“Srila Prabhupada Said…”
Friday Srimad Bhagavatam Class 12.28.12
(Please click on the link to the letter itself below the article.)
There was another enlivening Srimad Bhagavatam class this morning, the sixth Friday Srimad Bhagavatam class in a series of discussions of Srila Prabhupada’s letters about New Vrindavan. He Himself has said: “One must take advantage of the “vani” (the words of the spiritual master), not just the physical presence.” The mood of the classes is to extract the essence of Srila Prabhupada’s vision and instructions for New Vrindavan. It is clear that Srila Prabhupada wanted New Vrindavan to cultivate plain living and high thinking, in a lifestyle based on working the land, raising some cows and keeping Krsna in the center.
In a letter from Aug. 17, 1968, Srila Prabhupada said: “My idea of developing New Vrindaban is to create an atmosphere of spiritual life where people in bona fide order of social division…. will live there independently, completely depending on agricultural produce and milk from the cows.”
Another important aspect was that New Vrindavan is not to be just for the devotees, but for preaching and attracting people to Krsna. He said: “I am sure this Prasadam attraction will make our neighbors friendly and surely they will come in number in future so that New Vrindaban will be ideal place for visiting from the neighboring provinces, counties, I think so and it will be done nicely. “
Of course, New Vrindavan’s special feature is that it is not to be simply a spiritual, Krsna-based ecovillage but that Srila Prabhupada wanted 7 temples, like the original Vrindavan:“Also you will be pleased to note that I’ve asked Gaurasundara to make a layout of the whole land and I shall place 7 different temples in different situation, as prototype of Vrindaban.”
These letters about New Vrindavan serve to remind us that Srila Prabhupada’s direct words, “vani”, are very precious and that we are fortunate to have so much of His vani available to study and to relish. Hare Krsna.
The link to the Aug. 23 1968 letter is below:
