How Prabhupāda Trains His Disciples to Produce Their Own Food and Milk
To present a perfect alternative to the artificial, industrialized modern society, Śrīla Prabhupāda envisioned a worldwide network of self-sufficient spiritual communities. He meticulously trained his disciples to step away from the hellish factories and instead depend on the land and the cows for their bodily maintenance. By demonstrating the Vedic standard of simple agrarian life, he proved that anyone can solve their economic problems while saving immense time to focus purely on Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The Principle of Plain Living and High Thinking
Modern civilization mistakenly equates advanced technology and urban luxury with success, but this artificial lifestyle simply entangles the soul in unnecessary anxieties. In direct contrast, Śrīla Prabhupāda urged his followers to adopt the timeless Vedic model of plain living and high thinking. He instructed them to leave the congested towns, live in open spaces, and be satisfied with the simple necessities of life so that their minds could remain peaceful and fixed on the Supreme Lord.
- Improve this mode of life. Live in open place, produce your food grain, produce your milk, save time, chant Hare Krsna. Plain living, high thinking - ideal life.
- Produce your own food and produce your own cloth. Don't waste time for luxury, and chant Hare Krsna. This is success of life.
- Read our books, chant Hare Krsna, live very simple life, produce your own necessities. Don't go to the town.
- The idea is that people can be self sufficient and raise their own foodstuffs and have sufficient milk to save time and chant Hare Krishna. Why should they work so hard in the hellish factories? Let everyone live simply and be Krsna conscious.
Achieving Absolute Economic Independence
A society that depends on distant factories and massive supply chains for its daily bread is inherently unstable and spiritually distracted. To protect the movement from such dangerous drawbacks, Śrīla Prabhupāda demanded that his disciples strive for absolute self-sufficiency. By utilizing local land to grow their own food grains, vegetables, and weaving their own cloth, the devotees could completely eliminate the threat of poverty and maintain total independence from the mundane economy.
- For plain living we must have sufficient land for raising crops and pasturing grounds for the cows. If there is sufficient grains and production of milk, then the whole economic problem is solved.
- Now, we should have self-sufficiency. This means to make our own food grains grow and to weave our own cloth - like in Mayapur. If we have food grains, milk, and cloth life becomes easy and we can save time for preaching and chanting.
- My idea is that all our centers should be self-supported. We do not like that idea that for your support you have to go 100 miles to get your bread. That is a very dangerous drawback. You produce your food locally and then support yourself.
- Our farm projects are an extremely important part of our movement. We must become self-sufficient by growing our own grains and producing our own milk, then there will be no question of poverty.
The Miracle of Cow Protection
At the very heart of any successful spiritual farm community is the uncompromising commitment to cow protection. According to the system of kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyam, Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that cows must be completely safe from slaughter and fear. When these gentle animals know they are protected and loved by the devotees, they reciprocate by miraculously delivering vast, extra quantities of milk, which provides all the necessary nutrition for the entire society.
- Milk is miracle food. And we are practically experiencing in our farms that if the cows are protected nicely, they can supply immense milk. We are getting in our farms, extra milk.
- In our New Vrindaban, because the cows feel very safe, they give us sufficient milk. That is our experience. So you keep things in order according to the Vedic injunction, you get sufficient food.
- We have practical experience in America that in our various ISKCON farms we are giving proper protection to the cows and receiving more than enough milk. In other farms the cows do not deliver as much milk as in our farms.
- We say protect cow from economic point of view, krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam. Without saving cows you cannot get good food. Not from the animal point of view. You require milk and milk preparation.
Establishing International Agrarian Communities
The vision for these self-sufficient farms was not limited to a single location; it was meant to be a global revolution in human lifestyle. From America to Europe and India, Śrīla Prabhupāda actively established massive agricultural projects and rural cities based on Vedic culture. He wanted every major temple to be supported by an affiliated farm, providing perfect spiritual engagements for gṛhasthas to protect cows, produce ghee, and supply fresh ingredients for distribution.
- I am now organizing in Europe and America many farm lands so that my devotees can live there peacefully, grow their own foodstuffs, produce cloth, and save time for chanting Hare Krishna.
- We are developing a plan to be self-sufficient. Namely, to produce our food grains, maintain cows, for drinking milk, and weave cloth for garments. We have plans for erecting a magnificent international city based on this Vedic culture.
- Yes, this supplying of milk to the temple is wanted. Thank you. In the way that Atlanta is doing, every center must have a farm so we can get all milk and if possible vegetable, even fruit, flowers and milk.
- The proposed farm project in northern California is approved by me. Such projects as well as constructing temples, protecting cows, gathering milk, then making ghee, then opening Hare Krishna Restaurants are all good programs for grhasthas.
Saving Time for Spiritual Advancement
The ultimate goal of growing food and protecting cows is not merely to achieve mundane agricultural success or comfortable physical survival. The real motive, Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasized, is to minimize the grueling labor required to maintain the material body. By solving all economic problems easily through nature's bounty, the devotees save their most valuable asset—time—which they can then completely dedicate to chanting the holy names and advancing in pure devotional service.
- As we are doing in Mayapur and many other places, I want to develop self-sufficient centers with cloth and food production by the devotees locally and save time as much as possible to devote themselves to chant Hare Krishna.
- Our only motive is how to interest people in Krsna consciousness. That's all. There is no economic problem. We can produce our own food and clothes, gradually, and save time for spiritual life.
- You have got this land; develop it. Don't go away. Develop it. That is my instruction. Keep cows, as many cows as possible. You don't require practice. Produce your own food, own milk - save time; chant Hare Krsna. This is perfect.
- You get from all the farms all your necessities, then it will be successful. Fodder, milk, grains, vegetables, and animals and man will be satisfied, and you can chant Hare Krishna. No unnecessary cow killing, and no unnecessary needs of the body.
Conclusion
Through the establishment of self-sufficient farms, Śrīla Prabhupāda provided a practical sanctuary for his followers to escape the madness of the modern world. By living simply, protecting the cows, and depending on the natural gifts of the earth, his disciples are able to demonstrate a perfect, peaceful lifestyle. This agrarian model ultimately ensures that all their time and energy can be utilized for the highest goal of returning back to Godhead.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Producing Our Milk (Disciples of SP). We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.