The Fourth Movement: Reestablishing Vedic Culture Through Simple Living
The Four Movements of Prabhupada's Mission
Srila Prabhupada established a systematic approach to introduce Vedic culture to the world:
The First Movement — The Sankirtan Movement, based on chanting the holy names and distributing transcendental literature. Every devotee participates daily through their japa, and especially during the book marathon in December through the distribution of Prabhupada's books.
The Second Movement — The Temple Worship Movement, establishing temples where the wonderful archa-vigraha (deity form) of the Lord is visible for people to see and worship. During Prabhupada's presence, over 100 temples were established worldwide, and now there are close to 1,000.
The Third Movement — The Spiritual Initiation Movement, providing training for those who hear the holy name, receive books, and visit temples so they can become more committed. This includes various forms of congregational preaching: Namahatta, Bhakti Vriksha, youth preaching, scientific preaching, life membership, and even prison ministry.
The Fourth Movement — The Varnashrama or classless society movement. This is the focus of today's discussion, and without understanding and taking up this fourth mission, the movement of Lord Caitanya remains incomplete.
Vedic Culture Means Village Life
When we speak of Vedic culture, we should immediately think of Vrindavan and similar villages. They are the ideal examples of how the majority of people are meant to live—in the countryside, rooted in simplicity and spiritual purpose.
Vedic culture is divine culture, where everyone, regardless of their social position, is focused on rendering service to Krishna. This natural division of society based on varna and ashrama is meant to help the vast majority of people more quickly elevate themselves to the mode of goodness and beyond.
Two Essential Sciences in Vedic Culture
For Vedic culture to function, two sciences are essential:
- The Science of Education — How knowledge is transmitted and absorbed
- The Science of Economics — How livelihood is earned and sustained
These are intimately connected to a rural, agrarian lifestyle.
Learning from Krishna's Pastimes in Vrindavan
The beloved bhajan by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura closes with the line: “Yamuna tira vana cari” . On the banks of the Yamuna, in the forests, conducting daily activities. Every day, Krishna and Balarama, along with thousands of cowherd boy friends, would take the calves out to the various forests of Vrindavan.
What do they do while the cows graze? They play wonderful games, all described in the scriptures. They swim in the Yamuna, play natural football with fruits, interact spontaneously with each other, and spend hours in a joyful natural environment.
Srila Prabhupada explains that this is Vedic education. These young boys, simply by associating naturally with each other while caring for cows, learn so many things. In the Tenth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Chapter 11, Prabhupada explains that only a few boys, those brahminically inclined, need to go to formal gurukula. The majority of boys receive their education in nature itself, with Mother Nature as their school.
Krishna's Three Gifts of Nature
Grandfather Bhishma, in his instructions to Yudhishthira Maharaja, describes how Krishna has given us three gifts of nature, our three natural mothers:
- Mother Cow (Go Mata) — Who nourishes us with her milk
- Mother Nature (Bhumi Mata) — Who provides everything for our sustenance
- Mother Sarasvati — The goddess of knowledge who nourishes our intellect
When we learn to depend on these three natural mothers, our physical, emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual development takes place properly. Without this connection, we become disconnected from the mode of goodness itself.
The Mode of Goodness and Cow Protection
The cow is the animal most situated in the mode of goodness. This is Krishna's wonderful arrangement: to help us develop sattva-guna, He designed that we live with cows.
Interestingly, in Western countries today there is something called “cow cuddling.” People with emotional or psychological problems pay $100 per hour (about 8,000 rupees!) just to spend time with cows: massaging them, speaking to them, embracing them. This demonstrates that even modern psychology is discovering what the Vedas have taught for millennia: association with cows is healing.
But if you have your own cow and your own land, you don't have to pay anything. This natural therapy is freely available in the village lifestyle.
Cities for Preaching, Villages for Living
Prabhupada explained that 50% of his mission remains to be established. While there is a need to be in cities, primarily for preaching purposes, our living bases should be in the villages.
Today, over 90% of Americans live in towns and cities, totally disconnected from land and cows, which means totally disconnected from the mode of goodness.
The majority of our devotees, even now, are:
- Disconnected from Mother Cow
- Disconnected from Mother Nature
- Disconnected from communities of like-minded spiritual devotees
Most are not eating proper food, are disturbed in their minds, and experience the modern epidemic of loneliness.
Practical Steps Forward
The key to reintroducing Vedic culture lies in education. Prabhupada established gurukulas and varnashrama colleges for this very purpose. He encouraged devotees to relocate, whenever possible, to more natural environments.
Even if you live in a high-rise apartment, you can begin on a small scale, growing a few flowers in a pot, raising some tomato plants. Wherever you are, you can start introducing these principles.
Food grown by the hands of devotees and offered to Krishna has 100 times the value of ordinary food. We can make Krishna 100 times more happy by offering Him natural, devotee-grown offerings.
This transition will take time, possibly even generations. But we need devotees who will either relocate themselves to village environments or lay the foundation for future generations to do so.
We invite devotees to learn, participate, and help develop these initiatives. Take the mercy of the holy dham back to your respective places and help expand the mission of Lord Caitanya by introducing this essential, often-overlooked dimension of Prabhupada's vision.
Article based on lecture by Bhakti Raghava Swami: HH BRS SADHU SANGA 26TH DECEMBER 2024, SRIDHAM MAYAPUR