Prabhupāda Directs His Disciples to Develop Farm Communities Based on Self-sufficiency
Establishing rural farm projects is a central pillar of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Śrīla Prabhupāda directs his disciples to develop self-sufficient communities where devotees produce their own food grains, milk, and cloth. By rejecting dependence on hellish factories and complex machinery, practitioners save valuable time and energy for the primary business of chanting and preaching. He envisions these independent centers as perfect examples for the rest of the world, demonstrating how human society can live peacefully without economic anxiety. Furthermore, he trains his followers to be financially competent in all local matters, ensuring the global movement remains strong, decentralized, and entirely focused on pure devotional service.
Establishing Agricultural Centers
To secure the physical needs of the society, Śrīla Prabhupāda explicitly instructs his followers to acquire land and establish self-sufficient farm projects like those in Māyāpur and New Vrindaban. By producing their own food grains, vegetables, fruits, and cloth locally, these rural communities become entirely independent. This agrarian lifestyle guarantees that devotees have ample provisions to maintain themselves and distribute pure prasādam to the masses without anxiety.
- I want that Mayapur be self-sufficient by having its own production of grains, vegetables, fruits and milk products etc., to the extent that you will be able to feed at least 500 men daily.
- 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.
- I wish the temple community to be self-sufficient by producing their own food grains.
- You have got sufficient space. Produce flowers, fruits, vegetables and grains in ample quantities. We should be fully self-sufficient. I like New Mayapur very much.
Rejecting Hellish Factories
Modern civilization forces humanity to work tirelessly in grueling industrial conditions just to maintain basic survival. To rescue his followers from this trap, Śrīla Prabhupāda advises them to adjust to a natural way of life that is completely free from an absolute dependence on machines and electricity. By raising their own foodstuffs and protecting cows, devotees easily bypass the artificial economic problems created by urban factories.
- 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.
- As far as possible try to adjust to a natural way of life free from dependence on machines.
- There is no objection to using electricity. But we should not be dependent upon it.
- It is not that we don't touch machine. We don't say like that. But we want to be self-sufficient. That is our point.
Decentralization and Independence
A robust global movement requires local competence rather than heavy, centralized management. From the very beginning, Śrīla Prabhupāda planned for every temple to remain financially independent, firmly rejecting the dangerous idea that one center should constantly subsidize another. He expects local leaders to train their men to be highly competent, ensuring that each community can fully support its own preaching work without traveling hundreds of miles for resources.
- Each temple must remain independent and self-sufficient. That was my plan from the very beginning.
- I never wanted that any of my temples shall be dependent upon the other temples; rather, our main business is to train up men to be self-sufficient and competent in many ways to carry on the preaching work.
- 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.
- I want that New Vrindaban should be completely self-sufficient for this ghee production, not that the Society should have to subsidize New Vrindaban for nothing. No, you make only pure ghee, as much as possible, and ship to all our centers.
Demonstrating the Ideal Lifestyle
The development of agrarian communities is not merely for the physical survival of the devotees, but to serve as a glaring example to a suffering world. Śrīla Prabhupāda wants society to practically see that highly cultured individuals can live peacefully and successfully without constant, frantic urban movement. By establishing this Vedic standard of living, the centers prove that anyone can easily maintain their life while remaining fully absorbed in spiritual consciousness.
- I want the world to see by our example that life can be lived naturally, peacefully if one is self sufficient with land, some cows and chanting Hare Krishna. That is the idea of purchasing land.
- Be self-sufficient so that these rascals may see that how one can live very peacefully, eating the food grains and milk, and chant Hare Krsna. This is our mission.
- You live locally, and be self-sufficient. They will see that it is possible to live locally without movement, and still highly cultured men, self-sufficient. That is required.
- 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.
Saving Time for Spiritual Life
The ultimate purpose behind economic independence is to secure maximum time for spiritual advancement. Śrīla Prabhupāda constantly emphasizes that when basic necessities like food, milk, and cloth are easily managed locally, the daily struggle for existence practically disappears. With no looming economic problems, devotees can dedicate all their saved time and energy entirely to chanting the holy names and distributing transcendental knowledge.
- 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.
- There is no economic problem. We can produce our own food and clothes, gradually, and save time for spiritual life.
- 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.
- Everyone should be engaged in Krsna consciousness, then life is successful. And self-sufficient. If we have got spoiling living program, these are necessities.
Conclusion
The establishment of independent farm communities offers a profound solution to the anxieties of modern industrial life. By teaching his followers to produce their own necessities from the land and protect the cows, Śrīla Prabhupāda ensures that the movement remains untangled from complex societal dependencies. This decentralized, natural way of living perfectly equips the devotees to focus all their energy on their true mission of spiritual realization and global preaching.
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 Our Self-sufficiency (Disciples of SP). We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience the teachings in their direct, verbatim form.