by Madhava Smullen

With its new Protected Cow Dairy Initiative, ISKCON New Vrindaban is carefully taking one step at a time back towards dairy self-sufficiency.

Nityodita Das,who spearheaded the Initiative, fondly remembers the early days of New Vrindaban, when ISKCON Founder Acharya Srila Prabhupada was still physically present.

“I remember living at the old Vrindaban farm in 1974 and occasionally milking the cows with Radhanath Swami, then a brahmachari,” he says. “At that time we didn’t buy milk or milk products, except maybe rarely for big festivals. We used to have these big barrels full of ghee, and the Deities were getting opulent offerings.”

Srila Prabhupada, of course, envisioned New Vrindaban as a sacred place known worldwide for five things: loving Krishna, spiritual education, holy pilgrimage, self-sufficiency and cow protection.

“Krishna by His practical example taught us to give all protection to the cows and that should be the main business of New Vrindaban,” Prabhupada wrote to his disciple Hayagriva in June 1968.

Over the years after Srila Prabhupada’s passing in 1977, New Vrindaban residents continued to drink milk from their own cows, but eventually reverted to buying butter and other dairy products from local stores.

Recently however, there has been a renewed focus on Srila Prabhupada’s vision for New Vrindaban. In the past two years, devotees have added eight new cows to the herd—four each year—as a major step towards becoming independent from store-bought milk products produced by cow-slaughtering commercial dairies.

In May 2013, the Protected Cow Dairy Initiative, supported by ISKCON New Vrindaban and sponsored by non-profit Eco-Vrindaban, was launched.

“The idea was to revive a program wherein all food offerings for the Deities would be made with dairy products only coming from cows cared for by New Vrindaban residents,” says ECOV board member Chaitanya Mangala Das.

New Vrindaban has a herd of 47 cows, with six milking cows. In contrast to the cows tortured and slaughtered at commercial dairies, they are all treated with love and care as family members by program overseer Ranaka Das and daily caretaker Chaitanya Bhagavat Das.

All the cows, of course, live out their natural lives. During the summer, they graze upon hundreds of acres of lush, green pastures. During the winter, hundreds of bales of hay are harvested for them to eat. They are protected from the cold in a cosy, clean and spacious barn. And the calves, like three-month old bull Pundarikaksa, are not separated from their mothers as in commercial dairies but are kept close.

“They are given time together throughout the day,” says Ananda-Vidya Das, who milks the cows along with his wife Lalita-Gopi Dasi and heads up production for the Dairy Initiative. “And twice a day, during milking times, we give the calves a quarter of the milk to drink from their mothers.”

Every morning at 7:00 am, Ananda-Vidya makes his way to the milking barn across the street from the temple. It takes him up to two hours to set up, milk Punya, Malati, Yamuna, Anjali, Shankari, and Surabhi, and clean up afterwards.

To develop a personal connection with the cows, Ananda-Vidya milks at least one or two of them by hand every day. As he does so, the others are milked with vacuum bucket milkers, the most subtle type of milking machine on the market today.

“The suction feels pretty much how a calf would,” he says, adding, “When I have help from other devotees, often we can milk them all by hand.”

After milking, Ananda-Vidya brings the milk to the temple. He then warms up the leftover milk from the previous day, brings it back to the barn, and runs it through a cream separator. This machine produces cream from one spout, and skimmed milk from another.

“I boil the cream, and add a culture to make it into yoghurt,” says Ananda-Vidya. “After the yoghurt process is started, I leave it until the next day. Then in the afternoon, I put the yoghurt from the previous day into an electric blender and churn it into butter. It makes around three or four pounds of butter -- it comes out really nice.”

Finally, Ananda-Vidya milks the cows again for a second time at six o’clock in the evening, often with his wife Lalita-Gopi.

Ananda-Viyda’s service takes five or six hours a day, and yields fourteen to fifteen gallons of milk. This is used to make milk sweets, curd, ghee and other dairy products for New Vrindaban’s presiding Deities, Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra.

The Dairy Initiative recently successfully completed its five-month trial period. Now, it’s ready to gear up for a second, experimental phase.

During the quieter winter months, there will be a test-run expansion of the program so that meals served to devotees at the temple will also be made only with dairy from protected cows.

This will not involve an increase in milk production. Rather, kitchen staff, cow protection staff, and New Vrindaban management will work together to make sure that the available milk is used wisely.

There are different ways that this can be done. For example, cooking of excessively dairy-filled dishes can be regulated. And skimmed milk, rather than whole milk, can be used to create delicious curd or yogurt. Of course, whole milk will always be offered to the Deities and be honored later by devotees as maha-prasad.

To make this transition successfully, Nityodita Das notes that “there must be a raising of consciousness to understand that when we go out and buy milk products, we’re basically supporting the slaughter of cows.” The small amount of austerity required to change this, it follows, is worth it.

Of course, there are plans for some expansion of New Vrindaban’s herd and milk production in the future. But having learned from over-ambitious attempts that proved unmanageable in the past, this time devotees will expand in a very humble, careful and sustainable way.

There are plans to gradually grow the overall herd from 47 to approximately 70. And there is space in the current milking barn to expand the amount of milking cows to eight.

Beyond that, there are long range plans to build another barn on the pasture behind Srila Prabhupada's Palace, which will be able to house up to ten milking cows. This will also be designed to function as a teaching farm, where guests can better observe and participate in the daily cow protection activities.

Behind all this is the cow care team, which meets regularly under Ranaka Das’s leadership to discuss overall improvements in cow care as well as required upgrades of the barn and pastures.

In the meantime, milking the cows at the temple barn in New Vrindaban, Ananda-Vidya Das doesn’t worry about any of this. Life is simple for him: it’s hard work, but serene, too.

“There’s some austerity,” he says. “You have to be regulated and on time. You have to lift heavy things and shovel manure. Sometimes it gets really cold, sitting there in an unheated building.”

“But it’s also meditative. Sunrise and sunset are peaceful times. There are not a lot of people around. You can listen to a lecture, or chant verses.”

Genuine fondness warms his tone. “And the cows are just really loveable creatures. They all have their unique characteristics and personalities. It’s nice being with them.”

“Most of all, it’s such a rewarding service,” he concludes, “Because it’s really at the heart of what Srila Prabhupada wants for New Vrindaban.”

December 6, 2013

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) joins the world in mourning and paying tribute to the foremost human rights icon of current times, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. We offer our condolences to the Mandela family and to the entire South African nation.

In 1990 at the age of 72, after 27 years of being imprisoned by the apartheid government, he reached out to his oppressors and chartered a peaceful transformation to democracy in a country where the minority was gripped with fear for what the future might hold.  As a result of the forgiveness that he displayed and kindness that he extended, followers of the African National Congress (ANC) which he led, heeded his call for peace and reconciliation to prevail amongst all the people of South Africa.  From the impoverished townships to sport fields to religious communities to parliament, Madiba (as he affectionately became known) worked his own special Madiba magic across the nation.

ISKCON was privileged to have Mr. Mandela visit their temple in Chatsworth, South Africa, in 1992 and discuss the teachings of the ancient scripture, Bhagavad-Gita, over a meal at their Govinda’s restaurant.  During this visit Mr. Mandela with dignity but humility bowed before ISKCON Founder Acarya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and then asked "How did he do it?", meaning how did Srila Prabhupada spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. A discussion ensued about how Srila Prabhupada gave Krishna consciousness to all nationalities and types of people, without discrimination, and Mr. Mandela was deeply struck by this, and was very appreciative of Srila Prabhupada. He also very much appreciated the teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita which emphasises the equality of all living beings; as children of God we all deserve to share in God’s gifts and to be treated with respect and dignity.

After becoming the country’s first democratically elected President in 1994, President Mandela,  once again visited the Hare Krishna temple.  It was from this venue that he addressed the 10,000  strong Hindu community, as well as the nation, on the occasion of Diwali, the Festival of Lights and New Year.  Diwali celebrates the return of the famed Lord Rama from fourteen years of exile and his coronation as King of Ayodhya.  The community recognised the significant similarities between Lord Rama’s struggle and His ultimate victory and that of President Mandela.

President Mandela gave particular attention to respecting the multitude of different languages, cultures and spiritual beliefs that prevailed throughout what became known as a “rainbow nation.”  And, the new Constitution ensured the rights of all South Africans to freedom of expression and religious freedom.

Based on this inspiration, in 1997, ISKCON’s Food For Life project planned and hosted the “Festival for the Children of the Rainbow Nation” with President Mandela as its Guest of Honour.  The event saw 50 000 school children with their teachers gather at Kings Park Soccer stadium. After delivering the key note address, President Mandela extended his stay at the event and spent more than five hours watching the various children’s performances.  He encouraged the children to excel in school, take advantage of the rights afforded to them, and instructed them to appreciate that the generations before them had fought for their freedom. The Mercury Newspaper reported that he stated this was “the happiest day” of his life.

Mr. Mandela was much more than a champion of human rights, State President or Nobel Peace Prize recipient.  He touched the lives of every single South African and made them feel safe and genuinely cared for. He was indeed the father of the nation, in the true sense of the term, genuinely striving for a better future for all his people.  He was a leader, teacher and example for the whole world. He is, and will continue to be, a symbol of hope, faith and forbearance.

May the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna bless this great soul.

Released by the International Society for Krishna Consiousness (ISKCON)

Ministry of Communications

Champakalata Dasi, Durban South Africa  (Champakalata@pamho.net)

Nanda Kishor Das, Johannesburg, South Africa (info@iskconza.com , +27 824992498)