Cow Protection:
Many wonder why the Vedic and Vaishnava cultures especially stress protection of the cow. The philosophical reason is simple: The cow is considered one of our mothers, as she gives us her milk and thus nutures our health and well being. Just as no civilized person would injure or kill their mother, the Vedas teach that to take milk from the cow and then kill her is the same as killing one’s mother. Similarly, the bull is considered like the father because the bull traditionally helps in the tilling of the fields, and thus is to be respected.
In ISKCON farms no cow, bull or calf is slaughtered. We look at innovative ways to work with the bull and engage their God-given strength in the service of others, under humane and loving conditions. Regardless of milk production, cows and bulls also produce dung and urine which is valuable as fertilizer, compost, some medicines, cleaning products and biogas fuel. In the ISKCON farms they are sheltered in barns (goshala), wherein they are fed with healthy stapple and are taken care of.
We believe protecting cows is a most important component of protecting the earth. According to the ancient Vedic texts the cow is the representative of Mother Earth. And, when the cow and the bull are mistreated, Mother Earth withdraws her bounty.
Eco-Villages:
Modern farming and dairy methods have contributed to wreaking havoc on the eco-system. Today agriculture, which provides the sustenance of human society, is massively dependent on oil and chemical fertilizers. Though initially increasing yield in initial years, these chemicals have proved detrimental to the fertility of soil, sometimes leaving it toxic and unproductive. Genetically modified crops bring their own set of ethical and health issues, leading to a world where some food products are promoted by one government and banned by others.
The basis of all farming remains dependent on nature in form of soil, air and water. Establishing farming methods in harmony with nature can provide long term sustainability. Otherwise, experts tell us, we may be heading towards a global food crisis.
At ISKCON farm communities or eco-villages, we highlight the importance of spiritual ecology: the need to live in harmony with ourselves, nature and the Divine. These rurual communities promote sustainability and spirituality—based on the principle of respect for all living beings.
There are over 40 ISKCON eco-villages and farm communities around the globe based on this ethos. Some exist off the grid, existing entirely on natural energy from water and sun. Others simply advocate more responsible and natural living based on sustainable care of the land and the cows. Unlike modern agribusinesses that exploit cows and other animals for their milk, meat and eggs, ISKCON farms protect our cows throughout their full lives, allowing them to live peacefully even after their milk producing years are over.
Food Relief Program:
Hare Krishna Food for Life (FFL) is the world’s largest vegetarian food distribution program serving millions of meals daily, with projects in over 60 countries. With roots in the Vaishnava culture of charity and the distribution of pure food to all, the project is a modern day revival of the ancient culture of hospitality and a belief in the equality of all beings. Food For Life has been lauded by The New York Times and government relief agencies worldwide for its efforts worldwide.
Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON’s Founder-acarya, is the inspiration behind Food for Life. He stated in 1972 that “No one within ten miles of an ISKCON temple should go hungry.” Since that time ISKCON devotees have expanded a global network of free food restaurants, mobile services and relief programs establishing daily delivery routes in many large cities around the world.
Currently, Food for Life’s largest programs are in India. More than 1.2 million school children are a served multi-course hot, healthy, and tasty lunch six days a week in cities throughout the sub-continent, through a partnership with the Indian government for the ‘Mid-day Meal’ scheme. Education administrators have stated that the ISKCON Food for Life program, known locally as Annamrita, actually facilitates many poor children to attend school. Otherwise, they explain, without the program the children would be forced to work as child laborers to earn enough to eat for the day.
Food for Life volunteers also respond to natural disasters, bringing food and hope into the lives of people affected by events such as the wars in Bosnia and Chechnya, the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the typhoon Haiyan, and Hurricane Katrina.
Music:
The power of sound is profound and tangible, yet also mystical. The Vedas, the ancient Sanskrit books of spiritual knowledge, prescribe invoking our original blissful spiritual consciousness through the medium of sound, a process considered especially effective for this current age. The joyous feelings awakened through the melodious glorification of the Divine are a kind of sonic theology, in which both performer and audience gradually awaken spiritual understanding of the self and the Supreme Self, or God, in ways difficult to achieve through other means.
The rich field of devotional music, the music of bhakti, has given rise to several distinct styles and traditions. The Madras Music Academy of South India puts it simply with their slogan, kanu bina gita nahi. “Without Krishna (God) there is no song.”
Kirtan, a form of devotional call-and-response chanting first popularized five hundred years ago in India by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, is practiced regularly by ISKCON devotees and has now spread around the world by efforts of the Vaishnava community.
In kirtan the repetitive singing or chanting of mantras and other devotional hymns is accompanied by simple musical instruments. These often include traditional instruments like the mrdanga drum, kartals (hand cymbals) and harmonium (small hand-pumped organ). Yet, today kirtan has become a form of world music wherein musicians often blend traditional instruments with saxophone, bass guitar, and various forms of percussion. Often kirtan begins slowly and melodically with simple rhythemic beat, gradually building up to a greater complexity and then crescending with exuberant singing and dancing.
Kirtan is performed daily in Vaishnava temples, usually accompanying worship services called aratis. It may also be performed at home or in public. ISKCON members are seen regularly in the parks and streets of the world’s major cities performing kirtan. They do so understanding that anyone who hears the kirtan is greatly benefited, as the sound vibration gradually acts to cleanse the heart of greed, envy, lust, anger, and other obstacles to a peaceful life.
Whatever the tempo, style, or place, the music of bhakti retains the same purpose—to assist in bringing about spiritual awakening and lead us to profound states of meditation and bliss.
Many wonder why the Vedic and Vaishnava cultures especially stress protection of the cow. The philosophical reason is simple: The cow is considered one of our mothers, as she gives us her milk and thus nutures our health and well being. Just as no civilized person would injure or kill their mother, the Vedas teach that to take milk from the cow and then kill her is the same as killing one’s mother. Similarly, the bull is considered like the father because the bull traditionally helps in the tilling of the fields, and thus is to be respected.
In ISKCON farms no cow, bull or calf is slaughtered. We look at innovative ways to work with the bull and engage their God-given strength in the service of others, under humane and loving conditions. Regardless of milk production, cows and bulls also produce dung and urine which is valuable as fertilizer, compost, some medicines, cleaning products and biogas fuel. In the ISKCON farms they are sheltered in barns (goshala), wherein they are fed with healthy stapple and are taken care of.
We believe protecting cows is a most important component of protecting the earth. According to the ancient Vedic texts the cow is the representative of Mother Earth. And, when the cow and the bull are mistreated, Mother Earth withdraws her bounty.
Eco-Villages:
Modern farming and dairy methods have contributed to wreaking havoc on the eco-system. Today agriculture, which provides the sustenance of human society, is massively dependent on oil and chemical fertilizers. Though initially increasing yield in initial years, these chemicals have proved detrimental to the fertility of soil, sometimes leaving it toxic and unproductive. Genetically modified crops bring their own set of ethical and health issues, leading to a world where some food products are promoted by one government and banned by others.
The basis of all farming remains dependent on nature in form of soil, air and water. Establishing farming methods in harmony with nature can provide long term sustainability. Otherwise, experts tell us, we may be heading towards a global food crisis.
At ISKCON farm communities or eco-villages, we highlight the importance of spiritual ecology: the need to live in harmony with ourselves, nature and the Divine. These rurual communities promote sustainability and spirituality—based on the principle of respect for all living beings.
There are over 40 ISKCON eco-villages and farm communities around the globe based on this ethos. Some exist off the grid, existing entirely on natural energy from water and sun. Others simply advocate more responsible and natural living based on sustainable care of the land and the cows. Unlike modern agribusinesses that exploit cows and other animals for their milk, meat and eggs, ISKCON farms protect our cows throughout their full lives, allowing them to live peacefully even after their milk producing years are over.
Food Relief Program:
Hare Krishna Food for Life (FFL) is the world’s largest vegetarian food distribution program serving millions of meals daily, with projects in over 60 countries. With roots in the Vaishnava culture of charity and the distribution of pure food to all, the project is a modern day revival of the ancient culture of hospitality and a belief in the equality of all beings. Food For Life has been lauded by The New York Times and government relief agencies worldwide for its efforts worldwide.
Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON’s Founder-acarya, is the inspiration behind Food for Life. He stated in 1972 that “No one within ten miles of an ISKCON temple should go hungry.” Since that time ISKCON devotees have expanded a global network of free food restaurants, mobile services and relief programs establishing daily delivery routes in many large cities around the world.
Currently, Food for Life’s largest programs are in India. More than 1.2 million school children are a served multi-course hot, healthy, and tasty lunch six days a week in cities throughout the sub-continent, through a partnership with the Indian government for the ‘Mid-day Meal’ scheme. Education administrators have stated that the ISKCON Food for Life program, known locally as Annamrita, actually facilitates many poor children to attend school. Otherwise, they explain, without the program the children would be forced to work as child laborers to earn enough to eat for the day.
Food for Life volunteers also respond to natural disasters, bringing food and hope into the lives of people affected by events such as the wars in Bosnia and Chechnya, the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the typhoon Haiyan, and Hurricane Katrina.
Music:
The power of sound is profound and tangible, yet also mystical. The Vedas, the ancient Sanskrit books of spiritual knowledge, prescribe invoking our original blissful spiritual consciousness through the medium of sound, a process considered especially effective for this current age. The joyous feelings awakened through the melodious glorification of the Divine are a kind of sonic theology, in which both performer and audience gradually awaken spiritual understanding of the self and the Supreme Self, or God, in ways difficult to achieve through other means.
The rich field of devotional music, the music of bhakti, has given rise to several distinct styles and traditions. The Madras Music Academy of South India puts it simply with their slogan, kanu bina gita nahi. “Without Krishna (God) there is no song.”
Kirtan, a form of devotional call-and-response chanting first popularized five hundred years ago in India by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, is practiced regularly by ISKCON devotees and has now spread around the world by efforts of the Vaishnava community.
In kirtan the repetitive singing or chanting of mantras and other devotional hymns is accompanied by simple musical instruments. These often include traditional instruments like the mrdanga drum, kartals (hand cymbals) and harmonium (small hand-pumped organ). Yet, today kirtan has become a form of world music wherein musicians often blend traditional instruments with saxophone, bass guitar, and various forms of percussion. Often kirtan begins slowly and melodically with simple rhythemic beat, gradually building up to a greater complexity and then crescending with exuberant singing and dancing.
Kirtan is performed daily in Vaishnava temples, usually accompanying worship services called aratis. It may also be performed at home or in public. ISKCON members are seen regularly in the parks and streets of the world’s major cities performing kirtan. They do so understanding that anyone who hears the kirtan is greatly benefited, as the sound vibration gradually acts to cleanse the heart of greed, envy, lust, anger, and other obstacles to a peaceful life.
Whatever the tempo, style, or place, the music of bhakti retains the same purpose—to assist in bringing about spiritual awakening and lead us to profound states of meditation and bliss.
