Oxen and Garden Programs: Plans for Next Year

In September 2015, Nitai Chandra Das started his service as Eco-V's oxen and garden department manager. We are very happy to welcome Nitai Chandra to New Vrindaban. Before coming to New Vrindaban, Nitai Chandra and his family were located in San Diego area growing flowers, vegetable crops, and taking care of the cows for the surrounding temples. He is very knowledgable in his field and has exciting plans for the oxen and the garden programs in New Vrindaban. Below are some plans for this next year.

Oxen Program

Nitai Chandra and Chaitanya Bhagavat, residents of New Vrindaban, daily train the oxen; there are a total of 6 bulls being trained in teams: Hari and Priya, Manu and Nandi, and Ishan and Balaram. The bulls recently moved to Nandagram from Bahulavana to continue their training process. The Nandagram barn has a nice covered area which allows training of the oxen in all weather conditions The purpose of training the oxen is to use them for plowing the fields. But first, the oxen will develop their muscles by pulling bullock carts. When the oxen are well trained, Nitai Chandra plans to have bullock cart rides for the visiting pilgrims as well as a yearly parikrama around Govardhan Hill for Srila Prabhupada (a new festival in the works). Adding an oxen ride program will be a new and engaging element for visitors and will bring attention to the oxen program. "By next fall, the oxen should be ready to pull carts, and by the following season (2017), plow the fields." Nitai Chandra says. "When we train the bulls, plowing will be simple. It's a process that takes one step at a time.." When the Oxen are working on the field, the farming community Srila Prabhupada envisioned for New Vrindaban will begin to reveal itself. "Dharma the bull, needs to be engaged." Chaitanya Bhagavata explains. "Just like how Krsna takes care of the cows, Balarama takes care of the oxen. So Nitai Chandra and myself train the oxen and we expect others to come and help."

Garden Plans

Compared to past years, the garden plans for this coming season are more expansive. This upcoming year Eco-V will use two gardens specifically for the temple vegetables: the Valley Garden down by the big Eco-V barn and the Garden of 7 Gates. Although the Valley Garden has softer soil, the best of the two, all gardens are slightly rocky and clay-like due to the West Virginia climate. Therefore, Nitai Chandra plans to revive the soil for the gardens by planting cover crops such as dikon radishes, clover, wheat, vetch, and rye which help to break up and aerate the soil. In addition, crops such as tomatoes, green beans, eggplant, summer squash, peppers, bittermelon, okra, lokee, swiss chard, and turnips will be planted this spring for harvest season. Nitai Chandra will be using the Garden of 7 Gates mainly for the vegetables, and some flowers such as marigolds and carnations for Their Lordships. The Teaching Garden will be used completely for flowers, and the Valley Garden will be used to grow larger root crops such as potatoes, squashes, turnips and carrots. The flowers in the gardens will be planted by Mother Vidya and her crew for the pleasure of Their Lordships. By spring, the starters for the vegetable crops will be planted in green houses up at the 7 Gates Garden or behind Srila Prabhupada’s Palace.

Self-Sustainability & Greenhouses
Nitai Chandra: “The idea of being self-sustainable is that we work within ISKCON by trading and buying the foods we can and cannot grow from other ISKCON farms in America. This way we have our needs met within our society.” Ideally, we would like to see New Vrindaban producing grains, fruits and vegetables throughout the year for each season. Although we cannot do that completely, Nitai Chandra suggests that we eventually develop walipini, or pit greenhouses; essentially ground greenhouses which use the sun’s light, earth’s natural heat, and rocket (wood) stoves for warmth and proper plant energy in order to increase our sustainability as a community. For now, he plans to start by growing sustenance root crops such as potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, pumpkins and butternut squash in the valley garden this summer to store for the winter.

Working the Land
In the future, when there are proper facilities, Nitai Chandra plans to bring WWOOFers (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms participants) and devotee farmers to work on the land. The hope is there will be land all over New Vrindaban being worked on by those who keep sustainability and community close to their hearts.

Sarva Saksi das in autumn of 1974 New Vrindaban herding the cow, Rukmini.

Introducing Sarva Saksi Prabhu

Where did he grew up?: Saudi Arabia
Family: Wife, Vidhutama dd. Son, Sudarsan. Daughter, (n/a)
Initated by: Srila Prabhupada 1974
When did he meet the devotees?: Sarva Saksi first encountered a devotee while studying religion and philosophy in college in Santa Barbara 1973. A Sankirtan devotee stopped by his apartment one day distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. Sarva Saksi was familiar with the cover of the Gita [his roommate had a Bhagavad Gita poster on the front door] and was impressed by the title “AS IT IS”. He had encountered many philosophers giving their own interpretations of different scriptures in school and Srila Prabhupada’s certainty and direction was different and immediately attracted him.
How did he heard about NV?: One day in college, Sarva Saksi was wearing a pin with Krsna on the front and a woman stopped to talk and gave him some Back To Godhead magazines. One of the magazines had a picture inside with a man sitting underneath an apple tree reading the Bhagavad Gita in New Vrindaban. Being a bit restless in college, Sarva Saksi felt very attracted. He thought, “ Wow, I could go sit underneath that apple tree and read the Bhagavad Gita all day.”
When did he decide to come and stay in NV?: 1974, After researching about New Vrindaban community by visiting the devotees at the L.A. Temple, Sarva Sakti and his wife decided to go and study under Kirtanananda Swami and seek a life of devotion in New Vrindavan. Sarva Saksi sent a letter to his parents updating them on his recent plans… “I told my parents I had dropped out of college, got married, became a Hare Krishna, and moved to West Virginia..”
What kinds of services did he do?: “Kirtanananda Swami asked me ‘what can you do?’ and I told him I had built a greenhouse with my father before. So, he put me to work hanging dry wall with Sudanu and Lajavati. Days later, I met the cowherd men Ambarish and Taru which led me to herding cows.” When Sarva Saksi was not herding cows, he stayed busy cutting firewood, lining plumbing, and working large machinery with Varsana Maharaj. “Today Varsana Maharaj and I step out of the Palace doors, look around, and think ‘wow, we practically built this place.’”
What was his favorite service?:
Morning offering, Mangal arati, and working with large machinery.
What services does he do now?:
Sarva Saksi’s health has suffered in the past 10 years due to strenuous lifetime work. With 3 spinal surgeries and open-heart surgery, his life lately has been on the line. Still recovering, his work now involves chanting Hare Krsna and becoming more inspired by temple programs.
Any advice: "…I’m sure if we ate better food, or did some hatha yoga, that could’ve helped my health… " then "Chant at least 16 rounds a day - sometimes I meditate on a little baby Krsna dancing around on my tongue. The act of chanting purifies the soul. Srila Prabhupada said, ‘There is no other way, no other way, no other way than Harinam Sankirtan’. If you get up early, attend Mangal arti, morning program and the evening program, it’s like a broken record – it sticks in your head; so you can constantly meditate on Krsna this way throughout the day.”

Thank you Sarva Saksi. All Glories to your wonderful services.

All participants receive their certificates of achievement.

2nd Annual North American Pujari Seminar

On Friday, December 11th-13th, New Vrindaban hosted the 2nd Annual North American Pujari Training Seminar. Jayananda Das, originally from Virginia and Washington D.C., was the head teacher teaming up with Bala Nitai Das from Portand, OR, who volunteered as the lead demonstrator.

Balanitai Das demonstrates washing Gaura Nitai deities.
Jayananda Das is in charge of the deity worship department for the Mayapur Academy and is the North American Minister for Deity Worship. He has put together this seminar due to North America's high demand for pujari training. " Initially, the training was set up primarily for those offering service in our temples as first or second initiating devotees. This year, we were more open and relaxed to those who were recommended by temple authorities (bhaktas and bhaktins) as a way to encourage those interested in devotional service." Attendants represented over 9 temples in North America and 49 certificates were handed out at the final ceremony.

Jayananda Das explains basic principles of deity worship.
In the future, Jayananda Das plans to create another seminar focusing solely on deity dressing. "It is sometimes difficult to get participants to practice on their own what they learn in the seminar, so I plan to develop a course on deity dressing so devotees have a hands-on opportunity to practice dressing on the spot, making turbans, and learn basic art theory (what makes something pleasing to the eye)."

Malati dd gives out certificates of completion to participants.
What was surprising about the seminar, Jayananda mentions, is how attendees ranged from devotees who were just beginning their devotional service to devotees who had performed arati with Srila Prabhupada in the 70's. He noticed, there really was no conflict of interest. "We are always learning in devotional service.." he says. The 3rd pujari training course is still being scheduled and will most likely be next year in December in New Vrindaban.

Balanitai demonstrating as Jayananda das explains through powerpoint presentation

Srila Prabhupada:

“The exact adjustment is in Vaishnava philosophy, which is called Yukta Vairagya, means that we should simply accept the bare necessities of our material part of life, and try to save time for spiritual advancement. This should be the motto of New Vrindaban, if you at all develop it to the perfectional stage.”

Letter in Montreal 14 June, 1968

Lone Ones Jewelry Factory

Lone Ones finished bracelet on its way to be wrapped and shipped.

The “Lone Ones” jewelry factory has been a steady private business in New Vrindaban for more than 17 years. Managed by Devela Das (Leon Lane), who was one of the first Palace Gift Shop managers in New Vrindaban when the Palace first opened in 1979, the Lone Ones jewelry factory consists of about 12 workers who work daily with molds, plasters, metals and shining tools to produce fine sterling silver jewelry. Described as “a piece of art” amongst the Japanese, Lone Ones jewelry represents a “Los Angeles” style and is very much admired by the Japanese. This high demand in Japan makes Japan Lone Ones’ #1 customer and makes Lone Ones the 2nd most popular jewelry company in their country. “You really have to go to Japan to understand it. Our product is to Japan as Gucci and D&C is to America. It is very popular.”, Devela says. "Whenever I visit, I get swamped with questions and autograph requests. They want to know all about the Lone Ones factory hidden in West Virginia, U.S.A."

After the loss wax casting and casting stages, the jewelry is put in an assembly line to be cleaned up, polished, then pieced together.

Inside the workshop, Devela describes the history of the factory. Originally founded by Samba, the son of Srila Prabhupada disciple Hayagriva, Lone Ones jewelry factory used to be fully run by devotees. After their initial boom in the late 1990’s, they moved to Hawaii for 2 years to expand. They came back to New Vrindaban in 2000 where the business has stayed steady. Now, Samba has a design crew in Los Angeles while Devela deals with the manufacturing in New Vrindaban.

A Lone Ones pendant going through the finishing stage - half antiqued, half polished.

Devela mentions that he hopes in the future the factory will be a promising employment opportunity for responsible and accountable devotees who wish to live in the Dham. “In the past,” Devela noted “many devotees would tend to live a gypsi life, wanting to go to this festival and that festival, when, at the same time they had a full time job. Eventually, they could not maintain the job and moved elsewhere.” Devela mentioned how the up coming Village Association and Village Council can certainly help devotees and temple authorities inform one another about jobs and housing opportunities. In this way, local devotee owned businesses may have a chance to expand and benefit the community. New Vrindaban could become a village even better than it used to be.
http://beyondcool.net/en/brand/loneones.html

Back yard area: Stage and soundboard nook to left, nrsimha shrine in middle, and fire pit gazebo right.

Devela is also working on his own unique project in the backyard of the factory aiming to be finished by Kulimela, in June of 2016. The project is called "The Spirit Garden". Devela says he is creating this garden in order to provide a facility for the Village Association and as an outdoor music venue during the spring and summer months. The venue will include a Balaram Temple, Tibetan prayer wheels (a tribute to the Nepalese), a designated shrine for Lord Nrsimha, a fire pit gazebo, a large outdoor stage, a sound board nook and more... the potential has yet to be calculated. All glories to Devela Prabhu's service!

Visit Lone Ones site @ http://beyondcool.net/en/brand/loneones.html

Source: http://www.newvrindaban.com/newvrindaban/node/583