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By: HG Vishnurata das
“Cow and Farmer Organisation” invited a team of OM Sri Surabhi Campaign – Global members consisting of (Madhava Prabhu, Rama Lakshman Das, Rasamandala Das, Vasudama Das, Dr. Sreekumar prabhu and Dr Sreekala mataji ) to visit Singapore and share knowledge on “Regenerative Agriculture ” using principles of holistic management.
We reached Singapore on 19th morning and Mr. Siva Prasad Prabhu made good arrangements for our stay, prasadam, etc. Our first visit in Singapore was to Madam Evelyn’s farm. She connected to the land when she was in her 30’s to lead a sustainable farm life. She welcomed the team members with a soft drink prepared of Fig tree’s dry leaves; it was very tasty. She shared her experiences how by trial and error she started doing this project, which gave her so many experiences and gaining knowledge on farming. She was inspired to do permaculture and shared her wisdom with others also. Even at the age of 70, she is happy living in the farm, growing vegetables and fruits. She mainly understood the relationship between organisms in an ecosystem giving equal importance to livestock and welfare. She explained about her farm showing us different plants and trees like wild Ginger, Noni, Starfruit, Coccinia, Brinjal, Drumstick, Papaya, Figs, and many other herbs. There is abundance of weeds and she understood the need of it and its contribution in her farm. She also built a pond to conserve water. While touring we found an abandoned tractor almost covered with plants and bushes which was bought when she started farming. Madam Evelyn realized the importance of “no till farming”, because by tilling with tractor she is destroying so many organisms which are otherwise beneficial. She now knows that there is a zoo underneath the soil by her own practical knowledge and learned how not to use machines while practicing permaculture farming. Dr Sreekumar brought the refractometer to check the nutrition value of the fruit, vegetables, etc. The participants very curiously looked at the Brix index of the various varieties for the first time. The team complimented her on her efforts and she blushed when she was told she was doing the Will of God in her efforts to conserve nature.
Later in the evening we attended the Damodara arati at Krishna Smarana Society, a devotee congregation preaching center. Madhava Prabhu delivered a short lecture on Bhagavad Gita. He shared with attendees the upcoming event on next day on Holistic Management. We showed to the congregation a couple of videos on introduction to holistic management and Mayapur gurukula. The program ended with delicious and sumptuous prasadam.
On 20th morning Cow and Farming organization had set up registration table and displayed few posters inside the seminar hall about Holistic farming and cow care. The venue was well setup and the ambience was perfect. The session started with the lighting of lamp with invocation mantras and Dr Sreekala chanted mantras glorifying Mother Surabhi. The organizers invited the speakers on the dais with garland. The audience consisting of about 155 participants attentively participated in the proceedings.
Dr. Sreekumar narrated about their journey to holistic farming and cow care. Dr. Sreekumar shared his experience of treating cattle with homeopathic medicines which is safe in contrast to allopathic medicine which has adverse side effect on quality of milk including its production. The consumers of that milk will also have ill effects of the antibiotics given to cattle.
He shared a beautiful story of a group of five monkeys in cage with banana placed on ladder. The moral of the story shows how people blindly follow tradition and paradigms that were passed over the years with incomplete knowledge leading to unintended results. He quoted from Srimad Bhagavatam and Rig Veda elaborating on what is the function and utilities of cows, how to care for them and what would be the adverse effects if neglected. He also covered on the consequences of dung based farming, which will result in pest attack and cow based farming hardly has pest attacks. He clearly explained the relationship between cow and land, what is the function and utility of cow. He further shared that every living entity have their functions to perform on this Earth, with this concept the regenerative agriculture evolved. This has five principles – least disturbance, living root system, soil armor, animal integration, increased biodiversity. Dr Sreekumar explained the topics with examples. The session followed with an interactive question and answer session.
HG Madav Prabhu’s topic was on Art of Decision Making and why farm projects are failing. He started with the three terms- fast, good and cheap. This is the situation in which the present world is running around. Holistic management is a framework for making deeply sound decisions in tangible sense of honoring the whole situation, minimizing unintended negative consequences, and taking you where you want to go.
One has to think as a whole and not in parts. Every whole has parts. Everything in this world is complete. Madhava Prabhu was quoting the sloka from Isopanishad “purna idam purna adah….” Since environment has different parts like air, water, soil, etc., one cannot have better quality partly. One should clearly look for long term versus short term quality of life.
Holistic Management in agriculture results in the regeneration of soils, increased productivity and biological diversity, as well as economic and social well-being. Through this Madhava Prabhu also made everyone understand that Holistic Management uses decision-making and planning processes that give people the insights and management tools needed to work with the web of complexity that exists in nature; resulting in better, more informed decisions that balance social, environmental, and financial considerations.
Dr Seeekala mataji spoke on the real potential of milk and its function, composition of milk, etc Mataji was showing the difference between the weight gain of human baby and calf. Cows produce milk for its calf to ensure good health, calf should be with its mother for a minimum of 12 hrs. She gave guidelines for milking. She further explained what happens if calf and cow are tied apart.
After this session there was a lunch break in which delicious prasadam was served cooked with organic ingredients.
Post lunch the session started with the topics of Ecosystem literacy, utility and function of Cows, shelter for cows and planning a regenerative farming. This session ended with interactions and lot of questions and answers. The participants were very much enthusiastic and cleared many of their doubts.
The one day workshop was organized by combined efforts of “Om Sri Surabhi campaign – Global” and “Cow and Farmer Organization” Singapore.
HG Ramalakshman Prabhu was compering the whole program, interacting with participants and grabbing their attention.
The whole program went successfully. Everyone was interested in the subject as it relates to their quality of life and look forward for many such workshops at their place.
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