Sustainable Vaishnava Communities Committee

In 2014 the National Council of the Hungarian yatra, its visionary body, decided to make the thorough understanding and gradual implementation of Varnasram-dharama in the Hungarian yatra its long term goal. Sivarama Swami will present some of the thoughts leading to that goal as well as some of the first steps in its implementation.

Srila Prabhupada wrote in 1975 to a disciple. “…We must have a good section of brahmanas in our society and we must also have a good group of vaisyas who can grow grains and tend cows, and thus supply the society with food-grains and milk products from the cow like ghee, curd, cream, etc.” So as disciples we feel it is our duty to implement working models. Most of the temples at the time went ahead with their farm communities as Srila Prabhupada hit the gong, but there were some missing cogs, we`ll explore some of them and how the global network, under construction right now can supply you with a solution library.

Srila Prabhupada inspired his disciples to see simple living and high thinking as a timeless solution for modern problems. Therefore, the Founder- Acarya desired to show this example, as he well knew that agriculturalists are the principal managers of global useable lands and will shape, perhaps irreversibly, the surface of the Earth in the coming decades. Today cow protection is discussed in many places and practiced by many. In this seminar we explore the benefits and its interdependence with agriculture.

Cow care is important for devotee care. The cow, according to the Vedas, provides four products for human use:
(i) Godugdha (cow milk): Cow milk has fat, carbohydrates, minerals and Vitamin B, and even a capacity for body resistance to radiation and for regenerating brain cells.
(ii) Goghruta (ghee): The best ghee, useful in many disorders. In yajna, it pleases Lord Vishnu and improves the air’s oxygen level.
(iii) Gomutra (urine): Cow urine is held to be the best for medicinal purpose nowadays. It has immune-modulator properties, which makes it useful for immune deficiency diseases. In the classics there are many references to cow urine as a drug of choice.
(iv) Gomaya (dung) is considered as valuable as Gomutra and used to purify the environment, as it has radium and checks radiation effects. The Americans are busy patenting it. It has anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and antioxidant properties.
And worshiping mother Cow (Go Puja) allows us to offer our love and gratitude to mother Nature, and also brings the blessings of Lakshmi Devi, who is present within the sacred cow. Therefore, it is the responsibility of devotees to protect cows and thus get protected in reciprocation. One should ask: “What am I doing for protecting cow, my mother? What am I doing to sustain cow protection in my zone? Am I speaking the glories of mother cow to others? It is my responsibility, my duty as a devotee.”