Submitted by: Damagosha Dasa
Hare Krsna–
Below Srila Prabhupada nicely explains how this Hare Krsna Movement ran on in the beginning days.
Nobody had a “job”-literally nobody– because Krsna supplied everything we needed. He explains this
is the business of the brahmanas-to preach, and then depend upon the Lord for whatever
we need. Brahmana by definition should be independent from all money making schemes or employments,
but there are some exceptions in times of emergency, which is exactly what we have in this kali yuga. And
one nice way to avoid the Kali yuga “rat race” is to grow ones own food, which typically brahmanas did at
their cottages/ashrams . Below we have some pictures of just such a scenario here at Sri Sri Gaura
Nitai Mandir
damaghosa das
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Melbourne May 20 1975
Prabhupāda: No. I am brāhmaṇa yes. Yes. But we are not… We do not recognize brāhmaṇa by birth. Brāhmaṇa by these qualities. Anyone who has got… This is the shastric injunction, that if the qualities are found somewhere else—that means one who is not born in a brāhmaṇa family but he has the qualities of the brāhmaṇa—then he should be accepted as a brāhmaṇa. That is shastric injunction. Yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ varṇābhivyañjakam, yad anyatrāpi. Anyatra means elsewhere. Tat tenaiva vinirdiśet [SB 7.11.35]. “He should be accepted as such.” Similarly, if a man, born in brāhmaṇa family but he has the qualities of the śūdras… Paricaryātmakaṁ kāryaṁ śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg. 18.44]. Paricarya means service. To accept… [break] So therefore, according to Bhagavad-gītā, nobody is brāhmaṇa. A brāhmaṇa should remain independent. He should live by his qualities. People will honor him. Just like we are training. We do not serve anyone, but we are maintaining big establishment.
This is brāhmaṇa. We do not serve anyone, any merchant, officer, any… No. We chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That’s all. If Kṛṣṇa wants, He will give us food, or we shall starve. We are not going to serve.(others) This is the proof. We are spending not less than twenty lakhs of rupees for maintaining our establishment throughout the whole world, but we do not know what is our next moment’s income. We do not know… We have eaten today. We do not know whether we shall have any eatable next day. This is our position. If it is available, we shall eat; otherwise we shall starve.
Below-what you see here, most of it, except for the rice, comes from our gardens out back-tomatoes, peas, radishes, salad greens, squash, potatoes, etc… So far Krsna has not made us starve !!!
5 long rows of pole beans next to some corn rows-and of course the ever present elk
deterrent system (motion detector, radio and light bulb-there are 10 of them)
This is our position. Still, I don’t seek any employment, “Give us some service to maintain our…” No, we don’t do that. We never do that. When I was alone, I was not doing that. I was living alone. I had no income, no friend, no shelter. Since I left my home, since 1954, I never cared for anyone maintaining me. And there was no resource, fixed income, nothing of the sort. I depended on Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, in the whole society we are feeding daily ten thousand men.
We have got about hundred centers. And we are maintained in Eu…, just like European, American standard, not vagabond standard. But still, we have no fixed income. Depend on Kṛṣṇa. If He wants, He will give us food; if He wants, we shall starve. This is brāhmaṇa, practical. And “Now I have got all degrees, and unless I get a good master, then I am street dog.” (Dr. Copeland laughs) That is śūdra. Without getting a master… Just like a street dog has no value unless he gets a good master. Then he can bark (Prabhupāda barks), “Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! I have got my master.” And if he doesn’t get a master, nobody cares for it, and he is lean and thin, here going, here going, that’s all. This is śūdra. He has no power to live independently. That is śūdra. “………..
Some conclusions-
Chanting Hare Krsna is meant to purify our consciousness which means we should eventually and totally depend on the Lord for providing us with the basic necessities. And if they don’t come, we still will chant Hare Krsna. Even if it means starving. Just like if there is some nuclear war, Srila Prabhupada told us to just sit down and chant the Holy Names and dont worry about anything else. For what else can you do, anyway? Better to be preparing ourselves for the death which will come to us all-war or not.
Brahmana means working just enough to keep body and soul together, that’s all. Not trying to amass some fortune for our so called temporary “family” . And the preferred overall way we should try to live as simply as possible is to grow our own food which translates into giving ourselves much more time to chant and serve Lord Krsna. This was the second phase of Srila Prabhupadas master plan to make the world Krsna Conscious. If you can grow your yearly food supply in three months time, then the rest of the year is basically “yours” to spend the time as you wish. You are free of the rat race and daily grind. This message both Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krsna repeats over and over again. Srila Prabhupada also says that if you chant Hare Krsna, then you become purified enough to want out of the rat race and go back to the country style of simple living and high thinking. I have sent these quotes out for years, and most of you have seen them several times. Basically it means giving up the pursuit of money from high paying city jobs, and learning how to live in a more simplistic way, which means, you become more healthy, happy and peaceful.
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das