Fourth Annual Global Daiva Varnasrama
Convention Held

BY: BHARAT CHANDRA DAS

Mar 10, 2011 — SRIDHAM MAYAPUR, WEST BENGAL (SUN) — ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama Ministry - India

The event was inaugurated by His Holiness Lokanath Swami, His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami, His Holiness Bhakti Dhira Damodara Swami, His Grace Samba das and His Grace Bharat Chandra das by lighting the lamp.

His Holiness Lokanath Swami in his keynote address, said that, "In the beginning, the ISKCON movement moved at a high pitch. Changing ashram was considered as a black spot. The scene changed after many years. Not all will become brahmacharis and sannaysis. Over time, we have seen sannyas ashram has shown black spot. If we had varnasrama system, the devotees who changed ashram, would not have had to leave ISKCON to survive in the society.

We want to keep everyone in the house which Srila Prabhupada built, where whole world can live. 'varnasrama caravata...na anyat tat tosa karanam', there is no other way to please Krishna other than varnasrama system in this material world! Srila Prabhupada mentioned that this is 50% of his mission!"

His Holiness Lokanath Swami giving a piece of advice said, "Those who want to be protected, should protect dharma - Dharmo rakshanti rakshitah".

The free seminar was well attended by 50 devotees representing various countries and coming from various background.

His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami leading the seminar expressed his deep conviction and inspired the audience with his experience. Maharaj, taking a session on "Four waves of Srila Prabhupada's movement" explained that it is order of Srila Prabhupada that devotees bring about an overhaul of the society and revert to Daiva Varnasrama.

His Holiness Bhakti Dhira Damodara Swami speaking on "The Need for Varnasrama", asked the audience that - how many would go to the harinam without prasadam? Our philosophy is harinam and prasadam, and prasadam comes from land!

Various topics were presented in the four day convention, with a theme of four varnas covered on each day.

Topics such as:

1. Varnasrama College - Bharat Chandra das
2. Brahmana occupations - Bharat Chandra das
3. Varnasrama Development-Global Overview - His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami
4. Ksatriya Dharma - His Grace Yogesh Chandra das and Bhakta Nikhil
5. Land Ownership and Land Distribution - His Grace Jiva Tattva das
6. Adopt a Village - HG Hari Kirtan dasa
7. Traditional Agriculture - HG Bharat Chandra das
8. Biodiversity of Food - HG Sanat Kumar das
9. Sustainable Cow Protection - HG Bhakta Vatsala das
10. Self-sufficiency Efforts - HG Rama Vigraha das, His Grace Jananivas das and Her Grace Murari Mohini Devi dasi
11. Social Norms & Traditional Occupations - HG Samba das
12. Home Schooling and Role of Women - HG Vrindavana Lila dasi
13. Summary/Feedback/Closing Remarks

One of the most attractive sessions were on Ksatriya dharma by Yogesh Chandra Prabhu, Social norms- a case study of Amish community by Samba Prabhu and Self sufficiency efforts by His Grace Rama Vigraha Prabhu. Rama Vigraha Prabhu joined the movement in the early 70s and right from the beginning days of his devotional life has been involved with the Varnasrama movement. It was great to see him express natural joy of simple living and high thinking.

Another interesting session was on "Role of Women" by Her Grace Vrindavanlila Mataji. She spoke quoting from 7th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam and other references about role of women in a Daiva varnasrama society.

Also, lot of discussions and urgent need was felt to introduce the efforts of realizing the world lead by ideal leaders during the presentation on Ksatriya dharma by Yogesh Chandra das. The presentation showed the stark reality of the nasty affairs of the parliament where the leaders of the society fought each other almost to death.

The four days of the seminar was well spent in sharing, discussing, learning and enthusing each other.

The last day was concluding session. Concluding session saw Group discussions. The teams came up with recommendations and suggestions for the ministry to implement.

Some of the concluding recommendations from the audience were:

1. Creating widespread awareness within devotees and amongst non-devotees.
2. More emphasis on creating model project.
3. Preparing a guide on how to start a varnasrama project.
4. Literatures of varnasrama dharma to be sent to all the temples.
5. Developing curriculum and systems to train girl child on varnasrama culture.

"Attending the four day seminar was an eye opener to me!" said Her Grace Gandha Manjari mataji.

your servant,

Bharat Chandra das