Projects

 

 

This website is meant to be a clearinghouse of all things Varnashrama, stimulating and inspiring devotees from all over the world to consider the journey of launching similar initiatives towards a Global Varnashrama Revolution.     

One of the ways we intend to achieve this goal is to connect and network between those wanting to start their own community with those who have already begun who are willing to share what they have learned along the way.     

If you fit this description, either as a beginner or a seasoned veteran, we’d love to help promote your initiative on our website.     

We begin the list with our own Varnashrama Resource Center located in NandiGram, Sridham Mayapur. It is a two-acre property that consists of a bhajan kutir set in a grove of mango trees of our resident Sannyasi and project director, HH Bhakti Raghava Maharaja. There is the temple of Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, the Bhaktivedanta Geeta Pathshala Gurukula and Administrative Building, the Srinivas Bhavan Guest House, the Garuda Yajna Shala, the Sri Panchamukhi Hanuman Akhada, the Balarama Botanical Garden, and the Gangotri Bhavan.  

Our Gurukula is named the Bhaktivedanta Geetha Pathshala. Geeta Pathshala was a name designated by ISKCON Founder-Acarya His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada in his essay “Gita Nagari”, written in 1956 in Back to Godhead magazine, where he lays out a vision for a cultural, educational, and social revolution that all human beings will be touched by.     

He foresaw how it was the only way to guarantee everyone a spiritually and materially successful life by embracing the system of Daiva Varnashrama as set down and practiced by the Lord Himself.     

This traditional Vedic Gurukula is unique as it will not only emphasize Brahminical training but also character-based traditional Kshatriya training. This does not mean a few martial arts classes or archery, but instead, a curriculum laser-focused on students adopting a committed attitude of service to the Lord, His devotees, their teachers, the cows, seniors, and ultimately all living beings.     
 

They will trained to become dedicated, selfless self-reliant, capable, determined, and resilient. They will understand and practice begging alms and practice austerities of simplicity in daily life. Our Gurukula is focused on creating young men of excellent character who will lead and contribute to human society for their entire lives.     

Another innovation is students will be admitted at a very young age to be raised in the Vedic tradition of parental affection by the teachers and Resident Acarya who will carefully observe the student's inclinations, nature, and abilities. This is to determine what particular Varna they would best fit into for their higher education path to pursue in the adjacent Varnasram College after their graduation.      
 

Mother Farm is situated in the village of Small Lisovtsy, Skvirsky area which lies south of Kyiv in Ukraine. Following the creation of this farm, a cow protection foundation “Mother” was founded in 2014. The foundation raises funds and buys cows from the villagers or exchanges aged cows for young ones, thus eliminating the need to take the cows to the slaughterhouse. Some other objectives of the fund are organic farming and, the production of milk and dairy products based on the humane treatment of cows. It is amazing that despite the current conflict, they continue to develop with households with full life-cycle maintenance and care of animals.   

The Eco Village covers 70 acres of farmland, forest and hills in a remote mountain valley in Western Canada.  Striving for self sufficiency to fulfill the material and spiritual needs of our community and the next generations. This eco village imbibes principles of permaculture, natural farming, and cob building promoting a simple and sustainable lifestyle centered on farming, cow care, and Lord Krishna.  They produce seasonal crops, nut & fruit orchards, and flower gardens.  Their innovative root cellar can store 3,000 pounds of produce.  

Located in Lampung, Gita Nagari Baru is a Varnashrama community established in 1999. It is 60 hectares with 35 families and many cows. Devotees at Gita Nagari Baru practice self-sufficiency and Krishna Consciousness based on Srila Prabhupada's instruction for devotees to create such Varnashrama communities embodying the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.  

Devotees worship in Radha Madana Gopala Mandir and teach in their school where all students and teachers are devotees. Other activities are making cow products like cow dung-based incense and soap. Other products are banana chips, cassava chips, and opak (Indonesian traditional papadam).     
 

“The vision of ISKCON Sadasivpet is to create a spiritual community that is centered around the principles of Varnashrama development. At Sadasivpet, our Goshala has been successful in continuing and expanding its shelter to more than 100 cows.     

We also teach vocational classes, The pottery-making course is designed to teach students the art of pottery making and be able to create beautiful and functional pottery items.  

This Farmland is situated in the western ghats, the heart of the Agumbe rainforest area. Devotees here are working towards creating a Vedic village community with a self-sustainable model without depending unnecessarily on many modern facilities.     

There are two wells within the community which are supplying required water throughout the year. There are jackfruit trees, and coconut trees, used for preparing coconut oil for the whole year for the devotees living in the community. There are also cashew trees, almond trees, orange trees, lemon trees, and mango trees. Vegetables are grown which are sufficient for the devotees living in the community. Fifty-plus cows are being served here mostly of Malnad Gidda variety allowed for Grazing 2 times a day.  

This project is a team of inspired individuals working to revive traditional Vedic education. Their proposal is no less than reviving traditional education through establishing and encouraging Vedapathashalas, Gurukulas, and other such traditional models. They also research manuscripts, translate them into different languages and publish them to reestablish the lost curriculum of traditional education in addition to popularizing Sanskrit as an important medium of instruction.  

This ISKCON-friendly cow sanctuary is a project of Sustainable Eco Alliance (SEA), a non-profit educational, social, cultural, and charitable organization that aims at establishing and protecting sustainable ecosystems based on the natural biorhythm between natural grazing of cows and soil fertility thus creating bio-diversity and reversing global desertification.     

This project has an unusual attraction that has become very popular, cow cuddling. It is advertised as enhancing spiritual and mental well-being. This has become a popular way to connect with and protect cows.  

A farm community located in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh India spread over 60 acres. It was started in the year 2018. This community maintains a Goshala and a Vedic Gurukulam with about 80 residents.     

The goal of this project is to set up a role model community for the whole world to replicate adopting a very simple, eco-friendly, and agrarian lifestyle using green buildings constructed with local materials such as mud, stones, bricks, wood, and limestone. There is no use of electricity; oil lamps are used for lighting and fire-wood or cow-dung cakes are used for cooking. Devotees make their clothes using handlooms.