Co-operation is the key to success
“Co-operation”
(Final discussion of Srila Prabhupada’s Letter from June 14, 1968 to Hayagriva and introduction to Aug. 17, 1968 letter.)
An interesting question was brought up at the beginning of today’s S.B. class about something that Srila Prabhupada said. He mentioned that “The New Vrindaban idea is that persons who live there will accept the bare necessities of life to maintain the body and soul together and the major part of time should be engaged in development of Krishna Consciousness.”
The question that came up was if we are to live a self-sufficient, self-sustaining life by working hard to make our own clothing, our own furniture, along with maintaining our own gardens and milking our own cows, etc etc, then that survival type of life takes up so much time that how will we ever be able to spend “the major part of time… engaged in development of Krishna Consciousness”?
A lively discussion ensued, covering many possibilities of how this can be accomplished under the theme of “Co-operation”. One person mentioned if we become “das, das, anudas” and listen to each other, then this will help foster co-operation. Another devotee talked about how if each person works according to his/her propensity, and there is an exchange of this kind of work, this will foster co-operation.
Another idea was that living this simple, yet hard-working lifestyle will lead us to appreciate, first hand, how Krsna provides for us so nicely.
Someone once asked an Amish gentleman why they don’t use mechanization and big machines for their farms so they can get things done more quickly and efficiently. The Amish man replied that first of all, getting more done more quickly can tend to generate more greed in a person. Secondly, he is able to associate closely with, and appreciate, his fellow workers when they work shoulder to shoulder with the animals and with each other, whereas the machines keep each of them working alone.
From a devotee’s point of view, these kinds of loving, personal relationships are needed to attract Krsna.
Everyone is invited to next Friday’s S.B. class when we will move on to the next letter from Srila Prabhupada about N.V. from Aug. 23, 1968.
Hare Krsna.
