if you are planning to get prepared, keep in mind that you need a bit of time to get your oxen trained before they can do real work—like 4 years! In this video you will see the boys at two years of age. Big, but not full-grown nor ready to do a full days work in the field. That will take another two years. (see our earlier videos of them at several months beginning their training). That means that, unlike most things in modern life, you can’t accomplish this overnight. I recommend that you start yesterday, or as close to that as possible.

We will be spending the summer months at Ignalinus at Petras’ house in a writing retreat. It is our goal to finish two small books “Change the Karma!” and “No Solution Without a Spiritual Revolution!” both about how to deal with our changing world and it’s ongoing crises. More soon...

Here's the original source.

GM Eggplant Banned in the Phillipines

On May 11, 2012, the Philippine Supreme Court announced a decision against genetically engineered Bt eggplant. This followed a 2010 ban on Bt eggplant in India.

According to supporters of the ban, who helped bring the case to court:

"The Supreme Court decision on Friday sets an important precedent in that it establishes that GE, and in particular GE Bt eggplant, violates the constitutional rights of individuals to a healthy environment. No other court in the world has upheld such a stance against genetically engineered organisms (GEOs)."

This is very good news. Let's encourage all other countries to follow suit. 

Everyone should educate themselves about the potential dangers of GMO especially when the government gives the green light without considering the possible consequences. Almost all corn is now genetically modified which is a potential disaster because food scientists have learned how to break down corn into constituent parts and use it in almost everything, either as a sweetener or starch, or hundreds of others chemical compounds. It is also a fact that some 75% of all foods in American stores have genetically modified material in them, but by law they don't have to tell you, so they don't. Beware! 

There are good people to help you make the right choices. You can download the NEW True Food Shopper’s Guide to avoid GE foods, or get the True Food Shoppers Guide mobile application for iPhone. Find out more here and at www.seedsofdeception.com.One of my other favorite sources for what's going on with genetic engineering of food is www.farmWars.info.

One of the most authoritative persons working to protect people and the world from the GMO onslaught is Jeff Smith. Below is a short video in which he explains some important details about GMO. Jeff has many good videos on YouTube and I encourage you to view them.

Now that it's planting time in many parts of the north, I am encouraging everyone to plant in plastic tubes to avoid not only GM pollen, but also aluminum from chemtrails, which is showing up as a serious problem in some areas of the country. More on that later.

True story of the Crying Bull

 
The Bull Who Cried:

Knowing it was about to be slaughtered, a bull in Hong Kong did what many people fail to realize or are skeptic about when it comes to animals – he showed emotion.As reported by “Weekly World News”, a group of workers walked a bull to a packaging factory. They were about to slaughter him to make steaks and beef stews. When they were close to the front door of the slaughter house, the sorrowful bull suddenly stopped going forward and knelt down on his two front legs. The bull… was all in tears.

How did he know he was going to get killed before he entered the slaughter house? He is even smarter than people.

Mr. Shiu, a butcher recalled, “When I saw this kind of so-called “stupid” animal sobbing and with his eyes in fear and sorrow, I started trembling.” “I called the rest over to see. They were just as surprised. We kept pushing the bull forward, but he just didn’t want to move and sat there crying.”

Billy Fong, owner of the packaging factory said, “People thought animals didn’t cry like human beings. However that bull really sobbed like a baby.” At that time, more than ten strong men witnessed the scene and they were all touched. Those who were responsible for slaughtering even felt more touched and teared as well.

Other workers working at the same slaughter house also came to see the crying bull. It was all packed with people. They were all shock by this scene. Three of them said they would never forget this crying bull when they slaughter other animals.

With both man and animal crying, everyone knew that nobody could kill the bull. The problem was, what should they do with him? In the end, they raised funds to buy this crying bull and sent him to a temple, where the kind monks would take care of him for life.

After the workers had made a decision, a miracle happened. A worker said, “When we promised this bull that we will not kill him, he started moving and followed us.”

How did he understand people’s words?

Mr. Shiu said “Believe it or not? This is real although it sounds unbelievable.” No doubt, this bull changed these butchers’ lives.

Hopefully this story has in turn changed yours.

Two main qualities of the crying bull:

1. Determination (not move an inch toward the slaughterhouse)

2. Feeling totally Helpless and crying out (just as we should always take shelter of the Supreme Lord)

What do we learn from this bull?:

We will all eventually be finished by the weapon of Time. We must therefore cry out and take shelter of the Holy Name of Lord. 

A Place from Which to Grow

 

Human life is meant for growth. Although physical growth stops before several decades, emotional, psychological, intellectual and spiritual growth can and should continue throughout every person’s life.  In order to grow properly however, we need a proper place. Place means not only a physical place such as household, but proper relationships with others and proper activity. All three of these are essential aspects for optimal growth. This paper addresses the question of people’s place in modern society and contrasts it with place in the varnashrama culture and the different results in society and people’s lives.

A potted plant offers a very good example of having a proper place. The pot is the physical place where the plant lives, but beyond the pot alone the plant also requires a proper environment in terms of soil conditions, atmosphere, temperature, water, and sunlight. When these conditions are minimally met the plant can live, but when they are optimal the plant can thrive.

Likewise we are meant to thrive, not just live. We need a properly clean house and environment where we can care for and give rest to our body, along with nourishing food. This alone will allow us to survive, but not thrive for as it is said, man does not live by bread alone. More than mere survival we all desire to have interesting and meaningful activity appropriate to our nature. In the modern world we generally call this “work.” Ideally that work will be a bit challenging so that we may make use of our faculties of understanding, ability, and reasoning. The challenge helps us to grow. If the work is too easy we will be bored and unengaged, and if the work is beyond our capacity or ability we will be overworked and stressed.

And we also need a place in relationship to others. These relationships must be appropriate to our respective stages of life and theirs. Thus we will have different relationships with those senior to us than we have with our peers or with our juniors. Having a proper place according these criteria will help us to be happy and balanced individuals. Like the potted plant without water, or sunshine, if any of these aspects of life are meager or missing, then life can run the gamut from drudgery to torture, conditions under which growth of any kind is difficult or impossible.

Place is so important in society that the war at Kurukshetra was fought to give the Pandavas a proper place. The war could have been avoided if Duryodhana would have allowed the Pandavas one village each, but he denied the Pandavas any land whatsoever, not enough for a single needle! The proper dharma of a ksatriya requires them to provide a place to others in his village or kingdom, and this is such a necessary and essential requirement that a ksatriya is forbidden any other engagement, even in times of emergency. The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna came to establish the principles of religion (paritranaya sadhunam) and to this end He admonished Arjuna to fight the battle to properly establish the .

Place in Ancient Cultures

Historically one’s place in society was both fixed and rigid. In both Western (Feudal society) and Eastern culture place was generally assigned according to one’s birth. Males generally did what their fathers did and females naturally became mothers and caretakers. You would become an aristocrat if your parents were aristocrats, and if they were peasants you would remain a peasant. The world was fairly well fixed at those times and there was no upward or even lateral mobility for the vast majority of people. In one sense this was bad and in another it was good. Bad in that if you had a different nature than your father you were unable to be fulfilled, but it was good in that a strong social contract existed. Every person had a definite place in society with well understood rules of behavior, knowing what they could expect of others and the expectations of themselves. In this sense nobody was alone in the world. Whatever their fate might have been, they were joined together with others of their kind with whom they would share their miseries and joys. For further insights into these types of culture and the differences before and after the introduction of Western influences read for example, Bhakti Vikasa Swami’s “Glimpses of Traditional Indian Life,” or Helena Norberg-Hodge’s “Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh.”

Finding Our Place in Today’s World

Modern society is just the opposite—we are not given a place in society—we have to find it, beginning even in childhood. Parents, pressed for time, find it much easier to do everything themselves rather than taking time to teach their children and guide them in building their skills, so that many have never washed a floor or even a dish by the time they leave home. Children lack a place even within their family. They are told to “go play,” or they entertain themselves with television and electronic games. Although they do not have an active role in life they are somehow suddenly expected to fit right into the adult world upon graduation from school. However they often cannot and it is taking increasing years for them to find their place in the adult world. Today most people do not marry until they are almost thirty years of age, indicating that this is when they are able to find their place in society; whereas just two generations back they would marry and begin their family lives just after high school.

Going back to the years when society was more formally structured and there was a subsistence economy children had a part in adult society and could take responsibility at much younger ages. For example, David Farragut (later Admiral Farragut) was a mere 12 years old during the War of 1812 when he was given his first command. Those who have visited India have undoubtedly witnessed children of very young ages taking responsibility to manage the shop of their father, the care of their siblings and even carry on entrepreneurial activities without any adult supervision. When I see such things I try to imagine any American boy or girl of the same age doing similar things. I cannot. Anthropologist Joseph Campbell also observed that many young men have great difficulty finding their place in modern society, to which he attributed the attraction of gang membership, and later involvement in the mafia, whose “codes of honor” do provide a place along with attendant duties and relationships. He suggested that until adult society finds some way to provide a place for young men they will naturally continue their involvement in gangs.

For most people their work provides their place and their orientation to the world—a way to think of themselves and their relationships with others. It provides the income with which they pay for their home, another aspect of place. Work is therefore an essential element of finding one’s place. Although we now have the freedom to choose our work, to be and achieve anything to the limit of our ability, this is a challenge that many people struggle with. Despite the many books to help people find the right job or occupation, despite the many career counselors and job placement companies, some 80 percent of workers are still unsatisfied with the work they do. This indicates that their work is not according to their nature, their guna and karma. Being improperly situated they can make a mess of things, especially in positions of leadership or management, and it is almost certain that in such situations they cannot grow.

The Consequences of Loss of Place

The sense of place, the psychological support that comes from it, and the result of losing it was studied by the pioneer sociologist, Emile Durkheim. Observing the rapid changes in the social and economic conditions of society during the industrialization of the late 19^th century, he found that in rapidly changing environments people became unsure of what was expected of them, and what they could or should expect from others. These expectations, known as social norms, are the basic rules of the culture. Durkheim observed that without having a place where they know the norms to guide them, people become dissatisfied, purposeless and alienated which leads to conflicts, crime, suicide and other social deviancies. He called this condition anomie, and wrote about it in his books “The Division of Labor in Society” and “Suicide.”

One of the great tragedies of the modern era is the lack of place for the hundreds of millions, even billions, of “unnecessary” and “unwanted” people—the unemployed, the homeless, street urchins, and slum-dwellers. Modern society affords them little if any place to give them even the simple honor of living. Who gets a place in modern society? Increasingly only those who can earn a profit for others, or provide money for others, that is, those who have employable skills for which there is a market. However, the need for employable people is diminishing with a diminishing economy. In the1930s some 60 percent of Americans lived on farms and could provide for themselves. Over the next 50 years 2,000 farms every week went under or were sold, their occupants moving to the cities. Today those remaining on farms number less than 5 percent of the population, and the other 95 percent require jobs that produce money in order to get their food. Because of the loss of manufacturing jobs to southeast Asia and service jobs to India and elsewhere there are simply not enough jobs available. The official unemployment figures are in double digits, but the real figure counting all people who would like to work if they could is more than 20% in America. That figure is similar throughout the world.

Worldwide more than 50 percent of the people now live in cities and the prediction is that by the year 2020, 90 percent of the people in large metropolitan areas will be slum-dwellers. This is almost half of the entire global population! By definition slum dwellers do not have sufficient earnings with which to properly maintain themselves. Either they are wage slaves that are forced to work long hours at wages insufficient to live on, or they have no regular job. In either case they have no place that allows them to grow. Wage slaves generally have no money and no time for anything else that might contribute to their growth. And no job means no place, no place means anomie, which means increased theft, crime, drug use, prostitution and suicide. This is what is meant by nirvishesha and sunnyavadi, the voidism and impersonalism of the Kali-yuga. What can we expect when half of humanity has no place? It is a house of horror. This is seen as such a problem that there is serious discussion at high levels of “culling” the human race to what is “needed,” and eliminating the “useless eaters.” (This is actually not new. The ideas of Thomas Malthus and eugenics have been around for several hundred years). These problems could and should be fixed by society’s leader but the policies of government only seem to make them worse.

Finding One’s Place in ISKCON

In the early days of Srila Prabhupada’s movement it was easy to find one’s place in the society. Indeed, this was one of the features that made ISKCON so attractive. Expansion was rapid and young people, or anybody actually, could easily find a place to make their contribution, whatever that was. Having a place and the opportunity to contribute to the effort gave the devotees great joy that happiness was expressed on their faces in kirtan, on harinam and in their service.

However, in ensuing years the social structure of the movement changed. As the devotees married and began families there was no longer suitable facility within the temples, and they were forced to live outside. To pay for that, most, but not all, had to find their work outside the movement as well. This generally resulted in not having close proximity to the temples, which meant less association and less service. The result was predictable—unable to maintain their active involvement in the movement these devotees no longer had a place. They became the congregation: attending the Sunday program, kirtan and taking prasadam, but that is not enough to have a place and a feeling of contributing to the mission, and a feeling of belonging. This trend continued through the 80s and ISKCON became like any other church, with majority of devotees participating as the congregation. In the process ISKCON ceased to be a counter-culture and had gone mainstream where life was compartmentalized—work in this arena, social life here, family life there, and spiritual life over there...

Today the vast majority of devotees have never lived in a temple, and never had the opportunity to engage cent per cent in temple service, harinam and book distribution. This means that many of them have never had the privilege to experience what it means to find their place exclusively in Krishna consciousness. It is my experience, having been both part of the congregation and on the inside, that spiritual progress is much easier and life is much happier on the inside. We also observe that the devotees who are the steadiest and strongest in their devotional service are those who have full-time devotional service that provides for their maintenance, giving them a place in all respects: the sannyasis, the leaders, the temple presidents, pujaris, cooks, those working with translation and book production and distribution, brahmacaris, etc. And even among these only a few are fortunate enough to have a place inside the movement their entire lives. Unfortunately there is limited engagement in the temple activities and many are forced to find a place in the dominant culture. For them Krishna consciousness becomes another of several other aspects of their life and may not be the most influential.

Place in Varnashrama Culture

The Vedic culture is created and arranged by what may be called “higher authority.” That is, the Supreme Lord has not only given us this world for our activities, but has also given instruction how we can live here happily, having meaningful work, and growing throughout our lives. Through the hierarchy of this world He has given these principles of living in the Codes of Dharma, or dharma shastra. The codes of dharma divide society into four working classes called varnas, and four stages of life for spiritual purposes called ashrama. Each of these has their specific obligations as well as defined relationships with the other sections. This scientifically arranged society is designed to provide everyone a place that will facilitate lifelong growth in all spheres of life.

In the varnashrama culture occupation is not simply a means of obtaining as much money as possible, nor is it merely a haphazard job taken simply for survival. The entire concept of varna is that work must be appropriate to one’s nature, or guna and karma. Lord Krishna emphatically states in the Bhagavad-gita that one must work according to their own nature and that it is dangerous to do the work of others. (3.35, 18.47) Why dangerous? Because by doing inappropriate work and being improperly situated we cannot fulfill the purpose of human life, which is to grow.

There are four varnas—brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya and sudra, or the priests and intellectuals, the political leaders, the organizers and producers and the workers. All occupations in every human culture can be broadly classified into one of these four. In the modern culture the relationship between these four is determined by money almost exclusively, with corresponding neglect of dharma, but in the varnashrama culture those relationships are prescribed by the codes of dharma.

In regard to place the ksatriya has a very important role—he is tasked with giving everyone a proper place in society—both in terms of housing and work. For his exercise in caring for the citizens as if they were his own children the ksatriya is considered the representative of the Lord. Not only is it his duty to see that there is no unemployment in the varnashrama culture, but everyone must also have work according to their nature. Hence besides no unemployment there is not even any underemployment. In such a system job dissatisfaction would approach zero percent.

Neither is there any homelessness in the varnashrama culture. Everyone has a place to live, a place to work, and proper relationships with others. This not only includes all human beings, but all species of life, especially including the bulls and cows, domesticated animals who provide for the needs of sustainable power and good nutrition.

Creating a Place for Everyone

We often repeat what one astrologer said of Srila Prabhupada, that he created a house in which the whole world can live. This is another way of saying that Srila Prabhupada arranged for everyone to have a place from which they can grow. Everyone means not only the devotees of his Movement, but all people of the world.

In his last days Srila Prabhupada spoke to Kuladri about this:

Kuladri das:  “I was the temple president at New Vrindavan for so many years, and Prabhupada had a vision for a pilgrimage site in North America and a farm community. So he never emphasized book distribution to us. He explained to me, especially at the end when I was with him in Bombay and in Vrindavan just before he left, that the second half of his movement would be dramatically different than the first half. The emergency tactics that he used to distribute books and give young people sannyasa and open as many temples as possible would end. He wanted places like New Vrindavan to establish the culture of Krishna consciousness with colleges, grihastha lifestyle, all of the things to demonstrate the philosophy that he was so careful to present in his books. So he right up to the end he was telling me that the farm communities were so important for the second half and the vision would be very different than when his movement got started in the Western world.”

In my way of understanding this statement, Srila Prabhupada was preparing us to lead a great social movement based on his teachings to give a place to the millions of people that modern society discards like so much rubbish. This is where I see the varnashrama culture playing a significant role. If the world’s unfortunate people are to be saved it cannot be that we simply help them find a place again in the same culture that spit them out. There must be something different that will give them hope to have a meaningful life, and a place from which to grow. That something different is the sustainable village life where every person has a proper place to live, proper engagement, and proper relationships.

On various occasions Srila Prabhupada instructed that the householders should all live on the farms. Why? Because the village can provide a proper place for everyone to live in the context of Krishna consciousness. This is due to the fact that agriculture can provide an economic alternative to the city job in an environment that supports Krishna consciousness, frees the devotee from having to associate with non-devotees, and helps them to become free from rajas and tamo-guna and established in goodness—an important step to rising to suddha-sattva, the transcendental plane of existence. Moreover, the village offers many different types of engagement and it is much easier to find work that is according to one’s guna and karma. Although this instruction of Srila Prabhupada has been neglected, the advantages of the village life remain. Devotees who are struggling in the cities both with earning sufficient money and in their spiritual lives may find it helpful to find a place in the village.

The Result of Giving the Bulls a Place

Not only does the village provide the devotee with the necessities of life, but also provides the bull with much needed engagement. The bull also is given a place in the spiritual culture, but he has also been rejected from the atheistic, materialistic, dominant culture, and replaced by oil-consuming machines that wreak havoc on the environment and our sanity. At our Gitagrad community in Lithuania, New Gaudadesha, Bhakta Petras has taken up the care and engagement of the bulls. I asked him what he had learned while he was training them. His reply was profound, indicating that all of human society will benefit greatly by again giving the bull a place in society. Bhakta Petras replied that from the bull he has learned:

1. They do not learn quickly; one must go slow as they learn slowly day-by-day
2. Therefore great patience is required. A local man told Petras early on that he would have to be patient, but that man himself did not even know how patient one must be. Researching Srila Prabhupada’s book Petras found that that patience is the most important quality and the mother of all other virtues.
3. As you are training them, they are also teaching you.
4. Because they are very regulated in their actions, they force you to be regulated in yours.
5. The bull teaches you sattva; he is an animal of a sattva nature, and he will not go to rajas—you cannot make him get passionate. Instead, you yourself must come to sattva if you want to work with him—he will thus force you to come to sattva.
6. Working with the bull may be compared to working with children or women, in that, if you get angry with them they will refuse to cooperate with you. If you are calm and reasonable they will work with you.
7. Rajo-guna (increasing speed) and tamo-guna (negative reinforcement—hitting them) does not work with these animals.
8. Petras recently read from very old records how if a person had been drinking and the bulls smell that they will refuse to work with the man. Indeed, they will even try to gore him. They don’t want to associate with such people in the lower modes of nature.
9. The bulls and man are a team; they work together. Unlike driving a car or tractor, where the driver simply controls the machine. With the bulls one must learn to cooperate and work as a team.
10. There is mutual dependency between the bulls and the teamster; the bulls depend on the man to feed and care for them, and the man depends on the bulls to provide necessary power for accomplishing things.

Petras’ comments gave me many realizations. The first is that Petras himself is not just training the bulls, but they are also training him. By his effort he is receiving valuable personal training in sattvic qualities, conditioning him to sattva-guna. Such training is difficult to come by in a world that is driven by passion and ignorance. Srila Prabhupada has taught us that we must come to the platform of sattva before we can progress to suddha-sattva, or the transcendental plane. How valuable are the cow and the bull to help us stay fixed in sattva-guna.

I also realized how our dependence on the cow and the bull teaches the entire human society sattva, and keeps them in sattva. Having abandoned the bull we have lost our tether to sattva and are the entire human race is drifting inexorably to rajas and tamo-guna, with the attendant terrible consequences that we are now beginning to reap, economically, socially, politically, etc.

Next I realized that the reason that Petras has had so many wonderful realizations because he made room for, and a commitment to Dharma (the bulls) in his life. He gave the bulls a place in his world. Giving them a place means giving them a duty, and that is the birth of yajna (yajna is born of prescribed duties). Only interested in what they can take from others, modern man does not realize what the cow and bull have to give to us. Neither does modern man understand sattva-guna or the tremendous benefits that accrue to society as a whole by giving these animals their place in human society. Indeed, that is the case with all living beings in this world since, Om purnam ada purnam idam, this world is perfectly equipped as a complete whole and every thing and every living thing has its place.

Modern man instead thinks he can do better by killing the bull and exploiting the cow for milk and the earth for oil. There is a very old bull at New Gaudadesh, Nandi. The neighbors ask why we bother to keep an old bull. They tell us we should kill him. Such an impoverished mentality of selfishness denying this living entity his place does not allow them to recognize the value of the bull, dharma, or reap the benefits of associating with these wonderful animals.

We Are Missing Parts of the Social Machine

All devotees, but the brahmanas and ksatriyas in particular are meant to be the leaders of society meaning that they are concerned with the welfare of others, particularly those who are suffering:

çiväya lokasya bhaväya bhütaye ya uttama-çloka-paräyaëä janäù

jivanti nätmärtham asau paräçrayaà mumoca nirvidya kutaù kalevaram

Those who are devoted to the cause of the Personality of Godhead live only for the welfare, development and happiness of others. They do not live for any selfish interest. (S.B. 1.4.12)

To this end Srila Prabhupada had wanted his followers, engaging what he taught them, to correct the defects of modern civilization by establishing daiva-varnashrama, or the divine culture of Krishna consciousness. This daiva-varnashrama culture can give everyone a place to grow and so doing cure all of the ills of today’s society.

What is greatly needed now are men of ksatriya and vaisya natures to take their proper place in the spiritual society, for they are essential to make the whole scheme work. The ksatriyas and vaisyas must perform their dharma as given by Sri Krishna in the Gita and dharma shastra. For the ksatriya this means they must establish and take care of a village and provide a place for the praja and insure that they have work according to their nature. And the vaisyas are needed to organize the practical activity of day-to-day life to see that people have food to eat, clothes to wear and the other necessities of life. This is their dharma. Where are they? Why are they not doing their duty? Unless and until these qualified men take up their dharma this Krishna consciousness movement will not be able to show the way out of the darkness of the modern materialistic way of living. People today are becoming increasingly confused by the economic and political changes and are looking for leadership. The needed concepts are given in Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, but unless we put them to practice they remain nothing more than the study of an earlier grand culture that has seen its day and remains lost in a bygone era, and this Krishna Consciousness movement will have missed its calling of showing the way out of the darkness of nescience in this time of great adversity.

I hope that this has helped you appreciate what place means in the life of any person and the necessity of establishing the divine varnashrama culture to once again provide a place for everyone. I encourage all devotees to cooperate together to create healing communities for the benefit of all the devotees, as well as all the people of this world.