Most of us have quite challenging lives in terms of the demands of work, family, and so on. Prabhupāda masterfully identified this propensity more than 50 years ago and offered some solutions.
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank you for this “Food for Thoughts” article. Indeed, simple living and high thinking is a way of life Srila Prabhupada requested his followers to strive for, and devotees also state that it is the second half of Prabhupada’s mission.
It’s isn’t hard to understand how developing rural communities where devotees produce their necessities can lead a life more centered around Krsna.
According to a room conversation Srila Prabhupada said: If you open farm for financial help, then it will not be successful. You should take to farming for supporting yourself. That’s all. Grow your own food. Grow your own cloth. There is no need of financial help from outside. You get your food grains sufficiently, rice, dahl, wheat, vegetables, milk, sugar. You get everything. From these five, six items you should be economically free. That you have to do, not for trade to get money. Then it will be failure. (Conversation, October 28, 1975)
If I may, I have a question to ask regarding this topic. Very few devotees were able to achieve anything substantial or closer to self-sufficiency. What could be the reasons? Apparently, there are psychological barriers to “Simple Living, High Thinking”. Could it be that dependability on consumer system is too strong? Or, maybe the number of devotees with the necessary nature to work on land is just too limited? Or, maybe living life disconnected from the “grid” is just an impossible mission for most of us?
Many temple leaders stress Srila Prabhupada’s instructions stating that by distributing books and Harinam, everything else will come. Could this also be the reason why devotees don’t feel encuraged to take the leap to open self-sufficient communities?
True self-sufficiency is the ultimate goal, my point is just that we don't need to do it from the start. We can start with other models of community and with reducing our needs and from there gradually progress into the ladder of self-sufficiency. Otherwise, it may be to try to do everything from the start.
Dear Chaitanya Charan prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank you for this “Food for Thoughts” article. Indeed, simple living and high thinking is a way of life Srila Prabhupada requested his followers to strive for, and devotees also state that it is the second half of Prabhupada’s mission.
It’s isn’t hard to understand how developing rural communities where devotees produce their necessities can lead a life more centered around Krsna.
According to a room conversation Srila Prabhupada said: If you open farm for financial help, then it will not be successful. You should take to farming for supporting yourself. That’s all. Grow your own food. Grow your own cloth. There is no need of financial help from outside. You get your food grains sufficiently, rice, dahl, wheat, vegetables, milk, sugar. You get everything. From these five, six items you should be economically free. That you have to do, not for trade to get money. Then it will be failure. (Conversation, October 28, 1975)
If I may, I have a question to ask regarding this topic. Very few devotees were able to achieve anything substantial or closer to self-sufficiency. What could be the reasons? Apparently, there are psychological barriers to “Simple Living, High Thinking”. Could it be that dependability on consumer system is too strong? Or, maybe the number of devotees with the necessary nature to work on land is just too limited? Or, maybe living life disconnected from the “grid” is just an impossible mission for most of us?
Many temple leaders stress Srila Prabhupada’s instructions stating that by distributing books and Harinam, everything else will come. Could this also be the reason why devotees don’t feel encuraged to take the leap to open self-sufficient communities?
Your servant,
Rama Raghava dasa
True self-sufficiency is the ultimate goal, my point is just that we don't need to do it from the start. We can start with other models of community and with reducing our needs and from there gradually progress into the ladder of self-sufficiency. Otherwise, it may be to try to do everything from the start.