Dear
devotees,
All
glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Today I want to introduce to you a consciousness material
which has been the result of months of work and, first of all, it
tries to have environmental impact, so for this reason it is not
printed on plastic, but it's handmade. This product was realized in
our office in Vrindavan – India; before we printed it in Hindi and
English, but we realized that the message is so good and strong we
wanted to do a variation in Spanish.
This campaign is promoted in India by an organization
called Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance, but in this version we have
changed the phrase to "Our mission is to build sanctuaries in
the hearts of every being". We've taken out the elements that
focus only on one city (Vrindavan) and in one type of religion,
including the various mystical traditions so it can be used by the
whole world.
This poster was originally developed because of the
ecological situation it's been lived in the holy sites to inform and
educate them about it in different schools, ashrams and public areas.
It is totally educational and looks like the typical Indian mantles
that are very popular. It is full of green advices and hints that one
can follow.
It is my heartfelt wish for this loom to be in all the
temples and houses of grhastras. Why? Because our children need to
interact with and learn these topics; so if you do not pay attention
to this and don't practice it, means that you are clueless. The
essential question regarding the subject of ecology is that only by
seeing and experiencing it one can have the required concept to live
in a different way.
I will explain you in details what the written messages here are
talking about, so that you have a clue that tells us where we should
walk through to deepen our mentality of respect for the Mother Earth,
or how to have it if you do not already have it.
First I will refer to a key topic in the ecological issue: the
topic of cleansing. We have recently been at the most beautiful lake
in the world, Lake Titicaca and, although we have collected plastic
from it several times, both the lake and reed plantations are full of
garbage. Rivers and oceans around the world are contaminated by large
amounts of waste of all kinds.
How do we approach to the cleaning?
You already know our program "A helping hand to
Vrindavan". This is a project under development in which you can
achieve perfection through the mercy of becoming someone humble and
clean. Becoming someone who cleans. This is the reason why our
Eco-villages and temples must be examples of cleanliness and if any
of these sites needs to improve this aspect, please do something to
make it happen. We must all participate, I do not want anyone to be
without this opportunity to clean or assist in the cleanup.
Is true that life in community has many demands which makes
difficult to work because there are many things to attend, we must
always strive to be disciplined and clean. Together
with the devotees who visit India we perform cleaning duties in the
cities of Mayapur and Vrindavan, there we collect all the garbage
founded in different holy places, we remove the plastic from rivers
and lakes and transport it to the official city dump. At the end
of the day of service, the result is a huge mountain of garbage.
We
all can participate in this effort, while been away physically from
Vrindavan, by sending a monthly donation to the cleaning program; by
doing this we are not only giving something to the Holy Dham but also
we receive much mercy. Thus we extend Vrindavan and Mayapur to other
places on the planet, because we must remember that both are a state
of consciousness. The Cleaning of Vrindavan - Mayapur and the sending
of donations are an interesting example of activism, a practical way
to become part of the solution instead of staying just in complaints.
If we do not help with cleaning and garbage collection, everything
will be contaminated.
Thats why we must take care of the sanctuary that exists
inside and outside ourselves. We begin the cleaning task by keeping
the temples clean and spotless, so every time we go to a temple we
must look around it and pick up trash that we find, it is very
important to experience firsthand the beautiful feeling that is
produced by cleaning the temples.
We recently watched a documentary that tells the story of a
village in the Himalayas which did not reach the roads, because they
had no communication with the "so-called civilization";
later on that same village became a horror because of the contact
with this "civilization", the impact was terrible, it made
you want to mourn. The good news is that today there are still some
communities that are kept separates from the materialistic influence
to preserve their roots and do not suffer the evils of pollution on
all levels that afflicts the whole world, an example are the native
communities in the Sierra Nevada of Colombia.
Could it be that our life is to collect garbage? Is it the
only conscious activity to protect the environment? The answer is no,
there is much to be done in different areas, that is why we have more
posts in this mantle that are of utmost importance to us and to our
children.
Continuing with the explanation of the elements in the
mantle of consciousness, we must pay attention to the center. What is
there? We have kept the phrase "Jaya Radhe Jaya Syam, cleaning
Vrindavan Dham", recalling the divine couple Sri Sri Radhe Syam.
Above that is Sri Giriraj Govardhan, that represents our main
iconography. We have also placed different universal symbols of love
that have a deep meaning for many people who will come into contact
with this mantle. We have also included the logos of some of the
organizations involved in one way or another on this project, such as
Values and Science, Yoga Inbound, Oida therapy, among others. We also
placed the name of all our Eco Yoga Villages around the design,
making a true pilgrimage around them.
We can also see some important temples of Vrindavan
included on the poster, like Radha Gopinath Mandir, where we are
doing restoration service, or Keshi Ghat, where is Pandavali Kunja,
our main site of activities, and in the future will become a
beautiful museum to spread the glories of the mission of Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada. This way we can remember
the cultural legacy of our teachers, because from them we came.
Another issue to consider is the transport. If we used
ox-driven carts it would solve many of the problems caused by
pollution containation. We've made four great oxen carts in
Vrindavan, which look fantastic and are very useful. It is a solution
for this issue. Similarly, in some cities of the world rikshawalas
are being established as a transport; so for example there are
rikshaws already in Barcelona and Rome and many of those who see them
readily understand its usefulness and benefits. We obviously also
count on the transport of bicycles and other non-polluting mediums.
We may be few, but we have much to do, that is why year
after year we have established sites throughout the world witch the
main criteria is ecology. These are our Eco Yoga Villages like the
Eco Yoga Park in Argentina, Shanti Dwip in Bolivia, Vrinda Bhumi in
Brazil and many other farms in South America, Europe and India.
Most important part of this mantle of conscience is that if
you hang it somewhere along where people are passing, you will
automatically provide information and exemplary education and you are
also inviting them to become an activist. We need people to become
activist for the benefit of the waters, to protect flora, fauna and
Mother Earth itself. Imagine, if we could annul all the military
activity on the planet, surely we would be able to reduce pollution
by 70%. The same would happen if the whole world became vegetarian.
We have tangible answers, but due to the current state of things, it
become impractical, because what would the military say if they had
to stop doing what they do and were forced to plow the land? So
becoming somehow part of the solution to help Mother Earth is also a
great help for yourself and your family. Another proposal is to use
solar energy, for exemple.
All that we propose here is quite revolutionary, perhaps
not everyone will be happy to read these proposals, but one of the
basic premises of the work of an activist is to make himself to be
noted and to fight for his ideals. On this course, we also suggest
the suspension of visual pollution caused by large unconscious
commercials advertisement.
It is our clear intention to serve humanity and the animals
through all our activities. We must always be pending on this. For
this, I invite you to become environmental activists today; the
songle fact of making others become vegetarian means that you are
already an activist.
We invite all the reasonable religions to participate in
this cause, we do not exclude those who do not chant Hare Krishna, on
the contrary, this is a universal call. We propose to all good will
people to protect the Mother Earth, do not mistreat other beings,
human or animals, and do not use anything but that of vegetarian
origin. I can say unequivocally that if something is dirty on the
outside it is also dirty on the inside. Let stop making the world
sick and dirty. The dirty water must be purified and then it might be
used; if we pollute the waters, we are obligated to clean them.
Further down in the mantle, we find a very direct message
saying: study the Bhagavad Gita and other sacred books, use your time
wisely and not waste it on superficial things. Before the twentieth
century there were no problems like those of today. There were no
large companies harming the Mother Nature, nor was there television
with all the materialistic messages it promotes. Nobody imagined at
the begining, that the TV or the computer could become the most
powerful tool of the unconscious mind. Human beings in general were
not capable to calculate the impact and difficulties brought by their
own inventions, and that is how most people who use the internet have
become addicted to Facebook, for example.
For this reason we have compiled all these messages, with
the intention to wake up the people and so for them to take
responsibility and awareness on issues that concern them and if, even
so, they prefer to continue watching soccer or consuming marijuana,
then we can say that is a person without reasoning or that has little
humanity, because does not care for the welfare of himself or his
family's. So, this is a call to everyone, to inform them of what is
happening in the world and how we can help to provide solutions.
A practical example is that we all visit with some
regularity the Yoga Eco Villages and are in direct contact with the
ecological problems. But how many of us have put our hands into our
pocket to help these farms or simply offered ourselves as volunteers?
So there are many people on these occasions looking for consume only
a few things nice things and that is all, but are not willing to do
something to protect the flora and fauna of our planet. This is so
because we are selfish and are part of a materialistic system that
encourages selfishness in the highest degree.
There are not many who wish to hear this message, as it
asks us for a real change in ourselves. I realized that this change
is extremely slow, however, I continue to propose it because we had
to start it sometime, we all know the saying "better late than
never."
It is my wish that each of you has 10 of these mantles
today, and that you take them to the temples or to your homes with
the desire to spread them around the world, because that's why we've
made it. It must be hunged everywhere. You can even distribute it and
collect with it, but most important is that each one of you can give
a daily lecture from one of the themes that are presented here.
A very important issue, discussed in the messages here
founded, is the use of dry toilets, because waste and pollution are
two things that are very closely related. Therefore, we must all take
responsibility to monitor where to our waste is going. It is critical
to note that only humans throw excrement and chemicals into the
water, no other animal does such thing. The animals are much more
aware than ourselves, constantly throwing papers and trash on the
streets, lakes, rivers etc., without thinking that no one will come
to pick them up for us. For this reason in this mantle is
highlighted the phrase: "Water is our life, do not waste a
drop".
Something transcendental to all of us and which is the
basis of our daily awareness, in regard to the environmental issue
and to all matters of life in general, are meditation and prayer,
both are the crown of your heart. To illustrate this on our poster we
put a devotee chanting japa, this is a way to make ourselves known to
the world, and to show them our way of praying and meditating. We
also helping to excite people to plant the sacred Tulasi.
In the poster we also address to the issue of noise
pollution, which is another evils that afflict the world these days.
Therefore we ask please not to impose loud noise to the people
around, but to support with your actions the harmony and the
meditative energies. The ideal is to always produce beautiful sounds
and not to disturb those around us, the appropriate it not to invade
the privacy of others; this includes our own kirtans, programs and
conferences. I wish all the devotees to behave like true gentlemen
and ladies, like friends of the heart, especially in regard to
becoming a representative of the temple and the attitudes towards the
deity. We should always transmit sweet sounds for all those who are
participating in the programs can be attracted.
When enacting a healthy lifestyle that seeks to protect
Mother Earth, we must bear in mind some details that are harmful to
nature, for example, the burning of plastics. For anyone who wants to
cultivate a green mentality this is completely forbidden, because it
poisons the blood of people and Mother Earth itself. Therefore we
encourage organic farming and celebrate all farmers who, despite all
the difficulties imposed to them, are dedicated to maintaining a
healthy production.
Oddly enough, people generally are not interested in the
subject of healthy eating, as they are more attached to pleasant
experiences when it comes to food. We do not stop to think that
behind the taste of products on the market, there are components
which are totally addictive. That is the reason for the high
consumption of junk food, which is very tasty and totally harmful to
health. The message is loud and clear: just eat food offered to God
of which we know the provenance of its ingredients. It is essential
the consumption of organic food and that means something very basic:
Learn to accept the nature of things and to use what the earth gives
us to live. Therefore we also constantly preach that eating meat,
fish and eggs sadden Mother Earth.
When reading my words everyone can tell that to walk the
path of consciousness is something costly. It requires a great
investment not only monetarily, but more of effort, time and labor;
but it is the only thing that has the power to awaken us from
illusion. Today I want to wake you up with these messages and I
clearly know that to read this type of thinkings cause some
discomfort, this happens mainly due to the lack of chanting the holy
name of Krishna with the right attitude and faith.
One more direct message for the consciousness is that
everything that is produced in a place where there is alcohol,
intoxicants and dead animal, becomes inauspicious. Marijuana use and
tabacco produces irreversible damages to the respiratory system, thus
the smokers converte their body into a hopeless case, because all the
chemical residues from these products stay forever. It is amazing
even knowing about all the effects people still continue consuming
tobacco, as we all know that smoking is a major cause of death
worldwide. For this reason is very recommended to watch and expose
information about the physical consequences of the smoking habit.
Despite this all, smoking is still considered as a social product,
but the act of smoking is a complete insensitivity to the body that
God gave us.
One of the facets of visual and noise pollution is the
television. A box that makes us completely materialistic, because
it's constantly sending subliminal messages with the idea that for us
to be happy we must buy or have something new. So I recommend you not
to waste your time on watching television, but to invest that same
precious time in singing the Glories of God and the studies of the
Sacred Books with the family. So this way we become part of the
solution and help to provide options to the people of good will.
We must be aware even to the means of transportation we
use, so you have to ride the bike whenever possible; other means such
as motorcycles are a real anxiety and danger to people. There is
always a risk of accidents that happens in the streets, therefore,
one who operates a vehicle has the same responsibility as one who
carries a gun. Our goal is to cover all areas to make us aware of
every little detail that we must protect.
We want to see the streets, parks, rivers without litter;
so we must educate and convince everyone of the importance of keeping
the environment clean, including parents, and children at schools,
etc. We must become aware of our trash, we think that everything we
put in the trash can practically disappears, but it deosn't happen
this way. The sun gives us a great blessing by acting on the organic
waste and purifying it, but this does not happen with plastics.
Therefore, we must avoid the use of all disposable plastic, cups,
plates, etc. Use only biodegradable products, organic materials or
metal made, or pottery, among others. There is somuch ability and
technology in this regard that in the world today there are
disposable products made from potato starch or corn; these are the
conscious innovations we must rescue.
In this ecological loom, we have a variety of disciplines
that are related to the value that is given to consciousness, for
example: The Conscious Doctors, Values and Science, the Eco Yoga
Villages, etc. All these programs are based mainly on affection and
respect for those who love God, the nature and the animals. This is
our political program and we want with our hearts that you become
part of the party, that you have no other interest than the welfare
of all entities, which seeks to promote a cleaner world, healthier
people and that produce harmony within the environment. Thus the
Supreme Lord in the heart might say, "This is a true son of
Mother Earth who has been concerned about the welfare of his own
parents and children and is not a disinterested person who just takes
advantage of the environment by making suffer of other beings”.
I hope that throughout this effort we can raise some
awareness, to some mothers who are representatives of Mother Earth,
to make things right from now on and to see that it is possible to be
part of the change, that we need help and energy to keep the
beautiful places we have under our care as impeccable examples of
consciousness; that must be our goal. To do this I need the continued
support of you all, because I cannot do it alone. My heart's
invitation is for you to become conscious and dedicated activists. It
is not every day we touch these issues, so I ask you to take these
words as treasures in your heart and hang the mantle of consciousness
in your homes, temples, preaching centers or yoga schools.
I know it's hard for people to understand the meaning of
consciousness, but we must spare no effort in it. I hope that from
this moment on we become dedicated and conscious individuals in all
these areas. Do not despair because people do not understand the
background of all this, to one who has not been systematically
educated it is very difficult to understand these type of issues, but
we must not think that the others are in a lower level of
understanding, that does no good for our spiritual development; but
well, we must remember how we were when we used to live in
unconscious manners, this way we can awaken others with much of
affection. If you belive you are good and others are bad, you
automatically convert yourself in a bad person. Only by the mercy of
Srila Prabhupada who taught us to chant Hare Krishna, we received all
this knowledge that took us out of ignorance.
All these issues are so important and interesting that we
could talk about them day and night, so go ahead with the preaching
of consciousness expansion. I thank you heartedly for all the
beautiful things you are doing in our mission, devotees are always
doing spectacular things and deserve our respect, although in some
cases they still have much to learn. The effort is what counts; we
must be tolerant but not condescending.
People are waiting to be awakened, they are willing for
that and the OKis we are promoting are designed precisely to provoke
mass awakening of consciousness, are new ideas to promote ancient
messages. There are more than 1.100 varieties of OKis to be
distributed and they are available to everybody. We have also DVD's
and audiovisual materials that are very good, like DVD Changing the
World, which was produced in Mexico's office, or the Eco Yoga
Villages DVD produced together by several countries; we also have a
film made in Colombia on conscious agriculture. They will be
astonished to see all the materials we have to learn and implement in
preaching, that's the most important, that all this is implemented
and does not remain merely as beautiful words.
I
wish you much enthusiasm in this life of serving the expansion of
consciousness.
With
great affection,
Swami
B.A. Paramadvaiti
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