OM SRI SURABHYAI NAMAH! OM SRI GURAVE NAMAH!
This is the eighth Quarterly Report summarizing the on-going developments of the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign – 2015 to 2027 in our attempt to promote the varnasrama mission. All the previous reports published can be read on our two main websites at www.iskconvarnasrama.com and www.srisurabhi.org. We are just now completing the second year of the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign.
TOURING IN NORTH AMERICA
Representing and promoting the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign, as Minister for IDVM-India, I had the opportunity to travel mainly in North America for the last portion of the year 2016.
New Vrindavan West Virginia: Gaura Nataraj prabhu who oversees Congregational Development and Fund Raising is preparing to build a “Yoga Retreat Center” that should open in early part of 2017.
Columbus, Ohio: Devotees have recently purchased a 50 acres property outside the city with plans to build a temple, a cultural hall, some educational facilities for youth and the congregation. The project also calls for developing agriculture and caring for cows.
Hawaii: A young couple is doing serious natural farming and keeping cows on the Big Island. Daiva prabhu has accepted to serve as National Coordinator for the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign.
San Jose, California: The local devotees, inspired by Sri Krishna Purusottama prabhu, continue to serve and care for their local cow, Mother Surabhi.
Seattle, Washington: Harivilasa prabhu recently acquired two young Gir cows (one male and one female). The devotees also have some 8 Guernsey cows. Daily many congregational members attend various courses arranged at the temple under the name of Vedic University.
Saranagati Village, British Columbia (Western Canada): In addition to zebu cows, the devotees have also acquired a Gir cow named Surabhi. One devotee, Devatta prabhu, along with Yoginath prabhu, has been training the oxen.
Harvest Lane Farm, Ottawa: This is a newly acquired 40 piece of land near Ottawa in the Province of Ontario where Mathieu and Raymond who head up the project have been concentrating on starting vegetable gardens for this first year in operation. They have a weekly program every Wednesday evening and have recently started a Break and Breakfast service.
New Talavan, Mississippi: The devotees have introduced the woofers program and currently have seven woofers helping out in the gardens.
Mexico City and Cancun: I had the good fortune to meet with HH Guruprasad Maharaja and we discussed the possibility of introducing the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign in Mexico to which he gave his full support.
One devotee from Canada, Narayan Dvara prabhu who regularly spends time in Mexico showed keen interest in the campaign and has already translated some of our Power Points in Spanish language.
One Mexican devotee, Chandra Pati prabhu also showed us his land near Cancun where he would like to see develop a rural community. We requested him to become the National Coordinator for the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign.
NEW LAND FOR KRISHNA
Cambodia
By Krishna’s mercy and the mercy of some benevolent devotees it was possible to acquire new land in the Kingdom of Cambodia in the Province of Siem Reap. The devotees had already purchased 11 hectares of land a few years back some 40 Kilometers from Angkor Wat but wanted to acquire more land so that one day a good project could be offered to Srila Prabhupada. With this in mind, devotees were able to increase the land holding from 11 hectares to close to 40 hectares. Devotees hope to bring the total amount of land to 108 acres.
Canada
A group of devotees based in the USA pitched in to acquire a 28 acres property in the Saranagati Village in Western Canada. Plans are to establish a Gurukula Village were both Gurukula and Varnasrama College can be introduced gradually.
FARM CONFERENCE IN CANADA
On December 17, 2016, under the leadership and inspiration of HH Bhaktimarga Swami, Co-GBC for Canada, some 25 devotees assembled together in Brighton, Ontario, to hold the first ever Central Canada Farm Conference.
Devotees from both Ontario and Quebec met for the first time to share their experiences and thought on promoting rural communities based on the concepts of self-sufficiency and sustainability. As a result of their meeting, the devotees have started a Google Group to facilitate exchanges on subject matters relating to organic farming and cows.
SUKA VYASA PRABHU DEPARTS
One of our staunch supporters and active members of the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign serving especially in the area of editing Video Interviews passed away on December 17th in Australia leaving behind his young daughter and wife from Chile, South America.
Suka Vyasa prabhu had been suffering from a long terminal disease and had been told he only had a few weeks left. Up until the very end, however, he remained cheerful and thankful for having taken to Krishna consciousness. We pray for his continued progress in devotional service always under the care and protection of his beloved Lord Sri Krishna.
WEEKLY VIDEO INTERVIEWS COMPLETED
Devotees serving with the ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama Ministry (IDVM-India) completed their ISKCON Golden Jubilee pledge to produce and publish a weekly Video Interview by coming out with Week 53, an interview with His Holiness Guruprasad Maharaja who is the local GBC for Mexico. Those involved with the Yajna decided to continue the Video Interview series for the year 2017.
WEEKLY POWER POINTS COMPLETED
In addition to Video Interviews, IDVM-India also took another Golden Jubilee pledge to bring out a weekly Power Point depicting various aspects of the varnasrama mission. We are thankful and grateful to all those who made this possible.
Both the Video Interviews and Power Points for the year 2016 remain available in the Archives section of the two dedicated websites of www.iskconvarnasrama.com and www.srisurabhi.org.
SRI GOVIND GAU GRAM PRACHAR YATRA SUCCESS
With the concerted efforts of many dedicated devotees, IDVM-India’s pledge to visit 108 villages, as their offering to Srila Prabhupada for ISKCON’S Golden Jubilee year was made possible. Thousand of books were distributes as well as thousands of plates of prasadam.
Details of the successful preaching program can be read on the two websites mentioned above. The special feature of this village outreach program was to highlight the spiritual sva-dharma based of devotional service of all human being by introducing the Nama Hatta Sanga membership and the material sva-dharma of cow care and food production by introducing the Krishi Go Rakshya membership.
TWO NEW BOOKLETS PUBLISHED
Members of the Publication Department at IDVM-India were able to transcribe 8 of the first Video Interviews and presented those in a booklet format to all the leaders present at the ISKCON India leadership meeting in December of 2016. This first book was entitled Daiva Varnasrama – Selected Interviews – Part One. The second book focused on the Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra and was entitled Yatra Guide – Outreach Village Initiative.
In addition to the two books, devotees have also published a DVD with 8 Video Interviews that they also presented to the leaders. IDVM-India plans to bring out the entire 53 Video Interviews in a book format before Gaura Purnima of 2017.
RESOLUTIONS PASSED AT LEADERSHIP MEETING IN INDIA
The Chairman of ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama Ministry in India, His Grace Gour Gopal, along with a few other representatives from the Ministry, made an official presentation at the bi-annual leadership meeting in Mayapur in December 2017 (IIAC, the ISKCON India Advisory Committee). As a result of their presentation, the spirit of the following proposal was passed:
“Whereas there is a need to have closer interaction between the national ministry IDVM-India and the different temple leaders in all four Divisional Councils,
“Whereas there is a need for each ISKCON temple in each Divisional Council to introduce an outreach program to the villages.
“Whereas the proposal passed by IIAC in 2016 requesting each temple to establish a department promoting sustainability and cow care can more easily be fulfilled if devotees and congregational members of each temple have more interaction with IDVM-India field workers involved in these outreach activities,
“Whereas there is a need to recruit individuals to assist the IDVM-India Ministry in its outreach to the villages and having such association/training would facilitate this,
Resolved:
“1) That each Divisional Council Chairman arrange for IDVM-India representatives to make an official presentation of its activities and progress in their respective Zonal Divisional Meeting once a year.
“2) That each Divisional Council Chairman encourage all the temples and projects in his zone to invite representatives of IDVM-India to make presentations at all the temples in their area and share their knowledge and expertize in village outreach programs.
“3) That each Divisional Council Chairman request all the temples in his division to print the pamphlet “Sustainability and Cow Culture” to help establish a department for such in their temples. In the pamphlet we will make special reference to the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign and its importance and relevance for each temple
CALENDAR PUBLISHED
A small team of dedicated devotees was successful in brining out the second calendar of IDVM-India promoting the ideals of varnasrama dharma with many attractive picture and quotes relating to cows and agrarian lifestyle. A special thanks especially to Subhananda Hari prabhu and Manjunath for their support and hard work.
FOCUS FOR YEAR 2017
The year 2017 will focus on two major areas in an attempt to bring the campaign to higher levels: 1) Global Membership Drive and 2) Global Varnasrama Colleges.
1 GLOBAL MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
In the early part of the year, the OM Sri Surabhi Campaign along with the Sustainable Eco Alliance (SEA.Inc.) will be launching its Global Membership Drive so that more people can become connected with the campaign thus increasing global awareness. Please visit our websites for more details.
2 GLOVAL VARNASRAMA COLLEGE
The year 2017 will strive to introduce the Global Varnasrama College both virtually and locally as well. The website www.Global-Varnasrama-College.com has been launched for this purpose.
KHADI WEAVING TRAINING (beginning mid-February, 2017)
The organizer for this program sent the following information:
“Inspired by the Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar yatra in Polkam Palli (November 27th) we are making an attempt to bring back our village technologies and cow protection which are an important part of the Varnasrama system.
We have started Cow based Natural Farming and a complete cloth making process for growing cotton to make cloth locally in Polkam Palli.
As part of this we are inviting Sri Narasimha Chari garu for training on Weaving Khadi. He has over 60 years of rich experience in weaving. He is currently 81 years old, but he is still enthusiastic in giving training.
This will be very helpful in our ISKCON farm communities. We can make the required arrangements:
Training Details:
- This will be free.
- Duration is for 2 months; devotees have to stay in Polkam Palli during this period.
- Accommodation is also available.
- Most important, we need only 2 devotees to start the training.
- This will start in mid-February, 2017.
For more information, please contact Anirudh Royyuru
WEEKEND VARNASRAMA RETREATS in SOUTH INDIA
His Grace Sri Rama das will be organizing Week-end Varnasrama Retreats covering various courses pertaining to organic farming, cow protection, panchagavya products and Panchagavya Treatment involving various experts in those areas. Devotee interested may contact him at sriramadas.brs@gmail.com
NATURAL FARMING AND COB BUILDING: SARANAGATI VILLAGE (CANADA)
A three to four months course will be offered at Saranagati Village under the guidance and supervision of HH Bhakti Raghava Swami and HG Bala Krishna das. Details of the free course will be posted in the early part of January 2017. The courses will begin in early spring. For more information, please write to bhakti.raghava.swami@pamho.net
NEW APP ON THE HORIZON
Both IDVM-India and Sustainable Eco Alliance (SEA.Inc.) will join forces to promote a Global Membership Drive by coming out with an App for that purpose. Devotees can look forward for the App to be launched sometime around Gaura Purnima, 2017 by visiting the following websites:
www.gloval-varnasrama-college.com
Respectfully Submitted:
RP Bhakti Raghava Swami
Minister: IDVM-India