

VEDIC VILLAGE REVIEW # 32
January 20, 2014. Adventures in New Jaipur, Prabhupadanuga Farm in Fiji
MACHINE CIVILIZATION
A lot of the challenge involved in becoming basically self-sufficient within our own locality has to do with becoming free of dependency on machines. Machines have become deeply entrenched in modern civilization. Ordinary tasks such as cutting nose hairs, doing an enema, house painting, cooking lunch, drying wet laundry, growing food, polishing shoes, or just about anything- all have a machine to make it better and easier. Supposedly. This kind of culture (advanced civilization?) has come about only in the last century, and the trend is accelerating towards total automation and mechanization. Next will be household robots… I took an inventory of what we have here in New Jaipur, and it is a long list:
Kobelco excavator (7 ton), two track dumpers (2 ton), 46 hp farm tractor, 60 hp Yamaha 4 stroke outboard boat motor, Toyota pickup, 18 kva diesel generator, 5 kva diesel generator, solar power system with invertors/lights/photovoltaic panels/ batteries; bench planer, bench saw, variety of hand tools like circular saws and drills, washing machine, computers, gas stove, electric fans, DVD player and monitor, refrigerators (2), spice grinder, blender, juicer, cellphones, concrete mixer, pressure washer, air compressor, welder, five chainsaws, CD and DVD players, vacuum cleaner, three “zipper” grasscutters, etc. Fuesl required: diesel, gasoline, oil, natural gas, or electricity.
Hmmmm. We are definitely “machined-in.” No need for any machinations or debate on that. Let’s see what Srila Prabhupada said about machines on his visit to the New Talavan farm in Mississippi, USA: