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prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām
jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho
yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat [Bg. 7.5]

[Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature.]

If we closely observe the situation in the world it is full of exploitation: the ‘haves’ exploiting ‘have-nots’, strong exploiting the weak, masculine gender exploiting the female gender, human species exploiting the lower species, powerful country exploiting the weaker countries, irreligion exploiting religion, cities exploiting villages, man exploiting environment, etc. The list of exploitation is vast and gets longer as the influence of kali-yuga progresses further. The history is also full with such exploitative stories.

One such village near Hyderabad is Veerannapet. It has a post-independence history of brutalities and atrocities committed by the rulers on the general people. This village is dominated by a caste known as “mudiraj” empowered to protect forests, water resources, land, etc., primarily ksatriya community. The village is primarily agriculture-based and has a history of cultivation of traditional rain-fed crops like millet, sorghum, pulses. Other occupations that exist here is also supportive of cultivation, comprising of carpentry, black-smithy, gold-smithy, cobbler, etc. This village also had a culture of “Pandava-sena” who visited the village in the early morning singing glories of the “Pandavas”. This goes on for six months and at the time of harvest they visit the farmers to collect their share of grains to support their livelihood. Pottery and weaving was also practiced. On the whole, the village was more or less self-sufficient for its various requirements.

Due to the history of discrimination imposed on the village, a majority of the people took to “naxilism”, an aggressive form of “communism”. The village had many prominent leaders who actively took part in the movement. Now this movement is on the wane in this area. The village also has a history of bio-diversity for rain-fed crops. This has now been replaced with commercial crops primarily dominated by Bt. Cotton The advent of roads, power, communication facilities saw a fast degradation of the culture of the village. The younger generation is moving to cities to escape from the “harsh environment of the village”.

It is in these critical times in the history of village that the Sri Govinda Gau Gram Prachar Yatra entered the village through the bus-party on December 25, 2015. Veerannapet happened to be the 36th village of the Yatra. This phase of the yatra was organized by HG Jananivas prabhu. A few years ago HH RP Bhakti Raghava Swami had also visited the village and probably sown the seeds of change! The devotees met Mr. Srinivas, village Sarpanch, who welcomed the Yatra wholeheartedly. He made arrangements for the evening program. In the meantime, Mr. Salim from the City-cable recorded a video interview with the devotees comprising of Jananivas prabhu, Gourgopal prabhu, and Ram Lakshman prabhu. The video interview lasted for 45 minutes covering various aspects of agriculture, soil fertility, environment degradation, onslaught on the character of individuals and lastly the important topic of Mother Cow not getting its due protection. He said cow protection leads to improved soil fertility, with improved soil fertility comes healthy crops, from healthy crops come healthy living beings, thus raising quality of “goodness” in the living beings. The interview was shown on prime-time in the village. The interview also touched on sva-dharma of caring for Mother Cow, Motherland and Mother nature. As the interview was being recorded on a cross-road in the village, about 150 farmers from the village also had a chance to hear on these subjects. He also spoke on how “seeds” have become a contentious issue with a huge price being fixed by the seed companies. HG Jananivas could relate to the farmers on a different plane of providing seeds of traditional crops, especially suited for their climate zone. The villagers thus immediately identified themselves with the Yatra members as their “well-wishers” and became more attentive. He also said that there is a proposal to setup a seed bank near the village and demonstrate the resilience of the traditional crops vis-a-vis the commercial crops and hybrid seeds, organizing training programs and live demonstration of some traditional practices. Since the generation which had access to the traditional crops and technologies still exists, they could easily relate to whatever was being said. Later Mr. Salim was presented with a copy of Bhagavad-gita which he readily accepted. In a short time, he could realize the “mission” was in the village to “give” and not “take” as is generally the case.

Before the start of the program some devotees comprising of Sripati prabhu, Satya Madhav prabhu and Rasa Mandal prabhu traveling from the city joined the Yatra team. They were received with cheering and a good round ofprasadam comprising alubonda and mirchi bhajjies prepared by the Yatra cook Gajendra prabhu.

The village “drummer” haling from the village, as is the Yatra practice, announced of the evening program by visiting every street in the village. The gau-puja could not be performed due to absence of local breed of cows. However, there was a nagar-sankirtan for almost forty-five minutes and came back to the program venue on the cross-road. The program in this part of the Yatra was always kept in places where maximum number of people gathered in the evenings after their days’ work. This mostly happened to be a cross-road. Some carpets were laid on the road for the comfort of the villagers. In spite of chilly weather open to sky, the number of people gathered for the program was reasonably well—around 250 members. The Bhagvad-gita pravachan was given by HG Satyamadhav prabhu. He spoke on the subject of āhāra–nidrā–bhaya-maithunaṁ ca / sāmānyam etat paśubhir narāṇām /dharmo hi teṣām adhikoviśeṣo // dharmeṇa hīnāḥ paśubhiḥ samānāḥ

Though most of the people were drunk after hard-day’s work, the devotees always maintained a positive attitude in most of such situations. They wanted to be just instruments in the hands of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga and not mindful of the results.   HG Jananivas prabhu narrated an easily relatable story from Mahabharat of a conversation between Yudhistra maharaj and his brother Bheem in the local dialect. He also spoke about the need for revival of traditional seeds which suited the region, about the shift from commercial to food grain cultivation and traditional agriculture based on natural manure derived from cow dung, use of natural pesticides, etc. The screening of the two documentaries brought the reality of situation right in front of their eyes not leaving much to their imagination. It was hard to believe that the people, who were completely under the influence of alcohol shed tears of repentance on hearing the agony of Mother Cow on being slaughtered. They agreed to take to traditional methods of farming, using bull and cow dung.

It was time for the program to draw to a close by kirtan and the youngest devotee Bhakta Nishkinchan took the mike and chanted the mahamantra to the consternation of the on-lookers. Ram Lakshman prabhu organized theprasadam distribution; 250-300 prasadam plates were distributed. Even in very difficult places the devotees distributed about 12 maha-books and about 50 small books.

It was observed that the Yatra undertaken by IDVM-India was also able to relate to the villagers, to the Holy Name, philosophy, and a level which is very prominent in their bodily consciousness i.e., means of livelihood, sustainability of land fertility and other resources, traditional technologies, traditional life-style, traditional crops, traditional foods, etc. This preaching approach was able to touch the lives of more suffering masses easily who otherwise were just nowhere near to “satvaguna”, so essential for taking up spiritual activity.

Due to a long history of exploitation they found some solace from the Yatra. Then the devotees tried to touch on core aspects of fulfilling their material-needs dovetailed with spiritual progress in a subtle way. This class of people though in “tamoguna”, are better than those in cities who get intoxicated because they do not know how to use their wealth. The villagers though used to degrading life-style are willing to accept “instructions” from the brahmanas andkastriyas if administered with care and love.

The only way the exploitation existing in the material world can be stopped is by surrendering to the “Supreme-exploiter” and “Supreme-plunderer” Lord Sri Krsna by voluntarily taking to devotional service. The only qualification required, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, “isms”, etc., is to just voluntarily become the “exploited” class on a spiritual plane. The Yatra intends to achieve this result though faced with massive challenges.

Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!

Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra ki Jai!!

Source: http://www.iskconvarnasrama.com/home/yayeda%E1%B9%81-dharyate-jagat-36th-day-prachar-yatra-report/