Prabhupäda: We have experimented in Bengal, and here also, he is also going, sankirtana party. But he could not do it in a large scale for want of facilities. And in foreign countries these boys are so sacrificing spirit, as soon as we give him some program, immediately they make arrangement. Immediately. We are going village to village with books in buses. Hundreds of buses are working.
Meeting with MP, Mr. Krishna Modi — August 31, 1976, Delhi
On December 22, 2015, the Yatra bus reached the village by the name of Mustiyala at 2 in the evening. This village had played a key role in the history of peasant revolution against the oppressive landlords in 1946. This movement had spread to other neighbouring districts covering 4,000 villages, which ultimately led to reformation in land acquisition law and distribution of 10,000 acres of agricultural land to landless peasants. Mustiyala village still depends a lot on agriculture and traditional technologies.
One Venugopal Swamy temple, which is more than 1200 years old was chosen as the center of activities for the day. One pious brahmana family serves the presiding Lordship of Venugopal Swamy selflessly without any support from the temple committee. They live in a humble hut in an impoverished state but there spirit is inspiring. The lady of the house, the old Brahmana woman invited the devotees to her house. Seeing their state, the devotees offered some token money on some pretext. But she rejected it outrightly saying, “I want to serve Vaishnavas. How can I accept any money from them?” On the other hand, she requested the devotees to accept simple prasadam at her house. Seeing their house, the devotees could easily guess how difficult it would be for her to procure grains for them. The devotees decently refused the proposal but she would not let anyone leave her house without accepting anything. Finally, they took water and left her house. Though the devotees had left but the old woman’s humility, simplicity, faith in the Lord, desire to serve the vaishnavas, hospitality, contentment and selfless attitude were still playing on everyone’s mind. There was not one who was not impressed and inspired by her. How rich is Bharatvarsha’s heritage!
This brahmana’s family was like an oasis in the desert. The rest of the village was completely steeped in rajasic andtamasic activities. These spirits were so dominant that almost all the villagers were used to drinking wine and taking meat. Even during our programme, there was none who was not under the influence of liquor. Jananivas prabhu who hails from a nearby village, was familiar with the conditions prevailing there. He jovially challenged the book distribution team – “In this village you cannot distribute a single Bhagavad-gita. One copy is equal to distributing one hundred copies. No one is interested in shastras. Their interest lies elsewhere. I challenge if you can be successful with distributing even one copy. If you do, I will host a party from my side.”
In the meanwhile, many village children had surrounded the Yatra bus and were trying to peep in curiously. On seeing the devotees near the bus, they surrounded them barraging all kinds of questions. The devotees patiently answered all their queries telling them about ISKCON and mahamantra.
Suddenly one drunkard man, in a fully inebriated state came and asked, “Why have you all come to my village?”
The devotees were immediately reminded of Srila Prabhupada, his sacrifice and challenges while preaching in the western countries, especially in the early days. Thinking of him, they coolly answered, “We have come to your village to give something valuable, not take anything from you.”
He was silenced and slowly left the place. The clock was ticking. It was soon 6 o’clock. Two devotees, Jananivas prabhu and Gour Gopal prabhu sat on a two-wheeler and began announcing the invitation to participate in the evening programme and its venue to each and every villager. At 6:30 pm, Gau Puja and arati to Mother Cow was performed. After doing pradakshina, Gour Gopal prabhu led the kirtan beginning with Shikshastakam, invoking blessing of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in spreading His Holy Name in every town and village. Soon after this the devotees were once again out on the streets singing His Holy Name for the benefit of all the entities. With a troop of kids moving along the devotees finally reached the venue – Sri Venugopal Swamy temple for the programme. But there was no grown up present. All the villagers watched from a distance, not daring to come near. They appeared like children, curious yet not bold enough to explore.
The devotees did not show any disconsternation and continued with their activities in a normal way. Understanding their psychology, they first took out the projector and began arranging the screen, a small announcement was also made for a video show. This was enough to encourage the villagers to break all barriers to come nearer and sit for the programme. Within a short while there were more than 250 people sitting anxiously. They watched every move of the devotees and waited. Almost 90 percent of them were fully drunk. They were the same people who appeared sane and decent during daytime, but now by evening after having consumed liquor they had totally changed – Dr. Jekyll and Hyde. Their two personalities were so different and opposed to each other.
They were simple and innocent but under the influence of alcohol they behaved abnormally. The devotees felt a wave of sympathy for these simple souls. Thinking of them, Gour Gopal prabhu again started an electrifying kirtan, its pace forced them to chant unconsciously. Soon they got up and began clapping and dancing like young energetic children to the kirtan. It went on for about half an hour, with all of them enjoying.
Now it was time for some serious talk. Jananivas prabhu took the mic and began in their typical slang address. Everyone could immediately relate to him. Beginning with the introduction of the devotees, he spoke about thejanma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi – the four eternal problems of material life for every living entity and how one could escape from them by taking the shelter of Holy Name which otherwise are ineluctable. The village sarpanch, Sri Nageshwar shared his experience with ISKCON as he had once been to one ISKCON center many years ago as a child. Everyone was totally absorbed in the talk. Taking advantage of their attention, slowly Jananivas prabhu swerved the subject to farming and mother cow. He told them about Krishi Go Raksha Sangha and samskar patra. Then he screened two documentary movies Go Vaibhavam (Glories of Mother Cow) and second one on advantages of millet farming and its usage in our regular diet. These were eye-openers for them and they spoke decently trying to enquire more on the subject.
The evening programe was coming to a conclusion, Gour Gopal prabhu’s kirtan services were again pressed into action. He led the arati for Lord Jagannath-Baldev-Subhadra mai, which was followed by prasadam distribution. Little book distribution was also successfully done. Sripati prabhu had accepted Jananivas prabhu’s open challenge to distribute Bhagavad-gita in that village. He had taken it upon himself to prove Srila Prabhupada’s words more powerful than villagers’ commitment to indulgence in tamas or ignorance. He beamed with joy. He had been able to distribute 11 mahabooks, including 6 Bhagavad-gita. The unique joy of participating in the transcendental competition and winning is that in either situation one wins. Jananivas prabhu had won the challenge even in his ‘loss’. He jubilantly accepted the defeat and promised to host a party for every Yatra devotee.
Srila Prabhupada’s ‘proud’ words about his spiritual children (disciples) who were working hard, preaching and distributing books – We are going village to village with books in buses. Hundreds of buses are working – were true in this context of Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra. Fulfilling the acarya’s desire with the blessings of Sri Guru and Minister, ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama Ministry – India, HH Bhakti Raghava Swami they were inching towards offering a garland of 108 villages to Srila Prabhupada on the occasion of his ISKCON’s golden jubilee celebrations.
One village Communist party leader, Sri Bhumaiah of 1971 batch who had till then been hearing and seeing everything very patiently got up and began appreciating the devotees for their endeavour in reviving the traditional method of cow-based economy and agrarian practices. He openly lent his support to the cause of Mother Cow for the moment and even in future. Was his love for cows and farming setting the scene for another revolution, this time spiritual revolution in the village? Only time held answers to these questions.
Om Sri Surabhyai Namah!
Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!!
Source: http://www.iskconvarnasrama.com/home/agrarian-revolution-paving-way-for-spiritual-revolution/
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