"We never would have lasted through the first winter," says Kirtanananda Swami (director of the New Vrindaban farm, West Virginia), "without faith in the instructions of our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada and a lot of chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. And before we built Srila Prabhupada's Palace [left], none of us had ever designed a building or worked with marble or anything like that. But we chanted Hare Krsna, and gradually Krsna revealed these skills."
Find out more about Krsna consciousness in this issue of BACK TO GODHEAD.
Kuladri dasa, president of the New Vrindaban farm community, with family (W.Va.): "What we're interested in here is simple living and high thinking. We work hard building, ploughing, and tending the cows, and it's all a pleasure because we're always reading our spiritual master's books and chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra,"
Bala-Krsna dasa, manager, Govinda's Mobile Kitchens (Berkeley): "Lots of people ask how the things we serve here can taste so good, and I always tell them it's because we offer everything to Lord Krsna. "You might find it a little amazing," I say,"but actually, if you're after yoga and self-realization, the best way to get started is with your tongue: you taste delicious foods offered to Krsna and chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra."
Paramananda dasa, president of the Gita-nagari farm community (Pa.): "Chanting Hare Krsna is a big part of our lives. By chanting we get a deeper and deeper understanding that all of us are really servants of God. Even these oxen are serving Krsna they pull the ploughs, and the fruits of their labor nourish the whole community. For my part, I'm trying to serve Krsna by running the farm and seeing that everyone is working happily. The Hare Krsna maha-mantra is so powerful that if everyone chanted it, they'd love God and everyone else, and we'd have a peaceful, God-centered world."